I was sitting in a Sunday night house gathering on a Sunday night (der) with some of my favourite people. Favourite both because I like them and also because they are people who are after the same things I am after. God being able to be all of who God is, no matter what that looks like in their families, their communities, their own lives. I was reflecting with a friend as people broke into small groups to pray together that I wished I could have seen what the early church ga

Do you have an anthem? A song that no matter what is happening: good, bad, great, horrible, terrible, fantastic, amazing, spectacular, the Pit of Despair (cough cough) [gratuitous Princess Bride reference…] It is guaranteed to lift your mood, give you strength, make you dance, have you hollering out the words - even if you don’t know them all. Most people I know report that it takes a combination of lyrics and music that hit you in the “feels” to make a really good anthem so

A well stacked wood pile in a dry shed. Long green grass under blue sky with fluffy white scudding clouds. A slow walk on the rail trail with the dog. A gruff v8 engine in a sleek ute. ATVs. Teeny tiny flowers in the grass. Super fresh eggs. Really Old Trees. Watching the sea for hours. The smell of rain on a hot road. French Earl Grey Tea. Beautiful fabrics and papers. Nail Polish. Beetles and bugs. Feathers. A really good HB pencil… What are your favourite simple things? Hu

Have you ever felt scattered? As if there is too much on your plate to manage, or it’s too hard to keep your eye on the ball when you’re trying to keep too many balls in the air, or there are not enough fingers for too many pies? Any of those sayings that we trot out to try and explain that we’re very busy and feeling overwhelmed. Maybe even not so busy, but still feeling overwhelmed. Or in a super long holding period that doesn’t seem to have an end. Even learning a new skil

I have a picture for you this week. I asked Papi what to write about (as usual) and so, here goes. Have you ever thought about where you are in relation to God? As in, imagined or looked where you are when talking to Father, Son or Holy Spirit? Do you ever have ideas or pictures of places or an understanding of where you meet, or what you are doing together? I often do. Mostly it’s related to what I’m doing in the moment, but at other times it’s different. The one I want to s

Backed up by the BOM, we are in drought. The last time Tasmania had consistent rainfall to recharge groundwater and surface water storage (meaning; lakes, rivers, dams and soil moisture content) to adequate levels is going on four years. Recently, my Uncle Barometer posted on FB a chart of an approaching front that will hit the east coast of Australia, bringing with it storms and rain. In January. The whole of the east coast. Including Tasmania. He has a history of accuracy w

The deepest rivers make the biggest impact on the landscape. Glaciers carve a path that will remain long after any trace of water in the region has gone. Hidden water, far beneath our feet is busy making beautiful places that maybe God alone will see in the lifetime of this world. It is written that when we walk on the Narrow Way we have rivers of living water flowing in us and through us. Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him… Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. Colossians 3:17, 23-24 (NIV) I was sitting on the couch eating dinner, watching tv, thinking about writing, wondering about y’all, asking Father whether what I had started

Welcome to 2016! Time is real, and oh, so insubstantial! We (humanity) have followed God’s example with day, night and seasons and made calendars for ourselves. Someday, I really hope to find out where it goes to, all this time that goes by us as we live through it… I have learned a lesson about time this fortnight. Funny isn’t it, how life throws you curve balls. Out of the blue, something that initially seems little and insignificant, suddenly becomes the most significant t

Well, it wasn’t a partridge in a pear tree or any of those other quasi-useless demonstrations of love, most of which seem incredibly pointless to this pragmatist – although I should check the market, maybe I could sell them and pay off some of my mortgage… If you send me Ten Lords-a-Leaping etc and so forth, I’ll put on a show, sell tickets and maybe get my nice front picket fence done! I wonder what Mary and Joseph thought about the wise mens gifts of Gold, Frankincense and

Still Advent, but I wonder if you’ve ever considered Esther. Twelve months of beauty treatments before being presented before King Xerxes for consideration to replace the former queen. Esthers’ Hebrew name was Hadassah which means “Myrtle” and implies “sweet fragrance”, but the name we know her by, has more interesting implications. Esther has been linked to Persian origins, and those of us who have sat under sermons about her, in pews for many years might have heard that she

This might be a little more Easter than Advent, but I find that this season actually forces me to consider the full ramifications of the decision God made to live among us here on earth. So this week I have one thing for reflection. No matter who we are, where we come from, our experiences, our lifestyles, our gifts, talents, likes, dislikes, height, age, ethnicity, religious heritage. When we are at the foot of the Cross, we all stand on the same platform. No one person is b

Advent has begun. Many different denominations follow liturgical calendars, on Sunday I was in a service that used readings from one of those calendars, for the first time in a long time. I love pomp and circumstance, and on one hand, the pomp-ier and circumstance-ier, the better! I like things that twinkle and sparkle, I like things that smell and make tinkley little noises, I like gonging, chants, well trained choirs, good organists, lone pipe-men, bugles, responsive readin

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Just consider and meditate on Him who en

It’s been said that prayer is just talking to God. Well, I’m single, and I live with a super-sized border collie. So if you walk into my house, you’d be forgiven for thinking that I have a disorder, because I talk to Him out loud pretty much all the time. Not the dog, I mean, God; although the dog does get his fair share. How do you pray? Years ago I did list prayers. Dear Jesus, here are all the things I need to remember to talk to you about today…Amen. Then came the ACTS pr