Thought for the week (we 11th August 2013)

Well, for all Dr. Who fans the waiting’s over. Since Matt Smith decided to pass on to the outer limits there’s been much speculation to who would take on the role of surely one of the most iconic characters in TV history.

Last night, all was revealed and Peter Capaldi will be the twelfth doctor who will appear for the first time on our screens in this year’s Christmas special.

Since his first appearance in November 1963 each portrayal of the doctor has had its own strengths and weaknesses Those of us old enough will remember the early days when the sets were a bit wobbly and the special effects were far from being what we are used to today, but that didn’t matter one little bit because for an hour on a Saturday night we were transported to the world of the Tardis, the Cybermen and perhaps the most feared of all the dreaded Daleks who brought us to the edge of our seats with their chilling chant ‘Exterminate’

I wonder if we had a time machine like the ‘Tardis’ and could quickly transport ourselves far away from our worries or concerns that would that be the answer to our problems and concerns? Life, of course, would be far easier if we could contain everything into a neatly packaged hour with a happy ending, but in the real world we all know life’s just not like that.

Then again unlike Dr. Who is not limited by human constraints ‘ tide and time wait for no man’ and the effects of getting older and not being able to do what at one time we never gave a second thought can really get us down.

If, as the Bible says there is a time for every purpose under heaven then we need to believe that in all the changes we can know the assurance of a God who, while being beyond time and space is near to us all.

We may not have a ‘Tardis’, something of greater value and that’s the assurance that in all our times and seasons God is with us and the promise of Jesus ‘I will be with you, even to end of all time’ is the best promise of all!