Lessons from the Sheep Pen

The attentiveness of shepherding has become more clear to me this year with our ewes and lambs needing extra care and help. On many days this has meant feeding animals four times a day and administering medication. One of our lambs, …

Our Daily Need to Know God’s Love

I grew up knowing I was loved. This was communicated through countless small actions and at times given voice in heart felt expressions of love. Once I left home I realised how significant this was. One of the few times …

The Place of Being Intentional

As I flew home I was thinking about this blog and being intentional as an everyday worker for Jesus. I had exchanged pleasantries with the person I was sitting next to and we had both settled into relaxing after being away for …

The Significance of our Ordinary Lives

At times life can feel very ordinary. You might be devoted to God, faithful to your marriage partner, responsible and caring with your children, trustworthy and reliable as an employee, dependable and available as a friend. But none of this will …

In your light we see light

Friends have expressed shock, anxiety, pain and anger to the terrorist attacks in Christchurch. What does this mean for the future? God’s Spirit and God’s Word are both a comfort and a “compass” in situations like this, orientating us to …

Waiting

We hate to wait. It feels like something evil, because waiting forces us to waste time doing nothing. Those stolen moments—full of potential—lost forever. So cruel! But not all waiting is bad. God created it. Abraham had to wait. He …

Little initiatives

The kingdom of Jesus grows as you and I take little initiatives to serve and love the people around us. This might be with family, flatmates, workmates, neighbours, friends or others we meet in the course of our daily lives. Jesus gave us …

By design

When God called the prophet Jeremiah he said, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed (or gave) you as a prophet to the nations.” We are each …

Christmas Blockbuster

Christmas is a blockbuster way to begin the story of Jesus’ arrival on earth. It is packed with drama: an angel visits the unlikely mother-to-be to announce the pregnancy; the couple overcome a brief crisis of homelessness as she goes …

Living the story

After an intense time of serving, Jesus said to his disciples, “come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” I imagine laughter and lightness in their spirits as the disciples set off by boat on …