Seven up…

1) ‘Gaming for God’ Podcast Episode for Parents – How should parents approach their kids playing computer games? Haven’t got to this yet, but heard really positive things and looking forward to tuning in as the Faith in Kids team speak with Andy Geers, CEO of Discipleship Tech, and Andy Robertson, author of Taming Gaming for parents. Or if you’re not an Apple listener, find Spotify and other links here.

2) Webinars – CPAS are running a Leading Well in 2022 webinar this week, whilst Christianity Explored and Rico Tice are introducing and unpacking their new Hope Explored resource. Why not invest in an hour or so?

3) A 100-Mile Radius Life – This is interesting… I wonder, if the author had been in a UK context, whether they would have dialled down to less than a hundred miles!

4) Loss and Scandal Led Me to Jesus: Why I’m Not ‘Deconstructing’ – There’s a lot of talk of people ‘deconstructing’ their faith of late, but this testimony offers a different story. Trigger warning: Ashley’s testimony involves the suicide of a family member.

5) How do I find a balance between pressing ministry needs and my personal and family life? – This is a brief (video) answer to this much-asked question, but I thought it was a really helpful starting point.

6) Cancel Culture is a scourge but it’s rooted in goodness – Excellent piece from Amy Orr-Ewing on cancel culture and how ‘the power to forgive may be the greatest gift that the Christian story can offer our age’. Excellent too to see this published in The Times.

7) Wordle – For something a bit different, I’m a bit late to the party, but enjoying discovering the Wordle craze. And this is a fun article about the story about how Josh Wardle created it!

Seven up…

1) Grace, Works and Raducanu – Fascinating reflection on Emma Raducanu’s US Open victory and whether our hearts value hard work or whether they actually pine for grace.

2) Bending the COVID Bow of Bronze – One pastor’s struggle toward hope in God – I appreciated Benjamin Vrbicek‘s extended musings and honesty here.

3) Sarah Eberle’s Psalm 23 Garden wins gold at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show – So many people know Psalm 23. How might we move people to long for the relationship it offers? Bible Society designed a garden!

4) The gospel according to Calvin (Klein) – I enjoy following this blog on preaching and culture, and this post is a really interesting take on following Calvin Klein’s naming choice of products through the generations – and how that might reveal heaps about our changing culture.

5) On Owen Strachan, William Lane Craig, and the Historical Adam – Some interesting conversations about how we read Genesis 1-3 on social media over the last couple of weeks, prompted by a new book by Christian philosopher William Laine Craig – but aside from the specifics of the debate I really valued the way Gavin Ortlund models a gracious and fair way to engage in the discussion and those he disagrees with. Be more Gavin, y’all!

6) One Day (Far Side of Our Sorrow) – Appreciated this beautiful new song from Folk Hymnal. Maybe you or someone you know would value hearing this today?

7) The Winners of the 2021 Drone Photo Awards – For something a bit different, these views are ones we don’t often get to see. Fabulous.

A video scrapbook from the crazy paths of parenthood…

Our first lockdown baby (and definitely-hopefully our last…), it was mid September when Teddy Steady (Theodore Steadfast) arrived into the world at South Lakes Birth Centre here in Barrow.

Theodore means ‘gift of God’, because what does any of us have that we did not first receive? And Steadfast? It’s one of those words translators use to capture the old Hebrew word for God’s strong and faithful love, hesed:

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The *steadfast love* of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

(Lamentations 3:21-23)

Ham Tradition is to try and capture a couple of seconds from each day in their first year. As the writer Annie Dillard put it, ‘How we spend our days is how we spend our lives’.

The idea is that taking a little clip is a way to help us grow daily thankfulness to God in our hearts for his ‘gift’, and not just Teddy, but the many gifts we enjoy, not least the human gifts of friends & family who surround him (even if a lot of that was on Zoom to start with!) – and thankfulness for you too if you’re bothering to read this (whether or not you’re in the video – some people are more camera shy than others!). Thank you for being part of Teddy’s life and for helping, supporting, and praying for us all. It takes a village…

Yes, in lots of ways it’s a fun highlights reel to capture special places & faces & rhythms, but you’ll also see nappies, tears & Calpol. Generally Daddy-Grumps aren’t on screen, because I was the one doing the filming, but be assured there’s been a fair few of them…

Ultimately we’re thankful for Jesus, who gives us the ultimate and indescribable gift of himself. He is the Steadfast One, both ‘Strong & Kind’, and, just as he has been the ‘God of our fathers’, we pray he would be the God of our children’s children too.

As for the soundtrack, these precious songs have been a big part of our lives this past year:

Steadfast – Sandra McCracken
It Would Be You – Ben Rector
Kaleidoscope – A Great Big World
God of My Fathers – Andrew Peterson
Sweet Baby Boy – Slugs & Bugs

And if you want a trip down memory lane…

365 Days with Toby

365 Days with Rafa

366 Days with Hudson

365 Days with Evie