Articles, thoughts, essays, and content from Brian as well as students – our budding theologians.
Refresh: When we are seen…
The Bible gives us many beautiful insights into God. One of the finest is in Gen 16:13 when a distraught Hagar, having encountered God at a time of deep danger, says simply: “You are the God who sees me…” The God who sees me…. and invites us to see others as well. This Refresh post from Oct 2022 explores this important topic. Refresh: When we are seen… Have you ever felt invisible? If it’s especially bad, people don’t notice you at all, if a softer version, they sort of see you, but have placed you in...
read moreLife – and 7 other L Words…
It’s one of Jesus’ most popular claims, “I am come that you may have life, and life in all its fullness” (John 10:10). The implication is clear. Follow me, and you will find the life that is most truely life. Now given that Jesus was the speaker, we shouldn’t be too quick to assume we know what this means. After all, the same Jesus said that if we want to find our lives we must be willing to lose them (Matt 10:39) and that the first will be last (Matt 20:16), and that the way is narrow, and only a few find it...
read moreRefresh: Limiting Beliefs – Things that Hold us Back
One bad experience often becomes two, three or four, not because it needs to, but because it impacts the way we think about ourself, undermining our confidence and restricting our willingness to try again. This Refresh post from June 2023 explores the hazard of limiting beliefs… Refresh: Liming Beliefs – Things that Hold us Back I was recently talking to someone who felt God had let them down badly. The marriage hadn’t gone well even though they felt they had done everything right. Of course they had indulged in a few little...
read moreChef or Ingredient. Which are You?
It seemed a strange question at the time. “Chef or ingredient. Which are you?” The more I have pondered it, the more I appreciate its relevance. What’s it getting at? I guess behind the question is the probe, “Are you essentially a pawn in someone else’s game – there because in some way you add something to it (a tasty additional ingredient) – or are you in control of the game, deciding what goes in, and what is excluded.” Most of us would say that it depends on the setting. Sometimes we are...
read moreRefresh: On Full Stops and Commas
This post from May 2022 is one of my favourites. It notes the difference between a full stop and a comma. The one signifies an end, the other, a brief pause. Confusing them can see us giving up prematurely – as I so nearly did with my writing. The post tells the story. BTW, while this 2022 post notes 6 published books, that number is now 7 (thanks to my 2024 book, Stirrers and Saints), and hopefully it will keep growing. Refresh: On Full Stops and Commas Let me start with a brag, and follow it with a confession. I won the English prize...
read moreTowards a Theology of Personal Development (7): Guided by Hope
Perhaps there is no word in the English language as depressing as “hopeless”. It’s the word we attach to seriously lost causes, or the resigned and despairing verdict we pronounce when a desired dream is clearly not going to eventuate – “It’s hopeless.” We might add, “So let’s give up now. Carrying on only makes it worse.” Yet hopeless is not really part of the Christian vocabulary. In Rom 15:13 Paul prays: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in...
read moreRefresh: Because Our Habits Form Us…
What are 5 habits you’d like to change? And 5 you’d like to keep? Because our habits shape so much of what we do, it’s important to check we are cultivating the right ones, as this Refresh post from Jan 2022 reminds us. Hope it’s helpful. Refresh: Because Our Habits Form Us Though I no longer remember her name, I remember the enthusiastic student teacher in my primary school teaching us about habits, and how important it is to form good ones. “A habit sticks with you,” she proclaimed. She wrote the word HABIT on the...
read moreTowards a Theology of Personal Development (6): Formed by Disappointment and Failure
I always try to discover which parts of my books most resonate with readers. I was intrigued to find that in my latest book, Stirrers and Saints, the chapter on being formed by disappointment and failure has sparked many conversations. The podcast on the topic is also popular. The idea that we are formed by winter, and that it is a season to embrace rather than flee from, is a little counter intuitive, but once accepted, it’s really rather liberating. I’ve participated in a fair number of staff selection interviews, and a question...
read moreRefresh: Conscious Incompetence – On Knowing What We Don’t Know
It’s strange to think of humility as one of the markers of future success, but it is. Without it, we don’t realise how much we still have to learn, and we miss cues which could set us on a better path. I enjoyed re-reading this post from April 2022, and hope you do as well. Refresh: Conscious Incompetence – On Knowing What We Don’t Know It was only a few sentences in a podcast I recently listened to, but it set me thinking. The speaker suggested there are four stages in the journey towards competence: Unconscious...
read moreTowards a Theology of Personal Development (5): Cultivating Awe and Wonder
It was a fairly typical conversation at the end of a busy week. “So what does your weekend hold?” a colleague asked. “Not a lot,” I said. “Dinner with some friends tomorrow, I’m preaching Sunday and then we’ve a family lunch afterwards.” “Sounds awesome,” he said. “Enjoy it.” I don’t like being pedantic, but I wondered if I should challenge him about his use of words. While the weekend promised to be enjoyable, I was not convinced that there was anything in it that...
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