travel
I’ve enjoyed two books about India this year. One tells the story of the sudden extinguishing of the British Empire – “the largest empire the world had ever hosted … at its peak, six times the size of the Roman Empire” (Indian Summer, 333). The other recounts the gradual decay of the remnants of the Mughal…
READ MOREHe just wandered into my office to ask me how I was. Within minutes the names Chopin and Rachmaninoff filled our conversation and I was rediscovering Dvorak’s New World Symphony at his behest. This octogenarian Swiss New Testament scholar knows his music… A few nights later we were with Dieter and Elizabeth for dinner. They…
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It is a favourite question. No one has ever given me the right answer. What is the only country in the world where the four global religions (Islam-Buddhism-Hinduism-Christianity) are each represented by at least 10% of the population? Yes, I know the official statistics suggest a different story (this happens in many countries, for good reason),…
READ MOREOver this past weekend my (working) life has flashed before my eyes. Barby and I arrived in Penang (Malaysia) on Saturday evening for a little holiday. The legacy of being a former British colony can be seen everywhere, like in the name of the main city – George Town. On arrival we went for a…
READ MORE45 degrees outside. The electricity was failing regularly. Even when the air-conditioning was succeeding, it was struggling to pull the temperature below 35 degrees inside. It was so hot. 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…
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After holding our annual leadership team meetings in Lima (Peru), Antalya (Turkey), and Bogor (Indonesia) – this year it was the turn of Barcelona (Spain). Seven full days. So it is good to get away from all the work and have some fun together. On the Monday morning, we walked to the Basilica of the…
READ MOREApart from a conference twenty years ago near Utrecht (Holland) and another one ten years ago in Copenhagen (Denmark), I have never spent more than a single night in continental Europe. And I’ve only done that twice (that I can remember). So I’ve never lingered anywhere from the Bosphorus Strait to the English Channel ……
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With snow on the ground, I missed it the first time I walked across it. The snow melted – and there it was: a line in the tiles and in the history of Sarajevo, capital city of Bosnia-Herzegovina (B-H) in the Balkans. Sarajevo Meeting of Cultures Although there is a common culture and language (to…
READ MOREMore than 1100 children were killed during the Siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1996. The city remembers the children in a couple of ways. Late one afternoon I trudged through the snow down Marshall Tito St from Pigeon Square for almost 2kms to find this memorial beside the road. It is a typical war…
READ MOREI have this fascination with the history of cricket in South Asia. “WOW – way to go, Paul. Great opening line. You’ve just lost 99% of your readers.” “But doesn’t speaking from out of our passion tend to gain us an audience?” “Well, yes … but cricket? … and cricket in South Asia? That is asking…
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.