Humility knows that all it knows is sometimes half the story, and all it sees is sometimes half the picture, and so is open to hearing more. Seeing more. Living more. With God.
Radical Humility
Silence to Singing
December 17th Silence to Singing Listen to the reflection here... (also available on Spotify HERE ) The silence in Elizabeth and Zechariah’s house must have felt so loud. But perhaps not as loud as Zechariah’s own thoughts as he processed the Angel Gabriel’s words. Words that left him speechless. He hadn’t believed in... Continue Reading →
Strengthening Strength
December 14th Strengthening Strength Listen to the reflection here... (also available on Spotify HERE ) In the beginning, in the first garden long ago, God drew close. As close as breath. And then with His breath He spoke truth into the hearts of the first human beings: Loving truth. Generous truth: ‘You are free to... Continue Reading →
Ask, Seek, Knock
Our son Oliver doesn’t sleep well. He has a very creative imagination and a world full of ideas whirling in his mind. Between this and all the natural worries fuelled by moving countries and struggling to adjust, he’s very often up at night...
Do Not Worry About Tomorrow
This day a few years ago I was down. Way down. Weighed down by worries and stresses and cataloguing my anxieties in a litany of self pity.
I was making pizza, rolling dough, cutting toppings, listing all the reasons why life was just too hard...
Seek First His Kingdom
There are a lot of things in this world vying for the human heart, so many calls enticing our eyes, our time, our lives… so many convincing claims calling us to give our story over to their ‘sell’...
Flowers of the Field
Memory is an interesting thing.
Many years ago I had a time that was, at the time, the most challenging season I had been through. This was not long after I had moved to Jamaica to be fully dedicated to the ministry in the inner city. I can clearly remember many of the moments that were so challenging … but just yesterday I was looking through some old notes I made at that time, and was shocked by what I had not remembered. None of my memories were false … but every single one of the challenges had ended up turning out so much better than I remembered. Some of them miraculously so...
Treasure
I have to confess. I love charity shopping. The thrill of the hunt, the thrill of discovering buried treasure. I love searching through the eclectically laden shelves of charity shops looking for that one bargain, that one thing that is useful or pretty or special in some way.
The Road Home
EPILOGUE The Road Home… There are roads sometimes that go nowhere, nowhere but away, nowhere but far from all we want to leave behind us, far from all we fear and cannot face. Wandering roads, retreating roads, roads that give the illusion of forward motion while all the while leading nowhere. Nowhere but away.... Continue Reading →
How to Walk on Water in a Storm
We learn fear.
Life teaches it to us blow by blow.
Sometimes by a trauma, sometimes by the slow drip of disappointment corroding courage, usurping hope. We tried. And failed. We got bitten. And bled. We got knocked down. And lived there.
Calm
Sometimes life can feel like a storm. And sometimes like a drowning. Like a flailing about without much to hang onto. Like a slow death by silence, soundlessly sinking in the waves of life.
Calling
The thing is, underneath it all, so often we’re not sure. Not sure who we are, not sure that we’re valuable, not sure where to place our feet in all this whirling world. Who am I? What on earth and I here for? What does it all mean?
Subversive Love
All real power belongs to God. And He chooses to use it in very different ways to human beings. Lasting change in this world is brought about not by might and strength. Lasting change comes by small people who’s hearts are beating in time with God’s, stepping out courageously with Him into the dark, armed only with the conviction that giants will fall before them, because God and them are strong.
Civil Disobedience
I closed the well worn, well loved Bible picture book and put it on the bed. My four year old son beamed up at me, eyes bright and alive, “Mummy” he said importantly “I’m gonna fight Goliath! Because God and me are strong!”. You can guess at the story we’d just read and probably guess at my mothers-heart response. I smile still as I remember this moment. The moment this tiny little boy, barely up to my waste in hight, named a truth larger than any giant.
