In the past few months, I have become more regular with working on my physical fitness. I have managed to fit a few different exercise sessions in each week as part of my everyday routines. At the start, it didn’t seem like much had changed. Starting something new meant that my muscles that were used …
Weeds have been dominating my garden lately. I have all kinds of beautiful plants I would like to see flourish, yet the things that are most successful are the weeds. You don’t need to put in any effort for weeds to grow. They just happen. And if you don’t do anything about them, the garden …
Information, knowledge and wisdom are all different things. I know that sometimes people use these words interchangeably, but they are distinct. We live in an information age with torrents of information being delivered to us every day. Yet not much of that information actually settles in our brains to become knowledge, something we know. And …
I’m sure that all Christians have heard glib, basic conclusions in Bible teaching in churches. Maybe you’ve heard a preacher tell you that God is love or God is in control. Or a Bible study leader tell you that you should love God and not money, or that you should tell other people about Jesus. …
It is that time of year when I need to plan what I want to do around the weather forecast. For the past few weeks, it has rained a little on most days and a lot on others. Outdoor activities have needed to be cancelled or moved around at times. Plans to do the washing …
We live in a world which values extroverts very highly. School children are marked on contributions in class. Job interview processes always include evidence of teamwork. TV shows and movies portray typical social lives as being dominated by attending parties and large social gatherings. We all love someone who loves people and is in their …
A few weeks ago, our family went through the usual seasonal cold and flu time. All of us were sniffing, tired, and had sore throats. Nothing too extreme, nothing that even needed a doctor’s visit, just the common cold. Yet this relatively minor ailment led to some missed work and school days and our usual …
Sometimes the right words, said at the right time, can change someone’s life. Encouragement has the power to really make a difference to people, yet it is a rarer thing than it should be. Christians live in a world that is not our home, a world full of discouragement. We feel the pressure of our …
I am the father of three boys. We have a family tradition to measure every child’s height on their birthday. The fast-growing teenagers always look forward to the confirmation that they have grown a lot, especially if it means passing the height of one of their parents! There is much banter about who is taller, …
By the time you read this, I will be on a Sabbatical from my usual ministry. I have been pastoring now for almost 18 years, and ironically after a time of significant growth and encouragement in the church, I am feeling a bit run down and tired. My denomination allows pastors to have a Sabbatical …