It’s hard to know where to start on a topic like this because it is so complicated and multifaceted. When people move away from prominent positions in a church community and do something outside ‘church…
Browsing Category Transformation
Rock Bottom
If you’ve been through a breaking-down season, you will know that ‘rock bottom’ can be a lonely and exposing place. When we are driven out to the metaphorical desert, through no fault or power of…
Not My Cafe, or yours. On taking a stand
A couple of years ago, a friend put me onto this new local cafe. They simply sold awesome coffee along with a couple of snack options. I always got a car spot and a table….
The Lost Art of Lament
Perhaps it is time to recover the lost art of lament. The amount of anxiety and grief in the world right now is palpable. The relational, emotional and financial fallout from this crisis will echo…
You’ve been lied too, and might want to get down… right now.
See the spike on that graph? It’s labeled Mt. Stupid. Right now, that’s pretty much where most of our COVID-19 related posts are situated. The Dunning-Kruger Effect illustrates how most of us approach knowledge. It…
Every soaking prayer album we’ve created, are now free to download
From 2013 to 2017, Natalie and I created six spoken word, prayer and blessing albums. The albums have made a difference in thousands of lives around the world. We thought, at this hour, with many…
Toilet paper, violence and a French guy named Rene’
Imagine for a moment a virus. A virus which begins claiming the lives of the frail and vulnerable across the world. It is a communicable disease that spreads like previous strains. But it catches the…
Sort Your Ship Out – Navigating Relational Seas
Why is this too common? Why do we find ourselves boarding ships, jumping ships, finding ourselves feeling like hungry and shameful stowaways on certain ships? Why do some leaders find necessary organisational decisions so difficult, such as moving staff on (especially if staff are aboard intimate ship)?
An open letter to that frustrated guy around 30.
It’s a confronting, tough and frustrating time. It’s filled with new energy and a different type of the drive to what we experienced in our teens and twenties. Guys between 28 and 32 (roughly) who…
GET BLESSED – Father’s Day 2019 – Free Course
BECAUSE IT’S FATHERS DAY IN AUS 1ST SEPT – I’VE MADE THIS A FREE COURSE. Have you ever been asked to bless another person only to discover you didn’t have much to say? I mean we…
Reconstructing Your Faith – Understanding Deconstruction & the 6 stages of faith
On the 23rd of August I livestreamed a 20 minute teaching to explain the stages of a healthy faith journey – with all it’s ups, downs, breakthroughs and breakdowns.
The Wrestle – poetry and reflection on the importance of wrestling with your faith
THE WRESTLE I found you beyond the ‘why’. Far from the ‘why not’. Worlds from the ‘why me’. You held a space for me beyond answers to questions my pain had as if you…
Getting past the tantrum triggers and addiction. My big wake-up call.
Have we used the iPad as a reward? Yes.
Have we used it as a digital nanny while we needed to get work done? Yep.
Has he developed an unhealthy attachment to the iPad? Yes.
Did he have an uncontrollable tantrum for over an hour the other day when I told him he couldn’t play games for more than 15 minutes after school? Ahaa.
Dear Strength – Poem and Podcast
DEAR STRENGTH Why have you not returned to me, my Strength? I need you back for good, my Strength. But you only visit on occasion. Why? What are you doing, my Strength? I had plans…
What I Believe – A confession of faith
A few months ago, I’ve had a few people come to me, in kindness and concern (I think), asking me to give an account for things that I’ve written around theological theories and topics. Some…
Being known by God – Scary, maybe?
If eternal life is an intimate and ongoing relationship with a triune God (Jn17:3), is it possible we short-change ourselves with misplaced relationships? Something less threatening that may look similar? For example: 1. Could we…
Future-tech, Spirituality and Humanity – How Automation and A.I. will raise important questions. Video and Audio
Artificial Intelligence (also abbreviated as AI), and automation are no longer a pipe-dream or something held in the imagination of SCI FI writers – this is real! It’s happening now and through sheer disruption, future-tech…
Can we leave the orphan spirit behind us, please?
I’m going to tread carefully but unapologetically here among my evangelical and charismatic friends. Partly because many loved/popular preachers have given sermons on this topic, written books on the topic, and filled altars with troubled…
Now taking bookings. Counselling on the Sunshine Coast with Natalie Tensen
Natalie Tensen is a trained counsellor and is registered with ACA Australian Counselling Association. Natalie’s specialities include counselling and guidance for health and well-being in areas of relationships, parenting, spirituality, children’s school enrolment and adult…
Don’t Care and Can’t Care… They’re not the same.
Repeat after me, “I’m not a super-human. I have limits. I matter too. I DO care. I mean well. I just can’t always care.”
People who are in pain are generally concerned with one thing: Relief. They will do what they can to not be in pain. When someone or something is not available, pain may well want to discharge through blame. So when you can’t care, and therefore won’t care, you may hear, “You DON’T care.” In most cases, this is pain talking and looking for some relief; therefore, consideration for you and your scenario is being overruled by their pain and immediate need.