(Inspired by 1 Samuel 21:10 to 1 Samuel 22:2)
David was not a king,
just a running man;
pursued by another
with blood on his mind. Read more
James’s Blog: Gath and Adullam
Month: November 2017
James’s Blog: When Perfection is the Enemy of Good.
One of the soundbites that I picked up when I was in leadership was ‘A bad decision is better than no decision’. I struggled with this because I didn’t like making bad decisions. I was always much happier if I had all the time in the world to weigh up all the options and eventually come up with the perfect decision, a decision designed to solve the problem whilst inconveniencing or upsetting as few people as possible. In general, my natural state is to be paralysed by indecision. Read more
James’s Blog: Exchanging the Truth of God for a Lie.
It always begins with a lie.
In the garden, the first of us chose to reject the truth, and chose to believe a lie. It broke us, sold us into slavery. Ever since the first, the Father of Lies has been keeping us in our chains by sidling up to us, and in a pleasant tone of voice asking what seems a most reasonable question – “Did God really say…?” Read more
James’s Blog: (Mis)Understanding Parables.
I don’t normally divulge the meaning behind the stories that I’ve written, partly because I don’t want to prejudice the reader and partly because I’m a contrary so-and-so, but let’s talk about the story ‘Border Control’. This one appears in The Second Listening Book and, as usual, I had something deliberate in mind when I wrote it. Read more
James’s Blog: The Small Things.
I’m not an adventurous person, but the twists and turns of my life suggest that, for me at least, God implements such things as ‘compulsory adventures’. The problem is that being between adventures leaves me tormented by restlessness. I’m not exaggerating for effect (who me?). ‘Tormented’ is a carefully chosen word. I suspect this is a condition I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my days. It’s difficult. Read more
