Winter. Spring. Summer. Autumn.
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| The freesia, so perfect in its shape; so gradual in the display of its complete beauty. |
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| The magnolia so big, so bright; yet so odd in its perch on bare branches. |
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| The photinia, a mere hedge for most people; yet so captivating, as vibrant red emerges from weary green. |
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| The daffodil, that faithful friend, arriving early, lingering late — with a quiet, unassuming joy |
These are photos taken with my phone in our garden. After two decades with tenants, the garden has slipped into an unspectacular state, ill-disciplined and empty, lacking nurture and care — and yet still with potential. A bit like a naughty boy’s report card … and also how you and I can look and feel. Yet Spring still makes it’s presence seen, gracious and relentless, year after year — wrapped in these colours and shapes in this garden of ours.
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…
Beautiful. We have a tub of freisias on our front porch – they look pretty random (they're the ones that have hybridised to purple) but they smell so amazing 🙂
I suspect they do become a bit more random in time … but maybe there is a principle embedded in that as well?
The aroma is incredible.
The one in the photo was picked for Barby today… 🙂
Paul