Christmas is here again. And it is time for my annual Christmas blog. Through finishing the first term of my youth internship, I have seen how faith has changed so many people’s lives and how, if it wasn’t for the birth of Jesus Christ, mine and their lives would be so much different. So, many of my youth are often confused with where the Christmas story begins, as they often start in the wrong place. They often start where all the advent calendars start in Luke 2:1, where it says; “And it came to pass in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be tax ..read more

A new blog post is back. This season has been very busy and jam-packed lately, with a lot of things going on in my life and finding a space to write a blog has been difficult. The reason for this is that sometimes I’m completely on top of God and sometimes I don’t feel His presence, but I know He’s always there. This all fits perfectly into this post… The title sounds like an action film or a survival guide, written by Bear Grylls but it’s more common that you would actually think. In church, I’m sure man of us have had our high weeks and low weeks. High weeks are when we’re completely on fire ..read more

For me, having the right answer means everything to me. It allows me to feel in control and I’m very out-of-my-depth when I don’t know the answer. Throughout my degree, the right answer was needed, never a maybe or an “I don’t know.” We had to know why someone was killed and the right pieces of evidence to collect to determine who did it. If that answer wasn’t right, in the real world someone would be locked up for a crime they never committed. This might resonate with you; The uncertainty in waiting for answers, the discomfort not having clarity brings, the frustration that comes with floatin ..read more

My mind goes at 100 hundred miles an hour. It’s hard to stop it or even slow it down. It makes me run through every scenario that has happened throughout the day to run havoc in my mind as I lay my head on my pillow to go to sleep. It makes me view every word my lips have said and review it in slow motion, if it could have been said differently, or not said at all. I’m sure this routine is an experience a lot of us are familiar with. If you’ve never had this, just imagine: it’s been an awesome day, you feel like you’ve worked really hard, you get home and you’re super tired, and all you want t ..read more

Last week was a big eye-opener and taught me a lot about prayer. Not with what I pray, or when in the day, or where, or even for how long, but how I should be praying. The first thing I picked up, during staff meetings at my church internship, was that they prayed big prayers, HUGE prayers. It’s something I’ve never done and I was afraid to pray big prayers. And it made me double check myself; Do I believe in the power of God enough to boldly ask Him for a miracle… and to believe that miracle when it’s standing right in front of me? Naturally, this question followed another. When was the last ..read more

Over the past 5 years, I have been constantly on the move. At the end of every school year, I have moved to another house with new or the same people, throughout the course of my degree. But this year it will be different. As I’m sure a lot of you already know, I’m moving again to do a youth internship year. In one week, I’ll be living in a different place. And honestly, it makes me nervous – to move to a new city knowing no-one. I’ve done it before but this time feels different. This time, I’m not a student anymore. Maybe you’ve experienced moving to an new city, a different country or just t ..read more

I’m back! And I’m excited for a lot of new content coming your way. Not in quantity but in quality and I’m really excited for what this new season will bring. Now let’s get into this blog post: Names. We’ve all got one. To me, my name is quite special because I’ve only met a small handful of people who have the same name as me. Nicholas. Meaning “victory to the people.” Whenever you meet someone for the very first time, the introduction of your name usually comes about. Connected with our name, is our identity. One of the things that stands out from anyone else, unique to you. It’s printed on ..read more

Lets start with this; I can’t believe “Don’t Fear, Only Believe” is 1 year old. It has been a rollercoaster of a journey from where I started to where I am now and I’m so grateful for the people who have done life with me over this past year. This blog post is going to be more of a personal one than a biblical one. No Bible stories today unfortunately. I want to talk to you about how my life has changed in a year, why change is a good thing and why it is sometimes needed. Lessons Learnt Life’s lessons have taught me new things every single day. This year, I’ve learnt to pray as soon as I wake ..read more

Control. Something we all like and all want. We all like being in control of something. Whether it’s the TV remote, our smartphones or the car we’re driving, we all are comfortable in knowing we are the ones in control and we have the power to do anything. Control equals power. But what about our lives? We try our very best to steer it in the way we want it to go; the education we want, the profession we choose… even down to how many children we’d rather have. But control isn’t always the best for us. When it came to choosing the internship I wanted, control played a huge part. In this instanc ..read more

Middlesbrough. It has been my home for the last four years but that is all coming to an end, with this week being my last week here. With moving out of any town or city, there comes the equally unpleasant challenge of saying goodbye to friends and/or family. I’ve done this before when moving out to go to university, but this big move ahead has been a little different because I am moving to a city I don’t know to carry out a plan I believe God has for me. I hate goodbyes. I’m not sure that anyone really likes them. Goodbye is a word with such a finality to it, especially when it’s for the last ..read more