Sunday has been a very significant day for Christians. The reason we have traditionally held church worship on this day is because it is the day of Jesus’ resurrection.

New life and new hope came on Sunday.

This week, God worked in me the courage to share some of my reality with a friend. This may not seem like much, but for me it shows God’s goodness and commitment to community.

He has been with me as I have written assignments, giving me focus and clear thought.

He has also put good men and women next to me, who will listen without judging and are happy to admit they don’t have answers for me.

I need more friends like that in my life.

Exited for what this week is going to bring.

Dear God

You win

I relent

Have your way

I’m done with running Read the rest of this entry »

Tonight there was a celebration at Cliff College. We celebrate every 2 weeks, the work God has been accomplishing in us and through us.

We gather and sing, think, reflect and encounter God together.

Tonight, a student at college preached on St Paul, and talked about how the message we proclaim is meaningless unless it has affected our lives. There was a big emotion-filled call for prayer which, frankly, put me off. Yet if the invitation is open for prayer, and heaven knows I need it, who am I to refuse? Read the rest of this entry »

Shouting; noisy; smelly; beatutiful

Rage; boredom; nowhere; kind

Hopeless; abandon; forsaken; loved

On the yellow-lit streets on a freezing November evening, there are some young people who like to meet their friends at the crossroads where there are shops. People do not like this. They see ‘gang’ and ‘yobs’ and ‘knife-crime’.

Spend an hour, spend two. There is goodness here. Ask God to show it to you.

Fight the cause of these fatherless kids, condemned to mediocrity. Show them extravagent love.
Amen

God,

Tonight as I sit watching Lord of the Rings surrounded by fond friends, I can’t seem to find rest.

I’m not behind with any work and indeed I have been reading for my classes. I quite enjoy it, to be honest. I enjoy my studies – I remember what the writer and theologian Alistair McGrath said when I heard him speak at at Greenbelt: “Christianity is both spiritually fulfilling and intellectually nourishing.” I think he’s right. Theology – the study of God – truly is intellectually nourishing.

Yet this night I can’t find rest. It makes no sense.
Read the rest of this entry »

Maker of the earth and sky

Who knows all things

Who sees the human heart

Be here now

It hurts

Amen

The room is dark and the smell of spices hangs in the air. The waiter comes and takes our orders. Tonight we’re eating curry at a charming local place.

Conversation starts.

Mindless trivia

Pathetic tales of nonsense

Two people who work full time, own a nice house outside of London drive nice cars and have nice lives.

Yet over the dinner table, conversation is strained and awkward. There is nothing to discuss.

My heart is troubled.

In a dark place with a smell hanging in the air.

I want to cry.

‘God, this can’t be my life

Please Lord, save me from this

I don’t want to become my parents’

For those who missed it first time:

I was never a popular kid at school. I can distinctly remember always feeling like an outcast, like I didn’t belong. As an 11 year old kid, secondary school is a scary place. For a variety of reasons I was never with the ‘in’ crowd. In fact I think I was the ‘out’ crowd of my peer group. Needless to say I didn’t enjoy school much. Just to get a feel for what school was like for me, I can remember being beaten, naked on the floor of the changing rooms at school.

I did not grow up in any form of church environment and so my knowledge of God is limited. Read the rest of this entry »