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
De-railed
When heaven seeps into our plans, sometimes our plans are derailed and sometimes our tracks are changed in surprising ways, but always our direction becomes more than anything we could have imagined.
Disruption
Sometimes saying yes to God is saying no to safety, security, and the future you'd always thought you would have.
The Path of Peace
When you hold a miracle in your arms anything is possible.
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 →
A Song to Light the Dark
When God is doing something new, the air is full of singing.
Magnify
What this world truly needs is this song once sung by this insignificant teenager from Nazareth.
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 →
Yes…
December 13th Yes Listen to the reflection here... (also available on Spotify HERE ) What we say yes to forms us. One way or the other. Mary. She said yes. To God. She gave Him all she had. “I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’ Then the... Continue Reading →
Kingdom Revolution
In taking on skin and sinew and pulsing veins, in becoming an infant held by an inexperienced country teenager, God was declaring war on all the pretensions to power, all false kingdoms of the world.
His Name
This insignificant teenager from this nothing-town of Nazareth, she is first to hear His name spoken into earth’s round atmosphere...
Two Stories
There are always two stories at work. The story we see with our eyes and the deeper story of God at work...
The Whole Story
We can live in the world our eyes can see, but it will only ever be half the picture...
Absence and Presence
It’s not more work or more money that fills the void and provides abundance, but the active presence of God...
This is the Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah
Jesus came into the incredibly messy human story of ancient Israel, a story full of brokenness, frailty and failing. He didn’t just take on skin, light enfolding in tissued flesh, He took on a history and a story full of the foibles and flaws of a fallen, falling people...
Unfurling Hope
If you run your finger over the lines of your life, what story does it tell?
Prince of Peace
This promise of a Prince of Peace begins with a people caught in the dark. Like us. Here on this spinning earth. This earth beneath our feet right here and now...
Immanuel
This one word: Immanuel sums up the entire story of scripture, the entire story of human existence...
The Coming King
He ‘shall come’ . That was the promise all along. He shall come. The One to stamp on the serpents head (Genesis 3:15), the one to whom the sceptre belongs (Genesis 49:10), the one who will establish His throne in love (Isaiah 16:5). He shall come! This King. Because He has always been coming. From before all time began Jesus was on His way journeying to find us, woo us, search us out in grace...
Are you ready?
Are you ready to push back the jingling rush and explore the true, beautiful, ancient Christmas story this Advent season? Because this little corner of the internet is about to light up and brim over with story, gifts, Christmas carols, Scripture and all the hopeful expectation this season offers. All free. All yours. In a matter of moments The Long Walk to Bethlehem will begin! But before we launch in I have a surprise for you...
Three Days Until Advent…
Just three days until Advent begins... and I'm sitting here by the fire wishing for the same surprise we woke up to discover this time last year! This time last year the railroad tracks of our life upended in the most beautiful way. We awoke to powdery soft snow blanketing everything in brilliant white. We... Continue Reading →
An Uncomfortable Beautiful Reality
The serene face of baby Jesus stared out at me from amongst the news headlines a few nights ago. His gentle face sandwiched between reports of the war in Ukraine and a UK national budget release. A Renaissance painting of the Madonna and Child that had been discovered in a garage had just sold at... Continue Reading →
The Whole Story
December 8th The Whole Story You can live in the world your eyes can see, but it will only ever be half the picture. Zechariah’s eyes were old. He and Elizabeth had seen an absence of things hoped for, empty arms cradling despair. And for Elizabeth, this childlessness meant shame (Luke 1:25). Their... Continue Reading →
Immanuel
December 3rd Immanuel I love Christmas. The carols, the wonder, the traditions, the too-much-food-only-eaten-once-a-year. It is the time of year I most miss being with my family, the time when living overseas is most costly, not in money but in feeling, the feeling that comes when you are surrounded by those who know... Continue Reading →
The Coming King
December 1st The Coming King He ‘shall come’ . That was the promise all along. He shall come. The One to stamp on the serpents head (Genesis 3:15), the one to whom the sceptre belongs (Genesis 49:10), the one who will establish His throne in love (Isaiah 16:5). He shall come! This King.... Continue Reading →
He Will Come
December 6th He Will Come We stumbled across this cafe down a side street, searching for somewhere to have a moment together out of the cold. The cheery cafe owner took our order and we sat and waited in the corner, looking around us at the tinselled walls and festive decorations. The cafe owner... Continue Reading →
His Name…
He didn’t just come to give us a lovely sentimental feeling and warming family holiday season each December...
Two Stories
Because the story we live in decides how we live...
Unexpected
Belief matters. Because our beliefs create the world we live in. And unbelief creates a world without God. A world of loneliness and despair. A world of hustling to survive. A world of anxiety and fear...
Radical Humility
In taking Mary home as his wife, Joseph was effectively taking on responsibility for her pregnancy, appearing to have broken the laws of betrothal. In sheltering her and the child she carried, Joseph took on Mary’s shame, making it his own...
De-railed
What if God is outside of our field of vision? And what if He is calling us to join Him there? In a reality larger than our human plans laid down...
Disruption
What if your calling put you at odds with your whole world? What if God's will in you seemed like a kick in the face of all you had been told, raised in and led to believe? If you knew His call would leave you alienated and alone, estranged from your community, friends and even your family, would you still say yes? Yes to God?
He will come: A Carol To Light The Dark
This is not fairytale story. He didn't come into a perfect world. He came into ours.
In the dark.
To be the light.
Unfurling Hope
If you run your finger across the a sawn-off tree stump, tracing the circular path of its rings, it will tell you a story. Each line has a tale to tell, a story-line revealing years of droughts, the story of rains, the story of bushfires, the story of years of abundance and years of lack. It will tell you how old it is, how long it has stood in place, and what each year was like. A stump is old and full of years, full of story. A long old story traced in rings...
Peace On Earth
She twists the wire around the green, around and around and around until all the unruly Christmas greenery finally yields and hangs submissive on the circular frame. There's an intensity to how she does it that most ten year olds don’t have. A determination.
The Coming King
As we begin this season of Advent, let’s be clear on Who we’re waiting for...
A Gift For You This Christmas Season…
So, what if this Christmas we were to slow the story down, and live in it. And let it live in us? What if in all the Christmas rush we forge an island of quiet and sit in God’s long story of grace and let it become the story that breathes us back to life, lighting the dark, warming the cold? What if this Advent season could be a time we turn our hearts back to the heart of the real Christmas story and let it reshape us from the inside out, and in so doing become more real ourselves.
As Christmas Approaches…
Dear Friend, It’s been quite some time since I wrote to you as we journeyed together through the Easter season and I am delighted to be back in contact with you as Christmas and the season of Advent approaches. Since I last wrote my family and I have moved countries so it has been a... Continue Reading →
