About Me
- Paul
- Mm... what am I? -- A husband to Mary and father to our five young adults; a TBI (traumatic brain injury) survivor; a pastor - missionary - professor; a published and award winning writer, poet and author; an army Chaplain; a dreamer of dreams and a reflective thinker. I enjoy good conversation and I like to ask thought provoking questions like the one below:
The book begins here... with our Kenyan car wreck
Hope hides in peculiar places!
Welcome
Welcome to Paul M. Beckingham's Blogspot: Walking Towards Hope!
You have arrived at just the right time! Here you can read about how this award winning book is impacting readers around the world and at home here in Canada.
If you have ever - even just for a fleeting moment - found your grip on hope and a sense of a future becoming shaky, you will find some thoughtful, no-nonesense space here to reflect with others on the challenges of lived experience in the light of the profound love of God for you.
Yes, I just used the G-word. Not cool for some. But for me - and millions of others - God just keeps showing up in my experience when I need him most. And I thank God for that!
My book describes how God did just that for me and for my family following a catastrophic loss in Africa. It left me in Rehab for just over two-and-a-half years!
Want to find out more? Easy! Just order your copy of the double award winning Walking Towards Hope (CDN$19.95 + local taxes) from Amazon, Chapters, Barnes & Noble, or any quality bookstore near you. Why not order it right now? The sooner you start the sooner you will find some answers to help you in your own journey as you start walking towards hope, again!
Meantime, welcome in.
The Blog is open.
Relax... and enjoy!!
You have arrived at just the right time! Here you can read about how this award winning book is impacting readers around the world and at home here in Canada.
If you have ever - even just for a fleeting moment - found your grip on hope and a sense of a future becoming shaky, you will find some thoughtful, no-nonesense space here to reflect with others on the challenges of lived experience in the light of the profound love of God for you.
Yes, I just used the G-word. Not cool for some. But for me - and millions of others - God just keeps showing up in my experience when I need him most. And I thank God for that!
My book describes how God did just that for me and for my family following a catastrophic loss in Africa. It left me in Rehab for just over two-and-a-half years!
Want to find out more? Easy! Just order your copy of the double award winning Walking Towards Hope (CDN$19.95 + local taxes) from Amazon, Chapters, Barnes & Noble, or any quality bookstore near you. Why not order it right now? The sooner you start the sooner you will find some answers to help you in your own journey as you start walking towards hope, again!
Meantime, welcome in.
The Blog is open.
Relax... and enjoy!!
Have you ever lost your hope and a sense of the future?
Family Shot
My quiver is full!
The Military Ball
Mary and I presenting our daughter, Leah, as a Debutante
Walking Towards Hope
Book Launch - Author's reading
Paul M. Beckingham
Book Launch 2005
Paul M. Beckingham
Taking time to ponder, pause and pray.
Purpose Driven Starbucks - a national award winning article
Purpose-Driven Starbucks
Submission for Tidings Magazine, July 2005:
Question: will there be a Starbucks in heaven? My late father-in-law, Bernard Hooper, would often smile and say, “If you need Starbucks in heaven, then there’ll be one there for you.”
Starbucks in heaven? – Not sure…but heaven has now come to Starbucks – and your cappuccino may never taste the same again! But beware: when you next bring that stylish java to your lips watch out for some extra zip lurking in your cup. You’ll see some new quotes stamped on it from the Rev. Rick Warren, famed author of the run-away bestseller The Purpose Driven Life. It seems you can only raise holy hands now if you’re clutching some fair-trade coffee. But watch out for a strong spiritual nudge that may surprise you.
Starbucks has begun to print God-filled quotes on their hand-size coffee-containers: “You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did….” Mm…Pause for thought…being careful not to tilt your cup while reading those words. While waiting for your beverage to cool a little, you might continue: “He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose.”
On a bad hair day, this sounds like good news, indeed. To understand that your life has a purpose makes getting out of bed on miserable mornings feel so much more worthwhile. But in the end, it’s not all about you – and your coffee cup tells you so!
“Focusing on yourself will never reveal your real purpose,” it declares. And neither will reading the coffee grouts in the bottom of the cup. So what can make sense of life on those dark days when everything seems absurd? Try looking down to scan the next phrase on your coffee-cup: “You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.” Suddenly, a warm reflective moment embraces you, even if you only came here to take a quick coffee break.
But if you’re not supposed to focus on yourself, where might you look instead? Look no further than your cup. It tells you, “Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny.” All this wisdom…and for just for a couple of bucks? – Such a bargain!
Maybe you brought your laptop with you, today. Cool…At Starbucks your wireless chip will let you log on to the Internet while finishing your purpose-filled coffee. And just when you thought that you were safe from deep coffee-cup conversation, you’re suddenly connected to Jamie T. Voss’ Kinword Ezine (http//kinword.everydayministry.org/).
Jamie’s online magazine (or, Ezine) tells you, “I feel bad when I hope and hope for things and can’t get them. And I feel bad because I look around and others have the things I hope for.” That could make you feel a little creepy. Did he see you just now, as you subtly tried to people-watch, wishing that you, too, could wear their badges of success?
“I lose hope,” Jamie continues, “that I can be a friend and I lose hope in my ability to provide for my family. I get discouraged.” Now there’s a thought that a lot of us can relate to. Losing hope is so terribly easy to do; rekindling it requires constant care.
“I have to remind myself every day,” says Jamie, “that my hope is not in these things, but in God.” Mm…good point but how does he do that? It seems that my circumstances play such a controlling role in determining my feelings on any given day. If my hope is not in mere things, then where should I make my focus?
Jamie is quick to reply: “I have hope that God will take care of us every day and provide for our needs.” Well, if that is true, then why do I end up worrying so much and praying so little? If I really believe that God will provide for my needs, then why do I spend so much time trying to provide for myself as if God didn’t exist? Why do I race into the day before the next challenges brings me up short with the realization that I haven’t yet invited God to lead forward into the future he has purposed for me? My, my, this coffee break seems to be turning into a regular Philosopher’s Café.
“I have hope,” concludes Jamie, “that because I believe in him I can spend eternity with him. The things I hope for on this earth will eventually pass away, but God will not.” Jamie’s assurance causes me to reflect of some life’s many losses, the ones I’ve known but never fully processed, never come to terms with, nor ever made peace with. Eternity is longer than time, and is maybe long enough for me to come to understand – and accept – a lifetime of losses, and long enough for me to start to exchange them for God’s unremitting love.
As you to begin drain your conversational cup while packing up your laptop, maybe you feel ready for another quick coffee-break. Seems this one has worked you hard, leaving lots for you to think about. Between your conversational cup and your talking laptop, you may even hear God’s reassuring whisper that he loves through all circumstances. It’s odd how God shows up in the strangest of places…even in your local purpose-driven Starbucks.
A Word Guild Award Winning article in the "Feature Article" section, 2007. For more information on The Word Guild see: http://www.thewordguild.com/contestsawards/2007winners.html
Submission for Tidings Magazine, July 2005:
Question: will there be a Starbucks in heaven? My late father-in-law, Bernard Hooper, would often smile and say, “If you need Starbucks in heaven, then there’ll be one there for you.”
Starbucks in heaven? – Not sure…but heaven has now come to Starbucks – and your cappuccino may never taste the same again! But beware: when you next bring that stylish java to your lips watch out for some extra zip lurking in your cup. You’ll see some new quotes stamped on it from the Rev. Rick Warren, famed author of the run-away bestseller The Purpose Driven Life. It seems you can only raise holy hands now if you’re clutching some fair-trade coffee. But watch out for a strong spiritual nudge that may surprise you.
Starbucks has begun to print God-filled quotes on their hand-size coffee-containers: “You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did….” Mm…Pause for thought…being careful not to tilt your cup while reading those words. While waiting for your beverage to cool a little, you might continue: “He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose.”
On a bad hair day, this sounds like good news, indeed. To understand that your life has a purpose makes getting out of bed on miserable mornings feel so much more worthwhile. But in the end, it’s not all about you – and your coffee cup tells you so!
“Focusing on yourself will never reveal your real purpose,” it declares. And neither will reading the coffee grouts in the bottom of the cup. So what can make sense of life on those dark days when everything seems absurd? Try looking down to scan the next phrase on your coffee-cup: “You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.” Suddenly, a warm reflective moment embraces you, even if you only came here to take a quick coffee break.
But if you’re not supposed to focus on yourself, where might you look instead? Look no further than your cup. It tells you, “Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny.” All this wisdom…and for just for a couple of bucks? – Such a bargain!
Maybe you brought your laptop with you, today. Cool…At Starbucks your wireless chip will let you log on to the Internet while finishing your purpose-filled coffee. And just when you thought that you were safe from deep coffee-cup conversation, you’re suddenly connected to Jamie T. Voss’ Kinword Ezine (http//kinword.everydayministry.org/).
Jamie’s online magazine (or, Ezine) tells you, “I feel bad when I hope and hope for things and can’t get them. And I feel bad because I look around and others have the things I hope for.” That could make you feel a little creepy. Did he see you just now, as you subtly tried to people-watch, wishing that you, too, could wear their badges of success?
“I lose hope,” Jamie continues, “that I can be a friend and I lose hope in my ability to provide for my family. I get discouraged.” Now there’s a thought that a lot of us can relate to. Losing hope is so terribly easy to do; rekindling it requires constant care.
“I have to remind myself every day,” says Jamie, “that my hope is not in these things, but in God.” Mm…good point but how does he do that? It seems that my circumstances play such a controlling role in determining my feelings on any given day. If my hope is not in mere things, then where should I make my focus?
Jamie is quick to reply: “I have hope that God will take care of us every day and provide for our needs.” Well, if that is true, then why do I end up worrying so much and praying so little? If I really believe that God will provide for my needs, then why do I spend so much time trying to provide for myself as if God didn’t exist? Why do I race into the day before the next challenges brings me up short with the realization that I haven’t yet invited God to lead forward into the future he has purposed for me? My, my, this coffee break seems to be turning into a regular Philosopher’s Café.
“I have hope,” concludes Jamie, “that because I believe in him I can spend eternity with him. The things I hope for on this earth will eventually pass away, but God will not.” Jamie’s assurance causes me to reflect of some life’s many losses, the ones I’ve known but never fully processed, never come to terms with, nor ever made peace with. Eternity is longer than time, and is maybe long enough for me to come to understand – and accept – a lifetime of losses, and long enough for me to start to exchange them for God’s unremitting love.
As you to begin drain your conversational cup while packing up your laptop, maybe you feel ready for another quick coffee-break. Seems this one has worked you hard, leaving lots for you to think about. Between your conversational cup and your talking laptop, you may even hear God’s reassuring whisper that he loves through all circumstances. It’s odd how God shows up in the strangest of places…even in your local purpose-driven Starbucks.
A Word Guild Award Winning article in the "Feature Article" section, 2007. For more information on The Word Guild see: http://www.thewordguild.com/contestsawards/2007winners.html
4 comments:
Hi Paul,
This is Dave Hall - once of Galpins Road, Thornton Heath. How are you all?
Just discovered your book title on the web. Must try and get a copy. Sorry we have lost touchg.
My e-mail is davdb.hall@talktalk.net. Now living in Lancashire.
Bless you all
Hi Paul
You dont know me but my name is Candace and I am a student at William and Catherine Booth Salvation Army University College in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I have read your book Walking Towards Hope as part of my class Urban Service Learning. I just wanted to let you know that I am so inspired by your journey to finding hope. Your story was truely amazing and I feel that everybody should read it. Having lost hope in my own life, this story has helped me to see past the hard times that seem like they will never get better and see that as long as you have hope, you can get through. I know that your book has inspired me and others in my class and my professor is truely moved by your story. I just wanted to say thank you for everything that I have been able to capture in your novel. God has a plan for all of us, and I'm so glad that learning from your story is a part of mine. I hope everything and every part of your life is fantastic! Thank you so much!
Candace
Wow!It's really you Paul! After 37 years its amazing to hear news about you.1 was at Philippa Fawcett College in London(1973-1976) and you were in the C.U.What an inspiration you were to us all!We have never forgotten you .It would be amazing to hear from you!I have often wondered what happened to you.I can't wait to read your book.PLEASE e-mail me.
Lots of love,
Anne xxx
Hi,Paul.
I forgot to leave my e-mail address on my previous comment. Whoops!
It's abocallaghan@live.co.uk
PLEASE contact me.
With my love and prayers,
Anne O'Callaghan xxx
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