Life Issues

Being a dad and grandad is one of the greatest joys in life. What a privilege to carry that role of influence into a child’s life. But it’s also fair to say that for many dads, when

sons are grown, those “daddy” years when they were little are the source of a few regrets; things we wish we’d done, time we wish we’d taken, pressures we let get the

better of us.

This week on Life Issues we’re talking about dads and the role of father and how that ties in to the idea of manhood and the importance of good understanding

of the role – for us, for our children and for a society that seems to struggle with identity and where boys need guidance.

Paul spoke with Nathan Blackaby, CEO, Christian Vision for Men and Jon Stockley, Director for CVM Cymru.

To be a grandparent is a special thing and not to be taken lightly.

It’s a position of privilege, so how do you be the Granny & Grandad that your children, as well as your grandchildren, need you to be?

Katharine Hill, UK Director of Care for the Family and co-author of “the little book for really really brilliant grandparents”, joins Paul on this week's Life Issues.

Blended families - they’re not new but they are increasingly familiar. So how do you make a positive future out of something that may have been birthed from a negative

experience? We may not get a “Happy ever after” but can we at least avoid the fairy tale stereotype?

Paul Hammond spoke to Kat Seney-Williams, Single Parent Support Coordinator at Care for the Family, and author of the book Surviving and Thriving on the Single Parent Journey.

When Paul said “Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do.” (1 Corinthians 7 v 8), he held up singleness up as something

to aspire to and marriage as something to embrace if you cannot walk the higher way. Of course it’s not that easy. Throughout history, around the world, society has

emphasised the relationship, esteemed marriage and family above singleness, not least because the desire to connect is a real element of human nature and there is that

thought from Genesis that it is “not good for man to be alone.” But increasingly, even though attitude to marriage has changed for many, we live in a world where single

people are made to feel strange, guilty or failures because they are not in a relationship and perhaps that’s even more the case within the church community. So what

message does the bible bring to this, how should we, if we are single, view ourselves and how should we, if we are in a relationship, esteem our single brothers and

sisters?

Paul asked Jennie Pollock, Speaker, Editor, Blogger and Author of a new book “If Only”.

We know that the bible teaches the immutability of God’s goodness, kindness and grace. But what about when things go wrong – when the world rebels and volcanoes spew

death and destruction, tsunamis wash lives away, drought and famine drain the life force from children or a terrorist’s ideology explodes in our midst and shatters lives.

Where does God’s goodness sit then? Is it possible to better understand this? And how can science and faith offer hope and insight, save lives, and reveal God’s goodness?

This is the incredibly complex and thought-provoking subject that Paul Hammond discusses with Robert White and Roger Abbott, Authors of ‘What Good is God? Crises, Faith and Resilience’

With lives devastated, crime inexorably linked to it, families torn apart & whole communities undermined the war on drugs isn't working. Is it time to

change the way we deal with it? What can we do as a society? What should we say as people of faith? And what is the answer to the call to legalise?

Paul Hammond talks to Penny Williams of the Kenward Trust and Ciaran Kelly of The Christian Institute.

In the week that we remember and mark the death of Jesus, and after a year in which so many have been touched by bereavement and in which death has been something we could not hold at arm’s length, what have we as Christians to say on this, what hope and balance have we to bring, and how do we bless those who mourn by bringing them comfort?

Paul is joined by Eryl Davies and Yvonne Richmond Tulloch in this week's Life Issues.

When big business tells us they are going to run their own “fair trade” initiative, do we trust it will be really fair? What is the future for Fair Trade?

Joe Osman, Fair Trade Pioneer & Author of Traidcraft joins Paul Hammond on this week's Life Issues.

Ever wondered what makes us who we are? Sheridan Voysey talks to Vicky about exploring our identity when life doesn't go as we expected. Listen now and be encouraged to root your life in Jesus.