letter to non believers

Shane Claiborne article in Esquire, December 2009

grace toasted from jonny baker on Vimeo.

he never said

twitturgies

Prayers in 140 characters... http://twitter.com/twitturgies

Vocation: the place where your deep gladness meets the world's deep need - Frederick Buechner

cardboard testimonies

woman at the well

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1127888677842&ref=share

Woman at the well poem

sparrow in the storm

Sparrow In The Storm

^{(2006 - from the CD "The Last Songs")}

In the beginning lives the end
Can the foe become your friend?
Easy answers there are none, though
frightened grown ups search for one

In these broken bloody times
We need more than TV smiles
Behind the eyes the door is tight shut
Behind the makeup, just more makeup

When the pain is such, feelings turn to dust
Are there tears enough to wash all of us?

Chorus:
I’m a sparrow in the storm
Without your love to keep me warm
Seasons come and seasons go
That you love me is all I need to know
I’m a sparrow in the storm
Without your love to keep me warm
Hold my hand and time will show
That you love me is all I need to know

The message written on our walls
For the strong to climb : the weak must fall.
This is heresy I guess, but could the strong
perhaps learn to live with less

When the pain is such, feelings turn to dust
Are there tears enough to wash all of us?
When I need a friend, here you are again
You let me comfort you like only lovers do

(Half Chorus)

As the birthdays come and go
The more I understand, the less I know
As the birthdays come and go
Only one thing I know

(Chorus)

Labi Siffre – Sparrow In The Storm

you don't even know...

“Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.”

Sophia Loren quotes (Italian film Actress, b.1934)

Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart”

Kahlil Gibran quotes (Lebanese born American philosophical Essayist, Novelist and Poet. 1883-1931)

“Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it”

Confucius quotes (China's most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist, 551-479 BC)

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross quotes (Swiss-American psychiatrist and author )

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself

Anna Quindlen (1953 - )

Resentment is like taking poison and hoping that the other person dies.

- Malachy McCourt
Writer, actor, politician and brother of author, Frank McCourt

You should never let your fears prevent you from doing what you know is right.

- Aung San Suu Kyi,
Nobel laureate and leader of the nonviolent movement for human rights and democracy in Burma 

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong

Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

The hatred you're carrying is a live coal in your heart - far more damaging to yourself than to them.


from Lawana Blackwell, The Dowry of Miss Lydia Clark, 1999

Forgiveness is almost a selfish act because of its immense benefits to the one who forgives.
from Lawana Blackwell, The Dowry of Miss Lydia Clark, 1999

Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.

from Cherie Carter-Scott, "If Love Is a Game, These Are the Rules"

“For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.”

Ivan Panin (Russian mathematician1855-1942)

from www.thinkexist.com

The first question I ask myself when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason.

John Cage (composer, 1912 - 1992)

from www.quotationspage.com

Your forgiveness is total

Your forgiveness is total
no notebook
tape recorder
or post-it note
to remind you of that moment
when.……..
You take our confession
offered with hands outstretched
and gently
like the loving
heavenly Father that you are
put it to one side
to be forgotten
No grudges, no itching for judgement
No resentment or ill-will
Not like us
who find it easy to say sorry
but so hard to forgive
absolutely
Forgive us, Father
that we are often more willing
to accept forgiveness
than to forgive
More willing to accept your love
than to share it with those
who have hurt us.
Teach us to forgive
As you forgive

John Birch
from www.faithandworship.com