Wearily upward

A while ago the fire alarm in the hall next to my office started beeping. At first it was just the occasional beep throughout the day. Then it started beeping once every five minutes or so. It was clearly time to change the battery. However, it was one of those situations where no-one really knew whose responsibility it was to change the battery. I suppose that's one of the challenges when lots of people, organisations and charities use the church building as a base of operation, subsequently hot-desking it (where no one really has their own desk or workspace, but just uses whatever desk/space is available at any given time): no one takes ownership of what's around them, because they're not there all the time. I see a resemblance between this situation and my personal walk with Jesus. I sometimes run out of battery for various reasons. It may be that I'm not consistently intentional about spending time in God's Word. It may be that, at times, I get a bit slack i...

Yesterday we had a lady from Open Doors preach at our Morning Service. It was really moving to hear about the wonderful work they do with and for the persecuted church all around the world. She quoted a Christian from the persecuted church in Central Asia that really stuck with me: "Persecution teaches you to really know Jesus - not just know of Him." This got me thinking, as quotes usually do. It seems that we, in the free west, have grown a little too familiar with Jesus. Yes, we live in a country where religious persecution (of all faiths) doesn't happen; at least not openly. We have freedom of speech. We've even used that freedom (wrongly) to suppress and subdue those who disagree with us; trying to legislate Christian morality, for example (which can be a whole other series of blogs altogether). And yet it is as if we're missing the core of our faith: Jesus Christ. I am reminded of the events described in Mark 6. Jesus was going round doing amazing mira...

My son loves cuddling. Most of the time. Well... wrestling is probably a better word to describe what he likes to do. And I love that. Looking beyond the odd head-butt here and there, or the occasional knee in uncomfortable places (guys will know what I'm talking about...), I love the fact that he just wants to be with me, if only for a little while. The other day I was lying on the couch watching rugby. He came into the living room, saw me, exclaimed, "Pappa!" then ran up and jumped on me. He just looked into my eyes to make sure he had my attention - our noses almost touching - openly coughed into my face and casually jumped off to go and bother his big sister. That brief interaction was enough for him to know that I'm still there before carrying on with his day. Sometimes I'll have my phone out and he will just climb onto my lap, wedge himself between my face and my phone. I'm convinced he does this just to get some form of acknowledgement that I know ...