Next stop? The UK. We stepped into a season of glorious weather. Mid-high 20s. Bright, blue sunny skies. The breeze was so cool, it felt like air-conditioning outside. It was so mild.
Then the media, even some of the people around us, started uttering a phrase, again and again. ‘Heat Wave’. What?! I smiled. I even mocked – gently, graciously, quietly, empathetically, just briefly – but still I did mock. Yes, I did. And the one whom I adore said to me, “Stop it” (not quite like this situation, thankfully). “People can define ‘heat wave’ in their own countries however they like.” Faced with this inescapable logic, I repented – sincerely, deeply, whole-heartedly, even irreversibly. Yes, I did. I even looked for dust and ashes. I even edited a facebook status update. I even wrote a letter, seeking reconciliation with those whom I may have offended. And as repentance tends to do, I felt a new man, released as I was from my shameful ways made known to me, ever so clearly, by the one whom I adore.
In a further voluntary act of penitential penance, to prove my transformed ways, I decided to make restitution by posting photos of this glorious part of the world: the Lake District.
Now, here’s hoping that I don’t hear “Delete it” from the one whom I adore.
nice chatting
Paul
Bracken Babe (the one whom I adore) with whom I have shared 36 years of marital bliss this very week. |
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…