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Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, links success to opportunity. Ed Catmull (co-founder of Pixar) in his book Creativity Inc. agrees. People, born at the right time, in the right place, with the right opportunities, who seize them, can create amazing things.

This is as true of the Steve Jobs’ and the George Lucas’ as it is of the every-day person. I just happened to be born, and to grow up, at the beginning of the Internet age. I’ve watched the web move through its life-cycles. I saw the dot-com bubble burst as a young student, and the rebirth followed by the rampant explosion of social media.

Through interaction with the developing technology I was able to help myself, and then others. It wasn’t long before many wanted blogs – including companies – and a social media presence. I could help. I was soon asked to offer guidance and advice as to why and how businesses should use these tools.

My first email campaign reached a few dozen people. Now they connect with thousands and thousands.

Over time I have developed a style and an ethos that the companies and organisations I work with have come to appreciate. I take time to understand the people I work with, and the people they are reaching out to. In all my communications ideas I’m constantly thinking, ‘How can I add value to someone here?’ As one of the all-time best communicators said, ‘It’s better to give than to receive.‘

My business interests take me across the UK, and some times around the world. It brings me great joy to help others, help others, to succeed.

If what I do sounds like something that would add value to your organisation, drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you.

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At the risk of explaining away the question – and a very large question at that – it is, I think, helpful to look at what we mean by our terms: specifically, what do we mean when say something is ‘good’?

The ancient Greeks, who are known as much for their deep thinking as their incredible abs (thanks, 300), had some ideas about this. They may have been around a long time ago but I think that they’re not so different from you or I.

One of these Greeks, a man by the name of Epicurus, concluded that what is good is that which is pleasurable. Essentially: if it feels good, it is good. We’re not a million miles from that today in our society. In this way of thinking, a good thing is an event or action that results in pleasure, whereas, correspondingly, a bad thing results in pain.

There is some truth to this. It is undeniable that many pleasurable things are good. A great night out with friends that leaves us feeling good can be truly good! In the opposite manner, incurring a broken arm when mountain biking is at the same time both painful and bad. But these examples don’t cover the whole picture.

So, zooming out a little with this question, we might ask, ‘Are there things that are good that aren’t pleasurable?’ On thinking about this it’s rather obvious that there are. For instance, there are selfless acts of bravery that risks life to save others. The parents, for example, who are badly injured after running back into their burning house to rescue their young child. We would all want, I think, to say that this is a good act, despite it being pretty low on the pleasure scale.

Richard Swinburne, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Oxford University and one of the top philosophers of religion in the last 50 years, acknowledges that suggesting both the existence of God and the existence of pain and suffering, in a world made up only of pleasurable goods, would be a very big problem.

“My suffering would be pure loss for me if the only good thing in life was sensory pleasure, and the only bad thing sensory pain; and it is because the modern world tends to think in those terms that the problem of evil seems so acute. If these were the only good and bad things, the occurrence of suffering would indeed be a conclusive objection to the existence of God.”

Because there are some things that are good, which are not pleasurable, we can allow for the painful alongside the good without contradiction. The painful moment never, ever feels nice, but there can exist a deeper element to the moment, which is truly good.

In a me-centered culture, where my happiness is king, pain can be a terrible thing. When my felt-happiness is the most important thing for me then I will do all I can to avoid the discomfort.

Swinburne I think rightly observes that the ‘acute’ nature of pain can come as a shock to us. It’s a jolt that can awaken us to a reality that our self-centeredness has obscured. In this way, some pain is not without its (valuable) uses, as C. S. Lewis wrote: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

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Across the Atlantic and, 8 years on from then-Senator Obama’s first successful run to the White House, the Democrats and the Republicans see gaping fault lines within their own ranks as they summon the courage to unite under banners they just simply can’t all believe in.

The votes cast in June in the UK and in November in the US could be hugely divisive.

The rhetoric being deployed to promote particular campaigns is much the same across the board. On matters like the economy, immigration, national security, and sovereignty we are told there are disastrous consequences if we go one way, and a terrible future if we go the other. We are informed that it is a bold move to vote [Out|In] or [Hilary|Trump] because [your choice] is the only way forward for our country. And Woe! to us if we vote [against your choice], for calamity is lurking at our doorsteps.

Searching for a Vision

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The Bible says it and we trot this out in at moments like this, to support a strategy and endorse an idea. We use this verse in our personal lives, when we feel that our our own outlook has stagnated and it’s time to refocus. We use this verse to help support the pastor’s strategy for the new direction of the church. And yes, we can use it when our national political viewpoint is contested.

And right now I think this verse is indeed apt, although not perhaps for assumed reasons based on first glances. This verse is not really talking about personal, church, or national strategies at all. It is talking about a revelation of God and His law to His people.

Interesting, this oft-quoted verse from Proverbs 29:18 is usually rendered in the King James vernacular (although we seldom use this version in our churches or personal study any more). The NIV says, “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint”, and the ESV puts it this way, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint.”

The verse is really a warning to heed God’s commands, to follow the vision of the Lord because, as the second part to the verse tells us, “blessed is he who keeps the law (ESV).” If the Bible is God’s primary revelation, then nations who turn from it do indeed “cast off restraint” and unrestrained by this life-giving governance they drift, at best uncertain, and at worse under misguided zeal leading to despair.

Our Political Decisions Should Serve Us; They’ll Never Save Us

I am alarmed by what I see in our countries right now. I am alarmed by the state of the discussion, the level of conversation, the tactics being employed to convince swathes of voters to lean one way or the other. I am concerned by the standard of debate, because it so rarely seems to approach a state even remotely close to being generously termed ‘debate’.

The Bible I believe does speak about politics and Christians should be keen to get involved. Our politics should serve our human flourishing, something Christians ought to be deeply concerned with. Our politicians serve as our leaders, individuals the Bible without qualification tells us to pray for. The economy, immigration, national security, and sovereignty – not to mention the many other issues – concern people, concern the planet, concern a world that the Bible quite clearly demonstrates repeatedly that God cares for enormously.

Our politics are important because people are important, and people are important because God made them and made them in “His image”. We are immensely valuable, which means that the decisions that we make about our lives and our futures are indeed deeply important.

But politics won’t fix our broken world. A certain individual elected and given more power, or a certain decision reached over national governance, these won’t fix our world. Broken people voting for broken leaders with imperfect abilities and imperfect desires can’t bring us to the promised land.

The Bible tells us that the root problem in our world is not political, but moral. And that each person in this world is affected by the problem. Pardon me for sounding trite and overly-simplistic, but if as a nation we all got on our knees before God and repented for our individual selfishness and pride and pleaded for mercy would we not be more likely to be united?

If our individual hearts were more bent towards God’s would not our corporate gaze spot the injustices, the brokenness, the problems more quickly and act with greater compassion to heal them?

Democracy, moulded by Christian thinkers over centuries, seeks to restrict evil intentions and promote good; limit abuse and release healing. It acknowledges that the human heart is fickle and that humanity has a problem. It is not naive in thinking that all we need is a little more effort, a little more education, a little more this and that and we will see great happiness in our time. Nor is it pessimistic in thinking that people from all walks of life and from all beliefs can’t make a positive difference for us all.

Democracy is not a perfect system, but a system suited to a broken world. Democracy doesn’t change the core state of the world, but deals with the condition that we find ourselves in. Therefore democracy – or any other form of rule or government for that matter – will never heal our deepest wounds. The condition that affects us all is beyond our own ability to fix, and therefore all our efforts, of which our politics is a part, have no potency in the matter.

A Christian Vision for Politics

The issues before the voters in the UK and the United States this year are large. They are important and I believe we should get involved. How we do that and to what extent is probably a matter of conscience for each Christian.

As for me, I know I don’t pray enough for my leaders. I know I don’t know enough about the matters at stake. I know I’m not gracious enough in how I respond to different views.

So: pray more, learn more, and show more grace. That’s my personal Christian political vision going forwards.

Pray More

Prayer acknowledges that we have limits, that we don’t know everything, but that God does know everything.

Prayer puts me in closer relationship with the Creator of the Universe, who holds the master plan.

Prayer properly aligns my allegiances.

Prayer brings me to task over my shortcomings as I hold my life openly before God.

Learn More

We have a rational God who communicates to us rationally. Therefore Christians have affirmed the use of the mind for centuries (many great universities of the world serve as markers of rich historic Christian heritage).

We have a sure foundation for trusting our thinking, because we believe there is ultimately a rationality to this universe. We believe there are rational reasons to our existence – it’s not blind chance – and we can know them and communicate them.

This foundation supports our learning. Because we can know, we can learn. We have a firm base from which we love the Lord our God with all of our mind by increasing our knowledge and wisdom of the world and so bringing the mind of God to all matters around us.

Grow in Grace

If there’s one thing above others I ask for more of that my life might reflect more of God, it’s grace.

Extending deeper grace to others can only be supplied by my leaning on a deeper grace that I have received myself. To show more grace, I must rest on God’s grace more.

Too often I lean on my own perceived strengths and abilities, too proud to continue to acknowledge my unceasing need for grace.

To bend the knee before God to receive salvation by grace was a defeat to my proud soul. My old self is dead, yes. I have new life in Christ, but my soul does not always know this. I encounter acts of prideful rebellion that seek, with the passing of time, to justify that one act of humility by proving myself worthy.

My soul believes that Jesus death for me was deserved.

How utterly disgraceful. In grace we were saved, in grace we live our lives. By the power of Christ’ Spirit were we raised from death to life, and by the power of Christ’ Spirit we are to live this mortal life to His glory.

I need more grace, to give more grace. And more grace in how I deal with people is going to be more winsome and thus aid – nay, fuel – my goal to share my faith more than all my other designs and plans.

With grace and by grace Christians can enter the political fray, indeed any part of this created world, and demonstrate something of the nature and character of God who holds all the answers to all our problems.

Some of us are called to be politicians, some of us will campaign, some of us will pontificate on Facebook – all of us will give an account for our activities and will be asked whose kingdom we were building.

Reformation and Revival

The history of these two great nations is replete with times when after much prayer God poured out His Spirit – Revival – causing many to return to Him and the study of His Word – Reformation.

A people with a redeemed heart and a renewed vision of God’s truth have sought to inform politics, the arts, business, education – all areas of life – to demonstrate and reflect God’s great love for all that He has made.

If we think we’re beyond this now, know that there were those who went before who faced the same doubts. But by faith and great prayer and great effort much was accomplished that now stand as examples to us in history.

The challenges our countries currently face can be the alarm that awakens us to the need for a true vision, that spurs us to repentance, revival, and reformation.

I believe there is a present opportunity to bend the knee, call out to God, and by His grace add a chapter of success to our nations histories. Let us not miss it.

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So the first thing I did was to reach for my globe. ‘Right, where are the Azores?’, I mused. Finding at first the Canary Islands, I went hunting around and quickly discovered this little island chain, a thousand or so miles off the coast of Portugal, slap bang in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

A couple more emails, one purchased ticket later, and now I’m en route to Portugal.

I’d love to say that I was full of vision and purpose at this point, but when it came to it, sitting on that flight, I did wonder what on earth I was doing. I had at this point only exchanged a few emails. I really only knew the bare bones of the project, and next to nothing of the people involved. The excitement of the potential gave way to the fears of the unknown.

Well, half way to Terceria Island, in the Azores, I met Henk and Corrie in Lisbon. Henk is a businessman. Well, that’s not really it. I mean, we sum up people by their trade, but that so often falls short of who they are. Henk is a man possessed by a higher vision who seems – from what I can tell – to have led a life of adventure in business and ministry all over the world. He’s one of those people who seems to have really been captured by a calling. Meeting Henk along with his lovely wife, Corrie, is the beginning of the development of the picture of my weekend ahead.

Upon landing on Terceira we meet Art. I want to call him Doc immediately for some reason, but this wouldn’t be right on a number of points. Art was a Registered Nurse in the US Air Force with the rank of colonel, until he retired 10 years ago to pastor a church on Terceira Island. Bright-eyed, tall, and friendly, he offered a warm welcome.

Art and his wife, Debbie, took us to their home where we were made to feel very welcome. A quick walk down the promenade by the sea, in the dark, a snack and it was bed time.

Sunrise on Terceira Island (View All The Photos from the trip here)

Well, the next day dawned and revealed the full beauty of the island. If the Big Island of Hawaii met Devon, England, and had a small love child, Terceria would be it. Green fields, bisected by small black stone walls lined the hills. The ocean met the shore over more black, volcanic rock but this was the familiar notes of the Atlantic Ocean, not the Pacific. For some reason they smell different to me.

The countryside was, to me, a mixture of Devon and Hawaii (View All The Photos from the trip here)

The climate was humid, but cool. Light breezes and steady temperatures were the norm for the weekend. When we drove higher in the hills we entered the clouds, and a mist perpetually hung over much of the island.

One of the first orders of the day was to go back to the airport and pick up Barry. Barry – who to me bears a striking resemblance to Tony Stark – is an energetic American from Little Rock, Arkansas. Despite the jet lag and horrid lack of sleep, Barry was brimming with excitement. He and Henk had last met over a decade ago, in Tanzania, at an Ostrich farm. That is a story way past the purview of this tale, but if you ever do hear it you won’t stop laughing from amazement. A truly incredible intertwining of the threads of life, and rich with deep meaning for both men.

Looking out over the camp (View All The Photos from the trip here)

With Barry in tow we proceeded to the camp. Art has been working on this camp for 8 years, and more recently has made it a prime focus after stepping down from his pastoral role. Now, when I first heard ‘camp’ I thought of some land with some tents and some facilities. I was not prepared for what I met.

Tents? Pah. Cabins. Beautifully constructed, little wooden cabins. Dotted around like hobbit homes across undulating land. There were sports areas, and camp fire areas, an amphitheatre, a fire pit, brand new showers and space for the new kitchen and camp shop. This was no ‘lets have a go and see’ operation but rather the result of careful planning and work over a long period of time.

Camp cabins, dotted about the site (View All The Photos from the trip here)

Each cabin is furnished and ready to go (View All The Photos from the trip here)

A few buildings are still under work, estimated to be complete by early June (View All The Photos from the trip here)

In this setting Art shared his vision for bringing youth to the camp – English speaking youth from all over the globe – to train them in worldview and apologetics. More and more it is being observed that young Christians across the world aren’t properly equipped to a) know what they believe and why, and b) give a defence of their faith when asked. So, when they get to college/university and run into that beautiful/crazy/overwhelming confluence of ideas, their faith can be rocked.

A little while ago, at a school in High Wycombe, I witnessed first hand the wonderful questions that teenagers ask. They ask their own questions. They weren’t rehashed, or run of the mill, but framed by their own thought processes. Many university students, on the other hand, might rehash objections that they’ve overheard. But a school student has in many cases not been exposed to these yet. It’s a wonderful time of life to engage them and challenge them to think for themselves about their faith and why they believe it.

Art, Barry, Henk – all three were united in vision for the scope of the camp, and we were all excited for the opportunities we were tapping in to.

The camp will be completed this summer, and will be a wonderful location for training young students. In addition, Barry proposed another fantastic idea. Tim Caldwell, youth pastor at Fellowship Bible Church, Little Rock, had suggested to Barry that perhaps we could use the whole island as a classroom. As Barry told us of Tim’s idea we began to connect the dots. There are beaches, and forests, and volcanoes, and parks – a wonderful, great big outdoors. And so we trundled off around the island and our excitement grew and grew.

The 16th Century fort – could it be our classroom? (View All The Photos from the trip here)

Walking to the harbour lighthouse (View All The Photos from the trip here)

The dramatic Terceira landscape (View All The Photos from the trip here)

Swimming pools, only slightly improved by man (View All The Photos from the trip here)

Ancient forests complete with modern conveniences (View All The Photos from the trip here)

I could have stayed in this location for hours (View All The Photos from the trip here)

Terceira Island, by way of Portugal, has had some EU money spent on infrastructure. So for a small island where the predominant industry is small scale agriculture, the roads and public parks are very good. We found picnic areas complete with running water and BBQ pits all over the place. Not only that, but they situated in such dramatic locations film producers spend nights dreaming of. The island was stunning. Barry’s idea made so much sense!

We prayed, we talked, we Skyped Pastor Tim in the US, we walked, and we ate great food (thanks to Debbie!). I remembered those fears I had on the plane … What was I doing? Where was I going? Who was I meeting? Well, some times in the service of our Heavenly Father, he really does go ahead of us. No, it’s true! Christian ministry is not all based on what you or I can accomplish out of our resources, or our contacts, or our passion. God knows, we – the wealthy Christians – can do a lot in our strength. But God is always in control, and when we get on board with His plans He can do great things that are well beyond the scope of our imagination, and more beautiful than our fears are dark to us.

We set a date for a trial run this year: June 26th for 10 days. Knowing that with the European school holidays this will mostly be North Americans joining, but in the expectation that next year, 2017, we will run several camps across June, July, and August. If you know of anyone, 15-18, who you think would benefit from 10 days in the Azores, learning about worldview and apologetics, then please let me know. The Facebook page and website will be live soon also and I’ll link to them when they come online.

We had so much fun throughout the course of the weekend. These men and women that I met are passionate people who love God and from whom I can learn much. They have served God well and bring with them experience, compassion, and wisdom. I am excited to be joining in this project as we press in to the opportunities that we are presented with.

One incredible Azorean dinner later – the local food was exquisite – and we were rushing back to the airport. Henk, Corrie and I headed for Lisbon once again, with Barry heading back to the US the following day. As I write this now, on the plane returning to London, I am smiling as I think about how much fun we can have when following God’s leading. There is adventure and newness that reveals more of God’s character. I am thrilled to be involved and look forward to seeing plans unfold.

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