George Orwell wrote about the time a wasp “was sucking jam on my plate and I cut him in half. He paid no attention, merely went on with his meal, while a tiny stream of jam trickled out of his severed oesophagus. Only when he tried to fly away did he grasp the dreadful thing that had happened to him.” Back in 1985, Neil Postman wrote ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’. The book is obviously dated, but whatever warnings he flagged up back then concerning the dangers of being conditioned and shaped by vapid television content – well, they need to be […]
Category: Books
A Spiritual Enema for 2021!
‘Spiritual enema’ is how my friend Kevin describes my daily devotional ‘Choose Life’ – in his words, it ‘clears the decks and provides a welcome shot in the arm’ – metaphors galore! Well, I would definitely prefer submitting to a spiritual rather than to a physical one! So do you need one as 2020 comes to an end? I think we all do! From the start of 2021, a whole bunch of churches and individuals are going to be journeying through the year with ‘Choose Life’ as part of the Big Church 365 Read. We’d love you/your family/life group/school CU/church/etc to join […]
The Big Church 365 Choose Life Read
Greetings! So lockdown started on a national level on Thursday. There’s no pretending these are easy times to go through… …but I’ve got a proposition for you, which I’d love as many of you as possible to get behind. All the more in our enforced confinement and isolation, this could be a spiritually bonding and strengthening discipline. We’re teaming up with St Andrew’s bookshop to get as many people as possible throughout the nation on the same page (literally) as we journey through the coming year. Many of you have already read Choose Life – in which case, could you […]
Faith in Word and Deed
A vicar was too busy to help a desperate homeless lady needing help. He fobbed her off with a promise to pray for her. She wrote the following poem and gave it to a local Shelter officer: I was hungry,And you formed a humanities group to discuss my hunger.I was imprisoned,And you crept off quietly to your chapel and prayed for my release.I was naked,And in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.I was sick,And you knelt and thanked God for your health.I was homeless,And you preached a sermon on the spiritual shelter of the love of God.I […]
The New Kirundi Bible!
At last! Rosemary Guillebaud will be dancing in heaven! I blogged on this back in April, and it’s taken until this week because of various frustrating delays, but now I’m so happy to be able to say that the new updated version of the Kirundi Bible has been launched in Burundi!!! I’ll paste the previous blog below for context. Many thanks for all those who sowed money into this, so that we were able to help the Burundian Bible Society to get the project over the finishing line. Now may the new version be quickly accepted (there are always some […]
Recommendation for Parents…
Of all the things we’ve read together as a family, none has been more interesting or effective at engaging with our kids as this book. It includes geography, history, stories, and faith. So I’d give it a massive recommendation. We did it over breakfast daily for several months, and they looked forward to it each time. Parents/grandparents, I can’t think of a better present for your kids/grandkids. For UK folk, click here to order. For US folk, click here. Also, as we prepare for Christmas, and getting resources for Advent, Jotham’s Journey is superb story-telling. There are three of them […]
My Country Wept…
Theo did as he was told and laid his head down on the floor, waiting for a machete to end his life… Here’s a massive recommendation to buy yourself (and for others too) this newly-published book about my friend Theodore Mbazumutima’s truly extraordinary story. He should be dead, but somehow, on multiple occasions, his life was spared. So please order your copies here for the UK and here for the USA. Enjoy! (although I’m not sure that’s the right word) This is a story of soaring hope in the most hideous of circumstances. Yes, there are good news stories to […]
Choose Life!
“I loved it so much, I got it for all my grandchildren!” “I’ve given it away to fifty people so far!” “I conduct an orchestra and have given one to every member!” This is just a quick plug for Christmas gifts for loved-ones. I love hearing how people have been impacted by the daily devotional-of-the-year ‘Choose Life!’ If you’re struggling to think of what to get someone, how about this? To order in the UK, you can buy it from St Andrews Bookshop. Or in the USA and beyond, click here And as I searched for the Amazon link, I […]
The Pain of Desire…
Below are some mind-blowing notes including a couple of edited entries from my Choose Life devotional. If you read them slowly and chew the cud, rehashing and mulling over the contents, maybe it’ll be literally life-transforming. If you simply flit through and then go back to Facebook or answering emails, you’ll have stumbled over and beyond the greatest treasure imaginable. Maybe it’d be worth printing it out and taking it off on a walk. Your choice. Here goes: Ephesians 5:18 says, “Be filled with the Spirit.” The Greek present tense is used in the above verse, meaning the infilling of […]