Chalmers' Blog

“Quiet please”

The traffic bustles on, the sounds abound of car engines, of squeaky brakes and of horns honking as fruition rises. The shop is bustling, people rushing around to grab the best deal, conversations between couples shopping about what their bellies want to consume that night for dinner, children asking for that sweet and that toy. You sit on the couch, the TV adverts interrupting your show, the screen on your phone lights up with notification after notification, the sounds of the neighbours as they go about their lives on the other side of the wall.

Landscape of Hope

If you’re reading this and know anything about this blog, you will know that I like books, but what may be news to you is that I particularly like books that are beautiful and combine the work of a wordsmith and an artist. I think this all started years ago as I sat in a class room that unpacked the book of Psalms. In the Psalms the poets write songs of praise, lament, anger and awe whilst painting pictures in the readers mind. But I wasn’t always like this, I used to really struggle with the Psalms. I struggled with the raw emotions, both good and hard, so it was not a book I turned to often. Now, however, barely a week goes by where I am not in the Psalms by myself or with someone else and emerged in a word picture that either fills your mind with how great God is or helps you put words to your darkest emotions. How did that change come about? Let me introduce you to Heather Holdsworth…

Saturday Snippets (September 23)

As well as reading a lot of books, I also read a ton of articles every week. Here are some of the articles that I’ve read recently and have found interesting, helpful, challenging and encouraging. I hope that they will be the same for you, my dear readers…

Weightlifting and the Christian life

Over the last year I’ve gotten back into the gym. When I was younger I was quite active in the gym and enjoyed lifting but some injuries and moving countries out a stop to that. But a year ago I started going back and lifting again. Personally I find that hitting the gym helps me to relax, clear my mind and it helps with both my mental and my physical health.

Training and equipping little ones

As a Pastor, part of my job is training and equipping the church to use the gifts that God has given them to serve Him for the upbuilding of the body of Christ, that ‘job description’ is pretty clear from Ephesians 4. Most people would nod along and agree with that when it comes to adults, but when it comes to children there is a tendency to focus more on fun and games rather than training and equipping. However, there are so many good resources out there that have been produced to help you train and equip little ones, here are four that have come across my desk recently.

Saturday Snippets (September 16)

Preaching that transforms is preaching that speaks to the heart

There are a plethora of books and blog posts out there on preaching, so I’m sorry to add another one to the mix. Most books on preaching have a focus on text work (how do you understand and exegete a text), communication work (voice variation, illustrations, engagement, etc.) or practical things (script or not script, why preach, etc.). All of those things are good and helpful, but there can often be an overlooked element of preaching.

Do not be true to yourself

The message that many of our children and young people hear regularly is “be true to yourself, be whoever you want to be, ignore the rest of the world and follow your dreams, blaze your own path”. It sounds like a freeing and harmless message on the surface, but in reality many young people are left with doubts and anxiety at the sheer volume of big decisions they are given to make (expected to make) at a very young age. So here comes Kevin DeYoung with some countercultural advice for the rest of your life.