Belief 

Carry me Home

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Have you ever had those tracks that you don’t get on the album you like? You know the ones I’m talking about. Those tracks that either don’t hit the mark or don’t quite fit the vibe that you’re feeling when you choose the album. I get that. I get that a lot. Often times it’s the last track. I remember an artist friend once talking about last-track syndrome. Where you only dare put your legendary track at the end once you have confidence in your album or that ‘you’ve made it’. It’s a real thing I think. But in recent times I’ve learned there is often a hidden gem sitting at the end of the album (I’d say CD but that would just show my age).

This recent gem came in the form of the recent Hillsong United album, ‘Are we there yet’. The final track, ‘Chariot’ was often times skipped back to the title track or the bonus tracks of the extended play version of the album. Why? Well the concept never caught me in the way that some of the other tracks did. Until recently.

Sometimes you don’t know you’re headed for a storm until it’s too late. Sometimes then, not only is it too late to turn back – but moreover it’s too late to prepare for the roaring waves that crash against your soul. It’s those moments where you don’t even have the energy to skip tracks on the album you’re listening to. That’s when tracks like Chariot get played and someone provide the soundtrack to the storm.

I’m not singing the praises of the artists – although I think they nailed it – I’m singing the praises of the God that they are singing about. It’s not about the end result of home – it’s about the journey. The beauty of a chariot that is not made of mortal instruments but of pure grace. Un-earned. Un-worthy. Un-inherited. But still given. And it’s only in some of the most broken states that they can fully be appreciated. I’m there. I’m broken. But I’m endlessly grateful for the grace that’s carrying me on a daily basis. And somehow that’s enough – that’s the anthem for my day-to-day. Grace.

After all.

“ Your love is forever. You grace will be my chariot .“

And sometimes. That’s enough.

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Current News 

Mcdonalds Monopoly 2022 ‘Double Peel’ Winning Tickets

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It’s not the same as it used to be. But it’s handy, none-the-less to know if you’ve got a winning ticket. Here’s the quick way to check if you have a winning ticket at this years’ McDonalds Monopoly.

Brown – Old Kent Road
Light Blue – Euston Road
Pink – Northumberland Avenue
Orange – Marlborough Street
Red – Strand
Yellow – Coventry Street
Green – Bond Street
Dark Blue – Mayfair (obviously)
Stations – Liverpool Street

Once again, these remain unchanged as the ‘rare’ pieces for McDonalds Monopoly. The prizes range from wireless headphones all the way up to £100,000 cash. But I do love the sound of some McDonalds merch which features heavily in the instant wins this year.

Without a doubt, the coolest feature of the 2022 McDonalds Monopoly is the ability to log the properties on the My McDonalds app. Using the camera on the phone, you can literally add on the properties to your virtual game board and see it getting populated without stickers or sticker sheets like those veteran Maccers fans will remember.

And, of course, look out of the free food tokens…

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Belief Seasonal 

Beautifully Broken

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Beauty in the Broken.

I don’t believe we were made to make it on our own. I think our best efforts and energy, our holding-it-together and our facades of perfection are exactly what stop us from ever reaching new heights. I don’t believe we’re created that strong. When I fail, when I break and it all falls apart – that voice I hear inside, the one I talk to every morning, gets louder. Not with answers, not with solutions, not with requirements or even judgement. Because that voice is not mine.

That voice speaks an incomparable and unconditional sense of love and grace amongst the broken pieces. The pieces come back together. Not always immediately, but stronger and more perfect than I had achieved before. They assemble free of the pressure and pride that I had needed previously when I tried my own strength. Instead of regret and brokenness, I’m found feeling so grateful for the pieces I have and for the fact that it’s no longer my burden to carry.

The last few years have had their ups and downs. And it’s amazing how quickly I forget that just because it now seems that I have it all together, pride creeps in. Call it self-worth, call it positive identity or call it independence – in reality it’s just pride. And pride opens up the cracks that invite chaos. So it’s only time before things start to crumble.

I had a few things to battle this week. A new venture that sprouted out of the carnage of the last few years. It brought with it new passion and new vision. I felt so alive in it. But my worth suddenly shifted into it. You see, the venture was a blessing – perhaps a taste of the future. But I needed to be reminded it’s not my identity, nor is it (in itself) the dependance of my joy.

In a split second, the venture broke down. It hit me hard. But after a few minutes or letting it sink in I gained perspective. And while normally I would sit in a pit of despair for a few days, I realised I had grown over the last three years. Brokenness is actually the platform for new, better things when I trust in the restorer. I don’t think it’s coincidental timing that it was just before Easter, but it even more solidified the focus I needed. I was broken because I was starting to build my life around my new successful venture and not around the provider of this (and so many other) blessings.

Culture can call me crazy. The bald man walking to dog, talking to himself in the mornings. But satisfying culture is not something a broken man can afford. So let me be clear. On my hardest days; in my most broken states – I am more dependant on the One who took all my failings onto Himself. I talk it out with Jesus. When I understand. When I don’t. When I’m broken. When I’m mending. And in that exact exchange; I am made more whole than I originally was.

What Jesus achieved several thousand years ago took the broken: Past, Present and Future and turned them into beautiful. His body was broken, so ours could be put together again. One moment in time that could eternally bring healing for all humanity.

While life says that all the pieces from a broken vessel can only add up to the same as the original, I say that actually afterwards the restored vessel is something more. Beautiful and stronger than ever before because of the one who brought it back together. The architect who brought perfection out of brokenness: Jesus.

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Life Stories Seasonal 

2021 and 2022

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As 21 chimes to 22 tonight, I want to remember all that I have learnt this year. Not just the 25 things I mentioned over the course of the last month, but this season entirely.

I am a firm believer in fact that everything is a part of a larger tapestry of events. And while I can’t tell if it’s because I’m two years older or because the last two years were a mess – it seems like time moved faster than in previous years. I’ll resist the temptation is to discard ’20 and ’21 with all its’ speedy chaos in favour of remembering its role in my larger tapestry.

I feel like I have learnt more from these trying years than I have in a long time. Of course, there’s so much more to learn, but while saying goodbye to the past – I like to think that the part I still carry with me are parts that will make the future that little bit easier.

Above all else and through all the lessons, I always come back to one fact. The even when I don’t understand it and even when there is no logical explantation to the season I’m in- it doesn’t mean that it’s not all part of the plan. Chaos is never entropy, but rather our lack of insight to the larger tapestry. Say what you will about my faith, albeit smaller on my part than I’d like, my Jesus always pulls through.

No matter what 2022 contains or throws, whether it’s grand or a footnote in the wheels of history – I know I trust a God who holds 2022 and holds me. Not because He has to, but because He wants to. And who am I to question or worry about anything else? That’s more than good enough for me. And in that spirit, regardless of circumstantial feelings, I look forward to the year ahead with a full and expectant heart.

Cheers, and Happy New Year everyone.

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Belief Life Stories 

A 2020 Carol

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Magic was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of its burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourners. Society all but signed it. And Christmas was a further complication for what was already, for many, the most confusing and devastating season in a recent history. The brightly lit trees, brass band carols and clippity-clop of reindeer were a desperately long reach from the current reality. Now, just hours from the start of a new year, even the optimistic were cautious to label 2021 as ‘their year’ or ‘the best year yet’.

Just over a year ago, we all blissfully went about our festive busyness – complaining about the weather and all manor of fickle issues. We had no idea as 2020 prepared to wipe its mucus-clogged nose slowly and painstakingly across the globe.

But yet as this year unfolded there were lessons three to be taught to me. Sure there were many but it was these that stuck, you see?

Disclaimer for those who need it – Let me be clear. I’m not foreign to varying degrees in which this year has effected people. Much like the virus, 2020 affected people in completely different ways. Pushing us all and stretching us all differently. And sure, in hindsight it may all be helpful when we look back on it, but for now the pain is still so very real – in the moment. This is only my story. It’s not better or worse than others, but it’s what I learned. Though dramatised for the purposes of this world renowned blog, with over one viewer a week, the lessons and truth behind it are very real.

You see, it all came by the presence of three ghosts. And by ghosts I mean (mostly) fictitious analogies to represent the lessons I would later learn. And nothing at all like a cheap rip of Charles Dickens masterpiece – A Muppet Christmas Carol.

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Belief Current News Seasonal 

The Lighthouse (Faith over Fear)

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In the midst of a chaotic and confusing time, Easter remains a constant. This year it may not be shared with family in the same way or celebrated in church buildings like years-gone-by. But Easter itself remains, just like the truth that it pertains to. And perhaps, now more than ever, its message is as life-giving as it ever has been. And to that end, I write this. Not to belittle or ignore the efforts of those around the globe fighting on the frontlines of the pandemic or to overlook the heart and resilience of everyone doing their part by just ‘staying home’. But rather to strengthen my soul in the one fact that remains unturned or unchanged by this, or indeed any storm that clouds our skies…

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Belief Seasonal 

Bitter / Beautiful Cold

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There’s no doubt, I think, in any of our minds that life gets more complicated as we progress through our lives. Probably with the increase of responsibilities, stresses and pressures expected of us, all coupled with the fact that the world seems to be changing at break-neck speeds and is often hard to keep up with. So, then, it is perhaps no surprise that our situations, decisions and paths-trod become equally complex.

I remember thinking through the journey I took to get me to where I am today – in light of business only – and I almost lost my thought-train several times. All the flip-flops and crazy situations made me loose count. I don’t think I’m any exception either.

Fortunately, in all my understanding of who God is, He’s not scared of complexity. Specifically just looking at Jesus’ arrival. What appeared to be the most complicated and unorthodox baby birth in our written history, God cut through the situation and somehow brought a simple solution. A birth in a barn, a baby in a manger. Probably not the birth story Mary and Joseph expected. But yet, God pulled through for them regardless.

Walking the dog in the bitter cold, and (just imagining) the snow flakes and their beautiful complexity, reminded me that the same heat melts them regardless of their intense and unique designs. In the same way, however complicated my life becomes and however weaving the road I make becomes, the same God doesn’t change. Hope came through the complexity two thousand or so years ago and made a way. That still applies today. Where I see mess and confusion, God sees a way. The only challenge is reminding myself to hand him the reins.

Looking back over the year gone by and then the festivities ahead; I’m reminding myself that there is no comma or ellipsis that hangs-by-a-thread while I stop to rest. Instead, my sentence is already written and the full-stop added by the author and finisher of who I am.

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