The LinkedIn Miracle

On 9th December, I embarked on a journey from Edinburgh to Salt Lake City, Utah, via JFK Airport in New York.
Whilst passing through the security area in JFK, somehow another passenger inadvertently picked up my laptop from the security belt, leaving their own behind.
What unfolded in the next hour in JFK was straight out of a Laurel & Hardy film – chaotic, disorganised, and entirely frustrating.
Consumed by a sense of helplessness, the ensuing 5-hour flight to Salt Lake City was a sombre one for me.
In my mind, I replayed the scene, dwelling on the laptop loss and the vital work it contained.
As the days passed, I grew more discouraged.

The Power of Prayer

Yet I, along with a few others, prayed fervently, asking for a miracle.
By day three, without any word, I began filling out insurance forms, resigned to the fact that my laptop (containing critical information for my book) was gone – it was a hopeless situation.
Seconds later, out of the blue, I received a LinkedIn message:
“Hi, did you lose your laptop at the airport?”
My heart leapt and I quickly responded, “Yes!”
What followed was an extraordinary exchange with a complete stranger from Spain who had mistakenly taken my laptop.
My new friend shared that 9th December had been a particularly difficult, stress-filled day.
After returning to Spain, she realised her error when she opened the laptop.
There, she found my name and photo and decided to search for me on the professional social networking site LinkedIn.
26 days later, it’s back in my own hands.
I am so thankful for my new friend, whose integrity and willingness to correct her mistake has restored my faith in humanity once more.
The experience has reminded me too of the story of the Good Samaritan.
Amid life’s uncertainties, good people often show up unexpectedly, offering kindness and generosity.
Like the Samaritan, my new friend didn’t let her difficult circumstances stop her from doing the right thing.
Her choice reminded me that the world is full of “Good Samaritans,” quietly making it better through their small yet meaningful acts of kindness.
What small acts of kindness can we perform today to brighten someone else’s path?
You never know whose prayers you might just answer…

Holy Oats!

Arising early, there is an icy chill in the air.
It’s a sure sign that winter has arrived.
I love my morning ritual of preparing my porridge oats…
Porridge is one of the healthiest ways to start your day.
Weighing 55 grams of good quality oats, I then add 325ml of creamy oat milk.
Soaking the oats to allow them to soften and absorb the milk for a while, is key.
Then, I place the mixture over a gentle heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon, allowing the porridge to warm and bubble.
I’ve learned that the simmering unlocks the full flavour of the porridge.
It’s a slow and steady process that cannot be rushed.
The result, as the oats and milk gradually become one, they transform into a creamy delicious porridge.
A sprinkling of fruit, then a drizzle of maple syrup adds the final touch, creating a warming and satisfying dish.
Shock, horror, agog – “no salt!!?” – I hear my fellow Scots shout!
There are few things more comforting than a steaming bowl of Scots porridge oats!
I love it!
I’ve found, that a well-made bowl of porridge somehow brings me real satisfaction and energy for the day ahead.
Just as porridge fills and warms me right through on a chilly winter’s morning, I know that Christ’s love and His light sustains, warms and nourishes our souls, especially as our focus returns to Him during the Christmas season.
I know too, that a well-lived life centred on Jesus Christ brings joy and purpose that can carry us through all seasons, even the coldest and darkest of winter days.
It’s my experience that when the warmth of His light stirs within us, slowly but surely, we can all become more like Him.
Likewise, as my morning porridge warms me through, Christ’s light warms the soul, lifting our spirits and spreading peace, hope and joy.
Just as the simmering slowly transforms oats into something nourishing, His light refines and strengthens us daily.
What small daily rituals help you feel sustained and uplifted, both physically and spiritually?

Faith at Work

Yesterday, I enjoyed catching up with some old colleagues and making some new friends in a virtual café for Fellows of the Association for Coaching.
There was an instant blend of warmth, trust, and camaraderie.
Our shared values and collective openness allowed us to learn and grow together.
The smiles, the attentive nods, the laughter, and the genuine curious interest in one another’s thoughts created a strong sense of belonging.
Some topics for our breakout rooms were suggested and off we went to share our thoughts.
I suggested a current topic at the forefront of my mind “faith friendly workplaces”.
What followed in the next 35 minutes was one of the most insightful and powerful coaching conversations I’ve ever had.
I am truly thankful for Tom Hennessy for his intuitive and penetrating questioning skills.
From the outset, he tuned into my thinking as I shared my experiences of an event I’d attended the day before.

Religious Freedom

At that event, I’d engaged with a diverse group of leaders, advocates, and thinkers who were passionate about the intersection of religious freedom and business.
Hosted by Louise Bailey of OVO, the gathering highlighted the vital role that workplaces play in fostering an environment where faith can be expressed openly and respectfully.
Brian J. Grim of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, shared his perspective on how recognising and respecting employees’ faith identities can enrich any workplace culture.
His stories underscored the importance of seeing faith as an integral part of diversity, just as important as race, gender, or any other characteristic.
The event also reminded me that creating faith-friendly workplaces wasn’t just about accommodating faith; it’s about empowering individuals to bring their whole selves to work.
Further, it’s about creating an environment where people feel seen, heard, and valued, not despite their faith but because of the richness it adds to who they are.
As I further reflected upon the conversations at the event, I realised how closely they align with the work I’m passionate about.
Coaching, after all, is about creating safe spaces for people to explore and grow.
If workplaces can become those safe spaces, where faith is acknowledged and respected, it could transform not just individual lives but entire organisational cultures.
Now, I have my work cut out as I consider how to bring my learning and coaching knowledge to this vital cause.
How can we foster workplaces that embrace faith as part of diversity?
It’s a challenge I’m eager to explore, and one I invite you to consider too.

 

From Birth to Rebirth

On 26th November 1999, at 3:02 am, Monic gave birth to our daughter Megan, 28 days early, a precious gift, she has forever altered the rhythm of our lives.
Twenty-five years later, on 26th November 2024, at 3:30 am, Megan brought her own firstborn child, Oscar, into the world, 12 days late.
Reflecting on this extraordinary overlap of life’s moments, of shared birthdays, made me reflect yet again on God’s providence.

Gospel Parallels

With this profound connection I want to invite you to reflect on the miracle of physical birth and its parallel, the transformative gift of spiritual rebirth through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Birth itself is a remarkable miracle.
It is the culmination of waiting, preparing, and trusting in God’s perfect design.
Just last week, I wrote about Megan’s experience of waiting for Oscar’s arrival, likening it to the gospel principle of trusting in the Lord’s timing.
The Scriptures repeatedly remind us that God’s ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9) and that His plans unfold precisely as they should.
This shared birthday between Megan and Oscar is more than mere coincidence; it’s a divine reminder of the intricate weaving of our lives into God’s eternal tapestry, God-incidence.
As Megan transitions into motherhood, she enters a new season of selflessness, love, and spiritual growth.
For us as grandparents (Oma and Grandad), Oscar’s arrival highlights a legacy of faith, a continuation of priesthood promises, sealed through generations of time.
Holding this perfect little boy in our arms was simply beautiful and joyful!

Rebirth

The timing of Oscar’s birth also echoes the promise of rebirth offered through Jesus Christ.
While physical birth brings us into mortality, spiritual rebirth through covenant living and the grace of God prepares us for eternity.
Christ Himself taught, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
Just as Megan has given Oscar the gift of life, our Heavenly Father offers us the ultimate gift: the chance to be born again through Christ’s atonement, to become new creatures in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17).
These moments of birth, and the spiritual parallels they draw, urge us to prepare for the ultimate reunion with our Heavenly Father.
Reflecting on the miracle of birth, may we also renew our commitment to the miracle of rebirth.
For in Christ, we find the fulfilment of every promise, the redemption of every waiting season, and the joy of eternal life.
What moments in your life have shown you God’s timing and the hope of spiritual rebirth?

We Are Our Thoughts

Our thoughts are incredibly powerful.
They affect us in many ways – our mood, our behaviours and our outlook on life.
I’ve always loved the scripture in Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…”
Recently I have been paying much more attention to the things I am thinking every day.
I consider whether my thoughts are positive, negative or even neutral.
…Apply the proverb to real life…
If my thoughts are filled with positivity, then so I will be.
…with negativity, then so I will be.
We literally become our thoughts.
We 𝒂𝒓𝒆 our thoughts.
In short – I am learning again that the quality of my thoughts has a direct impact on the quality of my life.
I love this quote by Dr. Wayne Dyer: “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”
Subsequently, if you want to have a more meaningful and purposeful life, then begin to pay more attention to the things you think about every day.
Start by considering the things you tell yourself every day.
For example, are you struggling with someone?
A spouse, partner, a sibling, parents, a friend, or a workmate perhaps?
Pause for a moment and stop yourself.
Watch your thoughts…
Do you see what is happening in that moment?
What do you think about in your heart, when you think of them?
What do you notice?
Are your thoughts negative or positive?
If its negative, challenge yourself, and your thinking.
For me those challenges start early in the morning, when I make plans for the day ahead.
Start by engaging new positive thoughts and watch them start to grow day by day.
See how it feels.
I am relearning that when we change your thoughts, you can change your life, one thought at a time.
What would happen if you took just one thought today and intentionally shifted it from negative to positive?

Steady Effort

Since returning to Scotland in the summer, I’ve had a few projects on the go.
One of them, writing a daily devotional book has dominated a lot of my time…and I mean lots!
I’m especially grateful through for a number of returned missionaries who have helped in the due process, gathering content, editing and keeping me on track.
I’ve particularly enjoyed the regular check ins with our Project Manager – Emily Hodder, where we have talked about progress being made!
Thank you one and all!
I’ve learned that writing a book is no easy task, but hopefully in the end it will be worth it.

Do one small thing

Steady consistent effort is key, simply by doing one small thing.

By embracing the principle of “by the inch, it’s a cinch; by the yard, it’s hard,” the task became not only manageable but deeply fulfilling.
Tackling a daunting task all at once can feel overwhelming for all of us, but dividing it into smaller, achievable portions has made it much easier.
Each day, I committed to writing or editing a small portion.
Sometimes a paragraph, other times just refining a sentence.
These small but steady steps have brought me closer to my goal.
A few minutes of focused effort might seem insignificant in the moment, but over time, these moments compound into something quite remarkable.
As the days add up, so does my progress.
I’ve learned that writing a book becomes less about monumental bursts of creativity and more about cultivating a rhythm of perseverance.
I have also learned that first drafts are often messy!
Yet, a book grows word, by word and eventually they all add up!
Now we are in touching distance of having a final manuscript to submit to the publishers, hopefully by the end of this year.
This idea of breaking big goals into smaller steps—applies to more than just writing.
Whether you’re tackling a fitness goal, starting a new career, or organising your home, the power of steady effort is transformative.
My biggest lesson: Daily effort, no matter how small, can transform daunting challenges into achievable successes.
The journey to write this book has reminded me that success isn’t about grand gestures but daily perseverance.
What goal could you achieve if you simply took it one inch at a time?

The Blessing of Waiting…

When a mother is expecting her baby, the anticipation grows with each passing day.

For our daughter Megan, now overdue with her first child, the wait may feel endless.

Much like pregnancy, life itself is full of waiting periods that test our faith and refine our patience – a hot topic in our recent conversations!

The Lord’s Timing

Yet this period of waiting and preparing mirrors a gospel principle we are all called to live by: faith in the Lord’s timing.

Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, we learn that God’s blessings come according to His divine timetable, not ours.

In the scriptures, the word wait means to hope, to anticipate, and to trust.

The scriptures teach us: “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” (Hebrews 10:36)

Pregnancy, like life itself, reminds us that much of our joy comes from learning to trust that the Lord knows when blessings should arrive.

Preparation

Just as Megan has prepared her home, her heart, and her body for this new baby, we, too, are asked to prepare spiritually while waiting for answers, blessings, and miracles.

In our home, we have a beautiful painting depicting the Saviour’s parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13).

Five were wise and made the most of their waiting time, ensuring they had enough oil for their lamps.

Similarly, waiting for a baby – just like waiting for any of God’s blessings – is a time to spiritually “gather oil.”

For Megan, the waiting has certainly allowed her to grow in patience and hope, enduring her final quiet and sometimes uncomfortable moments, before life changes forever.

For us in life, it’s about staying spiritually ready, trusting that the Lord’s promises will be fulfilled in His way and time.

The baby’s arrival—whether today, tomorrow, or in a few days—will happen at the exact moment God has lovingly planned.

The scriptures teach that God’s timing is always perfect: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Just as birth happens on God’s timeline, not ours, so do the blessings we seek in life.

And when they finally come, the waiting and preparing make the joy that much sweeter.

In this life, we are all “waiting” for the ultimate promise: to return to our Heavenly Father and be reunited with our eternal family.

When Megan holds the baby in her arms for the first time, I’m sure the waiting will be but a memory, a beautiful reminder of the blessing of trusting in the Lord’s perfect plan.

What blessings have you discovered during your own seasons of waiting?

Looking Back

“You’re looking well Dave” I said.
“And you too Daryl” he replied.
And so began our lovely lunch with one another, earlier this week in Stirling.
Dave and I were colleagues many years ago, collaborating on numerous large-scale, challenging projects during our time working together.
Lunch was delicious.
We got caught up on our family situations.
And we talked about what we were doing now.
But what we really enjoyed was taking time to reflect upon our many experiences we’d share together, twenty plus years ago.
Looking back allowed us to revisit past experiences with the clarity of hindsight.

New Insights

As we shared our thoughts and feelings, we found they often revealed insights that we’d missed in the moment, from many years ago.
Indeed, we found looking back useful, because it gave us both a new perspective.
Revisiting those moments with Dave added another layer of richness, as his perspective shed light on details I’d never considered.
Part of enjoying life lies in celebrating our accomplishments and milestones, and there were certainly plenty of those during the time Dave and I worked side by side.
Whilst reflecting on some of those daunting challenges we faced together, our shared response was, “I’d never thought about it quite like that before.”
Looking back isn’t just about nostalgia—it’s an opportunity for growth.
We both recognised how far we’d come and understood a little better how the many challenges we’d faced together had shaped us, and to some extent, influenced our future decisions.
There is something very powerful about reflecting on the past together.
We both realised how much we’d influenced each other; in ways we’d never considered.
Looking back certainly helped us to understand how our past experiences had shaped us, but somehow it also helped us to look ahead to the future with renewed confidence.
It was a real joy to strengthen our bonds of friendship, celebrate our successes and gain a deeper empathy for and understanding of each other – after far, far too long!
Thanks Dave – and I’ll pay next time!
When you look back on where you’ve been, how does it shape the way you see your path ahead?

The Laboratory of Life

Life is a laboratory, much like the scientific lab where our son Kyle works tirelessly to test and refine ideas.
As a PhD student in Chemistry, Kyle’s experiments often lead to setbacks, frustrations, and occasional breakthroughs.
He invests countless hours in refining, testing and validating something over long periods of time, transforming theories into realities.
Sometimes he fails, things don’t go quite as expected and yet every small action he takes, contributes to the bigger picture.
Yet, through his experiments with different strategies, learning from those experiences, continuously pushing forward that ultimately leads to success and sometimes unexpected results.
His insights and knowledge grow through his struggles.

Life Lessons

Like Kyle’s research, life provides opportunities to learn from successes and failures, just as those experiments do for him in his laboratory.
Similarly, life’s challenges and experiences test our character, faith, and resilience, shaping us into who we are meant to become.
Our everyday experiences and situations act like a science lab, where we learn, experiment, and observe how to navigate different challenges and situations.
Like Kyle’s experiments, each of us are in a way, proven in the laboratory of our own life.
Sometimes in life, things don’t go quite as we had hoped or planned.
We experiment with our human experience, and through our struggles, our efforts and hard work, truths are established.
I believe that the purpose of all of our life experiences, or those testing experiments we sometimes endure, help us to grow and become more like our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Personal trials, family difficulties, financial struggles, and health crises, each push our faith to new limits.
By facing each trial, we learn more about ourselves, and more about the gospel principles that can carry us through each test.
In my own laboratory of time, my testimony has been shaped not by one grand moment, but by a thousand small experiments, to trust in God.
“..awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith,… even if ye can no more than desire to believe.” – Alma 32:27
Just like Kyle’s scientific procedures that establish truths, a spiritual experiment produces, conviction, knowledge, light and eternal truths.
Begin your spiritual experiment today.
Act on even the smallest desire to follow Christ, and watch as your faith grows into conviction.

New Beginnings

Life is filled with many twists and turns.
“When one door closes another door opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell
At some point in our lives, I believe we will all experience the metaphorical closing of doors, don’t we?
Walking through one door, often closes another.

Closing

Yet, for me, it is a constant reminder that each ending leads to a new beginning, full of endless possibilities.
Returning from Belgium and the Netherlands in the summer has meant that I have experienced a few months of doors opening and closing.
I have started to think what would have never happened if that door hadn’t closed?
“Doors close regularly in our lives, and some of those closings cause genuine pain and heartache.” – Howard W. Hunter
Closed doors can and do provide valuable lessons and insights.
They test our resilience and perseverance, causing us to reflect and reconsider our goals and aspirations.

Opening

Each time a door closes (occasionally they are slammed shut) I need to remind myself that the rest of the world opens up.
And yet, gazing back and dwelling too long on the past, can mean we lose sight of those opportunities opening up ahead.
Sometimes in that moment it can be difficult to see and believe.
Hope can fade.
I have learned again that we need to stop beating on the door that just closed, put it behind us, and look forward to the largeness of life that lies ahead for us.
This is certainly true for me.
I have learned again about waiting and to be patient.
Now with a few doors slightly ajar, I have also learned that when opportunity comes knocking, I need to be ready to answer the door.
Now it’s time to rise once more and walk through the new doors of opportunity that inevitably come along.
Don’t be afraid of opening and closing doors.
Don’t fear them.
Learn from them.
Choose to set out on our life journeys with optimism and be ready to welcome every door that opens along the way.
What can prevent you from seeing a new open door?