Month: Jun 2024
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We Are Praying
This is the third and final post looking at some responses to our call to missions that we have experienced over the past couple of years. The previous installments consisted of my response to two opinions that have cropped up on multiple occasions, namely: an overstated view of risk, and an overstated view of sacrifice.…
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They Just Don’t Make Them Like They Used To…
In the last post, I spoke about one attitude that we have received from a number of people, which responds negatively to the risk that moving overseas brings. I will do a third post on the overwhelmingly majority response which we have received (which is incredibly positive and encouraging), but today I am going to…
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It’s a Dangerous Business Frodo
“Mum, I know what I want to be when I grow up,” seven year old Dónal excitedly said, as my mother tried to stop me from twisting round while she dried my hair. “I want to be a spy for MI6, just like James Bond!” “Oh Dónal, no, no, that kind of job is very…
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The Lock On The Gate
Spring 1972 brought an integral moment in my life. Not that I was around. Yet one act of antagonism towards some Christians in 1972 would have repercussions that would affect the lives of many, including mine. For several years a small Christian organisation had run summer camps on a farm in Co. Sligo, but with…
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There Are Stars That Sing In Outer Space
A sister in our church informed me once of the fact that the stars “sing”. We know this apparently from a discipline called “Asteroseismology”. What struck me was how this reflected the “forgotten” Christian life. That is, the life lived not at the front but faithfully to God nonetheless, which he takes pleasure in. Funny…
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Time: The Great Accumulator
This is how my house looks. Crates, boxes, suitcases. These ones to stay, those ones to go. Sorting through the old pictures, notebooks, stuff. “Oh, where did you find that?” “Hey, do you remember this?!” What to keep? This could be useful. The minimalists don’t appreciate the power in the potential of an item. “We…
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Thinking Strategically Is Not Just For Missionaries
“For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you…. but with toil and labour we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you…
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Worth One Minute of Glory
Last year I had one particular week that was somewhat conflicting. I had been listening in online to a large Christian conference that had delegates from all over the world. It was an incredibly encouraging few days of hearing how God was, and is, at work across the globe. My heart was lifted up and…
