firebrandnotes

The Valley of Achor

‘…thus says the Lord, God of Israel, ‘There are devoted things in your midst O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.’ (Joshua 7:13) It can be painfully frustrating to read through the accounts of the people of Israel. They seem to make the mostContinue reading “The Valley of Achor”

Dependence

Did you know that it’s possible to be addicted to exercise? In fact, exercise dependence is widely recognised as a form of compulsive behavioural addiction – a psychological state that is damaging to physical, mental and social health. The basic principle of establishing whether you’re addicted to exercise, or not, (or to what extent), isContinue reading “Dependence”

Augustine

I was astonished that although I now loved you…I did not persist in enjoyment of my God. Your beauty drew me to you, but soon I was dragged away from you by my own weight and in dismay I plunged again into the things of this world…as though I had sensed the fragrance of theContinue reading “Augustine “

The Mystery of the Spectacular Ordinary

For several years I have been struggling to forgive a very serious series of incidents that have had a major impact on my heart and mind as well as Mairi’s. Detail is unnecessary. But, suffice to say, I have been wrestling with the cognitive wisdom of ‘knowing’ that forgiveness was needed, for my own sake,Continue reading “The Mystery of the Spectacular Ordinary “

The Wrong Side of the Door

Whenever I take a photograph or see someone else taking one, this is what I think about: C.S.Lewis – From his essay The Weight of Glory

Canonically

In 2008 I graduated from St.Andrews University with a slightly random degree in Biblical Studies and French. I had spent four years studying several different books of the Bible including their history, authorship, historical and cultural contexts and linguistic challenges that exist with them.

Open

You get chatting to someone new at church at the end of a service. To you she seems perfectly fine. She is smiley, she is polite and articulate. She is breezy. Her name is ‘any person’. Church gathered is over and you go home and quickly forget about meeting her.

Copenhagen

We Are Gomer

This is the seventh and final post that I’m going to do on the book of Hosea. But seventh in the series though it may be, I want to treat it as though it is the first and the last. Layered over the timeless theology of this minor Prophet’s book, and this series, has beenContinue reading “We Are Gomer”

Hewn Husband: “Come back!”

It’s impossible to journey through the book of Hosea in a casual way. You would never slip into your favourite flip flops to start an ascent of Arthur’s Seat and neither can we receive from this book what we’re meant to receive without the serious footwear of meditation and prayer. There are many lows inContinue reading “Hewn Husband: “Come back!””