I recently read a post from Mel Wild (http://melwild.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/working-from-rest-part-one/ ) on “why we should work from rest, which is simply abiding in Christ when you're busy doing other things”. One of the main things that I got from it was a notion that I felt I had slipped recently from living a life of worship... Continue Reading →
The original plan was not to do a chapter by chapter break down of Jesus Is Better Than You Imagined (by Jonathan Merritt), although thus far I kind of have, as such I am going to stop and wrap this thing up today. There are so many great thought provoking pieces in the book from... Continue Reading →
Hopefully you’ve been reading all week and know what is going on here. If this is your first visit this week, welcome and thank you! I recently read a book, twice, the experience I had reading that book was profound to say the least, the conversations I had with Jesus throughout will stay with me... Continue Reading →
Sometimes something comes along that just rocks your world and removes any question of the status quo that was threatening to creep into your life. Something that prompts you to keep pressing and pushing for a deeper richer experience in life than you have ever had before. Sometimes someone shares a story with you the... Continue Reading →
The book “Jesus is Better Than You Imagined” by Jonathan Merritt was quite the read for me. It stirred my mind and soul like none other. I wrote page after page of notes and as I have a blog, the expanded notes are finding their way here in what I am calling the JIBTYI... Continue Reading →
The last few days (and the next few) are the result of my notes from reading the book “Jesus is Better Than You Imagined” by Jonathan Merritt. These posts are my way of processing those thoughts and notes and also to tell the story of my experience with reading the book. Chapter two begins with an encounter... Continue Reading →
I read a book “Jesus is Better Than You Imagined” by Jonathan Merritt and it made me think, a lot. I had ten pages of notes after the first read, notes that I had no intention of taking when I started to read the book. The JIBTYI notes series is my efforts to process... Continue Reading →
The JIBTYI notes – part 1 – Good Gifts It’s a funny old thing this Christian life, sometimes when you are muddled about what you are to do; if you are to try and keep pressing, or to try and find a way of balancing a “normal” life with this life of pursuing God that... Continue Reading →
I wrote a post last week that I did not press called “State of the … err … discipline?”; it was over a thousand words detailing how I came to the realization a while back that I had been living life in cruise control, how I overcame that and how I feared I had been... Continue Reading →
Identity, this is a subject I have touched on so many times in different guises over the last year it seems almost redundant to write about it again. Yet in addition to giving you the links to some of my previous entries, I feel there is something specific to broken male culture that needs to... Continue Reading →
If knowledge is gained through experience, I should be pretty familiar with the subject of forgiveness. I have had much to be forgiven for in my life time & have also had much to forgive. Some connected, some disconnected but all necessary & all small steps towards what I feel is finally some sort of... Continue Reading →
I don’t recall now exactly what the trigger was, but at some point back in December I wrote 3 poems on what I call broken male culture. Rather than just throw them on my blog I had been intending to write a couple of pieces to book end the poems. Well, intending has taken a... Continue Reading →
You know how it happens, you ask a question, you have a brief conversation and before you know it, you've volunteered to do something completely out of your comfort zone. Well that’s what happened the 2nd Saturday in January when I was helping out at the Solomon’s Porch homeless ministry. There were a couple of... Continue Reading →
Do you think the world is a mess today? You’re right, I certainly agree, but then again, hasn’t it always been? If you think it’s worse than ever, I’d challenge you to go read some of the old testament, now that was a screwed up crazy world. They didn’t even have CNN & FOX to... Continue Reading →
The recent sermon series at my church was titled The Power of Everybody. It is no surprise to me that I loved it (I love all the series my church does), but this one particularly spoke to me, and not that there was a doubt, showed me once again why God moved the way He... Continue Reading →
There comes a time on ones journey to improve, that you need a little reminded that you are on the journey. I had such a moment last week, while getting to spend an enjoyable week with a family member who happens to be a non-Christian. As you know, my view on that is that we... Continue Reading →
A strange thing happened the other day, it came to my attention that people actually read what I write, I know, I’m slow on the uptake. With that realization the thought that I might need to think through what I write more, instead of just finding some words in my head & throwing them out... Continue Reading →
The internet seems like a really good place to write something about living, or trying to live at least, an authentic life. I thought that, because the internet in my experience is full of fake people. Either people with picture perfect lives, or even more commonly people who use the protection of anonymity to be... Continue Reading →
I am in the thick of a 30 days reading plan to go through the gospels. My phone makes these things much easier to accomplish & rather annoyingly at times, much more difficult to avoid. Last week when I read through the feeding of the five thousand, a story almost everyone knows, something jumped out... Continue Reading →
This has to be one of my most procrastinated posts yet. Usually when I have an idea of something to write on it just falls out on the paper (or screen). Sometimes if I don’t have time I’ll put the idea in a folder for later but most of the time my blog is an... Continue Reading →
In the fall of 2008 there was a 4 week series at my church called Foundations of Freedom. The lessons were taught on a mid-week evening by a guest pastor, Alan Smith from Gateway church in Southlake. While I realized at the time that it was a significant period in my Christian development, I really... Continue Reading →
So God was talking to me in church this morning, I almost called it a vision, but in that it wasn’t visual I’ll go with God was talking to me. How does God talk to me? Usually through thoughts implanted in my mind by His Spirit. How do I know they’re not my thoughts? You’ll... Continue Reading →
Home at last, sat in my nice recliner with some Sicilian style lemonade and my laptop, I just returned from a taste of a world that will hopefully always be foreign to me. Today I joined some friends from my men’s group to help out at Solomon’s Porch, a homeless outreach operated by The Lord’s... Continue Reading →
I recently read an excellent piece on community or to be precise genuine Christian community on the blog here in the after. It resonated with me deeply, so I felt I should write my own thoughts on the subject and my search for it. It won’t be as in depth or as beautifully eloquent but it... Continue Reading →
What do I believe? This seems like a strange question to ask of myself. My beliefs are firm & unshakable (trust me I've tried), yet there are things I need to ask myself about within that. I believe God is real, I believe the bible is true, I believe Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. I believe... Continue Reading →
unhiddenlight 