by emma | Nov 15, 2006 | Books, Everything Else
I’m in Glasgow again. I know… I’m hard to track down some days.
Yesterday I was at a promotional/pastor/talking/meeting thing with Rob Bell (author of Velvet Elvis – which of course you’ve all read by now – and creator/innovator of the Nooma teaching DVD series).
We started by watching the latest Nooma, Breathe, which has just been released Stateside, dont think it’s out here yet. Then Rob spoke very brielfy on who he is, what he does, etc. Then it was thrown open to a question time.
There were several points I loved/was impacted by:
* The Hebrew mind is completely comfortable with tension, with the idea that two things can be true at the same time.
* Someone asked him about his teaching, and he said that he doesn’t teach anything that hasn’t already been brewing deep inside him for months or even years.
* “Some people simply aren’t going to be able to make the journey.”
Rob also shared something they did one Easter weekend, which I thought was an amazing idea. Instead of having a Good Friday service, they had a ‘Bad Friday’ service – a day of mourning, real sadness and rawness and emotion, which leaves the tension unresolved until the Easter Sunday service, when they blow the roof off with praise! How great an idea is that, how much more powerful would it make Easter feel to me or you?
by emma | Oct 31, 2006 | Africa, Books, Words
“What sets lion chasers apart isn’t the outcome. It’s the courage to chase God-sized dreams. Lion chasers don’t let their fears or doubts keep them from doing what God has called them to do.”
In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day – Mark Batterson
A review is coming soon!
But for now…
I love that quote! “The courage to chase God-sized dreams”. Recently God has been revealing more of what I’m supposed to be doing in relation to my Africa passion. It scares me a little bit to be honest! But maybe it’s supposed to. Mark also comments in the book that maybe God wants to stack the odds against us, so that he can work a miracle and get all the glory. What a superb thought. Today I pray for courage to live my dreams, not for better odds but for greater faith!
by emma | Oct 28, 2006 | Books, Faith
“Sometimes the beauty is so deep it pierces us with longing. For what? For life as it was meant to be. Beauty reminds us of an Eden we have never known, but somehow know our hearts were created for.”
I re-read Captivating over the last few weeks. A powerful book. I am so grateful for the friendships God has already provided for me here. Captivating is a book which raises some really deep issues for me, and I couldn’t have faced them without the support I’ve got from people here. Most of the issues that were raised, aren’t bloggable. They’re deeply personal. So you’ll never know about them. But I’m so grateful for John and Stasi Eldredge, people that God has gifted and called to share their stories.
I like that quote, by the way. It’s a question I’ve been asking myself lately, why is beauty so important to us, why is it so powerful? Maybe that’s why.
by emma | Oct 26, 2006 | Books
This arrived through my letter box this morning!! Sooo excited! Getting stuck into this weekend, more to follow…
by emma | Oct 15, 2006 | Books
I read G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy this week… superb little book, there’s a lot in it to make you think! Here’s a quote which I’m mulling over in my mind, it is sort of marinating(?) there at the minute…
“There is the great lesson of “Beauty and the Beast”; that a thing must be loved BEFORE it is loveable.”
by emma | Oct 11, 2006 | Books, Words
“I was with my friends at one of our favourite restaurants the other night. We had been there at least three hours when I noticed we were the last ones in the place. The employees were starting to stack chairs and vacuum the floors, and we were still talking. I was looking around the table at my wife, whom I just adore; our friend Shauna, who may be one of the best storytellers on the planet; Tom, whom I would take a bullet for; and Tom’s wife, Cecilia, who is one of the most loving, authentic people I have ever met. And I’m sitting in this restaurant looking around the table, soaking it in, totally overwhelmed with the holiness of it all. The sacred-ness of the moment… You know what I’m talking about. Ordinary moments in ordinary settings that all of a sudden become infused with something else. With meaning. Significance. Hope.”
I love this passage. It’s from Rob Bell’s book, Velvet Elvis (if you havent read it by now, go out and get it RIGHT NOW!) I have had so many moments sitting around a BBQ, or a pizza, or whatever else, when God has been so real to me it was like I could reach out and physically touch him. (Why do you think food is such an integral part of Alpha groups and Christianity Explored groups?)
I don’t do this enough. Creating opportunities for the everyday, ordinary moments to become holy. There is something so wonderful about sitting around a table with a group of your closest friends, eating, drinking, sharing, laughing…
It’s like Kyle Lake put it…
“Live. And Live Well.
BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now…
… At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven.
And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life.
Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift.“
Recent Comments