Mum’s story: Let not the children suffer
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…
Jesus: Empowering women
When Jesus rose from the dead, the first person to see Him was important. They would be the first person to preach the gospel, to teach people the good news that the Son of God had been raised from the dead – indeed, to tell Jesus disciples He had been resurrected. Such an amazing privilege, and a huge responsibility – whoever that person was would be remembered for the whole of history.
Mum’s story: Finding peace..and a diary
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…
Mum’s story: April 29th – My day she died
Having written about the serious asthma attack my Mum (pictured left with a 3 year-old me) had, and it’s consequences both for her and for our family, today I am moving on to something altogether more difficult, more painful. Her death. I have never written about this experience before. But now, 12 years on, inspired…
Mum’s story: April 1st
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…
Soul speak: My own Psalm 139
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…
Reflections on Greenbelt 2011
I’ve now been back from Greenbelt for three or four days, and had sufficient time to digest what happened over that weekend and what God was doing. Greenbelt was the first time I’d really been away on my own. Although whilst I was there I was blessed to meet loads of people I knew completely…
Off to Greenbelt 2011!
I’m off to Greenbelt tomorrow, for the first time. If you don’t know, Greenbelt is essentially a Christian arts festival held at Cheltenham race course over the August Bank Holiday in the UK. Greenbelt’s slogan is “Where arts, faith & justice collide” and the theme this year is ‘Dreams of Home’, which is sure to…
Know your Sabbath, know yourself
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB95KLmpLR4] I watched the film ‘The Social Network’ last night (see the trailer above), a film which tells the story of the early years of Facebook, how and why it came about and how as things developed it affected the relationship of the two guys who began it. Its a brilliant film and I’d recommend…
Sabbath & Creativity
Recently, whilst examining the principle of the Sabbath, I realised there is a link between Sabbath and creativity. And that, in fact, Sabbath at its best is at the heart of what it is to follow Jesus – and should impact every single part of our lives.