A Personal Update (With A Book Update, Too)

I woke up the other day thinking about the list of normal things I was going to do that day, which is not unusual. But it struck me that I’ve been waking up like that for years and years, and the list of normal things I’ve thought about has changed dramatically. For example, recently I’ve been taking our oldest child out to practice driving. This is normal now, but it wasn’t a year ago, and it’s a sign that our family is entering another new and different kind of normal. Next year our youngest will join her brothers in secondary school and our normal will change again.

Last week I woke up at a camp centre in the country where my wife and I were leading a youth camp for almost 50 15-18 year olds. We’ve done this every October break for years so I guess that makes it normal for us now, too. Yesterday we attended the funeral of Ruth Smyth, a farmer’s wife who helped found and run these camps for more than 50 years. Her normal life was given constantly to help others know the love of Jesus. She never had a large platform and never drew attention to herself and there’s no way you could ever measure the eternal impact of her life—the churches in our area are literally filled with people whose lives have been changed forever as a direct result of her quiet ministry to everyone around her.

Speaking of church, that’s another new normal that’s beginning to take shape for our family. We recently held our second monthly service for our soon-to-be launched church in Carrigtwohill. God willing, we’ll launch fully sometime early in the New Year. We’re very thankful for the support of our mother church in Midleton as well as our cooperative network of churches in Counties Cork and Kerry, and especially for the fantastic group of people now gathering in Carrigtwohill. It’s exciting to see how God is bringing things together!

There is something else I’m looking forward to in the New Year—I’m delighted to be able to share with you that my new book is scheduled to release on the 1st of May, 2025! The title is The Language of Rivers and Stars: How Creation Speaks of the Glories of God. I’m honestly so excited about this project. It was an absolute pleasure to research and write, and the process has changed my view of creation and its Creator forever. If you’ve ever been stunned to silence by a thunderstorm or overwhelmed by the number of stars above you on a clear night then you’ll know the strange power that nature possesses to communicate directly to our souls. This book is all about helping us see, interpret, and respond to that communication—to hear what God is saying to us in all that he has made and (even more importantly) to respond to our Creator.

Here’s the cover:

You can preorder the book now at:
The Good Book Company UK
The Good Book Company USA
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
And other bookstores as well. Maybe it will change the way you see the world, too.