Not much for a sentimental chap like me. But then, ever so gradually, four generations have conspired together to fill this forgettable month with significance.
Along came Barby, with a birthday on the 6th and my wife now for more than 33 years. After sharing our childhood in India the idea of sharing our lives together only gained momentum after we left India. But that is exactly what we are doing… Here is Barby adding some beauty to a cottage in Murree, a beautiful place in the Pakistani Himalayas.
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| The sixth will never be the same |
After two years of marriage the children started arriving every two years. We are forever grateful for God blessing us in this way. Plus, a wonderfully ‘long straight’ was emerging, with family birthdays in June, August, September, October, November. Add a July and a December and we’d have a run of seven. But Bethany couldn’t wait for December (30 November) … and Joseph? Well, Joseph wasn’t even close to July, joining his Mum in August by arriving on the 26th. Here he is using his vertical leap – the guy has ‘hops’, let me tell you – to diversify the sky above a Northland beach in NZ.
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| The twenty sixth will never be the same |
But transforming is not just about thanksgiving and blessing. Sometimes there is sadness and lament. The minor key joins the major key in the music of life. And so it came to pass. On the 10th, just four years ago, my precious Dad died after a lingering struggle with Parkinson’s. Here he is in a church in Geneva (Illinois), looking so well as he prepares his speech at our wedding.
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| The tenth will never be the same |
As the years have gone by our little ones got all growed up. Our daughter became a mum. And just last year, Alyssa and Tim – together with big brudder, Micah – welcomed a little baby girl on the 2nd. Amaliya Grace. Here she is in a home and in a family that loves and adores her. Just what every child needs in order to thrive.
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| The second will never be the same |
When all is said and done (and there will be more saying and doing to be said and done), these are august transformations indeed. Bland and boring be gone. The month can never be the same again.
nice chatting
Paul
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
It was my very first training seminar with Langham Preaching. April 2009. We were based at the OMF Guest House in Chiangmai, Thailand. As I wandered the property, I came across this striking quotation on one of the walls: So striking, in fact, that I stopped to take its photo! But is it really true?…
Ten years ago, Ode to Georgetown was my response to being surprised by grief when the only church I had ever pastored closed its doors. Last week brought the news that the theological college which I attended, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS), was to close most of its Chicagoland campus. I have been feeling a…
I am neither painter nor poet, musician nor actor. With Art and Music and Drama classes at school, I was present in body—but absent in spirit and skill. However, as a teacher, there has been the occasional flare of creativity in the crafting of assignments. One of my favourites is one of my first ones.…
John Stott was the first one to help me see the tension in Jesus’ teaching on salt and light. They are pictures for how his disciples are to live in society. Salt pulls them in, keeping them involved. Light holds them back, keeping them distinctive. Being light responds to ‘the danger of worldliness’, while being…
