Ann, thank you for guiding us through Holy Week. It’s such a good practice as others have mentioned in the comments to deliberately walk through each day alongside Jesus. Now it’s Wednesday. A quiet day. Well, it is in the Scriptures but there was still a lot of activity, some in public and some of it in secret. A day Jesus’ enemies plot against him. We’ll get to that in a moment. Jesus Teaches (Luke 21:37-38) As he has done each day so far Jesus leaves Bethany to travel to Jerusalem to teach in the temple. Remember, there are millions of people in Jerusalem for the Passover Festival and Jesus is taking every opportunity to teach as many people as He can. What do you think it would have been like in Jerusalem this week? I’m not good in crowds but the opportunity to hear Jesus would be something special,... Continue reading

Photo courtesy of MinAn at Pexels.com Hello, Ian from sunny Sydney. Lent started last Wednesday 22 February with Ash Wednesday. It’s a season that marks the 40 days leading up to Easter, mirroring the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness. Accordingly, it’s a season when we have an opportunity to consider that we too are sent into a wilderness of sorts by the Holy Spirit so that we can draw closer to Him and deepen our faith. Repentance Often, much of this season can be spent on penitence which can be misconstrued as an emphasis on our sinfulness. As we know when Jesus stepped out of the wilderness His first words were: “The time has come; the Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.” (Mark 1:15 NIVUK) This is an invitation to turn our lives around; that’s the meaning of ‘metanoia’ which is the... Continue reading

Photo courtesy of Karolina Grabowska at Pexels.com Hello, everyone. Ian, from hot and humid Sydney here. One of our challenges as SUMites is the spiritual welfare of our children. I know for many of us it causes us a great deal of angst for a host of reasons but one that often raises itself in our situations is the lack of support (sometimes downright discouragement) in being able to have our kids attend church/Sunday school. I’m not wanting to focus on the attendance matter in this post, rather, what we, as parents can always being doing irrespective of whether our kids attend any structured Christian activity. Pray! Praying Mom (and Dad!) When we were young, Mom asked the four of us to attend Sunday School at a nearby church. Mom always asked us to give new things a go. Try them for 6 months and if you don’t like it,... Continue reading

Happy New Year, dear SUMites. I do hope you all had a blessed time with loved ones over the Christmas/New Year period. And now we Fast. It’s become the traditional way we SUMites start our years. It’s a great way as individuals to draw closer to God and doing it together can deepen that experience and strengthen our bonds as a group. Transition Seasons “We become what we behold” – William Blake I think I shared this Blake quote in a previous post as it’s become one of my favourites over the years. During Advent, I was drawn to the notion of how we spend our time while we wait; Advent, of course being a season of waiting. I mentioned last time in my Advent post that I’m presently in a season of transition. Looking forward to what the next season in my life holds having spent much of the... Continue reading

Photo courtesy of lil artsy from Pexels.com Hello, Ian here from sunny Sydney. It’s summertime here and we’ve had a lovely few weeks of great sunny weather. It’s incredible how quickly the year has passed as we’re now only 2.5 weeks away from Christmas. For many of us 2022 has been a tough year, perhaps another year in a long season of tough years. As a result, many of us may be simply pushing through to Christmas with gritted teeth, avoiding the shops by making their purchases online, and hanging out for the beginning of a new year wishing for a brighter new start in 2023. It may be a real struggle to experience any real joy at present. If this is you, may I encourage you to take some time out. Close the door behind you or go out for a walk, sit on a rock looking at something... Continue reading

Hello, everyone and welcome to this short series on reading the Bible. I’m excited to learn as much as I can and have the honour of kicking us off with my own Bible-reading habits. I would suggest my Bible reading is a little eclectic. I read passages from the Bible every day in some form or other. These days, I rarely read a book of the Bible from start to finish (with one exception) tending to focus on specific topics or passages that my other reading has led me to. The Psalms The one exception is the Book of Psalms which I tend to continuously read from start to finish using some form of ‘guide’ to prompt my reading. At present, I’m working through a book called “Openings” which each day introduces the reader to a saint or sage and works through the 150 Psalms over the course of a... Continue reading

Photo courtesy of Cottonbro and Pexels.com Having just read Ann’s Monday post on guilt I thought I’d share a post I’ve shared a couple of times over the last 10 years. As this month, it’s my 10-year anniversary of finding this community. It was September 2012. I had always wanted to attend the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference and having a publisher for Angelguard I thought it a useful way of building some momentum for its release a few months later. My wife and I combined it with a holiday to the US with the plan to attend the conference in DFW on our final leg before heading home. The conference had started, and I was having a ball meeting lots of fascinating authors including some of my heroes plus gaining a lot of useful information. There was one workshop titled “How to Market Your Fiction Like a non-Fiction... Continue reading

Photo courtesy of Pexels.com and Anderson Guerra Hello, Ian here. Fiona and I planted a lemon tree two or three years ago. And this year, we discovered we had some fruit, tiny green lemons. The yellow comes later. Gradually they grew a bit more each day, week and month. And then the colour began to change from green to yellow. That took months too. Recently we picked them. Almost fully yellow lemons. We juiced the first one and it was nice and tart as a good lemon should be. Productivity and Fruitfulness We live in a world where achievement is highly recognised and rewarded. From an early age we are encouraged to be better, do better and achieve much in whatever field we choose to follow. It’s very hard for us to get away from wanting to keep up with the joneses. Even in things like our marriages and our... Continue reading

Photo courtesy of Pexels.com and Scott Webb Ian from wintry Sydney here. Happy 4th of July for all my American friends. Fiona and I were reflecting the other night how ‘play’ has changed so much for our children and grandchildren. Being born in the 1960s and growing up in the 1970s, we’d spend hours and hours a day playing. Swimming in the pool, riding our bikes with our friends, exploring the wonders and joys of the bushland, or simply using our imaginations to make up games and stories using basic objects like clothes pegs, shoe boxes and so on. What fun! Life growing up was pretty simple. We didn’t need much money or things, just an active imagination and a willingness to experiment. We entertained ourselves. The all-pervasive nature of electronic entertainment is so addictive for us all and our children. We have a plethora of screens to choose from... Continue reading

Photo courtesy of Abel Tan Jun Yang at Pexels.com Hello dear friends. Ian, from a chilly Sydney here. First day of winter and the southern part of Australia has got caught in a cold snap that’s come up from Antarctica. Brrr … This is the final part in my little series on shifting our focus away from ourselves and setting it on Jesus. We’ve often talked about the challenges in our situations of being active participants in a Christian community. For many years, in fact too many, I chose to minimise my engagement in Christian community. As a result, I didn’t develop any meaningful relationships with other believers. I was doing life with Jesus alone. And it was hard work. God’s a Community God is communal in His very nature- three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we are formed in His image. We were made to be communal.... Continue reading

Photos courtesy of Pexels.com/ron-lach Over the past couple of months I’ve been sharing some thoughts on how we shift our focus away from our busyness and ourselves to refocus on Jesus. In my first post, we shared about meditating on Scripture and the second one in Holy Week was about the power and wonder of Stillness. This time around I wanted to share about a practice that I’ve taken on more conscientiously this year … Sabbath rest. “Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life” (Dallas Willard) I’ve read that quote from Dallas Willard, one of my favourite teachers, many times. Willard believed that hurry was “the great enemy of the spiritual life.” I think we can all testify to how challenging busyness is and how it can limit our time with God, and Christian friends. How frequently do you respond when someone asks ‘how are you’ with something along the lines... Continue reading

This is one of my favourite weeks of the year. Walking with Jesus to Easter, to be reminded once again of His sacrifice for us and the hope His life, death and resurrection give us. Daily Events Years ago, I read the four Gospels to follow along with the 8 days of Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday, and culminating in Easter Sunday, the Resurrection. It was a fun experience as I was able to read the different passages each Gospel writer used to describe the various events. On Easter Monday, Jesus leaves Bethany, the house of his great friends: Martha, Mary and Lazarus, to go back to Jerusalem. It’s the day he walks past a fig tree that has no fruit and also the day He cleared the temple. Focus on Jesus I don’t want to reflect on those events even though both have significant meaning but rather to... Continue reading

Photo by Italo Melo from Pexels A month ago, I wrote this post about shifting focus onto Jesus. Why do we want to focus more on Jesus? Because in discovering how to continually draw close to God, we learn how to let go of control which helps us to worry less and to love more. And now I start fulfilling my commitment to you on how to do it. Well, on some ways I've found to do it. :) Lent starts Today! It’s significant that this post lands on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Perhaps you don’t pay much attention to Lent. And that’s okay. Lent marks the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness and perhaps more significantly, as we journey through this season, we begin to appreciate with greater understanding the gift of Jesus' death. I love Lent as it helps me shift my focus.... Continue reading

Photo by Ethan Sees from Pexels Happy New Year, my friends. I know it’s now February. Wow, where did January go? But this is my first post of 2022. I’m so looking forward to this year. Where is our Focus? A new year often brings new beginnings, new hopes, new challenges. Often it simply brings more of the same just in a new year. We can get caught up in channelling our focus and our thoughts on newness or on the existing. For those of us who can grapple with anxiety or worry, we can continue to allow ourselves to focus on the worries or the fears or the things that are making us anxious. For many of us SUMites, the mismatched nature of our marriage will often feature prominently in our thoughts. Will 2022 be the year we see breakthrough? Will our partner find the Lord? And what if... Continue reading

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net I’ve always loved December. Living in Australia, it’s summer, the end of the school year so we always had our long summer break over December/January. It’s also my birthday month and … it’s Christmas. I still recall those days approaching Christmas when the presents used to begin to pile up under the tree. Most of them were for dad, he’s a doctor and all his patients bought him presents. Every year. But my sister and two brothers were more excited by what Santa would put in the pillow slips that sat at the end of our beds. We’d struggle to sleep we were that excited. But mom always warned us that Santa wouldn’t arrive until we were fast asleep. And then when we woke, far too early for mom and dad, we’d have to wait until they arose before we could open all the goodies in... Continue reading

Image courtesy of Phil_Bird at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hi all, Ian from Sydney, Australia here once again. I’m coming off a hectic month of caring for my parents. Both have been in hospital and as lockdown restrictions eased, we’ve been able to have minimal visitation access which has been great so one or two of us can get to see them. This has also involved constant updates with doctors, social workers and keeping the rest of the family informed. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s a season I treasure but it can be tiring work, simply because of its 24X7 nature. During this period, for example, I’ve received phone calls at 6am, 10.15pm and at Sunday lunch with friends. In addition, we made the decision with Mom to move her into a nursing home, the same as Dad’s. We all agreed it’s just time. Even though Mom doesn’t want to relinquish her independence,... Continue reading

Image courtesy of Tina Phillips at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Ann’s most recent post has lingered in my mind for a few days and I thought I’d reflect a little more on it. If that’s okay? Ian here from a sunny Sydney. We have those between a rock and a hard place moments don’t we? As I think I’ve shared a few times before, one of Fiona’s biggest fears is that she’ll become a ‘church widow’. There was a time a few years back when I attended a couple of prayer meetings a week on top of my Sunday commitments and whenever you have some form of leadership responsibility, pastoring and caring for those you lead takes added time. Crunch Time Like Ann mentioned, our partner reaches a point when it’s all too much. And I especially feel for you ladies because as I’ve said a few times over the years, for many... Continue reading

Image courtesy of tiverylucky at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hello dear friends, Ian from sunny locked down Sydney. If you’ve followed my recent posts at the beginning of each month there’s been this consistent theme of connecting with God in the ordinariness of our day. For years, I think I often sought God in the big moments, hoping to receive some huge revelation or witness some ecstatic event in a church service. I do believe such moments occur but increasingly, I’ve found that living in the moment, irrespective of what I’m doing, is where I sense God’s presence. Pleasant Surprises A couple of weeks ago, I took Dad to an appointment with a new specialist whose clinic we hadn’t visited before. Both of us were a little anxious because of not knowing what was in store. As we walked into the waiting room, I said quietly, ‘Lord, you are here.’ Immediately, I relaxed... Continue reading

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hello, everyone. Ian from Sydney here. Last month I wrote a post on the seeking to live in the unforced rhythms of grace by taking on the Lord’s easy yoke. Increasingly, I’m discovering how important it is especially amongst the everyday stresses and strains that we all experience. Accordingly, I wanted to reflect a little more on living such a life. Beholding “We become what we behold” – William Blake My word of the year is ‘Behold” and it doesn’t take long to understand the truth in it. The more time we spend thinking about something, focusing on something, the more entrenched it becomes in our minds. It’s now commonly acknowledged in science that the more beholding we do the more it will affect our thought patterns, our feelings and behaviours. Addiction behaviour is often a reflection simply of beholding something too frequently... Continue reading

Image courtesy of hin255 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hello, dear friends. Ian from a very chilly Sydney. I’m hoping those of you in the northern hemisphere are having lovely vacation time in warmer climes. We just finished a marvellous series from Ann on slaying giants. I was particularly grabbed by Ann’s idea of taking hold of 5 stones (like teenage David) as a weapon against our giants. In my comment to that post I mentioned my 5 stones. I wanted to explore one of them a little further in this post. Stress and anxiety For several years now I’ve been a significant carer for my elderly parents. They’ve both recently spent some time in hospital and delightfully were housed a few rooms away from each other. Mom is now home, and Dad is being discharged as you read this post. I’m continually surprised how draining it is. Managing the hospital staff, my... Continue reading

Image courtesy of SawBear at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hi! Ian from wintry Down Under. Love! It tends to be something we compartmentalize, don’t we? It’s how we feel about our spouse and children, our parents and there’s this industry around romance, the books and movies. Strangely, or perhaps not so, it’s actually not talked about a lot. When asked what I’m writing about, people often give me strange looks when I mention it’s a book about love. “It’s unusual for a man to talk and write about love,” said a lady I met picking my mom up from a dental appointment when I happened to mention what I’m writing about. I will often squirm when I’m sharing it with a new group of people especially one only of men. I get these strange looks and the subject quickly changes because it’s an uncomfortable subject. Why is it something we find uncomfortable discussing... Continue reading

Happy 15 years dear SUMites. Ian here from Sydney, Australia. I thought I’d share how I found this community that is very dear to me. Some of you may be familiar with my story but for all of you newbies you might find it interesting how a man from Down Under stumbled across this safe place. It was September 2012. I had always wanted to attend the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conference and having a publisher for Angelguard I thought it a useful way of building some momentum for its release a few months later. My wife and I combined it with a holiday to the US with the plan to attend the conference in DFW on our final leg before heading home. The conference had started, and I was having a ball meeting lots of fascinating authors including some of my heroes plus gaining a lot of useful... Continue reading

Image courtesy of FAVPNG and workablequantit26 Hi Sumites, Ian here. Another Easter has passed. Ann led us through Holy Week and I thought I’d share some thoughts on one of the stories we read post Jesus’ resurrection. Thomas and his doubts When Jesus first appeared to the group of disciples in the Upper Room on Sunday night, Thomas was missing. Why? The Biblical accounts don’t tell us. In the days following, Thomas catches up with his friends, only to be informed that he missed the return of Jesus. Incredibly, he doesn’t believe them. Why would his friends mislead him? Why doesn’t Thomas trust their words? Thomas responds with his well-known statement: ““Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:24 NIV) Soon after, the disciples are all assembled in... Continue reading

Image courtesy of Janpen04081986 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hello, dear SUMites, Ian from sunny Sydney. The world was turned on its head this time last year when the first people outside of China began to be diagnosed with this new virus strain which the medical community named COVID-19. The virus soon spread exponentially (a term that became part of our daily lexicon) throughout every land, borders in many countries were quickly shut and panic set in. A year later, some countries are still in the thick of it. Vaccines are being rolled out to the masses and everyone’s hoping and praying that by the end of 2021 the world might go back to normal. Lament The loss of life, both in terms of deaths but also change in daily routines, access to family and friends, loss of employment, and so on has been immense. The world has been crying out, ‘how long... Continue reading

Image courtesy of blackzheep at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hello, my SUMite friends. Ian, from Down Under here. I trust everyone is holding up okay under the continued stress of the global pandemic. It has sure been an unsettling time for all of us and finding ‘peace’ can be especially difficult. One of the blessings of the Beatitudes refers to being peacemakers. (Matthew 5:9). However, to be a peacemaker we first need to be able to receive peace. I know I often struggle to engage the peace that is already present inside us through Christ. If I’m grappling with some internal struggle or feelings of anger, fear, bitterness or lust I may hide these away instead of drawing closer to Jesus and engaging the peace that resides in me. Jesus Walking in the Room I love the scene in John 20, the day after Jesus’ resurrection, when the disciples are locked in the... Continue reading