Ann Hutchison
-
Advent – A Season of Waiting …
Photo courtesy of 9comeback/FreeDigitalPhotos.nety/FreeDigitalPhotos.net I received a call that I wasn’t expecting. From my sister. It was Saturday night, two weeks ago. She was relaying some information she’d received about our brother, John. He had been admitted into hospital that afternoon, had an MRI that found he had a ‘mass’ in his head. Oh…
-
Abiding and Abounding
Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hello SUMite friends, Ian from Down Under here. I keep bumping into a recurring theme of how to do this Christian life well. I’ve probably made reference to it in previous posts. It has two elements to it, and different people use different terms to describe these elements.…
-
Learning to Receive Love
Photo credit: Austin Neill Hi everyone, Ian from Sydney here. For most of my SUM married life I thought I was okay doing the Christian life on my own. I’m an introvert by nature and enjoy my own company and for a number of years struggled with being in crowded situations. I still do and…
-
Abiding leads to Transformation
Hello, Ian here once again. As you probably have noticed in many of my posts in the last few years I’ve sought to desire more of God, to experience that oneness with the Father that Jesus prays for us about in John 17. Hey, and isn’t it fabulous that Jesus, Himself, actively helps us in…
-
Seasons in Life
Hello, Ian from Sydney here. “Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ”Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a…
-
There is always more with God
Photo courtesy of wallpaperlistings.com Happy 4thof July to all my American friends. Ian from Down Under here. For many years I’ve struggled with anxiety. It’s played an even more prominent role in my life the last 15 years that happened to coincide with my stepping away from the Corporate world into working for myself. What…
-
Turning Up Each Day
Image courtesy of Dreamstop.com One of the key points I make to people who ask me for some advice on writing is the importance of turning up each day. Don’t wait for inspiration to come before you start writing, it only comes when you start. It’s surprisingly magical and wonderful what words, phrases, character traits,…
-
The Father’s Heart
Photo courtesy of Fairfax County website Ian here. As I walked one of our dogs this morning I asked the Lord what was on His heart for this community. He responded almost immediately with: “My heart.” I enquired further and He wanted us to know how much He loves us and how much His heart…
-
Men Stuff … Part 2
mage courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Ian here again. Firstly, thank you for your engagement in the first of this occasional series of posts. I loved seeing the discussion and responding to the comments that were made. I hadn’t planned on writing another such post so soon but the universe conspired (ie the…
-
Remembering Billy Graham
Photo credit: Herald Sun By Ian Acheson The passing of Billy Graham two weeks ago brought back a flood of memories for many people. No doubt you’ve seen the many tributes for Mr Graham over these past couple of weeks. And I wanted to take a moment to express my own small tribute to him.…
-
Men stuff … Part 1
Image courtesy of franky242 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net For a while now some of us have thought it might be useful to have a chat about blokes and some things that perhaps are not well understood or create confusion. As you can see I’ve added a “Part 1” to this post hoping that this may be the…
-
Advent – Jesus Came to Bring us Life!
Image courtesy of samarttiw at FreeDigitalPhotos.net So here we all are. The week before Christmas with still lots to do. Work to finish off, shopping, cooking, cleaning, wrapping, travelling and hosting just to name a few things. It’s exhausting just reading that list. Besides all of this we may have the added stress of having…
-
Advent – Sharing the Longing
Image courtesy of 9comeback at FreeDigitalPhotos.net One Bible story that I keep coming back to each Advent season is the one that features Zechariah and Elizabeth. I hadn’t spent a lot of time reflecting upon it until a few years ago when I began to observe Advent. Most of you will know their story is…
-
Advent – a Season to Remember and to Anticipate
Image courtesy of Gualberto107 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net We got the call that our son and his wife had left for the hospital. Our excitement increased thinking the next time we hear from them they will share the wonderful news of becoming parents for the first time. And we’d be grandparents. Yay! We went to bed believing…
-
Spending Time in the Secret Place
Image courtesy of alex_ugalek at FreeDigitalPhotos.net It’s fast approaching the Christmas season when life can get especially busy. In addition, for we in mismatched marriages can have extra challenges as a result of a desire to intentionally reflect on the reason for the season. Jesus. Whether it’s attending gatherings with the church girls (or blokes),…
-
Is this all there is?
Photo courtesy of Foto76/FreeDigitalPhotos.net I was in the office early. First to arrive, every morning. I was the one who turned the lights on (and often the one who turned them off each night). Large triple shot coffee in my hand as I scanned overnight emails and my always too large work-in-progress folder. Another restructure…
-
The God of Hope
Photo courtesy of 9comeback/FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hope. In Lynn’s last couple of posts she has shared what the Lord has been saying to her about hope. As I meditated with the Lord on what to write about He gave me a similar instruction: HOPE. I’ve previously shared on my three-strikes rule: if I read/hear a topic 3…
-
Choosing to Remember
Image courtesy of Supertrooper at FreeDigitalPhotos.net I’m fascinated by how often we allow sweeping generalizations to satisfy us. One area we often use them is in comparing the sexes. How often do we hear the statements of the ilk, “Women are more relational,” and “Men need time in their caves”? I know I’ve been guilty…
-
Going in His Presence
Image courtesy of Phil_Bird at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Mid-year is a big time for our church as we have a celebration dinner where all our campuses around the city come together and break bread together. It’s a night where we reflect on the good things the body has contributed across various activities both locally and overseas. Plus…
-
Change of Seasons
Image courtesy of graur codrin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net We hit winter last week. Here in Australia, winter officially starts 1 June. We've had a mild autumn (or 'fall' for you North American folks) and it's only in the last two weeks when the temperature at night has fallen below ten degrees celsius. I typically enjoy winter…
-
Broadening our Horizons
Image courtesy of namakuki at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Being a SUMITE is full of interesting conundrums that can at times lead to much discouragement. One of these conundrums is our commitment to various Christian communities. I use the plural here to reflect both the church we attend plus other relationships (one-on-one and group) that we may partake…