We don’t have favourites in our family. I can’t bear the thought that one child might feel more, or less, loved. I’m so determined to love my children equally it has become a joke. “I’m the favourite” is often to be heard being loudly declared by one or other. Often they try and trap me into expressing a preference.

But as much as I will not have favourites in my family, the same rules don’t apply to the Bible. Because when I read the Bible I really do have favourites. Take the gospels. My favourite is Mark. I love the immediacy and the urgency with which he tells the story. Everything is ‘now’, ‘then’, ‘immediately’. He’s in such a rush to tell the good news he doesn’t stop to tell us about Jesus’ birth but jumps right in with the baptism and testing of Jesus. So keen is he to tell us about Jesus’ ministry he simply ignores the first 33 years of his life. And the read is breath-taking. The whole book can be devoured in a two hour sitting.

Marks’ gospel was the book of the bible I knew best when I became a Christian at the age of nineteen, and unconsciously since then I think it has been the plumb line for my Christian faith. I believed that life with Jesus should be ‘now’ and ‘immediately’, and never more so was this true for me than twelve years ago when we moved from Birmingham to plant a church that would reach out to young people who ‘don’t do church’. Even the words ‘church-planting’ and ‘pioneering’ excited me. I thought that our days would be full of excitement, of following God’s lead and seeing miracles all around.

Twelve years after starting this journey I think I have a better understanding of life and time spent with Jesus. The bible describes time in two ways: chronos and kairos. Chronos time is the tick, tick, tick as time passes. It is measured in minutes and hours and seconds. Kairos is the NOW moment, the moment with God; when time stops ticking and you are right there with God. We have known plenty of both! It was only recently that I recognised that with Mark’s gospel as the plumb line to my christian life I expected that church-planting, pioneering would only consist of kairos time. That life would be as breathless as Mark describes. In my expectations I had not allowed for the chronos. The times when we didn’t know if we were doing the right thing, where nothing seemed to be happening, when we were lonely and struggling.

So we have known much chronos time. But there are so many kairos moments I want to share. Unlimited is truly a multigenerational church with a passion to reach out to the young people of Exeter. From an unpromising start with no building, no team, no money and no youth God has provided all these things which have enabled us to do so much. We have run night cafés from 12-3am, to provide a place of safety in the heady night time economy. We run a lunch time café for college students, we have prayed for over 1000 young people and have brilliant stories to tell. We do mentoring, intervention and PSHE in several schools. Many have come to know Jesus through what we do. But I am always excited by the individuals, the people that we meet.

Take for example the story of Lucy. Things in life had knocked her confidence and she was being robbed of living fully as the person that God had made her to be. Circumstances had told her that she was unlovable and didn’t matter, and that is what she now believed. The belief that you are unlovable leads you to act accordingly and so it was a vicious cycle. When we looked at Lucy as God saw her we saw a smiling, laughing person who should light up a room. Who loved people, connecting with them, drawing them in, giving value and love to everyone. But Lucy often wasn’t that person in a group. She was quiet and withdrawn. She avoided attention and would deflect away from herself in the mistaken belief that she had nothing to offer and was worthless.

So we prayed with her. We waited in the quietness and almost instantly she started smiling. We continued to quietly pray for her without interrupting or getting in the way. Afterwards she told us that she had seen a shop window full of cupcakes. All sorts of wonderful, beautiful, enticing cupcakes. Instantly this had her attention as she loved cakes and baking. As she was drawn into the window, to look more deeply at the display, one cupcake in particular caught her eye. Right in the centre of the window was the most fabulous cupcake she had ever seen. All the cupcakes looked good, but this one stood out from the others. This one was special. According to God this cupcake represented her. And in that picture God spoke straight into her heart. special. She was unique. That day when she left is she was smiling. And it makes me smile just to know that God speaks the language of cupcakes.

Because there were so many moments I wanted to share I decided to write a book to share this story. A book that would honour and glorify the amazing God who has led our every step. A record of the kairos moments, all the encouragements we saw along the way. But a book that would also include a record of the chronos. Of the times when it felt like nothing was happening, when my doubts threatened my faith, when things seemed to be going horribly wrong. I wrote ‘Beginning Unlimited’. A book that I hope will encourage and inspire others to keep on keeping on. To work out their calling. To take risks, joy, success, failure and challenges and to know God in every step.