Today is my last day as an engineer and Sunday my first day in full time ministry. This period of change has meant tearful goodbye’s and nervous hello’s have been said. And amidst all of it I’ve learnt a lot about the boundaries of church…
People think power will make them happy. People think things will make them happy. The truth is that happiness in things only comes when there is power to enjoy them…
Have you ever wondered what life would be like without the Spirit? Imagine Jesus
ascended into heaven leaving just His words. Leaving us just history to study. Leaving companionship only as a promise for the future, leaving us alone.
I find it easy to imagine, because thats how I live. Dead sometimes, studying history and talking to the roof. I’m not alone. Well I feel alone but I know there are others like me whose duracell has run flat, whose candle has burnt to a stump, and who have forgotten that the switch that could flood space with light is right at our fingertips…
Grace is without doubt the most beautiful concept in life. Not just a concept mind you, but a manifestation of unmerited favor, by the God who loves to the ones who don’t deserve that love.
Grace is brought to life in the story of the prodigal son, the son who received unmerited favor and blessings from the father. A ring, a robe, sandals and a party. Authority, character, freedom and a celebration.
The story encapsulates grace as we know it. ‘Encapsulates’ is actually a poor word choice, because one of the beauties of grace is that it can’t be contained. Grace doesn’t stop with the prodigal son. There is another character in the story, an older brother, and the antagonist through whom grace is re-awakened in another form. There’s grace that takes you home, and grace that keeps you home…
I’ve found the most despicable person in the bible. No it’s not Judas. It’s not Pilate, or Herod or any Roman. It’s not the Pharisees or Saducees or any religious leader. It’s not Ahaz or Jehoram or any other wicked king. It’s not Jezebel or her spawn Athaliah or any evil woman. He’s just an ordinary guy, with an ordinary job: Minding the king’s sheep. His name is Doug, and he’s the most despicable person in the bible…
Be careful when standing in the way of God’s Holiness. This is the warning we get from the bitter story of Moses not being allowed to enter the Promised Land.
Moses the man who guided a disobedient, stubborn and completely recalcitrant nation through a 40 year desert journey gets things wrong, less than a year before the nation would triumphantly enter the Promised Land. 40 years of stumbling, 40 years of hoping, 40 years of disappointment and grind, and on the eve of freedom Moses himself stumbles. But before the story is over there’s a stunning twist…
Trust seems to be a forgotten word these days. Or maybe not forgotten, but perhaps the power of the principle has been lost in the wake of the all-conquering trust demolisher: Scandal. We see so much of it in our daily news. Politics (Armsgate), Business (Fidentia), Sport (Bob. Sadly missed).
Scandals like these have led to the erosion of trust as one of the rocks upon which humanity stands. It’s a foundational principle that we seem to have lost, and yet is so glaringly obviously needed…
Sometimes we can believe we’re so right and yet be so wrong. An idea or vision or plan can seemingly come enveloped in God-breathed bubble wrap plastered with God-adorned neon stickers boxed inside a God-shaped container labeled with God’s return address, and yet not actually be from God.
And when the bubble bursts and the Thank-You post bounces we’re left wondering what went wrong, and how so blatantly a good idea - no a God idea! - could have failed.
This almost happened to King David. King David prior to roof-top spying, census-taking and child-denying. This was the King David fresh off the back of mighty displays of God’s glory in magnificent military victories. King David fresh off the back of uniting God’s people into an earthly kingdom that was absolutely God-centered it’s identity. A man filled with the presence and power of God. And in a moment he reveals something about himself that all of us God-seekers have found in ourselves… (more…)
My earliest memory is one of my fondest. It’s of my dad sticking his head through a flap in our tent and pulling a funny face, while on a family holiday when I was only 4 years old! I also remember pushing my little sister around in a pram on the same holiday, even though I could hardly see over the handlebars…
I’m a very sentimental person, attaching a lot memories and meaning to various random objects, and also a very passionate photographer, trying to paint memories on paper. To me, memories are important. And I’ve realised lately that they’re completely necessary for a solid Christian life…
When you think of the word ‘Elegant’, what picture comes to mind? Boutiques? Interior decorations? Wedding dresses? It’s a hard word to describe isn’t it? Being an engineer I have come across some uses of the word that may surprise you…
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