so i have been married for about 14 months yesterday and i still completely highly recommend it if it is to the right person - it is not always easy - it is sometimes really hard - but it is incredible and the pros definitely outbeat-up-and-leave-bleeding-behind-the-shed the cons... and i love the beautiful Val - really feel privileged and lucky and amazed that i have someone like her in my life... yay. the one thing [...]
last nite at enGAGE (our sunday evening vineyard church congregation weekly gathering) we held an open mic vibe not after ‘church’, not on a different day to ‘church’, not instead of ‘church’, but as church, and it was great it was a celebration of some of the talents and giftings that God has placed in different people in our group and so we sat around tables and munched on chips and sweets and spinach and [...]
Oh. Oh? As in really? You... you're sure? Certain? All-powerful. Oh? Faithful. Oh? All-loving. Unconditionally so. Even me? Even my stuff? Me? Oh? Oh really? As in 'really really?' Like real miracles? Actual miraculous occurances? Blind seeing, deaf hearing, lame walking? Dead being raised? Oh. I get it. It's a metaphoric death. An inner blindness. Deaf to the words of the Holy Scriptures speaking to my disobedient ears. Able to walk tall in the knowledge [...]
so the other nite we were hanging with some mates from church at our place and the giant of the group (aptly named klein (small) frans) came up with this saying “the God i believe in is not the God you don’t believe in” which i think is brilliant and which i blog posted and made my status line on facebook and twitter (some might say ‘overkill’ – i might say ‘collective ramifications’ but just [...]
I thank You, God For granting an audience To someone as weak and insignificant as me I kneel before You In a futile attempt To right a millenia of wrongs committed against You I represent a group of people Totally unworthy, fully undeserving Completely unaware and oblivious of their need for me to be here If the court stenographer will read back the testimony It will be made clear That time and time again You [...]
i was chatting to my buddy rob today about a talk he heard where the guy said ‘when God forgives your sin, He forgets about it completely and it’s like it never happened’ and i don’t think that’s precisely true. i think the point is that despite not forgetting about your sin (if God is all knowing then surely He still remembers that you did sin) He chooses to treat you and regard you as [...]
do you see yourself as rich? i would imagine probably not if i had to put myself on a wealth scale i would probably rate myself as below average i would compare myself to the people i know who have so much more than me - own houses, better cars, holiday house, huge screen television, able to fly overseas on holiday (or even have lavish comfortable holidays here), more impressive toys and so on would [...]
so i have been feeling quite far or distant from God for quite a while – for the second half of last year it was cos i was caught up in sin and most particularly time wastage but i sorted that out – confessed and made right with God, and people – just before Summer Camp - and have been trying to get into a place of spending more time seeking God and resting in [...]
this is an article/letter by one of my modern day heroes - a guy called shane claiborne who wrote one of my top three books 'The Irresistible Revolution' which was basically a search for any Christians who actually believed and lived out the stuff of the Bible - highly recommended if you have not read it yet - and who i got to hang out with for a bit at a surfers conference two years [...]
i don't understand chocolate - i know something about cocoa beans but that's about it - possibly a glass and a half of milk in certain brands and a handful of raiSINs in other overly disobedient and retarded versions - and a bunch about it liking to stick around and be an accessory to your body long after the eating date (friends with unbenefits?) and also that when it goes white it is old (if [...]