Words from Muddy Pearl - Reflections
Charity
In The Accidental Social Entrepreneur I explain how Hand in Hand the Charity began – here’s a snippet… This is how Hand in Hand began in Africa and today supports 3,000 children year on year. Would all of that happened without the jumpers, I can’t actually say, but those hundred odd-shaped jumpers have had a significant […]
Affordable Housing
Making houses available for the poorest in the world is a challenge, not because we can’t build small quality houses, but how we do that commercially, and facilitate the poorest to buy them when they have no formal income. You see, who will lend to a person who doesn’t have a wage slip to prove […]
The view from the editorial desk
This week I’ve been editing Kate Patterson’s lovely new book, Living for Eternity, which is all about knowing God, the One who is with us now, and the One we will be with in Eternity. In Chapter 8, I came across a story about George Müller and the orphanage he ran: It is striking that so […]
Managing ‘back to school’ anxieties
The global pandemic that struck in the last twelve months has had a massive influence on a number of things, and the future of schooling has looked as uncertain as the rest of life. But with Scottish schools back, and in just a few weeks, most children in the rest of UK returning to their […]
Blossoms and Blackbirds
As we experience ‘Lockdown’ because of the Coronavirus, an encouragement has been the blackbirds’ song. The apple tree, resplendent with blossom has filled the view from my bedroom window. There, amongst the branches, blackbirds sing their hearts out. No matter how I feel the blossoms are beautiful and the birds keep singing. Life has slowed […]
Finding the opportunities in uncertain times
Our shower is getting old and eccentric. When I turn it on the water quickly turns hot, then once I get in, it goes cold. On a good day, after a minute or two it heaves a sigh and turns hot again. Otherwise it stays cold. This morning I tried a new strategy. I hopped […]
What I’ve learned about relationships
Mark Greene, author of Probably the Best Idea in the World, reflects on 7 things he has learned about relationships. 1. I’m not nearly as good at them as I used to think I was. And I’m not being self-deprecating. Ask my children. Ask my friends. Don’t ask my co-workers. 2. Love is the key […]
The Problem with Love
The problem with love is that you just can’t escape its often inconvenient but ultimately liberating demands. Just when you think it’s only about romantic intoxication, abandonment to the ‘One’, caring for your brilliant friends, honouring your embarrassing parents and your sparkling/lose-the-will-to-live lecturers, reaching out to those in need, handing out flipflops to worse-for-wearing-high-heelers at […]
Finding Beauty on the Streets of Ibiza
Ibiza is a place where God is moving powerfully. There is never a doubt that God will show up in a situation. We have seen His miracles time and time again in our work – whether that be miraculously finding someone’s hotel, watching a person instantly sober up, or getting the chance to pray for […]
Still Small Voice in the Desert
I am writing in a little white house off a truck road on the border between two Gulf States. Over the garden wall, tips of palm branches reach up towards a cloudless sky. The house is monastically bare – shipping is delayed – just a few sticks of second-hand furniture, no familiar comforts. And No […]
