Posts Tagged ‘Rob Bell’
Episode 47 | Brandan Robertson: In & Out, A Nomad’s Journey
Brandan Robertson joins me today to share his powerful, moving and often painful story of reconciling an emerging faith in Jesus as a teenager, with his own sexuality. His is a powerful story of being in, then suddenly finding himself out, again and again – and through it all, discovering a deeper, more inclusive spirituality…
Read MoreRob Bell on James Talks (& Why Asking Matters)
Today I’m delighted to welcome the one and only Rob Bell to my podcast. When you start a podcast, and a lot of it is taken up with interviews – as many podcasts are – you know there’s some people you’d absolutely dream to interview. In truth, I’m interested in sharing great stories, not just getting well-known…
Read MoreEpisode 36 | Rob Bell Is Here!
Rob Bell, New York Times Bestselling Author of Love Wins and several other books, international speaker, podcaster and former Pastor, joins me on James Talks – and I gotta say, he’s freaking awesome.
Read MoreFear Can’t Dictate – Love Always Wins
I didn’t blog last week. In light of recent events in the world, I felt it was right to be silent, out of respect of the days of mourning set aside for the victims of the violence – in France, and in Lebanon too.
I felt a particularly strong sense of despair at these attacks. For a number of reasons – the more vulnerable place I’m at in my journey, having a good friend who lives in Paris. Like many of us, I needed time to process it all.
As I reflected, two words keep coming up for me in light of those attacks.
Fear. Love.
And right now, fear seems to be winning.
But I choose to say something different today. I say that love wins. And ultimately, it always will.
Read MoreA Day Which Proved Love Wins
Friday 26th June 2015. A day which will go down in history. A day which will become many LGBT couple’s wedding anniversary.
This was the day the US Supreme Court ruled that same sex marriage was a legal right across the US.
I can’t tell you the joy I felt, as a straight ally, as this news sunk in. The freedom this gave to so many. A right which had been denied for so long, finally made legal.
In some ways it’s tragic that we should celebrate this day with such enthusiasm – because this should never have been an issue up for discussion. Each of us should always have been free to make that covenant relationship of marriage with another. To commit to be faithful to someone before God for the rest of their lives.
But the reason this gave me so much hope, was simply because it proved again to me one simple thing.
Love wins.
Love always wins.
It sometimes takes patience. It sometimes takes sacrifice. It might meet resistance. It may have to battle it’s way through lots of boundaries.
But, in the end, love wins.
Read MoreHow I Discovered The ‘Why’ Of Suffering
Have you ever had one of those ‘why’ moments? When something happens which causes us pain, suffering, hurt, or sheer frustration and anger – and all you can do is ask ‘Why?’.
Why did that person I love have to die?
Why did my friend develop that condition or disease?
Why did that person get the job I wanted (and deserved)?
Why have I suffered so much when I know I don’t deserve it?
Why did that expensive thing I need break when I don’t have the money to replace it?
Me too.
I’ve asked the question ‘why?’ so often it’s become a chorus, a song stuck on repeat in the depths of my heart. I still do.
But recently I came about an answer, in the most unexpected way.
Read MoreFerris Bueller, FOMO & The Truth Of Breathing
A fortnight back I attended a 2 day teaching with Rob Bell on all sorts of subjects. I’ll be blogging about it in more detail soon.
One of the issues he raised was a topic Brenda McGraw touched on last week – burnout, rest. And today I want to talk about another aspect of this – taking care of ourselves.
So naturally, there’s only one person I thought to turn to first.
I’m talking of course, about Ferris Bueller. He once said this:
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”
A well known quote. And as we’ll see, Ferris nails it completely
Read MoreBuilding Bridges – LGBT & Faith: Resources
Hi friends, hope you’ve been enjoying the series on LGBT issues/stories & faith. Next week I’ll be hosting Liz Mallory, a bisexual Christian who has written a comprehensive series on God and sexuality/LGBT issues on her blog, which covers every dimension of this issue, and the series will conclude with me sharing another story.
I’m privileged to say I’m guest posting for Liz today, and my post goes live at about 8.30pm UK time today. You can check it out here.
But in this post I’m going to do something slightly different in relation to this issue & maybe help you on this journey in a different way.
Read MoreThe Oxygen Of Solidarity
I hadn’t planned on posting something by myself today. I did have another guest post lined up – which you’ll now see next Monday. You see, this morning something happened which changed my plans. An experience, a story, I knew I had to share with you today.
As I write, it’s 7.26am on a cold Monday morning, three days before Christmas. I can hear the rustling of the wind outside, the quiet hollows of a force so much more powerful. But this force of nature feels as nothing right now, against the power of the many noiseless but resounding voices of support I’m feeling through social media.
The oxygen of solidarity. Shining a glimmer of hope.
And I understand in an instant the power of two of the most powerful words in the universe:
“Me Too.”
Read MoreWhat Miami Vice Taught Me About Identity
In the 1980’s there was a TV show called ‘Miami Vice’, about two undercover police officers from, surprisingly enough, Miami. The image & clothing of the police officers, and it’s location, gave it a particular image which made it an iconic show of the 1980’s.
Toward the end of season 2, one of the principal characters, Sonny Crockett (played by Don Johnson, left in picture), poses undercover as a drug dealer ‘Sonny Burnett’. This is a false self with his own backstory.
But when Sonny gets hit on the head and gets amnesia, he only remembers the identity of Sonny Burnett. So he goes ahead and lives out that identity, not remembering he is an undercover police officer, existing solely as Sonny Burnett.
He’s not Sonny Burnett. It’s not his true identity. However, he continues to live and act like he is. And this story, and it’s resolution, is a great example of a fundamental truth about identity. In the words of Rob Bell:
“What we do comes out of who we believe we are”
In other words, our identity defines our reality.
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