A reporter for the NZ Herald recently wrote that Holy Week used to feel for him as if "there was grace in the air." And I'd have to agree. There's something about Holy Week, as we follow Christ's journey to the Cross, His death and His Resurrection, that intensifies our faith and makes us more… Continue reading Grace in the air

I'm sitting in the car waiting to pick the kids up from school. I'm parked on the side of the road. Street signs, concrete, fences, cars parked, cars driving past. It's a rather unattractive urban view. Or is it? For my car is parked beside a hibiscus bush in flower. Beauty there if I choose to… Continue reading Focus

    PARADOX: - A situation or statement that seems impossible or is difficult to understand because it contains two opposite facts or characteristics Sacrifice. Praise. Two words that seem mutually exclusive. A paradox. Two words that don’t belong together. Praise is like the woohoo of your day, an overflow of happy. It’s exuberant, joyful. It’s something… Continue reading Paradox

God steps into our day amongst the ordinary, amongst the chores and the mundane. Often when we least expect it, He makes His presence manifest. For one woman completing her ordinary daily task of drawing water became an extraordinary encounter with the Messiah. The mundane, the routine was the environment that Jesus intentionally stepped into and a woman's… Continue reading The unexpected encounter

Kotiti - To go astray, stray, deviate, go off course, digress, get sidetracked Over summer I went on a River cruise down the Matakana River. The boat was named Kotiti after the meandering of the river outlets in the region. Rivers which had forged their own paths and weaved around the landscape to their own… Continue reading Kotiti

The Battle of Waterloo. Belgium 1815. The forces of the French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte were defeated by an Anglo-Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington. It was the decisive battle of the Waterloo Campaign and Bonaparte's last. The defeat at Waterloo was to put an end to Napoleon's rule as the French… Continue reading The finger of God

In the car, my boys and I play a game – "the yellow car". The first person to see a yellow car and call it gets a point. It's got to the stage that even if I'm in the car myself I've caught myself yelling "yellow car!" The thing is, now we’re so used to looking for yellow… Continue reading God Spotting

"The hands of the Almighty are often to be found at the end of our own arms." (Call the midwife) One day two friends, trying to learn how to minister the love of God to others, prayed a simple prayer in a restaurant. “Who do you want us to tell that you love them?” After asking… Continue reading The hands and the voice of God

Have you ever watched people in conversation and observed people leaning in closer to hear everything that is being said? Intent on catching every word. Or perhaps you have watched children playing Chinese whispers. Each child leaning to the next to whisper the sentence. Leaning in, showing intentionality to listen to what is being said. As we… Continue reading Lean in