Category: Uncategorized
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How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time. Bizarrely, my life seems to have contained a surprising number of elephants. You know the sort I mean….. Those big, ginormous things looming ahead of you Sometimes they’re work projects. Sometimes they’re things in your personal life. Sometimes they’re things you’ve chosen to do, and sometimes they’re things you’d really…
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Nobody Knows Why It’s Called Bettys
This week I had the wonderful treat of going to Bettys Tea Room in Harrogate. The queues were long, the tables were packed, and I was ready for the full Bettys experience, gluten-free style! Wanting to get into the mood of the moment, I decided I needed to know a little more about Betty herself.…
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You’ll Find Her in the Mortuary
These are the words my poor dad heard over the phone in 2001 when trying to establish my whereabouts. It turns out language matters! Let me set the scene. Back in the day, I’m 21 and on a gap year in industry, teaching English as a foreign language in the lively town of Lutherstadt Wittenberg.…
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At What Cost Do You Stay?
There is a question I have found myself returning to over the last few years: At what cost do you stay? Over the last few years, there have been significant seasons in both my personal and professional life when, if I am honest, I didn’t want to stay. Leaving would have been easier. At times,…
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Have We Added Extra Luggage…..
Have you ever been on holiday with someone who packs absolutely everything? (I may or may not be guilty of this….) Three pairs of shoes. Five coats. A travel iron. Half the bathroom cabinet. And then, when the suitcase refuses to close, they sit on top of it and hope for the best. I’ve been…
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Do I Still Need to Remember that God Eats Pink Custard?
When I was a child, Sunday school was full of little challenges. Who could find the Bible reference first? Who knew where the Minor Prophets were? Who could get from Genesis to Jude without using the contents page! And then there were little sayings to help us remember the order of books. “God Eats Pink…
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Are we speaking a language people can understand?
A few years ago, I found myself in a conversation with someone who had never really been around church. As we talked, I used a phrase that I’ve used all my life! “Have you been saved?” I asked. They looked at me slightly puzzled and replied, “Saved from what?” It made me smile. Not because…
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What People in Recovery Have Taught Me
Some of the people I admire most are those in recovery from alcohol or drug addiction. I realise that may sound surprising. But as a pastor, a church member and simply another human being, I look at many people in recovery with enormous respect. Partly because I know myself. I know how difficult it is…
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God Doesn’t Ask You to Stop Being You
One of the things I’ve noticed and felt personally over the years is that Christians can sometimes accidentally give the impression that following Jesus means becoming exactly like everyone else. Aspiring to some kind of pre-set personality as though life will be better once we attain it! And in doing so losing something of yourself! No…
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What Prophecy Does and Doesn’t Promise
Recently I’ve been thinking about prophecy. Not in the dramatic sense that often comes to mind when we hear the word, but in the quieter moments when someone speaks something over your life and years later you realise that what they said actually happened. By God’s grace, I’ve experienced that a number of times in…
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