Wednesday Riff: To Connect
It’s what we want, What we need, The longing of our living. To know and be known, To understand and be understood. To draw close and not be rejected, To …
Blog Archives
Monday Rewrite: The Cave
Imagine the scene, a gloomy cave in the middle of nowhere, and a power player desperate to relieve himself. Maybe he ate the wrong things the night before, or the …
Film Friday Reflection: Official Secrets
We recently re-watched Official Secrets, a film based on the true story of Katharine Gun. Whilst working at GCHQ she saw an email about the U.S. and the U.K. attempting …
Wednesday Riff: Sure Foundation
Nothing can separate us from God’s love for us, Nothing can drive a wedge between us and his care. The happenings of each day can’t, Nor the restless fears at …
Monday Rewrite: A Lost E-pistle from Rahab
top-pro@citywall.ex-jericho to joshua@conqueringhero.jericho-rubble Dear Sir Just wanted to thank you for saving my life. And for honouring your promise and preserving my family too. When your boys knocked on my …
Monday Rewrite: A Lost E-pistle from Rahab
top-pro@citywall.ex-jericho to joshua@conqueringhero.jerichorubble Dear Sir Just wanted to thank you for saving my life. And for honouring your promise and preserving my family too. When your boys knocked on my …
Wednesday Riff: For You
For you we want to live and love, And work and care and worship. In you we find our meaning, Identity, worth and purpose. With you we make it through …
Film Friday: Hook
I was reading this week about David fighting Goliath. (In Pete Wilcox’s book Walking the Walk.) In 1 Samuel 17, David refused to wear the king’s armour, which was a …
Monday Rewrite: A New Start
Like so many, she was trying to construct a life from things she found in the market stalls. And she had a gift for it, no doubt. Spotting the best …
Film Friday: A Call to Spy
Due out in October this new film tells the true story of the network of spies established early in World War two in occupied France. ‘Spymistress’ Vera Atkins is commissioned …
Wednesday Riff: New Song
Whispered, chanted, hummed, Blasted, sung or mumbled, A tune for bad and good singers, A new song, another kind of music. Lyrics laced with fresh poetry, Coursing through our being, …
Monday rewrite: Two Experts
Jesus looks at him, sees beyond the public face, hears the unspoken questions. ‘What are life’s most important rules,’ the man had asked, seeing if his question could upend this …
Film Friday: Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
Yes. Really. No kidding. This is a film that fuses two genres my daughter loves – Jane Austen romances and shock horror scary stories. In this world the Bennet girls …
Wednesday Riff: A different kind of radical
‘Blessed are those not offended by me,’ He once said after one exchange. ‘Blessed are those who can cope When I break out of their boxes.’ For we all get …
Monday Rewrite: The Word
Once upon a time, in the beginning, a story was told, a Word was heard. And the Word was Hope. And this Word had legs, and a voice, and a …
Film Friday: First and Last
I finally rediscovered this film this week. I had been trying to track it down for years, an 80’s TV movie about a near-60 year old, desperate to walk from …
Wednesday Riff: 21st Century Homesick Blues
Laughter, joy and faithfulness, Helping others more or less, Dignity, truth, respect, Conversation, kindness. Trust, love, a little hope, Trying to do our best, Sharing peace and friendship When we’re …
Monday Rewrite: Sea of Broken Dreams
So many of us sail on the sea of broken dreams, Disappointed with life and all that it seems To offer us. Not what we imagined when we were young. …
Wednesday Riff: In Love
Those who live in love Live in God, and God in them. It’s hard at times to have the desire, The courage, the understanding, The intention, the energy, To know …
Monday Rewrite: Nazareth Man
Well, he came walking out of the desert,With a humble purpose burning in his eye,A man on a mission, a small town boyReady to live and die.Well, he walked through …
I believe, help me…
Taking some time out from my usual creative posts this week I read a little of Pete Greig’s book God on Mute, and it led me to reflect again on the …
Jaws for Thought
A lighthearted tail of something or nothing. Barely an anecdote really, yet also about fears we hold and the way talking with another can sometimes help… The great fish moved …
Movie Moment 81: Respect for Others
Another 3-minute video reflection…
Wednesday Riff: Strength
Be still Not easy to stop, to slow down, To stay ourselves, To put aside the needs, Pressures and distractions, For a minute or two… And know Set deep down …
Monday Rewrite: The King and His Kids
by Lynn and Dave Hopwood There was a king with a palace full of family and subjects. One day one of his sons, Jake, came to him and asked for …
Film Friday: BlacKkKlansman
When new cop Ron Stallworth starts work for the Colorado police department he decides to call up the Ku Klux Klan and ask to join them. However he neglects to …
Wednesday Riff: Mirrors
Dusty, cobwebbed, smeary, There are cracks and a few chips, Yet we’re still able to reflect His glory. His light bouncing off us to others, His image, His promise of …
Monday Rewrite: Chaos
You know how it is when your life feels out of control. Others seem to have got hold of the reins and they’re steering you off course, moving the furniture …
Film Friday: Mickey Blue Eyes
There is a scene in this gangster comedy that I’ve always loved. Michael goes with his mobster prospective father-in-law to meet another couple of goodfellas, and in doing so he …
Wednesday Riff: Muscle Memory
Those actions we do that become Instinctive, responsive, behavioural. Now there’s a thought, a longing, a goal, a prayer… … to develop good habits, Good muscle memory, Especially when it …
Monday Rewrite: The Movie Makers
There were three filmmakers who created a brilliant, dark, complex, funny, inspiring, moving, nuanced, difficult, lengthy, insightful film. Many people saw it and discussed it and there were as many …
Film Friday: Rush
In the hot summer of 1976 two men kept climbing into cars, and chasing each other around a track. One was a party animal, with a hankering for the good …
Wednesday Riff: The Way, The Truth, The Life
Like the freshest coolest water on a dry day, And a place to shelter in the storm. Like a smile on a day of troubled frowns, A hand to lift …
Monday Rewrite: A New Normal
You know how it is when change happens, often unexpectedly. The floor shifts a little, and the world goes out of focus a bit. Suddenly the old seems so friendly …
Film Friday: A Bridge Too Far/Hacksaw Ridge
There is a shocking scene in A Bridge Too Far where Major Cook leads his men across the Waal river in flimsy boats under fire from the enemy on the …
Movie Moment 80: The Light
Another 3-minute video reflection…
Wednesday Rewrite: Only You
Only you set our worlds in motion, And understand the way we tick, The rising and falling of our emotions, The mood swings and battles we fight. Only you know …
Monday Rewrite: A Different Strength
You know how it is when you have everything mapped out, and you’ve made all your plans and your future’s right there like a tidy shed. Everything where you want …
The Prodigal Son retold with music and narrative
A retelling by Simeon Wood and Dave Hopwood.
Film Friday: The Martian
When a storm hits the planet Mars the group of astronauts exploring the place are forced to head back for their ship so they can escape. However, in the ensuing …
Wednesday Riff: Name
There is a name, An umbrella name, Unlike any other. A place of shelter from the storm, Portable and present In every place, every time, every age, Large enough for …
Monday Rewrite: Emptiness
Sometimes all we have is our emptiness. Our struggles and humanity. The weak bits. Like a jigsaw with every other piece missing. Like a car with no wheels. A hero …
Film Friday: Wimbledon
Peter Colt is on his last legs. Well, his last tennis legs anyway. He’s giving up after one more year at Wimbledon, expecting to bow out in the first round. …
Wednesday Riff: Heroes
Has anyone seen a hero today? So many continue their missions quietly, Covert agents of compassion, Armed with a smile and a kind word, Putting themselves out for others. Not …
The Boy with the Tortoishell Glasses
A short 2-minute video about my latest writing, a kind of autobiography… There are more details about the book here.
Monday Rewrite: Steps
He walks through the streets, the lanes, the highways and tracks of our towns and cities and country places, in the imprints and trails we have made, sometimes noticed sometimes …
A Few Short Thoughts
He was never in a hurry. In spite of limited time and a world of possibilities he chose his steps carefully and prioritised time with His Father. Maybe that’s why …
Film Friday: Unbroken – Path to Redemption
This is the true story, based on Laura Hillenbrand’s powerful biography, of the post war struggles of a very damaged man, and his quest to find hope. When Olympic athlete …
Movie Moment 79: The Cornerstone
Another 3-minute video reflection…
Wednesday Riff: Our Times
Our times are in your hands, Our days, our nights, The fleeting moments and long days, The times of waiting and the times we savour. Our times are in your …
