So its been quite a while since I last posted anything here! We’ve been in Norway (4 weeks), the Lake District (8 days) and my wife Debbie recently spent some more time in the Mother & Baby Unit. Suffice to say that we are now moving into a somewhat calmer season of our year and so as life starts to find the rhythm of its new norm I thought I would post some of my thoughts from the summer. In particular I…
I’m conscious that time is ticking on and once again its been a while! In fact its been such a long while that we find ourselves on the cusp of yet another Norwegian adventure which jets off on Thursday morning. Since the arrival of young Aaron we seem to have had a really busy few months and even though the student ministry term finished at the beginning of June this past month has been exceptionally full. A full life is not necessarily a…
In January I wrote in my blog Unexpected Blessing that we were expecting a fifth baby. It was quite the surprise and in trying to get our heads around the news God has taken us on quite the journey as we have come to terms with His plans for our lives! I used that blog to reflect upon God’s Sovereignty, Wisdom and Love which I used as a framework to think about all that was going on in our lives. You may also…
The story of Joseph is a fascinating story of hope amidst disappointment and difficulty. He was tossed into a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery, wrongfully imprisoned and yet what was intended for evil God intended for good. In this post we will wrestle a little with God’s Sovereignty as we look from a perspective of hope at the story of Joseph which is recorded for us in Genesis 37-50. Our privilege is to look down over the story but remember…
This week is the local Christian Union’s annual events week and so my thoughts turn today to the staggeringly good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a gospel that brings us hope because it is a gospel that is by nature a gospel of hope. This hope is a hope for the past, present and the future…read on and find out more. 1. Good news of a Living Hope Paul says he thanks God the Father when he prays for…
As we move rapidly into the heart of another Christmas season (its only 8 more sleeps until Christmas Day!) I have been reflecting somewhat on the incarnation and that moment when “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14a). In my earlier post Rediscovering Hope we thought about the nature of hope and Paul’s depiction of God as “the God of Hope” (Romans 15:13). This notion of hope was not wishful thinking but something that is certain, confident and…
Exploring the power of hope in meeting today’s challenges in the hope and strength God has for us today… Following an excellent summer the last couple of weeks have been more of a challenge and so I want to return here to the notion of hope and specifically the power of hope. Proverbs 13:12 says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. That is quite the statement but notice the difference hope makes –…
My title this morning reflects two things; firstly today is the beginning of our annual Discipleship week here in Skjolden, Norway and there is a growing excitement and expectancy about what God is going to do amongst us all this week. Secondly with reference to my previous post “Hope and the Spiritual Battle“, there is a real sense of the darkness lifting after what has been a particularly difficult build up to our time here in Norway. Some of you will…
This morning we had a phone call from our 6 year old son Benjamin’s school saying that they thought that he had broken his arm. Quite concerned, Debbie went up to the school only to find (to our our great relief) that it was now thought to be a false alarm. Benjamin (like his daddy) is not good with anything accident or health related and had been refusing to move his arm at all. This had made his teachers think he may have broken…
You may remember that in “The Potters right to transform the clay” I talked about three foundational truths about God; namely that He is completely Sovereign (He always wills what is best for us), He is infinitely wise (He always knows what is best for us), and He is perfect in love (He has the power to bring it about). The premise was that the implications of experiencing suffering would hit us on one or more of these things. At such times…