Last weekend I chatted with a friend whose father had cancer. She had given a copy of Hope Beyond Cure to her dad , but be was too unwell to be able to concentrate on the reading. “Have you thought of doing an audiobook? she said.
The truth is, we have thought of doing an audiobook for a decade. Maybe it seemed too hard. We had no idea what was involved. Who would we get to read it? How would it get distributed? All these questions, and more, led to inertia. That is, until now.
We spent yesterday in a recording studio in outer Sydney, where I read every word of Hope Beyond Cure into a microphone. Well, almost every word—Fiona read her section: ‘A carer’s perspective: 12 years on’. Ken Sandell and Marianne Campbell, from Audio Advice, were joined by Gavin Shume, from Matthias Media, and we laid down the tracks. It was a big day, but so satisfying.
There will need to be some editing and processing before it will go live on Audible. But we believe it should be available before Christmas. And we plan for it to be available at no cost. That’s right—free. We simply want to make a difference in people’s lives. Our desire is for people without hope to find eternal hope in Jesus. For those who are beyond reading to simply listen to the message of the gospel.
I thank God for enabling this venture. It really is a dream coming true. If you are a praying person, please thank God with us, and ask that God will use this tool to lead many people to eternal hope.
Treatments for cancer are getting better and better. I wasn’t expected to live 15 months and I’m now approaching 15 years. But the overall death rate remains the same. It’s tracking consistently at 100%. Every one of us has a terminal illness. It’s called life.
May God use Hope Beyond Cure—paperback, eBook, and now audiobook—to give us a real and certain hope in the face of our mortality.
The number of books on my shelf grows at a much faster rate than the number of books I actually read. I keep piling books on top of books and eventually feel the guilt of too many unnecessary purchases. So, I grab a cardboard box and sift through the books I’ve never read and probably never will. Some get given to friends or family, others find their way to a give away table at church, and the remainder usually end up at a local Christian op shop.
The writer of Ecclesiastes couldn’t have begun to grasp the sheer volume of books, not to mention blogs, articles, and podcasts that saturate our world today. “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.” (Ecclesiastes 12:12) I confess to feeling overwhelmed and weary. There has never been so much information to take on board. The internet floods our lives with content. So much information. How do I know what matters most? How much do I need to understand as a Christian leader? I can’t read everything, so should I read anything?
The danger is we give up. Let AI decide what we read, what we hear, how we think. Don’t do the hard work. Have someone else (something else) curate our learning. Take all the short cuts. Stop being curious. Give up on exploring, investigating, comparing, researching, and discussing.
God is in the business of transforming our minds and reshaping our thinking. Not just our knowledge, but our discernment, our priorities and perspectives. We’re called to be sober minded and to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2)
So I’ve decided I must keep reading. Bible first. Good Christian books second. Other worthwhile books, articles, essays, and blogs. I believe God wants me to be a lifelong learner. To inform my mind for his glory, for the sake of all who live without the hope of Jesus, and for the building of my brothers and sisters in Christ.
I’ve set the goal of reading a book a fortnight. To be transparent, sometimes this will mean listening to an audio book and other times turning the pages of a hard copy or kindle. It’s challenging to do, but more than possible. Less time on the phone, computer, or tv could open up hours. In many cases that will mean averaging one or two chapters most days. I will listen to the recommendations of others so that I’m not wasting my time, and I will mix it up so I’m learning more widely. Thus far in 2026 I’m not quite achieving my goal, having read 12 books in a bit over 6 months. But it’s more than I managed last year, and the discipline is making it easier as I go along.
And writing? Yes I’m keen to start writing again. It clarifies my thoughts, pushes me to consider others, and offers a means for ministry to others. This is my first blog post in 3 years – you have to start somewhere!
Below are the books I have read so far this year. There is much more to be said about each of these books. Some commendations and some critiques. But that will be for another day.
Peter Adam, Prayerfulness An inspirational and practical call to have the Bible shape and fill our prayers. I must return to this book and read it more slowly.
Bobby Jamieson, Everything is Never Enough A rich and beautiful deep-dive into the book of Ecclesiastes. My only gripe is you need to hang in there until the end to find the hope of Jesus.
Salas and Tannenbaum, Teams that work A master-class on teamwork drawing on widespread research, giving evidence-based insight into what makes teams work well. A secular book with important insights for ministry leaders.
Carl Trueman, The Desecration of Man Somewhat brain-straining, though not as much as some of his former books. An important reminder that we are made in God’s image to show his glory. We are made to be God’s temple and our sin ‘desecrates’ this sanctuary.
Matt Smethurst, Before you open your Bible Good Bible reading requires more than in depth study. It takes a heart posture that is seeking to be transformed.
Karen Bell, The Adkar Advantage The ADKAR approach to change management is intuitive and evidence-based. The book argues that all successful change efforts will contain the same components in the same order. It rings true to me.
Timothy Paul Jones, Did the resurrection really happen? Easter provided a good opportunity to examine another resource for skeptics looking at evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way Many people seemed to be greatly influenced by JMC’s books, podcasts, and resources. I wanted to understand why he was so popular and what to make of his emphasis on spiritual ‘practices’. To be honest, I’m concerned. While he diagnoses many of the ills of our modern busy lives, my fear is that he replaces them with a move to mysticism that has little regard for the local church. For a “Christian’ book, it did not seem to give much emphasis to the person and work of Christ.
Anna Boxwell, Amy Erickson, Laura Rademaker, God’s Yes to Women I started reading this on the plane returning from the overtly complementarian TGC Women’s Convention in Indianapolis. Knowing many of the book’s authors, I was keen to hear their arguments about egalitarianism. I found myself saying “yes, yes” to much in this book, but remained unpersuaded of its conclusions that all ministry roles are open to both men and women, and that God’s design for Christian marriage doesn’t involve an extraordinary synergy of loving headship and submission.
Craig Ott, The Church on Mission: A Biblical Vision for the Transformation among All People God’s plan to transform his image bearers is the key to understanding the church in this world. I read this book in preparation for the FIEC conference this coming week. To be fair, I need to read it again with a pen in hand.
Mark Vroegop, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy It took me a while to get into this book but once I did I was gripped. Mark is the President of TGC in the US and I heard him give a passionate talk from Psalm 102 on the importance of lament. Lament is a category that I have been exploring deeply over the past year or so, and Mark Vroegop’s book is a biblical master class.
Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation Now that I’m working with TGCA I figured that I wanted to know some of the origin stories. Never having met Tim Keller and not knowing a great deal about him, I have found this book to be inspirational. Hansen gives us so many windows into who and what shaped Tim and Kathy Keller. I love a good biography and there is much to learn and apply in this volume.
I’ve just read a book that has brought me out of blog retirement! Just realised it’s been 18 months since I added any words to macarisms.com. Well, Carl Laferton (author) and Jennifer Davison (illustrator) have published a magnificent children’s storybook Bible. I have eagerly anticipated this children’s storybook Bible for some time, having known the passion of the author for helping children and adults see the Bible as more than a collection of ancient short stories.
The Old Testament section takes you on the journey from creation and fall, through promises to Abraham to bless his people, rescue them from slavery in Egypt, establishing his people in the land, promises to David that his descendant would be the forever king, the demise of Israel, the Exile to Assyria and Babylon, the prophetic hope, the return from Exile, and the wait for God to fulfil his promises. If that sounds heavy and complicated—it’s not! It’s simple and clear. Read this book. You’ll see. This children’s book will assist many adults to also see the trajectory of God’s plan through the Scriptures.
The New Testament chapters focus heavily on Jesus. He is shown to be God’s chosen promise-keeping king. The Gospels reveal Jesus as the fulfilment of all of God’s plans. His life, death, resurrection, and reign over all, are then proclaimed throughout the world and congregations are established. Christians are encouraged, challenged and pointed to God’s plan to restore all things under his Son Jesus.
This book contain keys to tracing five big themes through the Bible. You can discover God’s plans to rescue and save, God’s people growing from one man to people from all nations, God’s promised land finding fulfilment in a new creation, God’s delight in bringing joy to those who trust him, and God’s plan for a forever-king fulfilled in Jesus, his Son. You could read this time and time again, following different threads.
I only picked the book up today. I opened it over lunch and I couldn’t put it down until I’d finished it.
Salt Community Church, where I pastor in Bonny Hills, is currently exploring how the Bible fits together over 10 weeks. We are preaching, studying, and exploring, and following a children’s program, on a 10 stop tour of the Bible:
Creation
Rebellion
Promises to Abraham
Promises to David
Solomon and the decline of God’s people
The exile and hope through the prophets
Jesus the fulfilment
Jesus’ death
Jesus’ resurrection
God restoring all things
We are also seeking to fill in some of the gaps with a 70 day guided Bible reading plan. I’d have loved to have God’s Big Promises Bible Storybook for the whole 10 stop journey through the Bible. It would be the perfect complement.
If you have young children, grandchildren, nephews or nieces… if you have next-door neighbours with children… if you’re looking for a wonderful birthday, baptism, Christmas, or just cos I felt like it present… if you’re a teenager or an adult and you’d like a quick intro as to how the Bible hangs together and what God has been doing in human history… then get yourself a copy or 3.
Would you like to join me in reading the Bible in 2022? My plan is to read it cover to cover following a plan that gets me reading Mondays to Fridays every week. The beauty of this plan is that I can use weekends to catch up if I get behind. Or I can do something different on Saturdays and Sundays.
Tim Challies recommends this Bible reading program, which enables you to read the entire Bible (or just the New Testament) in one year while only reading five times a week. Reading the whole Bible in a year is doable — even for those who wouldn’t see themselves as good readers. It just takes stickability. If you’re like me, and have failed repeatedly to read the Bible every day for 12 months, then this plan might well be the answer.
The Old Testament readings follow an approximate chronological order. The New Testament readings spread the Gospels out throughout the year to keep you regularly coming back to the life and teachings of Jesus.
Challies recommends doing the readings in the order they appear on the Schedule. You can check off each day’s reading, and then check off each week in the Weekly Progress Register. If you really want, you can get ahead by continuing the plan on weekends. It’s encouraging to see how systematically you progress through the Bible and how rewarding this can be.
Before you start each reading, ask God to help you get to know him better, that you might trust him more completely and follow him more closely.
I will be kicking off my plan on 1 January 2022. If you’d like to join me, then I’d love to hear from you. Click below to download Bible Reading Program.
My other tip for reading the Bible in a year is to write a few notes as you go. Get yourself a cheap exercise book, spend a little more for a fancy notebook, or find a diary with enough room to write some notes. Jot down what you learn, any questions to follow up, and what you plan to do in response to God’s Word. This can also give you things to pray each day, as you talk to God about what you are learning.
Next week the church I pastor is looking at what we believe about church. What we truly believe will be shown in how we speak and act. Here’s some helpful food for thought on how we approach church.
When it comes to pastoral care, it’s not one size fits all. Nicholas Batzig has written a helpful article on The Complexity of Pastoral Care.
Given the ubiquity of pornography and the many temptations on the internet, buying your child a smart phone is a major decision and needs appropriate guidance. Tim Challies offers helpful advice in his article Letter to teens unboxing their first smartphone.
As a preacher, this is an issue I need to come back to again and again. The missing ingredient in many sermons by Erik Raymond is flavour for our spiritual food.
Learning to see by Jean Williams is a beautiful reflection on the way we are, as observed in an everyday glimpse of the creation.
Tim Challies reflects on five lessons he learned from William Zinnser on the art of writing non-fiction. I found much to learn in On Writing Well (5 Big Tips).
Andrew Errington, the author of Can we trust what the Gospels say about Jesus?,has written a helpful article on an important struggle we all face: On Doubt: Ten Thoughts.
If-only discipleship by Brian Rosner reminds us from God’s Word that we don’t need to wait for our circumstances to get ‘better’ before we can grow and serve God.
Why these 66 books? by Nathan Busenitz is a simple and clear introduction to understanding the canon of Scripture. This article helpfully anchors the basis of defining the biblical canon, not in church councils or decisions, but in Jesus Christ himself.
On the path to the cancer ward by Jean Williams instantly grabbed my attention. Not simply because I know this scenario well, but because I am always encouraged and occasionally rebuked as I read Jean’s sympathetic reflections on suffering in the light of God’s Word.
How to shut down gossip by Erik Raymond tackles the perennial problem of gossip among God’s people. I suspect gossip is one of the respectable sins that we either consider to awkward to address, or don’t want to tackle because we enjoy it too much. If you are wondering, I think ‘RPG’ stands for rocket propelled grenade!
Making Meetings Effective is something we all want to do. I keep hearing people in all walks of life, including and especially churches, lamenting the frustrations of unproductive meetings. Craig Schafer reminds us of the importance of two often neglected tools.
From time to time I plan to link to some helpful articles and ideas that I’ve been reading, This is my first instalment…
Contentment (1) At a time like this by Jean Williams is the first in a 10 part series on Christian contentment. Jean writes will clarity and a deep understanding of the implications and joys found in trusting Jesus.
Six myths of discipleship by Col Marshall helps us to see that discipleship is the essence of being Christian, rather than a particular process for a select few.
macarisms 