As far as we can tell, a healthy fear of that which we do not (yet) understand is likely a survival strategy that has helped to preserve civilisations down through history. Fear can stop us in our tracks… and that might be helpful when we don’t know where the track is taking us.

None of us can escape the experience of fear. Yet fear is also antithetical to love. John writes that there is no love in fear; but perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

As we seek to manage our experience of fear in a way that does not bind us but facilitates our journey into life - the better we understand what we fear, the more capable we will be in managing our fears appropriately… and taking steps forward in faith, hope and love.

Seasons are different from each other... And different things happen during each of them. We might have a preference for one season over another, but we need them all for the full richness of life to come forth.

How would you describe the season your life is in currently? What do you enjoy about it and what are the challenges? Can you identify any growth tasks that have become apparent to you in this season?

God is at work in every season. We do well when we give ourselves to the growth process that is appropriate to the season we are in.

Sometimes the stories in scripture are articulated so boldly that they make the people involved appear completely un-self-aware and almost ridiculously foolish.

My own experience would indicate, as we get older and more experienced with the way we ourselves behave, it is easier to see the penetrating honesty of these confronting accounts.

Israel's demand for a king is just one such example. So foolish. So like us!

The journey of faith begins well before we are aware of it...

Without the Spirit, there is no possibility of Jesus' followers fulfilling their calling in Christ. The Spirit comes to empower God's people to be God's people...

As Lent draws to an end and we prepare to celebrate Easter, I love to reflect on Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It is a "You Aint Seen Nothin' Yet" moment. People were celebrating Jesus and they knew there was more to come.

We have had two recent weddings associated with the church. As the grooms and their brides walked out of the church to clapping and congratulation, it was a "You Aint Seen Nothin' Yet" moment. Their life is ahead of them, their children, their ministry and more. The community is rejoicing in their future as leaders of a wonderful Christian dynasty that will bless people for generations.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on the donkey, the people were cheering not just for him but also for the new future that he would bring.

On that first Good Friday, Jesus took our sin to the cross; he set us free to worship and serve him. Christians with this freedom have looked after the poor, restored justice, written hymns and more.

It would have been wonderful to see Jesus riding into Jerusalem, but it is so much better to see Jesus from a 21st century perspective.

Billy Sunday once said, "The trouble with many people is they have just enough religion to make them miserable..." Yet it is clear that Jesus expected that his followers would be filled to overflowing with Joy.

Has some of your joy leaked out?

Eternal life has often been understood as something that becomes really meaningful only after we die. Yet there is every indication that Jesus and the apostles who wrote the New Testament letters understood eternal life to be meaningful in the lived experience of every day.

Just as it is considered unhealthy to be trapped in the past, it is equally unhealthy to live in a future that has not yet come. That is not to say that the past and the future are of no consequence.

Rather, that it is healthy to seek to be present in the present with those who are present in the present circumstances… and allow eternal life to be meaningful in this present context.

The things we say and do have weight according to their eternal consequences on us and others. This has everything to do with the way we live this day.