Posts Tagged ‘Resurrection’
Why Jesus Would Welcome Refugees…& Eat With Donald Trump
I’ve always been reluctant to blog about politics. Because politics can be so divisive. We’re all entitled to our own political perspectives and opinions, and I’d never want to force anyone – or even be seen to be trying to force anyone – to agree with me. Nor do I want to create an “us v them” mentality. That’s just unhealthy and deconstructive.
We’re all in this together. Whatever our beliefs.
I have no interest in being divisive. I’m for reconciliation, community, inclusivity – with those I agree, and disagree with.
Today there’s something I felt, to be true to who I am, I simply had to share. So if you disagree with this post, I’ve got no problem with that. We’re still friends.
All of which brings me to the topic at hand.
Donald Trump, prospective Republican candidate for President. And why I believe that – despite his politics of fear, exclusion and, frankly, hate – that as Christians, we should be willing to eat dinner with him.
Read MoreFear Can’t Dictate – Love Always Wins
I didn’t blog last week. In light of recent events in the world, I felt it was right to be silent, out of respect of the days of mourning set aside for the victims of the violence – in France, and in Lebanon too.
I felt a particularly strong sense of despair at these attacks. For a number of reasons – the more vulnerable place I’m at in my journey, having a good friend who lives in Paris. Like many of us, I needed time to process it all.
As I reflected, two words keep coming up for me in light of those attacks.
Fear. Love.
And right now, fear seems to be winning.
But I choose to say something different today. I say that love wins. And ultimately, it always will.
Read MoreSpilling The Blood Of Our Wounds (#OutOfSortsBook)
Do you ever feel out of sorts?
The feeling that underneath the veneer of ‘togethered-ness’ you give to the majority of the world around you, you are ready to fall apart.
And that sense that all the certainty of what you believed – whether atheist, agnostic, or someone of faith, something doesn’t make sense? That there’s more than the certainty you once knew.
Or maybe, if you’re a Christian like me, that all the rigid rules, doctrines and beliefs you once held sacred just don’t fit with the material reality of your life?
Me too.
I’m pretty good at the whole, “I’ve got it sorted” routine. Sometimes, even, it’s a little true. But in the last few years the veneer of certainty has gone.
The more I’ve spoken about the way my faith is evolving, the more voices of disagreement I hear.
Read MoreHow I Discovered The ‘Why’ Of Suffering
Have you ever had one of those ‘why’ moments? When something happens which causes us pain, suffering, hurt, or sheer frustration and anger – and all you can do is ask ‘Why?’.
Why did that person I love have to die?
Why did my friend develop that condition or disease?
Why did that person get the job I wanted (and deserved)?
Why have I suffered so much when I know I don’t deserve it?
Why did that expensive thing I need break when I don’t have the money to replace it?
Me too.
I’ve asked the question ‘why?’ so often it’s become a chorus, a song stuck on repeat in the depths of my heart. I still do.
But recently I came about an answer, in the most unexpected way.
Read MoreWhy ‘Transformation’ Is My One Word 2015 (#OneWord2015)
For the last two or three years I’ve adopted a ‘One Word’ for the year. The concept is to choose a word which will define your year, which will guide and direct all you do and be at the centre of everything that year.
For 2014 I chose ‘courage’. And this turned out to be very prophetic. I was confronted with the worst of myself and the best of myself.
The best? That I have a writing gift which God wants me to use to benefit others for good – and which actually makes a difference in the world. That I’m well-liked, respected person and writer with a lot to give to the world, and have infinite value and worth as I am.
The worst? My abysmal management of my finances which was going to land me in major trouble unless I took action. How disconnected I’d become from God, and from my own calling. And in what bad health I was in, physically, mentally, emotionally, professionally and spiritually. And above all, my epilepsy-related depression.
This is what happens when you choose a word for the year. In some strange, cosmic way, it comes to challenge you, and incapsulate everything you are in that year. And it’s not exaggeration to say it changes your life for the better.
Read MoreWhy To Begin 2015 With Grace – Not Plans or Goals
I’ve lost count of the posts I’ve seen in the last week about ‘making the most of 2015’, or ‘reviews of the year’ or ‘setting goals for the next year’ or a topic related to it.
There’s nothing wrong at all with these.They can be useful – and many of them have challenged and inspired me. It’s good to make plans and set goals with a new year coming.
But to me there’s something else we need to do first.
My biggest challenge to you all for this coming year, is before you execute any plans, goals or anything else,
to begin with grace.
To realise your true identity, your true self, as you are right now, with all it’s complications, mess, and difficulties
is enough. Already.
It’s healthy and important to make plans and set goals for our year – I’ve been doing some of my own – but remember whatever the outcome of your plans, whether you achieve your goals or not
you’re already enough.
Read MoreThe Oxygen Of Solidarity
I hadn’t planned on posting something by myself today. I did have another guest post lined up – which you’ll now see next Monday. You see, this morning something happened which changed my plans. An experience, a story, I knew I had to share with you today.
As I write, it’s 7.26am on a cold Monday morning, three days before Christmas. I can hear the rustling of the wind outside, the quiet hollows of a force so much more powerful. But this force of nature feels as nothing right now, against the power of the many noiseless but resounding voices of support I’m feeling through social media.
The oxygen of solidarity. Shining a glimmer of hope.
And I understand in an instant the power of two of the most powerful words in the universe:
“Me Too.”
Read MoreBorn To Live (Guest Post by Brooke Lynn)
For the rest of this month I’m going to be running a few guest posts, whilst I work some other projects (more on those soon). This will include a new blog series, which begins Wednesday.
Today however I’m honoured to host the awesome Brooke Lynn, with a powerful guest post I know you’re going to love. So, it’s over to Brooke…
Have you ever wondered who you really are, or what your purpose is in life?
I asked myself these questions for many years, comparing myself to people and measuring my worth against them. I chased after identity, success, love, value and good looks. I assumed beauty was in the outward appearance and I became obsessed with my body trying to achieve the air-brushed model look in magazines.
This only led me onto a road of self-destruction with eating disorders and disappointment while striving to meet unreachable expectations.
As a child, we have a tendency to believe what we are told. This is when I began to believe the words spoken deep into my soul; I was worthless, ugly, fat, unwanted, and never good enough.
Read MoreHow To Stay Authentic In The World Of Cyber Monday
It’s Cyber-Monday today. The Black Friday of the internet. In the UK alone there is expected to be expenditure of over £650 million. It’s the worst of consumerism. The worst of capitalism. The worst of marketing and business.
But business and marketing aren’t bad. Like anything, in the right context, they can be good – it’s the abuse and excess which taints them.
Which brings me to art. There are many artists who have and do make their living from their art. The work they create pays the bills. And we all need to pay bills.
So, naturally, for anyone wanting to make a living from their work, there becomes a huge temptation to create work which we know will sell. To invest our talent into work we know people will buy, which there is a guaranteed market for. And to market this work intensively.
As any artist will tell you, there is a cost to the work we create. Both in time, energy and money. And in time I’ve discovered, if we want to create better quality work, help more people, and expand our reach, then business and marketing have to be part of what we do.
But there’s something missing here.
Authenticity.
We need to balance authenticity with the reality of business and marketing. So how and why do we do this?
Read MoreThe Secrets You Find At The End Of Yourself
In recent weeks life has been difficult. This very weekend I had an experience which brought me to the end of myself. Issues with finances, work, health and relationships. I was sitting at home, but I wasn’t feeling depressed. It had gone beyond this.
I was just not bothered.
I mean this not in a lazy way at all. Nor in a negative, suicidal sense. But more like indifference. To life. Pressures with money, with bad habits, diet, work, career. Tough choices, pressurised situations. And I felt indifferent.
Maybe not too much of a surprise. Many struggle with this.
But what made me sit up and notice, was how little I cared about the things I am most passionate about. And it opened my eyes to a truths. Truths I already knew of in theory, but had never experienced in such a personal way.
It revealed the lies about where I – and many of us – put our security. And the amazing blessing of having it grounded where it should be.
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