In the last year or so I’ve become more aware of the work of Jeff Goins. He is a writer, successful blogger and soon-to-be published author. I published a two-part interview of him for this site earlier in the year and I recently wrote a guest post for his site.

He’s just written a new e-book, ‘You Are a Writer‘, and I’ve had the privilege of getting an advance copy to review. There’s also a great website related to the book, which you can find here.

I don’t often review others’ work, but Jeff is a compelling, challenging writer and it’s no understatement to say his work could be life-changing for you. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a writer,  wait and give this review a read – then go and get this book.

Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

Jeff Goins is a writer.

In his new e-book, he makes clear you can be one too.

In this relatively short but powerful e-book, he calls us out to embrace who we can be – to stop dreaming of being writers, stop waiting to be picked and to start calling ourselves writers – and teaches us how to be writers.  (more…)

Today I’m going to be going back to the topic of social media . In the time since I last blogged on the subject I’ve decided that this topic is far too big to merely have a short-term series on it.

The issue of social media is so significant  and there are so many areas to cover that we need to devote time to it, and so from now on it’ll be one of the ongoing discussions/themes of my blog.

I recently decided to take some time off from social media. I’ve always believed it important we take regular sabbaths from social media  – but I’d always struggled to really lay it down and actually do it.

Which is a good sign that I really needed to stop.

So with the help of a couple of accountability partners, I decided to spend 48 hours out of the digital realm.

Cut off. No Facebook, no Twitter, no Google + or e-mail, for 48 hours. (more…)

It’s Good Friday. Today in our Passion series we come to Jesus on the cross.

He has been abandoned, betrayed, let down, humiliated, misrepresented, beaten up, tortured, publicly stripped naked and rejected by almost everyone.

He asks God why He is forsaking Him.

Now there’s a time and place to talk about doubt and faith. That’s not what I want to examine today.

But in this moment, Jesus asks why. Again, associating Himself with us.

How often do we ask why suffering happens and get no answer?

How often when life gets disrupted and we suffer, or when we get rejected or abandoned, do we ask why and simply get silence?

The simple answer is that most of us have done this, at one time or the other. We’ve all had these moments.

Often, however, we always get the answer later.

Jesus, when He asks the question of why God has forsaken Him, is quoting the beginning of Psalm 22 knowing it’s ending:

“He has done it”

Jesus is trusting that God will take care of the ending of the story. (more…)

I’ve lost count of the number of discussions I’ve now had online about the reality of social media. (Anyone else see the irony of that statement?  Yes, me too). I’ve also now had a fair few requests for more posts on the subject.

Funnily enough this was all perfect timing, given I’d just written a few posts on the subject. I’m also working on an e-book on the subject, which hopefully will be published toward the end of the year.

Social media is going to become one of the ongoing discussions on this site, and I hope to be blogging on it a bit more from now on.

I want to discuss issues around this subject as wide-ranging as like today – the reality of this realm – to how we can live without it, and cannot replace physical interaction.

So let’s begin with the absolute basics. The difference between digital and virtual.

On one level it would seem simple enough to discuss the reality our interactions on social media and the honesty or otherwise of the comments we post in those domains.

The problem is the same one that you often find in a lot of big discussions.

It misses the point. (more…)

As many of you know this is not the only place where you will find my writing. I also guest post for various sites on a fairly regular basis.

This week, however, there’s not just one but two guest posts written by myself which have gone live.

The first of these is on a site called ‘Goins, Writer’ and it’s run by Jeff Goins – who some of you may remember I interviewed a couple of months ago. It’s a site about writing, creativity and how to become more effective and mature in those areas of our live. It has been a big inspiration to me in my own writing and creativity, and for anyone with a creative spirit I would heartedly recommend it. (more…)

Depeche Mode once recorded the song, ‘Enjoy the Silence’ – a great tune. But how much do we ‘enjoy silence’?

In my experience silence is something that can be, certainly at first, very uncomfortable.

Awkward.

Strange.

Thoughts rush through our mind, things from within. You suddenly remember things you had to do, errands you had to run, things you need to buy, places you need to be.

As silence wraps its cloak around you, your mind begins to churn out things just to fill the gaps.

Because silence exposes us.

It strips us bare.

It makes us naked. (more…)

Today is Mother’s Day, and we come to the conclusion of my series about my Mother’s story. When she was first ill, she met with a therapist, and during that time wrote a lot of poetry in order to process what she was going through.

In many ways today is the end of one series and the beginning of another, as I will be sharing a couple of these over the next few weeks.

But on Mother’s Day, I felt it was entirely appropriate to post a poem she wrote about myself and my sister – who were 8 and 4 years old respectively at the time (the photo below was taken a few years earlier…)

It’s called ‘Let not the children suffer’ and in many senses it is a prayer asking for protection over us, a poem written out of the overflow of the heart. It was birthed out of her deep love for us and desire for us to be protected from what she was going through.

It is relatively short, but I still find it moving to this very day, and I hope on Mother’s Day it provides comfort, encouragement and inspiration to you too. (more…)

After my Mum (pictured left with a younger me) passed away, we found her diary. Her diary was, in effect, her short term memory. Every year we would give her a diary or filofax refills at Christmas in order that she would have a diary to write things down.

I looked through her diary, and found that in the weeks and months before her death, Mum had written several times in big letters underlined, messages telling herself to remind me and my sister to make her funeral a happy one, a celebration, full of joy and happiness.

These appeared several times, including one in the week of her death.

She’d not written things like this in her diary before.

In hindsight, it seems almost like she knew that she was in her last days. She had always had great perception and a deep spirituality.

It was almost like now she sensed that her time was almost upon her. (more…)

Today I’m beginning a new series of posts which relate to key parts of the story of my late mother, it’s impact on my life and the lives of others, and the lessons I learned from it – all told through the lens of my experience. This series will culminate on Mother’s Day, when I post one of the poems she wrote at the height of her struggles.

You may think a story about my mother (pictured left) sounds, on paper, a self-indulgent and pointless endeavour. We all have mothers, and they all have stories.

However, the story of my mother is one that I can assure you, will both inspire and challenge you. It is a unique, powerful and uncomfortable story, but yet so encouraging.

My mother has an incredible story to tell, one which I am certain will prove inspirational to you. A significant part of this will cover my experiences of grief and lessons I have learned, which I hope can be an encouragement and support to you.

I hope this story blesses you as much as I feel blessed by being able to share it – and although there have been tears writing this series, believe me, they are tears of joy.

Mum was what you would call a ‘free spirit’. She was 5ft 2, highly intelligent, compassionate, loving, servant hearted, and a great laugh, someone who loved a good party. A regular churchgoer, she spoke fluent French and had before she had children been a French teacher.

By no means was she perfect, but she was a very unique woman.

(more…)

Recently I posted an interpretation of Psalm 139, rewritten from my own experience, to include and be part of my own story. As if I was writing it from my own perspective right here, right now.

I thought it was such a great experience which drew me so close to God, made Him part of my story and me part of His. So I decided to do it again. I came to Psalm 25, another incredible Psalm.

Honestly, it is such an amazing experience – using words of scripture and intertwining it creatively with your own story.

I would recommend all of us to try this, especially with the Psalms. Although it can be difficult and even painful at times to be so honest and vulnerable, there is power in bearing your heart, in writing down your story. There is healing that can take place which can happen in few other ways. (more…)