A handful of you will remember I used to leave weekly thoughts in this corner of the internet. I’m dusting it off today because some UCB listeners, RightNow Media and YouVersion subscribers, and book lovers have been asking me to do so. But mostly just because I’ve missed sharing this space with you.

I flew to South Africa over Easter, for my nephew’s wedding and some work. On the way home (UK) from home (SA), I found myself eating breakfast on the veranda of The Grand Legacy Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda. I wouldn’t have chosen garlic spinach and deep-fried banana chips at 5am – or anytime – but there they were on my plate. The hot-humid-dark hadn’t yet given way to hazy-grey-dawn. A shuttle would take me and other London-bound passengers back to the airport (via roadblocks and sniffer dogs) in an hour.

The Grand Legacy Hotel was, to be fair, pretty grand. (The breakfast: less grand.) So much so that I was actually quite thrilled about the rescheduled flight and twelve-hour layover. A bubble bath for the win! And a bed of disorientating enormity! Rwanda is just south of the equator and as I experimented with positioning myself in any number of starfish formations beneath the crisp white sheets without even vaguely touching the edges, it struck me that my life over the past four and a bit years has been an experiment in stretching a soul across hemispheres, and sometimes it feels like I’m far from the edges of anything.

Our day flight to Heathrow was fully old school. No inflight entertainment. I’d finished my book. Worked on my laptop. Eaten the meh meals. Dozed on and off during an enforced midday lights-out. I had a window seat, and when we were allowed to raise the blinds I saw we were over the Mediterranean. I was mesmerised. Toy ships leaving white wakes on a flat blue page. A crinkle of coastline. Villages. Then snowcapped Alps painted the same colour as the clouds scudding past the wing.

I’m not sure if airplane mode is still a thing but I’d turned it on when we boarded. Travel habit. Now, I turned it off. I had no WiFi and no sky data plan, but Maps still found me. There I was. A small blue dot, moving steadily across French farms and rivers and motorways. The channel. Then fields and forests and posh private schools and a ribbon of silver I knew was the Thames.

It all made me think about how tiny our planet is – a small blue dot moving through the cosmos – and the infinitesimal role we each play in the grand scheme of things. The Main Character pressure is seriously off. And yet – we serve an infinitely mighty and loving God who stoops to bless and enjoy us. When Google loses track of me from time to time – because, updating… – God doesn’t.

Friend, you’re never lost. There’s a good Shepherd – a King – who knows where you are every moment. He knows where you live. He knows where to find you when there’s an assignment with your name on it. He knows about the you-shaped gaps in this world that only you can fill. He created them.

What’s more, He’s everywhere. An unmissable target. Even if He feels far away, He never is.

Jesus is only ever building His church and bringing His Kingdom. He’s all about His glory and the good of His people. So, it’s in His best interests to best position you for His best use. He’s more invested in your story than you are. And He takes full responsibility for the life fully devoted to Him.

Maybe today the truth of all that can fill you with hope, and make you brave.

. . .

So lovely to have you here.

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