Start Here
This site brings together the different parts of my writing and work: faith, recovery, memoir, theology, creative writing, Easterhouse and public life.
They are not really separate worlds. They overlap because life does.
Writing & Story
- Window Seat (Life Story) – memoir, testimony and the longer story behind the writing
- Creative Writing – poems, stories, voice, memory and experiment
- If Jesus wiz a Weegie – Glaswegian Gospel paraphrases where Jesus is never the joke
- Advent & Christmas Reflections – incarnation, memory, hope and Christmas without the gloss
Faith & Recovery
- Theology & Bible – theology that has to survive contact with real life
- Real Recovery – addiction, identity, community, formation and hope
Place & Public Life
- Easterhouse – place, memory, history, community and home
- Policy & Public Life – where lived experience, evidence and systems meet
Resources & Contact
- Resources – media, books, free devotional PDFs and useful material
- About & Contact – a little more about me and how to get in touch
Latest Writing
- If Jesus Was a Weegie (4): The Lines We Knew
What happens when Jesus’ call to the fishermen in Mark 1 is reimagined in Easterhouse, 1987? A creative retelling of belonging, identity and territorial lines — and what it might mean when Jesus walks into the world you already know and simply says, “Come wae me.” - Between the Lines – Part 2
Writing honestly doesn’t mean writing everything. In Part 2 of Between the Lines, I revisit a difficult chapter of Window Seat and ask three questions: What do I need to tell you? What do I need to explain? And what am I allowed to keep for myself? - 68 The Long Arc of Redemption
Twenty-nine years ago, I walked through the doors of The Haven with little idea what came next. Today, I’ve returned as Head of Outreach. Somewhere between those two moments lies a long story of people, choices, faith, formation and grace — the long arc of redemption. - The Gift of DesperationDesperation is not recovery. It is vulnerability to direction. At its deepest level, it becomes a crossroads: stay in the darkness you know, or move toward a pathway you cannot yet fully see. Modern psychology increasingly recognises that crisis and identity disruption can become moments of developmental transition. When old coping structures collapse, people are often forced into deeper questions of meaning, identity, belonging, and purpose. In addiction especially, this can create what might be described as an identity collapse cycle — where shame, maladaptive coping, fractured self-understanding, and destructive behaviours begin feeding into one another until the person no longer knows who they are beyond the chaos.
- Between the Lines – Part 1
It starts small. It never stays there. Part 1 of Between the Lines. - Going Back to What You Know — When the Familiar No Longer Works
After the resurrection, the disciples knew Jesus was alive — but they didn’t yet know how to live in light of it. In that pause, they drift back to what they know. A reflection on sanctification, familiar patterns, and how real change comes not from trying harder, but from learning to listen again. - When Loyalty Becomes a Luxury
Following a football club is no longer a simple cost. For many families, it’s a growing financial weight—layered through subscriptions, merchandise, and expectations. And as that pressure rises, so do the quiet compromises people make just to stay connected. - The Holiness of God
Holiness isn’t about distance or perfection. It’s about clarity, truth, and a life slowly realising its been made whole in the presence of God.
