What if it’s all a lie?
What if what I believe in is all a lie?
Does my faith mean nothing?
Have I lost anything?

A few weeks ago I held on a study camp run by Crusaders so we got to open up the Word with campers in a series of talks and also in discussion groups. In my discussion group one day, I asked the campers that same question: If, when I die, it turns out that there is nothing more than the life I just lived, did I lose anything by believing in Christianity?
One of the non-Christian guys spoke up and said, “No. No because you have, what is essentially, a family of people who believe the same thing. You have a community of people who all share the same idea. And you know that you will be accept and cared for when you need. Even if Christianity is all one big lie, then you still have a this network of people worldwide who you can depend on.”
How amazing is it, brothers and...

On Katoomba Easter Convention this year, I was given a letter with this note and poem on it:

When I say that “I am a Christian”
I am not saying shouting that “I am clean living”
I am whispering “I was lost, but now I’m found and forgiven”

When I say that “I am a Christian”
I don’t speak this with pride
I am confession that I stumble and need Christ to be by my side

When I say that “I am a Christian”
I am not trying to be strong
I am professing that I am weak and need His strength to carry on

When I say that “I am a Christian”
I am not bragging of success
I am admitting that I have failed and need God to clean up my mess

When I say that “I am a Christian”
I am not claiming to be perfect
My flaws are too far visible but God believes I am worth it

When I say that “I am a Christian”
I still feel the sting of pain
I have my fair share of heartbreak so I call upon His name

When I say...

“I write to because it’s the easiest way to escape the prison of my own consciousness.” – John Green

I live a fairly quiet life. I don’t hang with huge amounts of people very often. I only see people at uni or church. But i enjoy it. I struggle through but I enjoy it.
There are so many authors, so many quotes, that I could have put at the start of this post. I chose that one because I heard it today.
I write from what I take in. I see, hear, watch, partake in things and then put them down on paper.
The why of my writing is harder to explain. I write because I love it. But it’s not an escape of my consciousness. It’s an exploration of it. I can’t remember exactly when I started writing. When I was battling with depression, I doodled and journalled and kept a notebook on me nearly the whole time.
Then sometime towards the end of last year, I started writing not just notes or small...

So this is my hope and my prayer, with the air that I breathe now and eternity with lungs that never fail me:
If it pleases my Lord and only by Your grace, use my life til’ it’s poured out for Your sake. Until then I’ll remain where you have me, with joy when I feel unhappy, and a peace that surpasses all my understanding. My life is in the hands of Your love everlasting.

You, O Lord, are the creator of the heavens and the earth. All that exists is because you will it to be. I live because you see it fit to give me life. Only by your grace to I rise in the morn. Only by your grace to a fall to sleep at eve. In all things you are sovereign. There is no one like. You are alone are holy, and you dwell in unapproachable light. To you belongs the glory forever and ever.

Christ, the Messiah to the nations, you bring me life in your death and resurrection. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply...

It’s 11.35pm on a tuesday night, I’m sitting on my bed and, I don’t really know what to say. So I’ll start with what I know and see where this leads me.

People are strange. We love staying up late but hate getting up early. We love sleeping but hate waking up. We laugh, we cry, we worry, we stress, we care deeply. The list goes on and on and on. But even though we are all people, not one of us is the same. I’m not the same as even my own family. I’m completely and utterly different from my mother, my father, my sister, and my brother.
So often we spend our lives searching for the ‘right’ person to fall in love and settle down with. The ‘right’ person to care for us and hold us when life gets hard.
In 1994 rom-com classic Four Weddings and a Funeral, at the second wedding, in response the question of having found the ‘right’ man, one of the characters replies, “The truth is… well, the...

As people living in the West, our culture tells us that our feelings are one of the most important things we experience and should listen to. How many times have you been told to “follow your heart”, or “go with your gut”, or “do what feels right for you”? Probably too many times to count.
But how many times have your feelings let you down? How many times have you gone with your gut for it to all fall apart?

Our feelings are a huge part of who we are and heavily influence what we think and do. If I feel happy, I smile. If I feel sad, I cry. If I feel angry, I shout. And the list goes on. My feelings directly correlate with how I live my life. We cannot separate our lives from our feelings. But what happens when the truth matters more?

Recently at my church, we have been going through the book of Joshua. In Joshua 22, two and a half of the twelve tribes build an altar. This is straight...

Will I still believe when my family all but hate me?
Yes shall be my plea!
Will I still believe when my friends reject me because of my faith?
Yes shall I shout!
Will I still believe when it costs me a comfortable life?
Yes shall I cry!
Will I still believe when life becomes overwhelming?
Yes shall I call out!
Will I still believe when staring down the barrel of a gun?
Yes shall I roar!
Will I still believe when to die is Christ?
Yes! Yes! Yes! Now and forevermore!

Now my debt is paid. It is paid in full.
By the precious blood that my Jesus spilled.
Now the curse of sin has no hold on me.
Whom the Son sets free, oh, is free indeed!
–Man of Sorrows, Hillsong Worship

Many times in my life, and I’m sure in yours too, I’ve lusted after the cares and concerns of this world. I would by lying if I said that I haven’t longed for an easier, simpler, stress-free life within the past week. Time after time after time, I’ve prayed for me to wake up tomorrow and have all my worries dealt with. But time after time after time, I wake up and my worries are still present, and sometimes even mounting.

What I do every time that I strive after the things of this world, every time I pray for my heart’s desires, I fail to acknowledge the life to which I have been called to. As a Christian, I know that my purpose is to worship God, Father, Son, and Spirit, with all my...

Hey guys. It’s been a while. Sorry about that. I’m sure you’ll get over it.
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On Thursday night, one of my friends posted this on Facebook:
“…I think we all hide our hurts because of some form of pride, or shame. But the feeling of shame that comes with being needy, needs to be constantly confronted. To be needy is to be human, and truly human at that…To live according to our perfect design is not to be self-sufficient, but to live in community with God and humankind: to be needy, and to be needed… To be needy, to be lonely, is almost, if I may be so bold, to be Christlike. To take part in the dance of dependency, to find wholeness in the arms of another, is at the center of who we are, just as it is at the center of who God is. Though, as the world, and our hearts, still await complete redemption, this neediness, this loneliness, remains unsatisfied...

“You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.” – Jonathan Edwards

The beauty of those words is that they are so simple yet so true. There is nothing at all, no word, no deed, no thought, that will ever save me. And I take comfort in this.
But for those of us with anxiety (myself included), we often to fail to acknowledge our need for dependence on the everlasting God. So often I fail to depend on God that I try and push myself to do things that I cannot possibly achieve.
But I know that I can still take comfort in God for two reasons:

1) He is Love.
In 1 John 4:7-12 it is written:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so...