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…)

A fortnight ago, I was prayed for at the end of a leadership meeting.  As we prayed, a friend shared a word for me – to read Psalm 139. When I got home I read the Psalm and spent a lot of time reflecting and medidating on it. Below are the spontaneous reflections on this passage, straight from my heart.

It turned out that what came from inside of me was my own version of Psalm 139, written in the context and out of my own story, with my experiences, insecurities, thoughts and reflections. It was an amazing thing to do – and ultimately connected me more intimately with God, as well as giving more meaning to the original passage of scripture itself.

I would recommend any of you to try the same, and see what happens – and when you do, let whatever comes out, come out.

Don’t be afraid, and don’t have an edit or delete button.

Just let your soul speak.

Whatever it is, God already knows – and I’m certain the result will lead you deeper with Him than you were before, will open your eyes more to the God already present in your midst.

So here it is, my own version of Psalm 139 -  unedited: (more…)

I was recently prayed for at church by some friends, some people from my church community. It was a time where God had really stripped me down and exposed me, and I was being brutally honest about where I was.

About my doubts.

About my fears.

About my insecurities.

I had never been quite so truthful in a prayer time at my church, and I had never felt so naked in church.

I felt completely exposed.

I sensed that God wanted me to go up before anyone else, and that He was stripping me down. I knew He could see me way below the surface, naked, so to speak – and that I could be completely safe being completely exposed with Him.

So, I went and got prayer.

When I got up the front, I silently prayed that God would send the right people to pray with me, the people He specifically wanted to pray with me. When they came, I was honest with those who prayed for me about all of the issues I spoke about, and more.

But then something happened which totally shocked me.  (more…)

Regular readers will have seen part 1 of my interview with writer and blogger Jeff Goins earlier in the week, where we discussed his journey so far, his new book and the difference between writing a book and writing a blog. Today we move on to discuss the creative process overall and how Jeff experiences that. So here goes.

James Prescott:Jeff, what have been your biggest struggles overall when it comes to creativity – not just on your book, but overall, and how have you dealt with them?

Jeff Goins: Yeah, I definitely appreciate what that struggle is. The biggest struggle I feel and experience as a creative person is finding my harmony in the tension of what Seth Godin calls ‘shipping’, getting your art out there to the world, and getting it to good enough.

I tend to have these two opposing extremes when it comes to my emotions. One side is perfectionism, like nothing feels good enough, and that’s what keeps me working on something for months and months and years and never sharing it with a soul, because I’m afraid – of failure and what people would think, and there is something holding me back from sharing this with the world.   (more…)

As a follower of Jesus, it would have been irresponsible to conclude this series on masculinity without discussing how the life of Jesus should influence our attitudes to masculinity, and indeed, femininity as well.

It’s a theme that will continue in some of my posts on a more irregular basis in future – I hope to have another guest poster posting on it soon – as it’s a subject I’m passionate about, that’s very important to our discipleship journey.

I find it very frustrating when some pastors (and I won’t name names, but most of you will know the ones I mean) come out and say Jesus had to be this this tough guy who could beat someone up.

But it’s just as frustrating when he’s portrayed as some wimpy loser, a total walkover, man in a dress. The Jesus-is-my-boyfriend, all-smiles ‘nice guy’. The picture sums this image up perfectly.

Frankly, neither version of Jesus seems manly, neither is the kind of man I want to be and neither is a Jesus I can follow.

Jesus wasn’t simply a ‘tough guy’ who would even consider beating someone up and put violence first, nor was He a total pansy, wimp and a walkover, all smiles all the time – and neither are what, in my eyes, a real man should be.

(more…)

After writing a lot on relationships and the role of women in the last few months, I felt it appropriate to share a little on the issue of masculinity. So in the next few weeks we’re going to be having a series here on this issue – including a guest post next week, with the female perspective on masculinity.

When writing on masculinity there’s always a danger that you can be accused of being under-qualified. In the church even more so – as a single man in his 30’s it can be easy, both culturally and in a church context, to be seen as not a ‘real’ man because I’m not married.

This kind of sums up the point I want to discuss – that a lot of what we have been reliably informed is what makes a man a ‘real man’ is not actually Biblical, but just cultural traditions which have come through misinterpretations and misunderstandings of scripture.

This post covers both singleness and masculinity – partially because so often the subjects are linked, especially in a church context and partially because that’s largely my experience – often I’ve felt that because of my singleness, that somehow I’m not a real man, not as masculine as married men – that is partly my perception, but also partly down to the attitudes and language of some people I have met or heard speak on the subject. (more…)

I have spoken a lot this past 12 months of the process of death and resurrection. Usually, what comes out in my writing is a reflection of my own journey, and this past year, 2011, has been one where this reality of this truth has been manifest in my own life.

Now you may think, entering into a new year, that death isn’t exactly the best place to start, especially after we’ve just celebrated the birth of Jesus. But paradoxically, I believe death is actually the very best place to begin if we’re to experience a year of transformation and growth.

I have experienced death – and of course grief, something I will speak of in a future post – first hand. I lost my mother when I was 23.

It wasn’t actually my first experience of grief, as I’d lost grandparents before. But it was the first time a person in my direct family or network, who I had a very close relationship to, had passed away. It wasn’t even the biggest shock. My mum had suffered from asthma for years and we had all come to accept that the asthma would eventually claim her life – but none of us had really expected it so soon.

But death is something that wakes us up to who we are – and by death I don’t merely mean facing our own, or others, or going through grief. I mean experiencing the emotion, the power and ultimately, the process, of death in our own lives.

You see death is the engine room of life. (more…)

Christmas has now been and gone. It’s less than a week and we’ll be into the new year – which is only two months away from my next birthday.

It’s a time where you naturally come to reflect on what God has been doing in you in the past year, what might lie ahead in the year to come and begin to get some perspective on things. It’s a natural process and one I tend to go through in the last couple of months of every year.

It’s strange, looking back, just what God has been doing. To be honest, it’s nothing like I expected at the beginning of the year. I realise now looking back, that I had all these plans of what God was going to do this year, how I was going to grow, what was going to happen.

It hasn’t happened anything like I planned – and I thank God for that.

One thing that I am feeling overwhelmingly right now though, at the end of the year, is thankfulness.

I have seen people I love pass on to be with Jesus this year. I have seen good friends lose their jobs, homes or in some cases loved ones. All this has happened in my immediate community, and impacted my world. I have been praying this year for people to find jobs, find homes and for God’s comfort in their grief. I have also had the privilege of seeing people I care for make a public commitment to Christ and be baptised, which has been a source of great joy.

At the same time, God has been taking me on a journey inside myself, into my own heart. He’s been exposing truths about me – some I knew existed, some I didn’t, and it hasn’t been pretty.  (more…)

I’ve been overwhelmed in the last couple of weeks by the response to my both the first and second posts in this series on abstinence. What often happens when you write is God takes an issue you’re passionate about and care deeply for, and inspires you to write something. But what you’re not prepared for is how others will respond. I have to confess a feeling of risk when first posting the initial blog post, and wasn’t too sure how people would react, given the nature of the topic.

However, the response to both was amazing.

I received questions, heard some great points made on either side, from all sorts of sources too. Posted to me on Facebook, via Twitter, as well of course some great comments in direct response to the posts themselves. That’s been brilliant because one thing I love is a good discussion.

I genuinely feel that healthy discussion, showing love, respect and grace, whatever your opinion, is actually a very positive and constructive thing, whether you ultimately agree or disagree.

So thank you to all those who’ve contributed.

This third part of the series is really about drawing it all together and possibly answering some of the questions people who’ve either commented directly or replied to the post on social networking have put forward.

The first thing I want to say is to be totally honest. I am tempted in this area. (more…)

We’re now entering into the final week of Advent, Christmas is almost upon us. In this Advent series so far we’ve looked at the shalom, peace of God, how we can discover God right where we are amongst us, and about grace. Today, as I draw the series to a close, I want to talk about joy.

When my mum died, I felt immense pain, grief and sorrow. I was angry, I was upset, I was hurting deep down. It was one of the worst moments of my life. For a long time I wanted to go back in time and do something to stop it happening.

But as I started to process this grief – through prayer, counselling, talking to friends and hearing memories of her, remember the good things about her,  things began to change.

I reflected too that as a Christian she wasn’t completely gone, and that I would see her again.

This year, eleven years after it happened, I looked back and saw all the good that God brought through that pain, the transformation that took place in me as a result of it, and I began to see that it was part of the plan for her to die when she did, that God knew it would happen then and planned for it, that it was her time to die, I felt something deep inside – something I feel now every time I think of her.

Joy.  (more…)