Yesterday I was waiting in the car with Harry strapped into his carseat, and found a CD of Disney classic songs which I hoped (correctly) would pacify him. There were some crackers on the album (I’d forgotten how good Circle of Life is). Then all of a sudden a song began to play that made me do another double-take.
I’ve had two magic moments this week. On both occasions I made it home after a long drive to find my 15-month son Harry still awake (and in time to finish his bath and put him to bed). I’d expected to be too late to see him, but thanks to some delaying tactics by his mother and clear motorways, I caught a magical 20 minutes. Both were unalloyed joy, an eruption of sheer delight that proved infectious as Harry and I laughed and jostled. Moments you wish you could bottle.
The Twitterverse/blogosphere is an odd place to be if you’re a numb, faithless washed-up believer who’s gone a week without so much as an inspired moment. There are too many others (some of whom are my friends) whose output is not only prolific but just so damned upbeat. Maybe this is Christian propaganda at work – emphasise the thrilling, joyous reality of life in the Spirit and maybe others will want what we have. But there’s a good chance many of these happy souls are genuinely enjoying a faith that’s meaningful, clear and uncomplicated. Is it right (or even polite) to wish that they feel otherwise? Continue reading
Well, here I am again after more than three years. Yesterday I turned 40. It’s hard to even type that. And I decided I was going to write again, about this journey into (un)faith and adventure. So here I am.
When I last posted, I was a lifelong evangelical (with some new-church charismatic experiences), a part-time pastor, a childless husband desperate for our infertility to end, and hoping beyond hope for a miracle. Now I’m a gloriously proud father, awaiting the birth of our second child, but no longer the fervent evangelical. Something profound has happened in those three years. It has led me out of prayer lines and into IVF clinics, out of church leadership and into newfound friendships, out of ‘born-again’ certainties and into a more unsteady, more organic faith. I now know far less than I did.
At times it’s a bewildering, numbing experience, at other moments more joyously intense than any other experience in my life. I am daily close to crying and to shouting. I am angrier than ever, happier than ever, lonelier and more relational than ever.
I called this blog Eventful Journey. I thought it sounded cool and hip. I didn’t realise just what a journey it would prove to be.
If you haven’t seen this clip before, it’s well worth it. Ordinary people with honest but faith-filled snippets about their experience of God. I found this very moving – the kind of feeling that makes you want to laugh and cry all at once. Thank you Jesus for loving us so.
Eventful Journey 