The backdrop to this post is our recent news (see Newsletters) that we are expecting a 5th baby at the beginning of May. We learned this just after Christmas and suffice to say that it was quite a surprise especially given that Debbie was already around half way through! Questions about such as; Why us? Why now? Why not for others? How are we going to cope with five? We’ve been wrestling with this but feel like we are starting to get our heads…
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”…
Yesterday we continued our series at Southampton Student NAVS with our sixth session entitled “An Invitation to Serve – The worth of the Individual”. As we continue to consider the vision on God’s heart for our lives we now turn to the intrinsic ‘worth of the individual’ and how that truth could and should, inspire, motivate and fuel our service with the people living, working and studying around us. To this end we consider nine key lessons about our intrinsic worth, the kind of people God…
Yesterday we continued our series at Southampton Student NAVS with our fifth session entitled “An Invitation to Go – A Vision to give our lives to”. Our fifth session is the culmination of the series so far and builds heavily on the ideas and concepts developed especially in the session on the Invitation to Labour. We are now talking about the overarching vision that holds together our desire to labour in God’s harvest to help others to follow Jesus, grow in faith and build them up. This…
The life of Peter is an inspiring story of how God uses us despite our failures. Peter, so adamant that he would not betray Jesus ends up doing exactly that. Yet unlike Judas his failure is subsequently turned on its head as hope wins through. Jesus restores him, commissions him and then we read in first Peter how he had experienced this living hope. I have always really appreciated the life of Peter. Perhaps that is because I can identify with his…
Yesterday we continued our series at Southampton Student NAVS with our fourth session entitled “An Invitation to Labour – God’s Harvest”. This week we introduced our next metaphor which will be the basis for our discussions for the rest of the term. Having discussed what it might mean for us to follow, grow and to build (primarily in our own lives) our focus in this series is now changing to start to think about how we labour in God’s harvest-fields. This metaphor is from the natural…
I’ve been reading through Jeremiah and Lamentations over the past couple of months. Its been a fascinating and very challenging read. It has however made me very grateful that God did not ask me to be an Old Testament prophet! Parallel to my reading in Jeremiah has been another challenging period for our family. Below I detail three recent disappointments and some of the questions they raise before turning to some reflections from the life of Jeremiah… Firstly last week was quite difficult as a nasty sickness/stomach…