When I Still Don't Desire God...

For Day 4 and 5 of the WordPress Finding Everyday Inspiration Challenge --- Struggling has hope of success, but forsaking the struggle does not - John Piper John Piper is perhaps most famous for his espousal of Christian Hedonism, the idea that ‘God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him’. One of the essential tenets of this is that we are designed to, and should indeed, desire God not only on the level of mental assent but also at a deeper heart, emotional level. The reality of most people of faith is that our hearts and heart connections to God wax and wane, the strength of our feelings never really existing continuously in that Christian Hedonist space. ...

December 8, 2018 · 1 min · AJ

Things Liked: A List

--- Coffee, particularly when it is -5 deg C outside Fried chicken, in all its various incarnations Digging out the right answer to a particularly difficult question Music, particularly ones which take me back memory lane Handwritten notes (when received)

December 5, 2018 · 1 min · AJ

I Write Because...

Photo by Hannah Olinger on Unsplash --- One of my earliest memories of doing stuff with my mother is of a newspaper cutout, sheets of paper and her sitting beside me encouraging me to apply whatever iota of critical thinking I could summon to whatever was the task of the day, usually some Close Up essay competition or the other. I don’t recall us ever submitting any of those, the discipline of wrestling thoughts into semi-coherent arguments perhaps being the point of the entire exercise. That sense of writing as a vehicle for thinking aloud about a subject is one that has stayed with me over the years. ...

December 4, 2018 · 2 min · AJ

One-Word Inspiration: Solitude

With a riot of Colour, the breaking dawn births Peaceful Solitude For Day 3 of the Everyday Inspiration course, and the prompt Solitude

February 3, 2017 · 1 min · AJ

Loved Things, A Brain Dump of Sorts

Chilli flavoured plantain chips Peri-peri chicken (having a cheeky Nandos is a thing, you know) The scent of warm waffles Friday nights (the prelude to the only truly quiet times I have) Catch up TV (for how easy it makes indulging my fascination with Leroy Jethro Gibbs) Postcards (sending and receiving them) Running into old friends in the most unlikely of places. When a shuffled playlist throws up a particularly apt song Early morning runs by the beach Scoring a late (winning) goal in Football Manager

February 2, 2017 · 1 min · AJ