‘Lord, I have no idea what it means to be this kind of person. I have no real idea what it means to step into the wind and the storm and the desert and the rocky places of a person’s life, I really don’t, but I can’t get away from these words, and I sense that you are asking me to be willing to be such a person. So, here I am.

There always seemed to be a lot going on at church and I was usually somewhere near the centre of the action. But, after many years in various leadership roles there, I began to question what I was achieving.

After watching a good film as a family, I like to ask, ‘What do you think the main message was?’ ‘Teamwork!’ my sons’ chime and it’s almost always true. We kicked off our summer holidays by watching Fantastic Four: First Steps at the cinema and we closed it with a home viewing of Thunderbolts*.

Our ‘crossing cultures’ adventure began over 35 years ago. In 1988 we moved to Sparkhill, an incredibly diverse area of Birmingham – inner city, multicultural, at the poorer end of the socio-economic scale and predominantly South Asian, either of Sikh, Hindu or Muslim religion.

At the start of the year I found myself hankering after some endorphins, so I joined our local gym. As I settled into something of a routine I mostly found myself at Body Combat, a vigorous thirty minute workout where you punch and kick your way to fitness.

How fruitful you think you are for Christ depends partly on what you think fruit is. Mark Greene explores a rich and liberating framework for everyday fruitfulness.

The lights went out. Ruth and I heard waves thrashing, gusts whistling, a couple crying out. As they attempted to salvage their tent from the incoming tide, I sunk into the comfort of my cinema seat and our friendship.

I initially thought Ivan was the most irritating person I’d ever met. At a summer school gathering for computer scientists, sitting on the lawn, he barraged me with gossip and interrogated me about my career. As someone wanting intentional conversations about Jesus, this felt like the opposite.

It’s through a reflection that we are introduced to The Wild Robot’s unlikely hero, the Rozzum Unit 7134. We see otters exploring shipwrecked packaging on a remote island, then this close-up shot zooms out to reveal that we are watching this scene on the shiny surface of the robot’s eye.

I love that the school run is a huge part of our week. We are able to walk alongside others twice a day, five days a week, over a period of several years. It allows deeper lifelong relationships to develop. It gives me the chance to ask friends about their day and listen as they share their joys and challenges.

We often think about the things Jesus said – we memorise his words and repeat them. But I wonder if we sometimes miss how good a listener Jesus is?

I love the transition between two seasons, but I particularly love the change from spring to summer. The beauty that was birthed in spring seems to come into the fullness of life in summer – the trees get greener, the flowers open fully and the sun shines for longer.