Fountain's Thoughts

Have you ever felt like punching the air and shouting “yes!” when a writer presents something that has really touched you deep inside? It happened to me this morning. To be honest, I was avoiding some dreary admin form which was asking me the same question multiple times in multiple ways. I’d had enough. So, […]

I have noticed it in myself and I have noticed it in others. Irritability It tends to sneak in at those moments when I am over busy.  When I try to keep all the plates spinning at once.  When I am under pressure and feeling unappreciated.  Something just seems to snap inside. Irritability The mouth […]

I spotted a wonderful verse in the book of James this morning :- Do not be deceived (James 1 vs. 16) Those words sound like a really good warning.  There are an awful lot of phone scams doing the rounds at the moment advising me that my bank has spotted a fraud; I owe the […]

This morning, I was reading a story of one of the Desert Fathers, Abba Antony. There was once a hunter who was travelling through the desert and he saw Abba Antony relaxing, laughing and joking with the brothers.  The hunter was shocked.  Abba Antony was an important Holy Man and it was inconceivable that he […]

It was the perfect moment. There, in front of the whole Synagogue, Jesus was in a no win situation.  If He healed the man with the withered hand, He was breaking the law.  If He ignored Him, then He did not care about the “rabble” that were beginning to follow Him. Whether the Pharisees had […]

Have you ever read a Bible passage that just doesn’t make sense to you? That is what happened to me this morning. I was reading a passage where Jesus appears to break the rules. As He does so, the Pharisees challenge Him about breaking God’s laws. If you want to read the passage for yourself, […]

I don’t know about other preachers but I find, at times such as Christmas, there is a reoccurring theme throughout my preaching.  During Christmas 2019, that theme has been “darkness and light”.  I have found that there have been two verses in particular that have really spoken to me; The people walking in darkness have […]

Yesterday as my, almost, six-month old grandchild vomited on my jumper (yet again), I found myself reflecting that a baby brings an awful lot of disruption with it.  Your world is never the same. Things that you used to take for granted are no longer the same.  When you used to just jump in the […]

I recently took my daughter to a hospital appointment in London.  The challenge that lay before us was navigating ourselves to an unfamiliar part of London in the rush hour.  Our appointment time was just as the daily rush was beginning and it meant that we would be trying to get home in the midst […]

As I have been preparing for the upcoming festive season, a lot of my thinking has been around the theme of light and darkness.  I love the prologue of John’s Gospel and contrasting images of light and dark that it presents; The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.  (John […]