Anchored To Hope

Hey Fam! I wrote this blog last week, before the news of another pastor caught in a web of infidelity made its way to the headlines. Ouch. That one hurt my heart. They all do, but that one was deep. Thankfully, the only need we have is Jesus, the only mentor we can fully trust is Jesus. The only wisdom and encouragement we need is found in His word.  So with that in mind, here’s the words I plopped down last week:   Hello Friends, new and old. 2020. Here we are. On the eve of an election, in the heat of a pandemic, on the edge of our seats hoping and praying that 2021 will be a new start. We’re imperfect humans with a perfect God. We’re simultaneously broken and whole. We are living in this timeline of fallen humanity and perfect peace. Flesh and Spirit. We as humans are in the constant wrestle of the world and God, pleasure and pain, jealousy, anger, bitterness, forgiveness, happiness, desperation, excitement, disappointment. Essentially, if we a...

Hey Lovely Ones,  It’s been a little minute since we last chatted. What a minute it has been! 2020 is its own brand of weird!  Stay safe fam. Last year I wrote a blog    called “Fresh Or Fester“ about a silly injury I had on a school camp and how just a small amount of gunk not cleaned out of it led to a gross infection. Moral of the story was- don’t let the unforgiveness take root in your heart and cause an all out infection in your soul.  However, today I cleaned behind the couch. Like I’m talking pulled it out, took it apart and really got in there with a garbage bag.  A thorough clean out.  It was like a horrible Showbag from the Royal Adelaide Show, filled with old gummy bears, 3 non-matching socks belonging to one Jason McPhee, a golf ball, a crayon, Pokémon cards, a pretzel and a triangle. Yes a TRIANGLE (One of those things you get given in music class if you can’t play anything else.) Gross. But necessary.  To be honest it was so engraine...

Hey friends!   It’s been a while!  2020 sure went off with a bang didn’t it?! A new year and a new decade!  We claim it as a new season and with new hope, we reach out for more than just the mundane.  The expectation that there is more.  And there is. But it isn’t always wrapped up in the nice present want it to be.  Comfort is a killer. It’s my favourite thing ever though. Since I can remember, my Mum was so beautiful at making every where we went feel like home. Whether it was a caravan park or an Easter camp, we were surrounded by home.  I absolutely do the same for my babies now (my teenager is still so obsessed with his “Thomas The Tank Engine” pillow that he took it on year 8 camp.)  I love, love, love being with people, but I also love home, the couch, a blanket, Netflix, silence.  It’s a weird tension, but being comfortable is dangerous. It’s easy.  The path of least resistance.  I fe...

What a horrific week. Australia was left heart broken and the footy world gutted as we lost a key leader of the game to a disease of the mind- suicide. The christian world has been rocked by another young pastor with a young family , taking his life only days ago. As someone advocating for the awareness and treatment of mental illness for over 10 years via this blog-  We need to talk.  I’ve been asked my thoughts/ advice / experience on this latest topic of Pastors and Suicide and to be perfectly honest- it’s tough. It’s tough because there is no one size fits all. There is no “depression” and “anxiety” that fit neatly into a little box with a bow on top. It’s messy.  We’re messy. We all are. Do I believe God is still God and God is still good and brilliant and beautiful and a healer and a comforter? - Yes I do.  But I also believe we as a society are living beyond our means. We are over stimulated and under responsive, we’re addicted, w...

Welcome to 2019 my friends! I always get this niggle right before a blog makes its complicated and tumultuous journey from my brain to the page. A brewing if you will.  It’s this amalgamation of what is being taught to my mind and what I’m experiencing in my heart. Mixed with ramblings from my wild and at some times unkept mind.  Every day is a choice.  New Years is interesting isn’t it?  We all of a sudden have a clean out.  We de clutter our homes and our minds.  We anticipate change.  A fresh start.  Our “best year yet”.  It’s like we sit and wait and hope with clenched hands over hearts that “This will be the year” etc. It’s noble at best, but empty if not met with the outworking that such a notion requires. So what does the outworking look like?  Because without a change in behaviour, 2019 will slowly but surely be a continued pattern of 2018. Life is a continuous set of choices.  So in ...

For my entire life, my Nana has kept a shelf full of irreplaceable, invaluable, one of a kind trinkets from around the globe- they created a visible symphony of her life experiences.  Small reminders of moments she shared, places that captured her soul and maybe some that she just found too cute not to buy.  Either way - they each had their place.  Not just on the special shelf at Nana’s house , but in a certain position, facing a specific direction. If you moved the tiny penguin family a little to the left, we all knew it.  If you had a quick look at the minature glass Pepsi bottle- be sure it would be noticed.  For years and years those ornaments watched us all grow. They were witness to us all becoming school age, toothless, adolescent- All while a reverent respect remained between us. Untouchable.  Even as an adult bringing my own children over to GG’s house ( Great Grandma) , the first and most important rule- do not touch the special ...