Author: Alex

When I was a child, I loved going to the beach, armed with my bucket and spade, ready to build sand castles. Sometimes, if I had help, my friends and I would build small villages of them, often surrounded by a moat which we would fill with water. WE were proud of our efforts, until the tide came in and swept all our hard work away. I felt sad, knowing my castles wouldn’t even stand for a day.
Continue reading “Build It On The Rock!”

With Halloween just around the corner, I wanted to spend one more week writing about the topic of light and darkness. We’ve dealt with the positive sides. Jesus is indeed the light of the world, and we, as reflecting lights, are instructed to shine for him. We know ours will be a dim reflection at best, but it’s light all the same, and light is what this ever-increasingly dark world needs.
Continue reading “The Reality Of Darkness”

Last week, we talked about Jesus as the “light of the world”, and we discussed how the image of a lighthouse can often remind us of our Saviour. For me, this is only one part of the picture, because elsewhere in scripture, we are told to be lights. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5: 14-16.) Does this mean we are to be lighthouses too?
Continue reading “Shine Your Light!”

During my mid teens, my mother became fascinated with lighthouses. People began buying her ornaments, and we even had one on the end of the pull cord that operated our bathroom light! Up until this point, I don’t think I’d given them much thought, but all that changed when we visited Portland Bill in Dorset, and my parents and I stood on a darkened night, watching the beacon lighting up the sky while the waves crashed around us.
Continue reading “The Lighthouse.”

Earlier in the year I wrote about the joy of the arrival of spring after a long winter. Now, I find myself at the opposite end of the scale, as we head into the final 3 months of the year, and the autumn leaves start to fall. The nights are drawing in, and the days becoming colder. There is less opportunity for sitting outside, and walks have to be carefully planned to avoid the rain.
Continue reading “harvest.”

Have you ever felt the Lord compelling you to do something? It’s happened to me a few times now, and usually takes me by surprise. The first thing I do is presume this can’t possibly be God. It has to be my over-active imagination, because God surely wouldn’t be asking me to do this!
Continue reading “Take That Step!”

Thanks to Sarah for these beautiful thoughts.

The other week, I was having lunch with friends. We were talking about Brexit, which is pretty big on the news these days. Will Boris Johnson get us out of the EU on October 31st, or will his opponents thwart him so they can keep extending the deadline? Whichever outcome you favour, you’d have to say there’s a lot of uncertainty here at the moment. To some it feels like a bit of a crisis.
Continue reading “There In A Crisis, by Sarah Tummey.”

Thanks To Kay for sharing her thoughts and experiences with us. What an encouragement!
What a few weeks I’ve had. I finally got given a date for the final operation. My surgeon got his secretary to call me and I was booked in for 22 August. Just a week to get organised.
I felt so stressed. I had appointments to rearrange, work to inform, kids to sort out, and it was GCSE result day the day of my surgery. So what did I do? How did I cope? I messaged my church.
Continue reading “The Comfort And Power Of Asking For Prayer, By Kay Warner.”

Thanks to Lou for these beautiful thoughts on prayer.
Prayer, very simply put, is a conversation with God. It can be broken down into different categories. There are prayers of praise, where we can express how wonderful and awesome God is. There are prayers of thanks, where we can thank The Lord for all he has done for us, or for specific ways in which he has helped us. Then there are prayers of request, either for ourselves or for others.
Continue reading “Setting Aside Time To Pray, By Lou Beard.”

I have heard it said that prayer should be as natural for the Christian as taking our next breath, so why is it that so many of us struggle to maintain a consistent prayer life? Is it because we struggle to converse with someone who rarely responds in an audible manner? Do we even sometimes feel embarrassed, especially when praying out loud, lest we be overheard, and accused of talking to ourselves?
Continue reading “A Divine Pattern For Prayer.”