Then the Lord shut him in. Genesis 7:16

Consider these three lessons. First, when the Lord shut Noah and his family up in the ark, they were totally secure and thereby become an illustration for us of the believer’s perfect security in Jesus Christ. The rains would come. The floods would rage. But nothing would touch these who had been sealed in the ark by Jehovah. The Lord does not place the safety of his people in others’ hands. He himself throws the lock. It is said of him, “What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open” (Rev. 3:7). The shutting in of Noah was the equivalent of our being sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph.4:30). Like him, we are not only saved; we are secure as well.

Second, there is a lesson of God’s great grace. The last thing we are told in this story before the waters actually begin to come is that “the Lord shut him in.” Presumably this was done at the last possible moment. Noah had been preaching God’s righteousness, man’s sin, and the coming of the great flood for 120 years, but no one had believed him. They were refusing to believe now. But still the door to the ark remained open, and any who wanted to could have gone inside. What great grace! What magnificent forbearance on the part of God! Since Noah had believed and had gone in, no one who stood without could say that the possibility of belief was closed to him. “Whoever willed” could come.

So also today. All who will may come. Many do not, but none of these can say that the possibility of repentance from sin and turning to Christ are beyond them.

Finally, there is a lesson in that there is an end to grace. Grace is great but it is not unending. If it is spurned, the day of reckoning eventually comes. For one final week the door stood open. But the week ended, the door was closed, and the flood came. The same God who opens doors is himself the door (John 10:7, 9). He also closes doors and refuses to open them — when the time for grace is gone.

For you it is not yet past, whoever you may be. This is still the day of grace,and although it will end, it has not ended yet. Won’t you come while there is still time? God said to Noah, “Come . . . into the ark” (Gen. 7:1 KJV). At the end of the Bible we read, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Rev. 22:17).

Taken from: Come to the Waters, publishing in the UK in October.

Sample chapter.

August Bank Holiday = Greenbelt!

Over 20,000 people attend the Greenbelt festival at Cheltenham every year. A huge programme offers music, talks, debate, performing arts, and worship. Are you you going this year? If so, are you going feeling exhausted with all the negative news you hear? Negatives which are often even worse within the church than outside it. If this is you, then Upside may be just the book for you. Full of surprising good news about the state of our world, it's a refreshing antidote to some of the negatives we so often hear.

If the whole 'religion thing' is just making you tired, and part of the reason you're going to Greenbelt is to refresh your spiritual energies, then God Without Religion might be the one to read.

You will be able to find both books in the festival bookshop, together with The Great Emergence by Phillis Tickle who will be speaking during the festival.

A Preview of A Place at the Table

Be honest. How much of your day do you spend thinking about what you are going to eat?

A Place at the Table challenges the reader to spend 40 days eating like the poor of the world and by so doing connect and empathise with the millions of people in the world whose food choices are limited at best. Furthermore it encourages tangible, practical help.

One way of following the 'A Place at the Table' challenge is to eat a similar diet to that eaten by a sponsored child in the developing world. The author himself chose to eat a diet like that of the children his family sponsors in Uganda and Ecuador. He learned that these children ate rice, beans, chicken, tortillas and vegetables and felt that by embracing their meals he was also embracing the children he sponsors. In his own words he felt that by doing this he was 'making a place for them at his table and in his heart', rather than forgetting about them for extended periods.

If that is too scary though, there are lots of other ways you can get involved. You could simply halve your food budget, eating more basic and less varied foods and cutting out treats and 'extras'. Or you could try living below the official poverty line as some have to do in our own country, never mind those in far poorer parts of the world.

During the 40 days the Sundays are treated as 'feast days'. They give the chance to eat your more usual foods, and perhaps appreciate them more than usual.

The practical support mentioned earlier comes from donating the money saved from your usual grocery bill to a charity working in tangible ways with poor people, such as Compassion, one of the charities being supported by the book. Part of Compassion's work is in the sponsoring of children around the world, enabling those children to have a basic but healthy diet as well as supporting their other needs.

We're planning lots of social media activity when this book is released so watch out for information, tips, other peoples' ideas and progress and lots more via this blog and our Twitter and Facebook posts.

Lots of books claim to change your life. This one has the potential - perhaps more importantly - to change the lives of others, as well as your own.


A DVD is also being released to help small groups and churches which are inspired by the challenge to take part as a group. Containing six sessions it has been shot on location in the Holy Land, Haiti, and Ecuador.

Interested in taking up the challenge early?
We're looking for individuals, groups and churches who would be willing to work through the process ahead of the book's publication, and share their experiences with us. If this is something you would like to know more about, please contact us on bpg@lionhudson.com


Price: £8.99 (DVD: £12.99 incl. VAT)
ISBN: 9780801014512 (DVD: 9780801014529)
Publication date: January 2012
Published by: Baker Books (part of Baker Publishing Group)
Available through any good bookshop, online, or via Marston Book Services
Marketing & PR enquiries: Anne Rogers at anner@lionhudson.com

Lion of Babylon by Davis Bunn

Set in modern day Baghdad, Lion of Babylon is a complex and compelling thriller.

When a CIA operative goes missing in Iraq, together with a humanitarian aid worker and a high ranking Iraqi civilian, Marc Royce is sent on an undercover mission to find them.

Marc is not the obvious first choice. Sacked from the intelligence service by the same man who now needs him to head to Iraq, he is not inclined to do any favours. But then the bombshell is dropped - the missing operative is Marc's close friend Alex.

I get to see a LOT of books, but when I come across a book which is not only in a genre I regularly read for pleasure, but which has some stunning early reviews I can't help but sit up and take notice.

Here are a couple of those comments:

"Bunn's work emphasizes the genuine relevance of real faith in the contemporary world. Read carefully and reflect on its message of hope and reconciliation."
Revd Nicholas Wood, Director of the Centre for Christianity and Culture, Regent's Park College, Oxford

"A phenomenal read - far more than simply a great thriller."
Keith Hazard, Deputy Director (ret), CIA

"I couldn't put this one down. A fast-paced, gripping thriller, Lion of Babylon is rich not only with adventure but also with visual details and dramatic, snapshot insights into the Middle East, its traditions, history, and people."
Phyllis Tickle, Senior Consulting Editor, Publishers Weekly

Now you may be sceptical of reviews, no matter who they're written by. If you like thrillers though, I can personally thoroughly recommend that you give this one a try so that you can make up your own mind!

Beauty in Brokenness

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” (Author unknown)

Like most people I know, I don’t like to keep broken stuff around. But I had never given it too much thought until our accident. Some people were goofed out by our brokenness. I think they didn’t know what to say. Or seeing wheelchairs and stuff just made them feel so bad, they didn’t know how to process it. Some of our friends didn’t call as much, or seemed in a hurry to get away, or were just bored since we weren’t really cool or fun or spontaneous anymore, especially not now. We had so little to offer, yet needed so much attention, and we always felt like a big, hairy spectacle.

One of my favourite passages is Isaiah 61:1-2, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”

These verse are a nice reminder to reach out to the broken, I’d thought as I highlighted them the summer before our life went nuts. And I liked that heart-stopping moment when Jesus read these verses to the Jews in the synagogue. And like an artist who pulls the veil off his work, a priceless sculpture, Jesus went on to say, “I’m the one.”

But now what caught my attention was later in the passage, when the Lord called a motley crew of prisoners and the depressed and broken-down people “oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour” (verse 3).

God gave the lowly ones the task of rebuilding His flattened Kingdom. Not the people I would have picked for my task force, but if pressed, I would have to admit that those I consider the heart and soul of our church are those who have waded through dark, dark times… I was getting the idea that God Himself found great value in those the world deemed ruined.

The above is an extract from a book called My Life and Lesser Catastrophes by Christina Schofield.

On her 30th wedding anniversary Christina and her husband Allen set out for a ride on their motorbike. After skidding on loose gravel they ended their day in hospital. Christina had concussion. Allen had broken his neck.

This is not one of those ‘we prayed and Allen was immediately healed’ kind of books. Christina talks honestly of the enormous difficulties of coming to terms emotionally, spiritually and practically with the accident. Yet this is not a depressing book either, but rather an uplifting one which truly does challenge the reader despite being written in very conversational language and therefore being easy to read. Christina’s faith is severely tested. She cries out to God, and often finds only silence in response. Yet she holds on, and her faith comes through in her book as something real, important, and living.