Defeating the Overwhelming

It’s too big. I can’t do it. I can’t cope.

If you haven’t said it out loud, you’ve probably heard your internal voice whisper those words or something similar a number of times over the years. I know I have.

Is there something overwhelming waiting for you in 2021? Does it all seem too much?

We talk about having mountains to climb and I have a couple of giant mountains ahead of me this year. My biggest problem with climbing mountains is that I have a fear of heights. As well as the herculean task of climbing, I have to deal with all the doubts and fears along the way.

How did we get here?

While 2020 seemed to last for years, we’ve finally left it in the past and arrived on the shores of 2021. That’s scary because I can no longer put off the urgency of what I’ll be doing ths year by saying, ‘next year’.

This is where reality bites. In just 37 weeks I hope to begin cycling right across Australia. I am currently in no shape to take on such a challenge.

Ride for Compassion Coast to Coast will start on Saturday the 18th of September. Together with around 30 other cyclists I’ll arrive at Compassion’s head office in Newcastle, NSW on Wednesday the 20th of October, having cycled over 4,200 km. There’ll be 28 riding days and 5 rest days. The average riding distance for those riding days will be just over 150 km. Our longest days will be just under 200 km.

I have quite some experience with the ride aspect of the trip having cycled across Australia six times previously but fond memories won’t get me there.

I’ve continued to age since my last crossing and I know that the distances will feel longer. The training will be harder. The aches will last longer.

This year’s ride is a huge mountain.

So, what’s getting me back on my bike if it’s really that hard?

That’s the other mountain.

For just over seven years I’ve been working for Compassion Australia, a Christian international holistic child development organisation.

I’ve visited Compassion’s work in 7 of the 25 developing countries we serve and I’ve met hundreds of children and their families who are being released from poverty in Jesus’ name.

The task of turning the tide on global poverty has been hard enough, but the current pandemic is estimated to push around 150 million more people into extreme poverty. There is an urgent need to raise and direct funds to those who have been most affected. A colossal mountain.

Time to start climbing.

It’s the start of 2021. We’re at base camp. Time to begin the climb … the arduous, at times seemingly impossible, climb.

I’ll begin by reminding myself that I’ve cycled those distances before and that despite my ageing body, for the sake of the most vulnerable, children living in poverty, I can do it again. It’ll take a lot of training and persistence but I can reach that peak.

Of course, all that work will be wasted if it doesn’t produce resources to help those in most need.

Hand me the harness.

I won’t ask you to join me on a bike but I do need your help to overcome these challenges.

Your encouragement as I train is vital. There’ll be days when it’ll be ‘too windy’, ‘too hot’, ‘too wet’ to train. On those days it’ll be easier to stay in bed so I’ll need your encouragement to keep me motivated.

I’ll also need you to donate whatever you can to help me reach my $25,000 target. I don’t know how I’ll get there without you.

You can sponsor a child living in poverty or make a straight donation.

Sponsorship gives kids safe places to play, the chance to see a doctor when they’re sick, education, and the opportunity to discover Jesus’ incredible love for them.

A donation will be put to immediate use in helping those affected by the pandemic.

Will you help me climb a couple of mountains this year by giving more children a chance to live, dream and hope? Sponsor a child today or donate now through my fundraising page.



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2021 Isn’t a Reset Button

According to a large section of the world’s population it’s been the worst year in our lifetime. 2020 started with such promise but with 20/20 hindsight, we realise it was not the year we’d hoped to experience.

While shopping a couple of days ago I noticed a distinct difference in the ‘new year’ merchandise on offer. In previous years there’s been a range of decorations and party goods emblazoned with the year that was about to begin. There was no end of items with 2020 printed across them in December 2019.

This year, I’m seeing items with bold print saying, ‘GOOD RIDDANCE 2020’.

While the end of every year sees social media cluttered with posts about how bad the previous year has been and a keenness to move into the next, the hatred for 2020 is palpable. The mood has changed from one of looking forward to something new to one of ‘give us anything but 2020’.

Sadly, 2021 isn’t a reset button.

Replacing the zero at the end of the date with a one won’t magically make everything better. Of course, we know that, but sometimes we’re so keen to throw off what has been that we act as if the chime of midnight on the 31st of December will jolt us back into normal life, whatever that is.

The first of January won’t bring an end to the pandemic or natural disasters like the floods, fires or earthquakes that have recently filled our news feeds. It won’t repair relationships that have fractured or bring back the loved ones we have lost during the year.

There won’t be a universal reset as we drag ourselves out of 2020 and into 2021, but there’s still hope for better days. We can each make changes that will transform our year, no matter what that year may throw at us.

While many people don’t believe in such things, I reckon that any time we can sit down and take stock of our own lives and make plans for the time ahead is time well spent.

As with every year I’m sure that many will set all the usual resolutions about losing weight, getting fitter, quitting smoking, reducing debt and all the rest but I wonder what 2021 would look like if we made resolutions and goals about improving relationships with those close to us and then asked those people, or others, for help in staying accountable to those goals.

I wonder how things would be if we made resolutions about helping those we may not even know but who need a hand up.

We know that there are still very tough times ahead for us and for others. It’s been estimated that around 150 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty around our world due to the pandemic. I wonder what difference we can make for some of the most vulnerable in our world.

How would 2021 shape up if we determined that family was more important than the demands of work and then structured our schedules accordingly?

What would it be like if we decided that 2021 was the year that we would look beyond the physical and material things of this world to discover deeper spiritual meaning?

Surveys suggest that there has been an increased interest in spiritual matters and the bigger questions of life in 2020. Maybe 2021 is the year to seek answers to some of those questions.

2021 won’t bring the reset the world is yearning to see but it may bring a personal reset if we’re prepared to be open and honest about our search.

My hope for the year ahead is that you might be able to agree with what King David wrote thousands of years ago.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. – Psalm 34:4

The good news is that while trouble still swirls around us, the past can be over. Your past and its heartaches don’t have to determine your future. There is a way forward that will bring you a hope that stretches beyond this life and into eternity.

If you’d like to explore that hope, please feel free to contact me. It would be my honour to walk beside you on the journey.



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More Than Happiness

It’s over. 2019 is gone and 2020 has arrived. We’ve now entered the twenties.

Over the last few days, there’s every chance you’ve been exchanging the customary greeting of “Happy New Year” with anyone who happens to cross your path.

Even while you’ve been trying to grab a bargain at all the post-Christmas sales you’ve probably had complete strangers not only hurriedly scanning your discounted items from the other side of the counter but wishing you happiness for the next twelve months.

We wish each other happiness as we draw a line under the year that has gone and look forward to the fresh beginnings of a new year.

We want the next year to be better than the last.

Each year I hear a lot of people talking about how tough their year was personally. Reading through Facebook I see so many describing 2019 as one of their hardest years ever. Some have described it as a roller coaster with some real highs as well as deep troughs.

I’ve heard many people despair at happenings around at home and the world with everything from the massive fires of the recent weeks in Australia (which are still destroying all in their paths) to terrorist attacks, natural disasters, political instability, inhumane treatment of asylum seekers and other heartbreaking situations.

Others have spoken of the many great lives we’ve lost during the past twelve months. It’s no wonder we want a little bit of happiness in the new year.

But is happiness what it’s really all about?

Of course, I want to wish you a happy new year but I don’t want it to end there. I want more for you than happiness as you launch into 2020.

Happiness comes and goes and we all know that you’re not going to sail through 2020 with a smile on your face the whole time. There will be struggles and disappointments.

I’m not wishing you difficulties but I’ve been on this planet long enough to know that each year will bring a mixture of good and bad.

Sometimes there’ll also be extreme highs and devastating lows. With that in mind, my wish for you goes deeper.

I wish you joy for 2020.

Joy is different than happiness. It’s more. It’s not so dependent on circumstances. There’s a strength in joy that goes beyond the happy times. It’s a confidence that no matter what we’re facing, we can go on.

I wish love for you in 2020.

Love means a lot of different things for a lot of different people. We’ve all been let down, even by those closest to us. That’s not the kind of love I’m talking about. The kind of love I wish for you in 2020 is a deep, abiding love that never changes, leaves or disappoints. That’s the kind of love we need during the tough days in 2020.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below, indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39

I wish grace for you in 2020.

What is grace? It’s been described as undeserved favour but there’s more to it than that.

Grace is not only God’s disposition to do good for us when we don’t deserve it. It is an actual power from God that acts and makes good things happen in us and for us.

God’s grace was God’s acting in Paul to make Paul work hard. So when Paul says, “Work out your salvation,” he adds, “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Grace is power from God to do good things in us and for us. – John Piper

And more than wishing … I pray these things for you in 2020

I could pray for a happy year for you. I could pray that whatever you do, all runs smoothly. A great job, a close family, healing from illness are all wonderful things that I want for you, but more than that, I pray that 2020 will be a year that draws you closer to the one who created you.

I really can’t go past this prayer that Paul prayed for the Ephesian church.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. – Ephesians 3:14-19

Wow. Being filled with all the fullness of God? That sure beats ‘Happy New Year’.

There are many other things I could wish for you in 2020 like hope, peace, strength, and wisdom but I’d be interested to know what you’d like to wish for others as we begin a new year.

(This is an updated post from previous years.)



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I Want More than Happy

It’s over. 2018 is gone and 2019 has arrived.

Over the last few days there’s every chance you’ve been exchanging the customary greeting of “Happy New Year” with anyone who happens to cross your path. Even while you’ve been trying to grab a bargain at all the post-Christmas sales you’ve probably had complete strangers not only hurriedly scanning your discounted items from the other side of the counter, but wishing you happiness for the next twelve months.

We wish each other happiness as we draw a line under the year that has gone and look forward to the fresh beginnings of a new year. We want the next year to be better than the last.

Each year I hear a lot of people talking about how tough their year was personally. I’ve heard many despair at happenings around the world with everything from terrorist attacks to natural disasters, political instability, inhumane treatment of asylum seekers and other heartbreaking situations.

Others have spoken of the many great lives we’ve lost during the past twelve months. It’s no wonder we want a little bit of happiness in the new year.

But is happiness what it’s really all about?

Of course I want to wish you a happy new year but I don’t want it to end there. I want more for you than happiness as you launch into 2019.

Happiness comes and goes and we all know that you’re not going to sail through 2019 with a smile on your face the whole time. There will be struggles and disappointments. I’m not wishing you difficulties but I’ve been on this planet long enough to know that each year will bring a mixture of good and bad. Sometimes there’ll also be extreme highs and devastating lows. With that in mind my wish for you goes deeper.

I wish you joy for 2019.

Joy is different than happiness. It’s more. It’s not so dependent on circumstances. There’s a strength in joy that goes beyond the happy times. It’s a confidence that no matter we’re facing, we can go on.

I wish love for you in 2019.

Love means a lot of different things for a lot of different people. We’ve all been let down, even by those closest to us. That’s not the kind of love I’m talking about. The kind of love I wish for you in 2019 is a deep, abiding love that never changes, leaves or disappoints. That’s the kind of love we need during the tough days in 2019.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below, indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39

I wish grace for you in 2019.

What is grace? It’s been describes as undeserved favour but there’s more to it than that.

Grace is not only God’s disposition to do good for us when we don’t deserve it. It is an actual power from God that acts and makes good things happen in us and for us.

God’s grace was God’s acting in Paul to make Paul work hard. So when Paul says, “Work out your salvation,” he adds, “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Grace is power from God to do good things in us and for us. – John Piper

And more than wishing … I pray these things for you in 2019

I could pray for a happy year for you. I could pray that whatever you do, all runs smoothly. A great job, a close family, healing from illness are all wonderful things that I want for you, but more than that, I pray that 2019 will be a year that draws you closer to the one who created you. I really can’t go past this prayer that Paul prayed for the Ephesian church.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. – Ephesians 3:14-19

Wow. Being filled with all the fullness of God? That sure beats ‘Happy New Year’.

There are many other things I could wish for you in 2019 like hope, peace, strength and wisdom but I’d be interested to know what you’d like to wish for others as we begin a new year.



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Overcoming the Darkness

Sometimes, every fibre of your being tells you that the darkness has won. The darkness has snuffed out the light and there’s no way forward; no hope for the future.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

We’re just over a week into a brand new year. Over the past week or two, many people have been looking back and looking ahead. A number of people I know have been saying that 2016 was an “annus horribilis” and for some others, not just a horrible year but the worst they’ve experienced. They have high hopes for 2017 because it can’t possibly be as bad as 2016. The personal trials that we face are very real. Shattered relationships, lost loved ones, sickness, depression and more can threaten to crush and swallow us.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

When we look a little wider we see unspeakable atrocities across the world. Innocent people slaughtered, children being trafficked for the perverse desires of others, natural disasters, wars, violence and more. While anyone who has the opportunity to read this is probably living relatively comfortably, there are millions of people living in extreme poverty. Most are wondering where they might find their next meal. The numbers of those who are refugees, internally displaced, or seeking asylum is in the millions. Our world seems to be beyond help. How can there possibly be a way back from this?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

I’ve seen some of the world’s injustices first hand over the past few years. I’ve sat in the homes of the poor and heard their heartbreaking stories. The nature of my work means that I am constantly immersed in stories of people who are powerless to change their circumstances and who are at the mercy of others who take advantage of them in the lowest possible ways. Constantly hearing such stories has brought me to tears several times. This world can be such a dark place.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The good news is, no matter how bad things get, no matter how dark it gets, the darkness will not overcome. Yes, it will feel like the darkness has won and that there is no way to turn things around, but there’s something bigger going on.

It’s helpful to remind ourselves that the darkness is no surprise to God. He hasn’t been caught off guard. He is still in charge, and He is still sovereign. Even before time began, even before the darkness began to descend, God had a plan to shatter the darkness with light … light so powerful that it can never be put out. That light is God Himself in the person of Jesus.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. – John 1:1-13

As you start this year, a year that will no doubt bring a mixture of joy and disappointment, remind yourself that no matter how dark it may seem to be, you don’t have to fight the darkness alone. In those moments look for the light that shines in the darkness. It may seem faint at times but it’s there.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

This is an updated post, first published in January 2016.

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