one story tbV [the beautiful Val] enjoys telling is how after a month of us dating she had a bedside drawer full of chocolate... why is this significant? well, i spent a lot of time giving tbV chocolate as a way of showing i loved her, but she is not a big fan of chocolate, preferring sour sweets instead and so basically i invested a month or so in making Val's housemate very happy. i [...]
#1. you have a reason to go somewhere else - i understand for some people if they are living in fear and feel like for family and children's sake that they need to be somewhere else then sure, maybe you need to do that. Val and i went to the Simple Way because we felt God was leading us there and we are now part of Relational Tithe/Common Change as we feel like it is [...]
My friend Jess is a beautiful, single blonde girl who has been a missionary in Italy for 10 years and is the same age as me. One day, an Italian woman, let’s call her Mamma Carmen, came up to her with a little charm necklace that had a picture of a saint on it.“What’s this?” asked Jess. (Cue in accent of Italian mama who doesn’t speak much English) “A necklace for you. A picture of [...]
let me be honest, i am tired of all the Oscar Pistorius 'stuff' - i am tired of it and i wish it would go away. i am also deeply disturbed by it. i don't know that i completely understand why, altho i know it has something to do with the fact that it feels like almost everyone has an opinion, many people have made judgements, many others are just sending links and updates and [...]
my wife, the beautiful Val [tbV], is an incredible writer who does not blog often enough - i tell he this often and she agrees and one hope i have of this coming 18 months where our work week looks like it should be a lot closer to 30 hours rather than 80 might just give her the opportunity to do so... if you have never read her stuff before than you should and especially [...]
i'd love to make this sound like the cool kind of parable Jesus would have used, but i don't think i can. but if it was a fairy-tale type story it would begin with something sounding like 'Once upon a time...' and very quickly end up at the place of 'Brett looked at the path and it was blocked by the giant obstacle. He didn't know what to do next.' and depending on your perspective [...]
so there was this email, and by now i think we're all up to speed with that - this was part of it: Brett-boy, you need to rethink how you spend your energy. And here I’m speaking in particular about the humor side of your energy. To take an example: Brett, let’s be honest: your youtube videos suck. Big time. And I don’t even see the purpose in it. Will you really stand before the [...]
i am continuing this series which i feel has gone so much further than the initial email that got it started and has provided some valuable insights which needed a springboard to launch from. so am daily becoming more grateful for it as it has helped me share what i feel have been some helpful ideas about living life to the full. what i am wanting to look at today is something that i have [...]
'So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the [...]
To take an example: Brett, let’s be honest: your youtube videos suck. Big time. And I don’t even see the purpose in it. i am continuing with my response to the 'a nonny miss?' email i received, because i feel there are a bunch of things to be learned from it, which relate far beyond this simple email. the second part i want to look at is specifically that line 'And I don’t even see [...]