It’s always dangerous when we subconsciously create a ‘saviour’ out of a sinner. If you stand too close to the pedestal, of a venerated statue, you’ll get damaged by the cracks. I always cringed when someone would call me ‘Pastor Barry’. If possible I would always ask them to never do […]
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What if this is not the worst-case scenario? What if it is the best-case scenario? How would your view of your current circumstances change? What if every person you encounter is simply doing the best they can with what they have? What if every person who misunderstands you and causes […]
For Mental Health we need a grounded spirituality. Beware of Woo Woo and La La Land and how they can subtly disconnect you from reality. A form of spiritual abdication. Do you like some ‘Woo-woo’ in your life? ‘Woo-woo’ refers to something that is ‘dubiously or outlandishly mystical, supernatural, or […]
Confession can take the pressure off ourselves and give an opportunity for harmony to come into our relationships. Six things we need to learn about confession for our Mental Health. ‘I need help with my husband, wife, child, friend.’ The thought of living in harmony with others sounds idealistic and […]
Meeting with others on a regular basis builds strength and resilience in our Mental Health. Friends build each other up to be strong. I wasn’t expecting any great life-changing moments happening in this small group of three people. As they talked, I could see that they were increasingly feeling comfortable […]
We’ve been robbed in more ways than we know. It wasn’t the usual snatch and grab. This was more a subtle insidious taking of life. In the early stages of their depressive illness, they had been put on the new wonder drug Valium. With strong tranquillizing effects, life was muted. Then […]
Under the thin veneer of supposed ‘ordinary’ is a power of creativity and life. There are no ordinary people. If you saw her in the mall you wouldn’t take a second look. This was probably intentional on her part. Average height, weight, with modest clothes she would slip into the […]
Mental Health is … doing one thing well (not purrfectly) every day over a long period of time. How many pieces of information will you receive today? Facebook, twitter, emails can bombard and distract. Is there a level of confusion in your life? I read this recently If you want to […]
Pressure within is building. How do you let it out without destroying precious relationships? You prick the balloon in a safe controlled planned out way. You need to let it out or it will eat you up.
The Christmas story is one that takes us into a world of mystery. Virgin birth, singing angels and puzzled parents. It also offers us a glimpse into a party going on with surprises created to delight.
‘If it wasn’t for sin I would be out of a job’. This was a little quip I came up with when I was a pastor. The life of sinfulness and helping people through the mess kept me employed, gave me a living. It does for many of us, especially those in […]
Fatigue seems to sap out any reserve you might have to go on. I remember visiting him in the Intensive Care Unit in our local hospital. After a huge overdose of pills he had woken up to discover he was still alive. His attempt at suicide had not succeeded. His […]
A friend recently asked ‘Do you know what the ‘Golden Rule’ is’? He then went on to say that ‘He who has the gold makes the rules’. This is an example of a power dynamic. Power dynamics refers to the way power works in a setting. Whether that be within a marriage, […]
It’s OK to be angry, and seriously I think we could get more angry, about a lot of things, and it would actually help. In fact the Bible tells us to be angry!
Even you need to be part of the rebuild. There are some people who really get me fired up. They are the ones who in essence say ‘I don’t want to get my hands dirty’. They essentially don’t want to be part of what you are doing. As a child […]
The old saying is true. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. It’s also true that you can take the water to the horse, put the water in a china cup and sprinkle rose petals over and it still won’t drink. In my years as a […]
I love watching those ‘Mission Impossible’ shows. The script takes you to places where you wonder how this ‘Mission Impossible’ will be resolved because if it isn’t, then the whole city is going to be destroyed in a nuclear explosion. I have met people who live in the shadow of […]
Every Tuesday night in our church service, John would stand up and like a little mouse, he would come to the front and ask permission to share a passage he had memorised. The Living Room church service was set up to be an alternative to the mainstream services held on […]
On first appearances everything looked great until you went underneath. The old house had that lovely country cottage feel about it but as time went on discoveries were made of rotting walls, leaking pipes and drains not working properly. There was always going to more underneath than what was first […]
I thought I could handle this one myself. That I didn’t need help from others. A ‘pioneering, do-it-yourself’ attitude had worked its way into the rebuilding of my life. I thought to myself ‘I don’t need others to know what is going on, I can handle it all, it will work out ok.’ […]