How do you put a positive spin on the words, "All men will hate you because of Me"? Especially when they come from the mouth of Jesus [which makes them a little bit harder to ignore or explain away]. Perhaps that is why Mark 13.1-13 is not a particularly popular passage for those who don't specifically preach continuously through the Bible? The rest of it is End of the World stuff which generally is good [...]
don't explode, little brain just hang in there keep ticking away or pumping on or whatever it is you do i believe in you i know that you can do this you will survive this meeting shall not take you down so just push on and keep your cool and slowly bring that pressure back down easy does it i got your back on this one let me talk you down from the ledge step [...]
so about a week ago, Blue Like Jazz author 'Donald Miller' blogged about why 'I don't worship God by Singing, I connect with Him elsewhere' and the internet went wild - Burn the Witch! Okay not quite, although Don did tweet a little later, 'Blogged about not going to church today. More shame and guilt @replies than I’ve ever received on twitter. I feel immense forgiveness.' He followed this one up with one titled, 'Why I [...]
this is a super great psalm and just one of those where virtually every verse can be looked at and appreciated and spoken into - for that reason i want to encourage you to go and read the whole psalm and then come back here and share what stood out for you. i am just going to be looking at two specific sections that stood out for me: 8 Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
as i read the first four lines of this psalm it felt like i was part of a liturgical choir speaking them out: 1 Praise awaits You, our God, in Zion; to You our vows will be fulfilled. 2 You who answer prayer, to You all people will come. the psalm is subtitled as being a song of David and so maybe that is why it conveys that fullness of message and delivery. i can imagine a congregation [...]
2013 has been a good blogging year. Moving from the completely packed schedule and lifestyle of working with The Simple Way in Philly to working a 30 hour work week with Common Change in Oakland meant that i had a lot more time and opportunity to write [at least until i started working as the youth leadery guy at Re:Gen church and things got a little busy again] this year. I also cut down from [...]
Another week, another photo challenge and this time to find the right picture or pictures to capture the idea of fleeting. I could not look past our wedding pics for this, both because I think they really do capture the idea of a moment caught in time, but also give the idea of this thing will move on and this moment will pass. The commitment will continue and is hopefully strong and steadfast and true, [...]
So my other blog, The Weekly Mash [and Peace!] has been running for close to 3 months now and it's interesting to note what the most popular posts have been so far - as each day has a different theme i thought it would be good to look at the top performer for each day in terms of visits, reads and shares and so here they are: Monday = Fun Day - Humour: It amuses [...]