How good is God?

Sunday was Father's Day. The day when we gave thanks for our fathers. The men who bring us up and show us what's what, how to shave and how to look after money. All important things, but crucially not everything. Father's do other things. They let us know they love us. They make us feel safe. They take time to listen to us when we have a problem. They let us be free to mess up and still be there when we return knowing what we did. They try to stop us messing up and are still there when we return knowing what we did. They know what we need even when we don’t. They are there. Unfortunately though for many of us they aren’t. Perhaps they have left your family, maybe they have died, maybe they just don’t care. If you are in this situation it may be pretty easy to understand why so many people...

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Love is...not comparing yourself

Most of us might not like to admit it but we are constantly comparing ourselves to each other. We might not like to admit it because ultimately when we do compare ourselves we’re effectively revealing that we don’t like who we are. If everyone does it then we’re all just wasting time trying to be each other and eventually none of us will be anyone. And that’s just stupid. Why do we do it then? Why then in a culture like ours (and I’m specifically speaking of a Northern Irish Church culture) where we are told often enough that we are sinners and need saved, do we not embrace our faults? Our weaknesses. Our insecurities. Isn’t that what...

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To filter or not to filter

Porn is everywhere. At least that is what we are told. Even though much of our media has been influenced by porn I think that the reality is closer to the fact that it is much easier to access than ever before. The internet has brought that world right into our homes, our offices and our Pastor’s offices. No longer do you need to go to the seedy end of town, late at night, to get your fix. But this isn’t new.   We’ve known that this is how it works for a long time. It’s only now that internet providers have been sitting up and taking notice, trying to decide how best to protect our children from porn online. The debate recently has focused on how ISP’s (companies like Sky, BT Broadband, Talk Talk etc.) are going to deal with it. Companies such as Talk Talk have introduced network...

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Follow the leader

We spend a lot of time reading book on how to become a better leader. Or spending money on conferences for leaders. But there is a question that I think is so important in answering this but is often neglected. Who leads the leaders? What does the leader do when they need help? When they are struggling personally? When they get burnt out? I asked this question once in a group discussion about leadership and I received blank stares. It never occurred to the group that perhaps leaders can be vulnerable too. Sure we needs leaders who are strong. Who make tough decisions. Who swim the opposite direction sometimes. Who the people can trust and feel secure under. But sooner or later it will catch up on them. Then what? We're told leaders need to be strong and perfect. That she needs to have...

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Killing boredom

Reading an article on boredom is actually very interesting. Boredom is the new interesting. Which is why this article at Relevant got me thinking. What was life like before smart phones, heck even before dial up connections to the internet? When to make plans with friends you would call them and if they didn’t turn up you were screwed. When I knew 3-4 of my best friend’s home phone numbers from memory. Have I changed? Do I think differently? I don’t ever have to be bored. But in reality I am. I’ve been finding the internet increasingly boring. Facebook bores me. Even twitter has lost some of its appeal. Sure I need these things sometimes. They are useful tools to communicate and spread ideas and learn and be conscious of the world around me. But what happens when those things...

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Top 5 Fave 'Opening Song' Gig Moments

Everyone who has been to a gig has had this experience. The band you have been waiting to see forever com on stage and they play the opening bars of the first song and you simply wet yourself. That's happened to you right? No? Just me then. Well that's OK because it was worth the wet trousers to see some of my favourite bands. So without further ado here are 5 of my favourite all time 'opening song' gig experiences (in no particular order). Enjoy and then tell me yours. (Please keep your pant wetting stories to yourself.) 1. Manic Street Preachers- 'Australia' Ulster Hall, Belfast, August 31st 1998 I very nearly never made it to this gig since it was on a Sunday and Sunday gigs were a big no no. However enough pleading from myself and my friend Peter to our parents and we were allowed...

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KONY 2012. Why laziness is the best critic.

Kony2012 has been blogged about, reported and analysed countless times since the video first aired last week. There have been supporters and critics in probably equal measure. But there are a few things we can notice from the Kony 2012 campaign and it's commentaries that we should take notice of. 1/ It's easy to criticize. Making fun of something is easy if we don't do the proper research. In other words. Journalists can be lazy. We must not. 2/ Sometimes when we criticise an organisation or person, we actually find we have more in common than we think. So if those that accused IC of presenting false or at least misleading facts...

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I think I am in love

Ryan Gosling is pretty much the perfect man. Women want to be with him and men...also want to be with him. He breaks up fights in the street. He has a 6 pack. He believes women are awesome. He did Ballet as a kid. He has a 6 pack. His face. Even when he is a dick in movies he isn't. He cares about kids in Africa. He is in a really weird band that is incredible. He has the best dance moves. He makes George Clooney look ugly. And yet you never get the feeling he is full of himself. There is no deep message in this blog. Just, if all men were a little more like Ryan Gosling maybe the world would be a better place. Just a thoug...

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Us V Them

There is right now, a myriad of organisations and charities that are taking steps and actions; sometime big loud, freedom cry,ear shattering actions to end injustice, to end suffering and to end misery. This is great. There will probably never be a time when there is no injustice. This isn't meant to depress anyone, it's meant to move us. We are called to fight this. I don't think this is a Christian issue, it's a human issue. But if anyone should be at the forefront of tackling this, then surely Christians should be there looking it squarely in the eye. Which there are. Water, porn, trafficking, poverty. We're looking around at the world and...

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Why Jesus loves porn shows.

Travelling into the unknown takes guts. It takes someone who has an idea what they want to happen and also knows that it could go completely and disasterly wrong...but still goes ahead. Which is how I am sure Craig Gross felt when 10 years ago, armed with only a bunny outfit and some t shirts he went into a porn show as a Pastor, to tell people working in the Adult Industry that Jesus loves them. Maybe little did he know but 10 years later xxxchurch.com would grow into being the one place where people could get help for porn addiction and where porn stars could feel loved and not judged. Where the religious and 'sinner's' live on an even playing field. That's church. I love that. I love that you can have many people tell you what you are doing is wrong and will end in tears, but still...

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The most depressing blog post on New Year's ever.

It's pretty hard to come up with something unique for the obligatory New Year blog post. What could I write about the New Year that hasn't been written on a thousand blogs already? You are supposed to write about new year resolutions or about how you have grown so much in the last year. But if I am honest with myself I don't want to make myself feel bad and think over all the things I said I would do last year but never did. We are supposed to look forward. Put the past behind us and be positive about tomorrow. A new start. A fresh page. But what if you can't see a way to start again and you already feel, just two days into the New Year that you are already cruising down the same path you took last year. What if the things or the issues that you are dealing with, still exist and that midnight...

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