Welcome to The Dwelling Place. I’m so glad you’re here. This is a space where faith, observation, imagination, and passion come together. A place to ex...
We Will Never Know Our Impact We will never know our impact. Our attitude and the way we treat people matters more than we realise. When we snap at people, let our tempers get the better of us, or allow all the stress to build up until it finally spills over, we don’t know who might be on the receiving end of it. We don’t know what that person is experiencing. We don’t know what kind of day they…
Where Have All the Mavericks Gone? Where have all the mavericks gone from football? When I was growing up, they were everywhere. You couldn’t move for them. Kaká, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo Nazário, Figo, Raúl, Zidane, Beckham, Gerrard, Keane, Totti. The list goes on. I’ve missed plenty of names out, and some of you might argue that not all of those players were mavericks. Maybe not. But they were proper…
Who Cares for the Caregiver? There’s often one person in every group who quietly looks after everyone else. The one who remembers birthdays, checks in when someone goes quiet, hosts the gatherings, notices when something is wrong, or remembers the little things everyone else forgets. They give emotionally, physically, and mentally, often asking for very little in return. Yet they’re often the ones…
Everyday you do the same thing wake up have a coffee or a tea do your usual routine and then one day you look in the mirror and say where did those wrinkles come from, I’m hairier than usual or oh those bags are bigger than they have ever been. In a split second you realise those daily battles you fight without thinking has left their mark and all your life fighting for peace has left you worn,…
The England Test head coach job is now on the market. With Ben Stokes having retired, Brendan McCullum shown the door, and only Rob Key remaining from the leadership group, England have the chance to start again. Key speaks well, but if the other two are gone, I’d move him on too and give whoever comes in a completely clean slate. If I were making the decisions, Michael Vaughan would be my first…
It wasn’t a great watch. That’s me being completely honest. I watched the whole match, and while Spain were excellent, the game itself never really came alive. Spain were outstanding as a team. Every player knew their role, trusted the system, and worked together as a coherent unit. They looked like a side that had been built over time rather than simply assembled. Argentina had no answers. They…
What I’ve reflected on this week is just how much growth can happen in a person over the course of a few months when habits begin to change. I noticed it in the biggest way yesterday, but I’ve also seen it in smaller moments throughout the week. I have more love and more capacity for people I have often struggled with—people who have hurt me, frustrated me, or made me angry. The change hasn’t come…
Heartbreak Semi-final. England fail. Again. This time it’s all on the manager, I’m afraid. Thomas Tuchel has to take the blame because it was horrific to watch us pinned in our own penalty box for 30 minutes against Lionel Messi and Julián Álvarez. He got the squad wrong and, if I’m honest, I was wrong about Spence—he looked quality—but we should have had a fit right-back option, and that should…
“Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” John 4:13–14 (ESV) Life hurts us. It drains us, takes things from us, and leaves us feeling empty, wondering where to turn. We often run to…
Why did I create this blog, and why is it called The Dwelling Place? The simple answer is that my mind is rarely quiet. I have thousands of thoughts, questions, observations, and ideas running through it every day. Sometimes that’s a gift, and sometimes it’s exhausting. I realised that if I didn’t have somewhere to put those thoughts, they would simply stay in my head. I tried journaling, but I…