The transition from darkness to light is often used as a picture of responding to Christ’s love and being drawn to Him. For some it is like the dawning of the day. Quietly. Slowly. Imperceptibly. Grace goes to work. This is my testimony. For many years I thought it was no testimony at all. I don’t really remember a time when I did not belong to Christ. Yet through heritage, through family – and then through Jesus at work in my life, the light dawned.
But other testimonies are more akin to one night in Toba. New Year’s Eve, to be exact. I can no longer stay awake until midnight. What’s more, the first few hours are my heaviest sleep. Nothing can wake me at midnight – that is, until the deafening sound and the bright lights of fireworks in Tuk Tuk at Lake Toba on New Year’s Eve. I awoke. I stirred. I looked at my phone. Exactly midnight. I got up. I enjoyed the sounds and sights. This, too, is a picture of conversion – but more the Damascus Road variety. The light needs to be bright, the sound deafening.
Reading through the New Testament with an eye for what it says about the world is my current project. One morning, as I awaited the dawn, it was:
But now I hear Thee and rejoice – and all Thine uttered words are dear.
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
Just when I thought that it could not be possible to have another first-hand account of the impact of John Stott’s life (d. 2011), along comes this book by his close friend, John Wyatt. I am always ready to learn more about John Stott, but also about friendship. It fascinates me. It keeps coming up…
Reading stories to grandchildren over Christmas reminded me again of how powerful they can be. They are so compact and simple in presentation, and yet so clever in construction. There are just so many features at work in an effective story. It is some years since I taught narrative preaching, but when I did I’d…
Apart from the eight years in which we were based overseas, Barby has been working at the Refugee Resettlement Center in Auckland since 2002. This year she is a ‘release teacher’, spending one day each week in three different classrooms, with three different age groups. Impressive—and demanding. One day is spent with 11-13 year olds—from…