The Valley of Eshkol – From Fear to faith
Fear freezes out faith. The valley of Eshkol helps us to think about we can move from a place of fear to a place of trusting God in faith…
When it all goes pear shaped!
Two weeks ago we had a somewhat challenging period of about 5 days. It was challenging on a whole number of levels and was one of those times when everything felt like it was going ‘pear-shaped’. My most striking memory of pears comes from my mother who during my childhood was particular motivated to see me benefit from what she felt were the enormous health benefits of eating pears. There was no getting away from them and if I did…
Milestones on the adventure
I’ve been thinking recently about dates and anniversaries. September/October time is a period in which I celebrate a number of key milestones. Here are a few key things which happened to me around this time of year. Milestone #1: Meeting my first love (24 years) My first milestone takes me back 24 years. Around this time of year 1993 (5th September to be exact) I first committed my life to following Jesus. I was 14 years old at the time…
Lambing Time: The Sheep and their Shepherd
We can have confidence in a God who knows us and treasures each one of us, knowing our individual personalities, gifts, strengths and weaknesses, and being able to tell us apart from everything else He has created.
Faith that can move mountains
Following a work conference this past weekend we returned to Southampton and five minutes from home filled our car up with petrol ahead of the week ahead. I filled up the tank, paid for the petrol, headed home and thought nothing more of it to be honest. Today was our day off and we pottered around Southampton with the usual array of school drop offs and collections. However towards the end of the day there was a distinct smell of…
Making sense of Faith, Hope and Love
So its been quite a while since I last posted anything here! We’ve been in Norway (4 weeks), the Lake District (8 days) and my wife Debbie recently spent some more time in the Mother & Baby Unit. Suffice to say that we are now moving into a somewhat calmer season of our year and so as life starts to find the rhythm of its new norm I thought I would post some of my thoughts from the summer. In particular I…
Faith, hope and Fear
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”…
A change of Perspective
A change of perspective can completely transform how we see things. This happened for Debs by way of a rare poem!