Category: Books

  • Amused to Death, or Staying Sharp in Lockdown?

    Amused to Death, or Staying Sharp in Lockdown?

    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…

  • 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…

  • The Big Church 365 Choose Life Read

    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…

  • Faith in Word and Deed

    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…

  • The New Kirundi Bible!

    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…

  • Recommendation for Parents…

    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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…