My Updates
Join my Lent adventure!
Okay I realise we're rushing headlong into 'the season to be jolly.' Yet for super prepared higher achievers, are you getting ready for Lent 2026? The 'serious season' will be upon us before you know it, mid-February 2026.
Why not join my “360 for 40” Lent campaign? You’ll get updates on my progress with a 360-kilometer paddle over the 40 days of Lent, while helping raise funds for transformative community work in Timor Leste. Along the way, I’ll share a few 360-degree life reflections shaped by our ancient Lent tradition. There will also be a great video series on our work in Timor Leste. Here's a taster https://vimeo.com/1133251214?fl=pl&fe=sh
Why not donate and keep linked in for updates? Or form your own fundraising team within your circles for the '360 for 40' campaign? Or do you own campaign? Happy to help set you up on any of these ideas.
Sacrificing for Lent, an outmoded idea?
Let’s be honest: many people find it a bit strange to reflect on a story centred on an ancient Jewish prophet whose path led to grizzly torture and crucifixion. And the whole idea of voluntarily giving up things we enjoy—even for a season—can feel, well, odd!
But maybe we could turn the idea on its head.
At its heart, isn’t any true sacrifice motivated by an embrace of the dignity and beauty of all life? Wasn’t that ancient prophet’s passion—his insistence that every person was precious beyond measure—exactly what drove him to challenge the religious, political, and social systems that robbed people of their right to live fully? If so, perhaps Lent is less about grim self-denial and more about recognising the wonder and worth of life.
I think of Maria, a young mum in Timor Leste. Her beauty, strength, and potential were being diminished simply because she lacked access to water and the basic agricultural tools she needed to grow a garden for food. Without resources, her self-agency was limited. But when people looked beyond their own patch—when they gave, noticed, and invested—things changed. Maria received hoses, simple equipment, seeds, training, and ongoing support. And it transformed not only her life, but the lives of her children. She went from being “the poor woman who couldn’t grow a garden to feed her kids” to “the remarkable entrepreneur who now sells surplus food at the market and is growing a small business.”
Now that’s Lent: embracing the inherent goodness of life so deeply that we’re willing to make sacrifices—small or large—not because sacrifice is good in itself, but because it opens the way for others to flourish.
So this coming Lent, I invite you to support my paddle and join a journey of reflection—one that, I hope, leads us all further along the path of love, generosity, and a fair go for all. That’s something any of us can embrace, whether Christian, agnostic, atheist, or of another faith.
