culture
My records show that this is my 800th post, going all the way back to 2nd February 2006—913 weeks ago. Yes, I do think about stopping often enough and I certainly think about deleting dozens of posts, but I keep going because of three loves: (a) I love chatting away to myself, shaping-ideas and smithing-words;…
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Her workplace and his birthplace are barely 60kms apart in South India—but the places they occupy in our home could not be more different. Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur takes her place across an entire shelf! … while V.S. Azariah of Dornakal looks decidedly lonely, in comparison, doesn’t he? Yes, just a solitary book—and it is…
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To stage the Opening Ceremony of an Olympics on water instead of land, with crowds gathered along a riverbank instead of in a stadium, and with performers perched on buildings instead of stages… It was outrageously creative. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. Ohh, to have been an antipodean fly on the wall…
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Barby picked up this board from a ‘thrift shop’ recently. Do you recognise it? Yes, it is a (very) old version of Snakes and Ladders. A game we played as kids. With the simple roll of the dice, the game moves forward by seeking to land on the ladders (which lift you upwards) and by…
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It is hard to miss him. The airport in Budapest, the gateway to the country, carries his name. Numerous buildings around the city are also named after him—opera houses, museums and music academies… So who could it be? I’ve heard about a few Hungarians in my time—as have you, I’m sure. Houdini (as in Harry),…
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Barby and I took a quick trip back to India last week. We watched the new Bollywood movie, Laapataa Ladies—which translates as Lost Ladies. It is as authentic and immersive an experience of India, in just two hours, that you could wish to have. Well, make that four hours because we watched it twice, with…
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A curious thing happens in our society today. A person who asserts that death is the end and that there is no heaven can still be heard longing that a loved one be ‘looking down from above’. For those with ears to hear, this kind of thing happens quite a lot. What is going on?…
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Today is the day when New Zealanders give special attention to Te Tiriti O Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi), the text on which our nation is founded—and signed 184 years ago. But how is it that old texts convey meaning in today’s world? This is a question that is never too far away for interpreters…
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I’ve been a big admirer of the Centre for Lifelong Learning at Carey Baptist College for some years. It is not too surprising because the pioneering energy for the Centre was provided by Mike Crudge, who was on the staff at Carey back in my time—and everything he did, he did with excellence. Over the…
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In my travels with Langham, it is not that unusual never to leave the venue for the event for which I have come. On this occasion, in Lima, not only did I go nowhere, the venue itself was barely ten minutes from the airport! So, four nights in beautiful Peru and never moving further than…
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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.