Tag: bloganuary

Book I want to read

January 27, 2024

What books do you want to read?

I have to admit I was never a great reader at school. Getting me to read was like pulling teeth for my teachers. I loved sport and maths, but reading was not my thing.

After leaving school this continued until my early twenties. All of a sudden though, I had a desire to read the Bible. I did not have one so I went to the local church and purchased one.

After getting a Bible of my own I found I actually loved reading for the first time in my life. It was nothing to read for an hour of more. Looking back I now know this was God drawing me to His Word and enabling me to do it.

Many years later the Bible is still my go to book. I very rarely read other books as I prefer to listen to them while I am travelling. But I can always just sit down and read my Bible. I can pick it up any time of the day or night and just read.

I just love the fact that the Bible has 40 different authors, it is made up of 66 books, was written over a 1600 year time period, but it has one central theme – God’s love and saving message for mankind. He loves us all and He wants us to be in relationship with Him.

This is why I love the Bible so much. It tells us how we got here, who we are, that God loves us and He has a plan for our lives. For me there is no other book that compares or even comes close to it.

So which book do I want to read? It is the Bible for me by a long long way.

Good leadership?

January 19, 2024

What makes a good leader?

Leadership is something that is vitally important in all areas of life. We have all had good leaders that we loved and bad leaders who we did not love as much.

When I was at Bible college I had to do an assignment on what we thought was good leadership. We had to come up with five points with both Biblical ideas and reflections on Christian leadership sources.

Surprisingly I found this harder than I expected. There is so many examples of Biblical leadership and thousands of resources on Christian leadership.

In the end I distilled my idea of principles of Christian leadership to the following five points.

1. Christian leaders need to cultivate an intimate relationship with God

2. Christian leaders need to have a servant heart

3. Christian leaders need to be shepherds of God’s people

4. Christian leaders need to live with character and integrity

5. Christian leaders need to be committed to making disciples

For me personally I really thought long and hard about these five things. Thankfully my lecturer agreed and gave me a good mark for it.

If you are interested you can read an online version of my article on my website below. It is a cut down version of my assignment.

Five Principles of Christian Leadership

Felt loved?

January 17, 2024

Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?

I have to say in answering this question that I am a very blessed man. I feel loved by my wife every day and when I see my adult children they always give me a big hug and tell me they love me.

But one instance when I felt really loved recently was on the last day of school in 2023. I was walking around school doing my usual work as a Chaplain, when I large group of students came and gave me cards. I got lots of high fives and fist bumps from them all too.

On the cards were really nice messages of how they loved and appreciated my work as their Chaplain. They said things like thanks for always being there to listen and encourage us. One card from the oldest students was signed by all of them with personal messages.

I really love my job as a school Chaplain and times like that make me feel loved and appreciated too.

Living a long life?

January 8, 2024

What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?

Another good question to reflect on. I can honestly say I am aiming for a long healthy life, but I know ultimately my life is in God’s hands.

I do my best to eat a healthy vegetarian diet. Studies looking at the Blue Zones show people who eat mostly plant based live on average 10 years longer and are much healthier. Some live to be 100 and still work in their gardens or fields!

I do other things mentioned in the Blue Zone studies like exercise regularly, have a sense of purpose in helping others, I have a strong faith and I have people around me who love and care for me and I them. So from that perspective I am travelling well.

In saying this though, I know my life is 100% completely and totally in God’s hands. He holds my life, my destiny and my breath. When He takes my breath, I will go to be with Him… for eternity.

Knowing this, my life is about God and His Kingdom. I am here because He wants and needs me here. I still have things to do for Him if I still have breath and my heart is beating.

Does this mean I do not think about my life and the things I want to do? Of course not. I want to be here to enjoy this world, love my family, achieve some of my personal goals and look after my body. But this is overshadowed by the eternal realities of life. I am just here for a season and one day it will end.

The key for me is to live my life in light of eternity. I need to set my heart and mind on things above and not on earthy things (Colossians 3:1-2). I need to remember that ultimately I am a citizen of heaven and I need to eagerly await the return of my Lord Jesus (Philippians 3:20). This is the eternal hope we have in Christ.

So yes I want to live a long and healthy life. Maybe even make it to 90 or 100. But this all depends on God and He can call me home at any time. My life is in His hands and I would not want it any other way. He is my life now, and will be my life for all eternity.