For some of you this will be a "best, most moving story I ever read, must forward to 100 friends" whereas for others, halfway through the first line will have you rolling your eyes and going, "Oh, one of those" if you are the former, enjoy the story, it's an inspiring story... if you are the latter, jump down to the bottom and see the point i am trying to make about it, it's a [...]
this has been quite an eventful week. WORLD VISION AND SAME SEX MARRIAGE World Vision made a dramatic did-they-really-not-expect-the-reaction-it-got decision involving allowing employees to be in same-sex marriages. the Evangelical response was strong with notable Christian speakers such as John Piper and Franklin Graham speaking out against the decision and many Christians apparently withdrawing support for World Vision and specifically for the children they support via World Vision. a day or two later World Vision does a [...]
i was hoping to be able to get something out on this before Fred Phelps died, which apparently i failed to do. Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church where we use the term 'church' loosely as nothing of what i ever heard them connected to sounded anything like the idea of church that i have come to know and love. An obvious indicator is that the website address of this 'church' is the [...]
Ro is my wife tbV's sister and this is one of the most incredible encounters you may ever read about: A couple months before Christmas, Aaléyah and I had the following conversation on the way home from school one day… Aaléyah: It's Jesus' birthday soon. Me: Yes. At Christmas time it is His birthday party. Aaléyah: I need to get Him a birthday present. Me: Yeah. Good idea! You know what gift He would love [...]
this is something i've been contemplating for a while and i'd love to hear your thoughts on it. as i've been collecting stories for the two popular series i am running on my blog at the moment, namely, 'Marriage through the Years' [stories, struggles and advice from a variety of people who have been married for a differing number of years] and 'What my Single Friends would like their Married Friends to know', one thing keeps [...]
Busisiwe Ledibane, 22 The other day I went to my little cousin’s school and came across two little girls on the way to the bathroom. As I entered the staff toilets, they approached the door and one said, “You’re not allowed in there.” “I’m not a child,” I responded, trying not to sound hostile, although I ended up sounding hostile anyway. My mom came to my rescue and said to them, “She’s 23, my darlings.” [...]
It started with a #neknomination [well, let's be honest - it likely started with a drunk Australian feeling like this was something he thought was a good idea for more people to do?] an online video'd drinking challenge game where you "film themselves drinking a pint of an alcoholic beverage, usually beer, in one gulp and upload the footage to the web" [wikipedia] and then nominate two other people to do the same, paying it [...]
so today we fly back to americaland and i leave a changed man. but maybe not in the way you would expect... i don't feel like i have grown so much as i have regressed, but in a good way though. as in 'returned to former state' - or returning at least. in some Christian senses i guess we have been living the dream - 19 months at the Simple Way [you know, the mecca [...]
had lunch with a friend of mine who doesn't 'go to church' any more... i know, i know, i should have been spending the whole meal challenging him about how important it is and how pathetically self-focused he is being and something something about the body of Christ and all that... but i was too busy finding the encounter so refreshing. you see, Bill [let's call him that - i know how friendly you okes [...]
so by now you have heard of the #neknomination phenomenon sweeping the world [this week at least] apparently [and i say that because i haven't actually seen any of the original versioned clips] it started out as a drinking challenge video clip game where someone downs a beer and then challenges his/her mates to up the ante and passes it forward so stupid that two people in Ireland died from participating [this never happened with [...]