Dr Paul Allen

  As his custom was, he went into the synagogue.  (Luke 4:16) If you want to be like Jesus, study His habits and make them yours! Your talent doesn’t determine your future. The brilliant young actor, River Phoenix, died in a drug-induced convulsion on Hollywood Boulevard, because he couldn’t “kick” his habit. If you want to know what your future holds, keep a diary of your daily habits for a month, and then you can write your own obituary. Do you want to be like Jesus? He rose before any of His disciples to pray. He wouldn’t have thought of facing the day without it! Imagine, He did, but we don’t! David said, “Morning, noon, and evening I will pray … and He shall hear my voice” (Psalms 55:7). That sounds like a habit! Do you pray even five minutes a day? That’s less than one-half percent of your waking hours. During Prohibition, Congress ruled that anything that contained less than one-half percent alcohol was “non-intoxicating.” That means you can’t feel the effects; it doesn...

Your darkness can one day bring someone light. A person who’s been through a divorce has the compassion and words needed to help somebody going through a divorce. A person who’s been through abuse, rape, or an addiction can genuinely understand how to help someone else in a similar situation.  And because you made it, God will cause your wounds to glow in the dark of somebody else’s life. And when you begin to share your story with them, hope will get in their soul, and they will start to believe that they can make it.   Don’t waste what you’ve gone through or allow it to make you bitter. If God lets you walk through it, it’s because He’s still God and has a plan. On five different occasions, the Apostle Paul was beaten with 39 stripes. That’s 195 scars on his body. Paul said, “Three times I was beaten with rods.  One time, I was stoned and left for dead. Three times, I suffered shipwrecks. I knew what it was to be afloat in the ocean a full day and night. I thought ...

Scott Harrower When I first met Marcel, he was slowly rubbing the side of his head, a small figure sitting alone at the back of our church. Tears streamed from his eyes as he told me the sermon had moved him. Over the next few weeks, I began to get to know Marcel, his dog Winkie, and his dislike of loud noises. Having been a nurse for a decade before I became a pastor, I slowly came to understand that Marcel was suffering from severe depression and anxiety. One day, he asked if I could help him stop feeling so “worthless and nervous.” I was faced with how to best care for Marcel. Should I refer Marcel to healthcare professionals and basically leave his mental health issues to them to care for? Or would it be best to care for his mental illness within the church community alone? Or could we develop a hybrid approach: a therapeutic model whereby our pastoral team and the wider church played a vital role within a more extensive professional approach to his care? What would it look like if...

Walking down the long hospital hallway, I approached the room in the emergency area where they had told me she would be found. As I came near the door, I found a security guard sitting there. He looked at me with sympathy as I identified myself and, with a warning and sad shaking of his head, gave me permission to enter. I stepped into the room, my eyes adjusting to the dim lighting. On the bed, I began to make out the figure of a woman lying there, the loose-fitting hospital gown twisted around her. She was curled up, yet rocking and even writhing about on the bed. Groaning, she had her back to me. But the moment I spoke, she jerked up and, turning, glared at me. ”I know who you are,” she growled at me with eyes I could now see were wild with fear and anger. “You are Mr. Holy-Holy-Holy!” The next moments stunned me. Despite past experiences of being near and ministering to people high on drugs, involved in the occult, or living in mental asylums, never had I witnessed anythin...