sport
The New Zealand cricket team is at an all-time low, so I thought I’d try to turn myself into a big rugby fan – and stopped by Bob Howitt’s Graham Henry: Final Word (Harper Collins, 2012) for a read. It is not a classic and I managed to race through it on a return flight to Dunedin…
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I enjoy sport and so there is no time quite like the Olympics. But I am also a Christian wanting to participate in the mission of God in the world. I try to watch the Olympics with other eyes… Watch the Flags—and intercede With the incomparable Operation World alongside, an anthem here and a flag…
READ MOREAs I reflect on my time as a leader, one of the great delights was to watch and listen to young adults take their first steps in service – then to pray and lean on some Spirit-given (I hope!) discernment – before taking the risk of boldly speaking some words into their life about what…
READ MOREAfter my grumps and glooms, I was watching the Footy Show out of Sydney (for the first time in years) with Barby last night and this segment appeared. May it bring you as many smiles and laughs as it has done for me – although that will be unlikely: http://tinyurl.com/7kmpskc Cut and paste and split…
READ MOREToday I am a grumpy and gloomy sports fan. In a matter of days the transcendent Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls has gone down with a season-ending, maybe even career-slowing, knee injury … and then, horror of horrors, New Zealand Cricket has let John Wright walk away from being the coach of the national…
READ MOREIn the recent NZ vs SA cricket series, two of the great all-rounders in the modern game were on show: Jacques Kallis and Daniel Vettori. But how do you measure what it means to be a great all-rounder? A simple little formula works well: take the difference between their batting average and their bowling average. One…
READ MOREI owe a lot to John Graham. So when I went to Whitcoulls intent on finding the Steve Jobs’ biography for some light Christmas reading, I was easily distracted by Bill Francis’ Sir John Graham: Sportsman, Master, Mentor – and devoured it in a couple of days. It was 1977. In their wisdom, my parents…
READ MORESo I’ve been working on my DMin thesis most of the week. It is on The Role of Intrigue in Communicating with Contemporary Skeptics … which reminds me – for those of you skeptical about the wonders of cricket (particularly the Test match variety), here are a few intriguing happenings in recent days. Can you…
READ MOREExactly one week ago the parade was making its way through Christchurch, with thousands turning out to celebrate the All Blacks’ victory in the Rugby World Cup. I’ve been thinking a lot about emotion in the intervening days. What an array of feelings surfaced during the tournament. From the opening ceremony when that lad came…
READ MOREI am always on the look-out for changes happening in the world around us… With a F1 Grand Prix in India today (who would have thought it possible?!), my mind started buzzing overtime. How has the list of countries hosting F1 races changed over the years? How might this reflect the shifts in power –…
READ MOREAbout 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.