So hey, remember that King David guy and the 'man after God's own heart' moniker? Well, here is that guy going on a little enemy rant... 22 May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap. 23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever. 24 Pour out your wrath on them; let your fierce anger overtake them. 25 May their place be deserted; let there [...]
1 May God arise, may his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him. 2 May you blow them away like smoke— as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God. i'm not going to lie, i often don't quite know what to do with some of the anger and violence of the Old Testament. When i was young it was as black and white as an old A-team episode [google it, kids!] [...]
So this past week all the bloggers of colour have been writing to all the other bloggers of other colour but since they do not know each other personally [maybe the main problem?] they are simply sticking them on their blog for mostly people of their own colour to read and cheer and like and comment on... although every now and then a person of the other colour stumbles upon it and makes themselves known... [...]
A lot of people, yes white ones [like me], switch off when we hear the term 'white privilege' [please don't!] Some people, yes white ones, get angry when we hear the term 'white privilege' [please don't!] But i sometimes wonder if it is because of a misunderstanding of what people who talk about 'white privilege' mean when they do so. So please take a deep breath and try and approach this piece with fresh eyes [forget [...]
today i happened to stumble upon this blog post titled, 'Simple is the way' announcing that we had been invited to move to Americaland to work with The Simple Way non-profit and live in Philly. it's not a particularly great blog post - more of an announcement for friends and family and just sharing the excitement at the time, but what was interesting, and what was again skimming through, was reading the comments [56 of them, [...]
continuing with another excerpt from the most amazing poetry book i have ever read [and while this is a really small set of things, that doesn't diminish the amazingness of this book one bit] by my online friend, Michael Toy, titled 'Blame it on the Huehuetenango' and this poem in particular which he calls 'My First Last Day' being reminded that the subtitle of this book is 'Poetry for the Recovering Evangelical' and so specifically [...]
i am busy reading this poetry book which was a gift to me by a friend i have only met online and know through friends of friends but his gift of words and wielding them to weave and create and display and be creative is at the same time obvious and captivating here is a second one that really resonated with me [maybe cos i am all that kinds of crazy myself]: [from the book, [...]
Michael Toy is one of my imaginary friends, you know like the one you had as a kid, that you were convinced was real. Except that this one really is. No seriously, you gotta believe me! Although his last name even suggests that i might have trouble convincing anyone of that. 'Imaginary' in that, though we have been 'friends on Facebook' and have at least 30 mutual friends [most of whom i actually real-life know] [...]
One of the most powerful passages from the book i am busy finishing at the moment, because it will start with laughter and end in tears. Such a powerful read: I suppose that the number of homies I've baptised over the decades is in the thousands. Gang members find themselves locked up and get around to doing things their parents didn't arrange for them. Homies are always walking up to me at Homeboy Industries or [...]
Once again, the punmeister Stephan Pastis of Pearls before Swine fame is giving it his best and poor innocent Pig is taking one in the head: [For another Pearls before Swine Pig + pun combo, click here] [For a whole list of some of my favourites, click here]