As I reflect back upon this past year (2015), I would have to say that it has not been an easy year for me or for my family. There have of course been high points such as the fantastic times we had as a family in the Lake District (2 weeks at Easter) and Norway (4 weeks at summer). Its also been a year in which I have spent much time with my children and its been such fun in…
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…
Yesterday we finished our series at Southampton Student NAVS with our seventh session entitled “An Invitation to Pray – The Lord of the Harvest”. Our series this term has essentially focused on what it means to ‘make our lives count’ through the lens of what it means to ‘follow Jesus’ and to ‘labour in God’s harvest-field’ which we defined as being those we live, work and study with. We thought about Jesus’ call to go and make disciples and finally about how our intrinsic worth should motivate our…
For some time now I have been thinking a little on the subject of fear. Such thoughts have been stirred by my seemingly never ending study of the topic of hope but also from observing the cries of my heart. All to often my default reaction to pressure, difficult and suffering is not faith and hope but rather fear… There goes the fear… The Oxford Dictionary defines fear as “an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm”…