At the Monte Cecilia Park in Auckland (on my first day back home):
‘I do not run like someone running aimlessly‘ (1 Cor 9.26)
May it be so, Lord Jesus. |
At the Wai-o-tapu thermal area outside Rotorua:
‘Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God’ (2 Jn 1.9)
May it not be so, Lord Jesus. |
In the backyard of a bach at Lake Tarawera:
‘Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us‘ (Heb 12.1)
May it be so, Lord Jesus. |
But after awhile, running becomes very tiring for those little legs.
It is important to be caught, to sit down, to rest … and to soak up the love.
‘Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free; |
nice chatting
Paul
PS: My Luvly Lys (Micah’s Mum) sent me another photo of the little running man to keep me company in faraway India:
![]() |
‘I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free’ (Psalm 119.32)May it be so, Lord Jesus. |
About Me

the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
Football helps me train preachers. See, when you speak to me about football—or, ‘footie’—I need to know where your feet are before I can understand what you mean. Are your feet in Ireland, or Brazil, or the USA, or NZ—or in crazy Australia? It must be the most fanatical sporting nation in the world. Within…
Having been born in 1959, I don’t remember much about the 1960s. But I have heard a lot. Hippies. Drugs. Rock ‘n Roll. Assassinations. Moon-walking. A quick trip across to ChatGPT informs me immediately that it was ‘a transformative decade across the world’—marked by the civil rights and feminist movements, Cold War tensions, consumerism and…

The joy of childhood and generational connection. Really special. A future All Black maybe?
Lovely, lovely, lovely.