This question is one that is often asked in the face of immense tragedy. Where was God when the earthquake struck Haiti? Where was God in the mudslides in Madeira? Where is God when there are droughts in East Africa or floods in South East Asia? But it is also a question that we ask in the private tragedies of our own lives: in the face of the loss of a child, or the breakdown of a relationship, or the steady, dull pain of the everyday.

There are three Presidential candidates. Candidate A is a non-smoking, non-drinking vegetarian. Candidate B is a heavy smoking, borderline alcoholic with suicidal depressive tendencies. Candidate C is an adulterous chain-smoker (who also likes the odd glass or three). How will you good people vote?

DAVID MACGREGOR of the East London Daily Dispatch writes about one South African woman's search for the spirit of ubuntu.

Its tenacious survival, particularly among the poor, reminds us that we do not live by economic indicators alone and humanity can still transcend the limitations imposed by our material conditions.

Do you remember February 2nd to the 11th 1990, that ‘long week’ that shook the world, beginning with the unbanning of the African National Congress and other political movements and culminating with Nelson Mandela’s release from Pollsmoor Prison?

I remember a discussion with colleagues in the Religious Studies Department at University of Cape Town the week before February 2nd. Some of us intended to be at the demonstration planned outside Parliament that day. Suddenly, quietly, one of the professors said, “I have a feeling [then President F W] De Klerk is going to surprise us. I think he’ll unban the ANC and release Mandela next week.”

The press has been full of the word ‘miracle’ recently. Stories about people being found alive in the rubble of Haiti – nine, ten, even 14 days after the earthquake. When confronted with such unexpected events the reaction even of the most cynical is to exclaim: ‘It’s a miracle!’

The skill and determination of the rescue teams who succeeded in digging people alive from the rubble days after the quake restore one's faith in humanity, and for one man at least, also in God.

After a break and at the beginning of a New Year, we are perhaps more inclined than usual to ask ourselves the question, what do I really want or what do I desire? It is a far more important question than we might realise. It is fundamental to our spiritual life. While we may have got the impression that desires are somehow bad or at least not very spiritual, in fact, discovering our deepest desires is the key to uncovering what it is that God desires for us.

James Cameron's 2009 blockbuster movie "Avatar" has been criticised by the political and religious right for being anti-capitalist, anti-militarist, "neo-pagan‟ and "pantheist". Though less hostile, the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano were critical of its latter aspect, seeing the film as endorsing pantheism – the worship of nature. Are they right? More importantly, why does "Avatar" appeal to so many people? What can Christians learn from it?

Terrorists are such effective geography teachers! Who could have located Yemen quickly without Google Earth until the Christmas Day bomb attempt on United Airlines? And who even knew of the existence of the Cabinda Enclave until the Togolese soccer team was attacked on its border?