There is a temptation to believe that God only turns up at big Christian festivals, or in buzzing charismatic churches. We really should have learned by now, that He turns up wherever He is invited – from damp prison cells to dusty pews, and from crowded shopping malls to isolated mountain tops. Yesterday we played... Continue Reading →
Thoughts behind the song ‘That Ain’t Livin'’, from the album ‘Fears, Secrets and Lies’. Yesterday, stopping for an urgently needed call of nature at a motorway service station on the M4, I was assailed by a large poster of a cheerful young woman, confidently encouraging me to ‘follow the road to happiness’. Her ‘road to... Continue Reading →
You know those times when you’re in a restaurant where the tables are a bit close together, and the person at the next table decides that they’re going to get to know you, get involved in your conversation, and generally make a thorough nuisance of themselves? Well, I’m very sorry, but, although I try to... Continue Reading →
When we were in Holland just before Christmas, we were giving lots of our little grey boxes of ash away; we talked about ash being what’s left when everything else is used up and burnt out, and we told this story: A young Jewish boy (for these purposes, we’ll call him Asher) wanted to hear... Continue Reading →
I used to be marketing director for a small design company; my job was to come up with ways to get companies and their products noticed and thought of in the best light possible. This boiled down to making their services and products look more exciting, more leading edge, better value, more attractive, effective and... Continue Reading →
One of my favourite games, when my son James was small, was to get him to jump, or ‘tip off’ small distances, from a chair, table, side of a swimming pool, in fact, anywhere a little bit higher than me, so that I could catch him. It is a delightful game of trust, that has... Continue Reading →
I’ve talked about grief before. The grinding, end-of-world kind of grief that shatters lives. No promises are made to contrary – the one thing we can all know is that there will be pain,, hardship, suffering. The best we can hope for is that we might be spared it for long enough to reach our... Continue Reading →
When I was about ten, my father fulfilled a personal dream by buying himself a small sailing boat, to keep moored at Portland Harbour, a few miles from where we used to live. The idea of the boat filled me with excitement. I loved the idea of being able to go and travel somewhere on... Continue Reading →
I never cease to be amazed at how God loves to bless us. There are times that He comes through for us when we’re desperately in need – like when a single mum friend of mine couldn’t find the money for her severely damaged front door. A few church friends, who knew there was a... Continue Reading →
