How Great Leaders Inspire Action
Right now, I’m on the road. This summer I visited three different countries over the span of 6 weeks. It is tiring living out of a suitcase, but the good thing is that I have a lot of alone time. Travelling alone is a time of privilege to examine one’s life. If you have the financial means, I highly recommend it. Basically, I’ve been reading, thinking a lot and also spending a lot of my time watching TED talks. I wanted to share one in particular about leadership because Dr. Ben asked me to and because I feel like its message is applicable to anyone who wants to live a life that challenges the status quo. It is called “How great leaders inspire action” by Simon Sinek.
Forests Proposes A Toast
Seeing as I was in such a rush to have dinner with Ben Toh, I failed to give a toast to my roommate and Ben West. I have chosen to present my toast a few days late and a dollar short. I have posted it on the internet because nothing that is put on the internet can die. It’s kinda like Jesus in a way- except with way more pornography. Without further adieu I present my toast:
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Rest Unleashed – Narrative 3 of 3
The last and longest narrative in my book, Rest Unleashed: The Raven Narratives, is my story. So far, my journey has begun with considering forgiveness and the gospel of Jesus. I found a tremendous amount of rest for my mind and heart through those narratives. The most rest however came from telling my life story from my perspective. I refused to do two things when telling my life story. One, I would not spin tall tales and would speak as much as possible without any mask or pretense. Two, I would not cut out my ubf experiences and would not see such experiences as purely negative. I titled this last narrative: “Resting in my life”.
What next?
After committing to catching up on previous posts, I found myself staying up the entire night trying to cover nearly 5 years of articles and comments. With each hour that passed, I knew I had to get some sleep, but alas, I find myself in front of the computer trying to formulate an article.
I was drawn in by article after article and comment after comment. Initially I was taken aback by aggressive language and seemingly biased points of view. But as I continued to read, I have been impressed by the level of integrity and professionalism you have maintained throughout the website. The articles have not been offensive or slanderous but have been informative, honest, and real.
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Feelings, Actions and Thoughts
Warning: This is a random, rambling, ruminating reflection! I’ll start with a painful and shameful confession. For the first two decades of my marriage, I told my dear wife repeatedly: “Feelings don’t matter.” (OK, I understand if you want to throw stones!) I believed this because of my misguided understanding that as a Christian we need to do what we should do, regardless of how we feel. I based this on Mt 16:24, Mk 8:34 and Lk 9:23, since Jesus states explicitly that anyone who would follow him MUST deny himself. I extrapolated this to mean that “your feelings don’t matter…deny yourself and follow Christ.” It is only the grace of God that my wife did not leave me. For the record, today I tell her, “Your feelings DO matter. Please share them with me.”
It’s more fun in the Philippines – Part 2
In Part 1 I spoke of the lead up to my trip. This story is the story of my trip so I will begin with my initial impressions. When I last left Paul had spoken to Ben. My shepherd’s last words of advice to me were to be careful not to become married or introduced. He said Filipinos were “crazy for Americans” and that “it wasn’t my time”. With that I departed for the Philippines. Although I started the story and have proceeded chronologically I will depart from this to explain some major lessons from my time in the Philippines.
It’s more fun in the Philippines – Part 1
It is very hard to start this story, because in some sense my trip has changed me in remarkable ways. Maybe it’s best if I start at the start.
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Shepherd Brian is Dead
Now that I’ve got your attention… I’d like to share the last puzzle piece of my recovery from my twenty-four years in University Bible Fellowship. This is the holy grail of my recovery, the last piece that makes the entire picture clear, the piece of the puzzle that explains so many unanswered questions.
How I Had Fun in 2013
Is having fun a sin? For years I felt that having fun as a Christian was a sin. I felt bad watching movies and sports. So I took my Bible students with me to watch them for the sake of “mission.” For a time I enjoyed playing Tetris for hours on end. I thought no one knew. But my kids remember and told me so! I felt that Christian life should be one of self-denial (Mt 16:24; Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23)–my key verse for the first two decades of my Christian life in the 1980s-90s. Now I positively encourage everyone to have fun. When West Loop UBF started in 2008, my catchphrase was “Have fun serving God.”
After writing my 2014 key verse testimony, I realize that I hardly wrote any stories of what I personally did or experienced. So here are some ways I had fun in 2013. Continue reading →
Having Fun
A key to having fun is to truly being yourself and living out who you are. When one is truly who they are, they live in the freedom and contentment and spirit of who they are. There is no pretense about them. But if we are not who we truly are, then we cannot but live to comply with the expectation of others (society, family, church). When we are not who we truly are, we become slaves based on the imposition and oppression of others.
Appreciation. Last Fri, West Loop (WL) held our annual appreciation dinner. Our 12 WL families attended. We had FUN. We went to an all you can eat buffet for $27 per person. You could eat as many lobsters as you wanted. I only had two! We were constantly laughing…and eating. We appreciated our six WL pastors/elders: Rhoel, Henry, Tim, Arthur, Jim, Ben. After dinner, we adjourned to Arthur’s home. We chatted, had drinks, did karaoke…and ate some more. I was “upset” the next day, because I gained 3 lbs! But I had fun. Continue reading →
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