3/25/11
FUSION
please pray that through this ministry many young people would hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and respond to Him!
3/15/11
3/7/11
total church
our team just started reading this book together...
"total church" is co-written by tim chester & steve timmis. they are two english guys who founded the crowded house church-planting initiative in the uk and direct the porterbrook network. steve is also the director of the acts 29 network for western europe.
our team decided to study the book together after hearing steve timmis speak at a recent josiah venture church-planting conference. im only half-way through the second chapter and i can already tell it will not be an easy read. it is not a passive read. it is a book that needs to be digested over time. it has challenged my thinking on what the Gospel message is and how it is practically lived out in community. i am only 40 pages in and i would already recommend it to anyone who is passionate about the Gospel, community and mission!
you can (watch or) download audio of steve's teaching on "total church" here, which took place back in 2009 at mars hill church.
"total church" is co-written by tim chester & steve timmis. they are two english guys who founded the crowded house church-planting initiative in the uk and direct the porterbrook network. steve is also the director of the acts 29 network for western europe.
our team decided to study the book together after hearing steve timmis speak at a recent josiah venture church-planting conference. im only half-way through the second chapter and i can already tell it will not be an easy read. it is not a passive read. it is a book that needs to be digested over time. it has challenged my thinking on what the Gospel message is and how it is practically lived out in community. i am only 40 pages in and i would already recommend it to anyone who is passionate about the Gospel, community and mission!
you can (watch or) download audio of steve's teaching on "total church" here, which took place back in 2009 at mars hill church.
2/23/11
what are your plans for march 4-6?
if youre in the area, it might be worth checking out!
here is their website for more information:
www.sexualrevolution.lv
2/4/11
1/19/11
youtube of the month: january
im not a big skate video fan, but this dude is INCREDIBLE!
"sk8 errrr dieeee dooooooood!"
"sk8 errrr dieeee dooooooood!"
1/13/11
the four loves
just finished reading this book...
"the four loves" by c.s. lewis
a GREAT read!
if i was to rate it, i would give it "two enthusiastic thumbs up!" - brian regan
the whole book was cool, but there were two (rather lengthy) quotes that really hit me.
this one:
“For the dream of finding our end, the thing we were made for, in a Heaven of purely human love could not be true unless our whole Faith were wrong. We were made for God. Only by being in some respect like Him, only by being a manifestation of His beauty, loving-kindness, wisdom or goodness, has any earthly Beloved excited our love. It is not that we have loved them too much, that we did not quite understand what we were loving. It is not that we shall be asked to turn from them, so dearly familiar, to a Stranger. When we see the face of God we shall know that we have always known it. He has been a party to, has made, sustained and moved moment by moment within, all our earthly experiences of innocent love. All that was true love in them was, even on earth, far more His than ours, and ours only because His. In Heaven there will be no anguish and no duty of turning away from the earthly Beloveds. First, because we shall have turned already; from the portraits to the Original, from the rivulets to the Fountain, from the creatures He made loveable to Love Himself. But secondly, because we shall find them all in Him. By loving Him more than them we shall love them more than we now do.” (pg. 139)
and this one:
“Is it easy to love God” asks an old author. “It is easy,” he replies, “to those who do it.” I have included two Graces under the word Charity. But God can give a third. He can awake in man, towards Himself, a supernatural Appreciative love. This of all gifts is the most to be desired. Here, not in our natural loves, nor even in ethics, lies the true centre of all human and angelic life. With this all things are possible.
And with this, where a better book would begin, mine must end. I dare not proceed. God knows, not I, whether I have ever tasted this love. Perhaps I have only imagined the tasting. Those like myself whose imagination far exceeds their obedience are subject to a just penalty; we easily imagine conditions far higher than any we have really reached. If we describe what we have imagined we make others, and make ourselves, believe that we have really been there. And if I have only imagined it, is it a further delusion that even the imagining has at some moments made all other objects of desire, yes- even peace, to have no more fears- look like broken toys and faded flowers? Perhaps. Perhaps, for many of us, all experience merely defines, so to speak, the shape of that gap where our love of God ought to be. It is not enough. It is something. If we cannot “practice the presence of God,” it is something to practice the absence of God, to become increasingly away of our unawareness till we feel like men who should stand beside a great cataract and hear no noise, or like a man in a story who look in a mirror and finds no face there, or a man in a dream who stretches our his hand to visible objects and gets no sensation of touch. To know that one is dreaming is to be no longer perfectly asleep. But for news of the fully waking world you must go to my betters.”
read it!
"the four loves" by c.s. lewis
a GREAT read!
if i was to rate it, i would give it "two enthusiastic thumbs up!" - brian regan
the whole book was cool, but there were two (rather lengthy) quotes that really hit me.
this one:
“For the dream of finding our end, the thing we were made for, in a Heaven of purely human love could not be true unless our whole Faith were wrong. We were made for God. Only by being in some respect like Him, only by being a manifestation of His beauty, loving-kindness, wisdom or goodness, has any earthly Beloved excited our love. It is not that we have loved them too much, that we did not quite understand what we were loving. It is not that we shall be asked to turn from them, so dearly familiar, to a Stranger. When we see the face of God we shall know that we have always known it. He has been a party to, has made, sustained and moved moment by moment within, all our earthly experiences of innocent love. All that was true love in them was, even on earth, far more His than ours, and ours only because His. In Heaven there will be no anguish and no duty of turning away from the earthly Beloveds. First, because we shall have turned already; from the portraits to the Original, from the rivulets to the Fountain, from the creatures He made loveable to Love Himself. But secondly, because we shall find them all in Him. By loving Him more than them we shall love them more than we now do.” (pg. 139)
and this one:
“Is it easy to love God” asks an old author. “It is easy,” he replies, “to those who do it.” I have included two Graces under the word Charity. But God can give a third. He can awake in man, towards Himself, a supernatural Appreciative love. This of all gifts is the most to be desired. Here, not in our natural loves, nor even in ethics, lies the true centre of all human and angelic life. With this all things are possible.
And with this, where a better book would begin, mine must end. I dare not proceed. God knows, not I, whether I have ever tasted this love. Perhaps I have only imagined the tasting. Those like myself whose imagination far exceeds their obedience are subject to a just penalty; we easily imagine conditions far higher than any we have really reached. If we describe what we have imagined we make others, and make ourselves, believe that we have really been there. And if I have only imagined it, is it a further delusion that even the imagining has at some moments made all other objects of desire, yes- even peace, to have no more fears- look like broken toys and faded flowers? Perhaps. Perhaps, for many of us, all experience merely defines, so to speak, the shape of that gap where our love of God ought to be. It is not enough. It is something. If we cannot “practice the presence of God,” it is something to practice the absence of God, to become increasingly away of our unawareness till we feel like men who should stand beside a great cataract and hear no noise, or like a man in a story who look in a mirror and finds no face there, or a man in a dream who stretches our his hand to visible objects and gets no sensation of touch. To know that one is dreaming is to be no longer perfectly asleep. But for news of the fully waking world you must go to my betters.”
read it!
12/27/10
a gift
as a christmas present this year, my parents bought me a flight to see anna and anete in new york! it was probably the best present (other than Jesus, of course haha) that anyone has ever given to me. here are a few of the pictures...
arriving at jfk
our wonderful hosts... mikus & grieta (anna's sister)
singing for presents
anna & anete
grand central station
going for a walk
anna's beautiful niece, jasmine
central park
metropolitan museum of art
excited about barnes & noble!
arriving at jfk
our wonderful hosts... mikus & grieta (anna's sister)
singing for presents
anna & anete
grand central station
going for a walk
anna's beautiful niece, jasmine
central park
metropolitan museum of art
excited about barnes & noble!
12/16/10
a dose of reality
stop for a few minutes and pray for our brothers and sisters in india...
(be forewarned, this video has some graphic footage)
(be forewarned, this video has some graphic footage)
11/30/10
my current jam
this guy's style is a little "out there." but i like it a lot!
"wooden heart" - listener
I wear this tide like loose skin, rock me to sea
if we hold on tight we’ll hold each other together
and not just be some fools rushing to die in our sleep
all these machines will rust I promise, but we'll still be electric
shocking each other back to life
Your hand in mine, my fingers in your veins connected
our bones grown together inside
our hands entwined, your fingers in my veins braided
our spines grown stronger in time
because are church is made out of shipwrecks
from every hull these rocks have claimed
but we pick ourselves up, and try and grow better through the change
so come on yall and let’s wash each other with tears of joy and tears of grief
and fold our lives like crashing waves and run up on this beach
come on and sew us together, were just tattered rags stained forever
we only have what we remember
"wooden heart" - listener
WOODEN HEART (sea of mist called skaidan)
We’re all born to broken people on their most honest day of living
and since that first breath... We’ll need grace that we’ve never given
I've been haunted by standard red devils and white ghosts
and it's not only when these eyes are closed
these lies are ropes that I tie down in my stomach,
but they hold this ship together tossed like leaves in this weather
and my dreams are sails that I point towards my true north,
stretched thin over my rib bones, and pray that it gets better
but it won’t won’t, at least I don’t believe it will...
so I've built a wooden heart inside this iron ship,
to sail these blood red seas and find your coasts.
don’t let these waves wash away your hopes
this war-ship is sinking, and I still believe in anchors
pulling fist fulls of rotten wood from my heart, I still believe in saviors
but I know that we are all made out of shipwrecks, every single board
washed and bound like crooked teeth on these rocky shores
so come on and let’s wash each other with tears of joy and tears of grief
and fold our lives like crashing waves and run up on this beach
come on and sew us together, tattered rags stained forever
we only have what we remember
I am the barely living son of a woman and man who barely made it
but we’re making it taped together on borrowed crutches and new starts
we all have the same holes in our hearts...
everything falls apart at the exact same time
that it all comes together perfectly for the next step
but my fear is this prison... that I keep locked below the main deck
I keep a key under my pillow, it’s quiet and it’s hidden
and my hopes are weapons that I’m still learning how to use right
but they’re heavy and I’m awkward...always running out of fight
so I’ve carved a wooden heart, put it in this sinking ship
hoping it would help me float for just a few more weeks
because I am made out of shipwrecks, every twisted beam
lost and found like you and me scattered out on the sea
so come on let’s wash each other with tears of joy and tears of grief
and fold our lives like crashing waves and run up on this beach
come on and sew us together, just some tattered rags stained forever
we only have what we remember
I wear this tide like loose skin, rock me to sea
if we hold on tight we’ll hold each other together
and not just be some fools rushing to die in our sleep
all these machines will rust I promise, but we'll still be electric
shocking each other back to life
Your hand in mine, my fingers in your veins connected
our bones grown together inside
our hands entwined, your fingers in my veins braided
our spines grown stronger in time
because are church is made out of shipwrecks
from every hull these rocks have claimed
but we pick ourselves up, and try and grow better through the change
so come on yall and let’s wash each other with tears of joy and tears of grief
and fold our lives like crashing waves and run up on this beach
come on and sew us together, were just tattered rags stained forever
we only have what we remember
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)