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 […]
spiritual formation
162 posts
I recently watched some guys putting down a concrete path. Just before they laid the concrete down, a mesh of steel reinforcing was placed into the trench. The concrete was then poured around this mesh until hidden away. Now I have seen concrete work done where there was no reinforcing […]
Rebuilding Walls have weakened, crumbling, sinking low to ground, sagged like our spirits as they view the sorry edifice before us Bare bones of former beauty now stained with such decay And there is no Nehemiah, or any other builder to be found who can shore up this shell restore […]
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.’ […]
Do you like questions being asked of you? I don’t think any of us like that feeling of potential shame and exposure. Ever since Adam hid himself from the gentle questions of a loving God we have chosen to avoid, hide and lie to camouflage the obviousness of a problem. I […]
Recently, I have been reading and practising mindfulness. I have found it very helpful, so I thought it would be good to get some advice and guidance around mindfulness. I tracked down Richard Johnston, who has a website dedicated to Christian Mindfulness. So I sent him some questions. 1. What […]
I was always on the lookout for black wool. I raised on a sheep farm here in New Zealand and whenever shearing time came around I was in the shearing shed working alongside those lean muscular men, shearing our sheep.
Something happened here but it didn’t happen overnight. As a gardener I have been working on an old homestead garden for two days every week for around two years. When I first started, the garden was in bad shape. Over grown with weeds, dead trees and sick looking plants it […]
It’s his favourite resting place. I have a large comfortable chair in my office. With solid armrests and comfortable cushions sometimes it’s a tussle between myself and our two dogs who gets to sit on it. Our nervous pound pooch Tyler particularly likes it. He climbs his large body into […]
I had never quite sensed that feeling of release before. It was time to have a rest. That feeling of letting it all go and handing it on to someone else. I had been in ministry for 13 years serving as a Pastor/ Chaplain to people who struggled with ‘Normal […]