Some of My Favorite Things........

Bicycles. The smell of rain. Polaroid Pictures. Hebrew. Pens over

Pencils (I've never been good at rough drafts). Arial Font. Purple. Cold mornings in warm jackets. Coffee. Chai Tea. Coltrane. Eric Dolphy & Eric Clapton. subliminal messages. Documentaries. Baby Grand Pianos. Salsa Dancing?

Saxahones. Violins. Being Whimsical. Clouds. Running through random towns. Christmas trees in Jewish homes. Thai Food. Gin. (not in that particular order). October and big, bright Orange Leaves. Maple Trees.

Centered Text.

Mocassins. Old Man Rivers. Solitude. Postcards. Attention. Spitzenberg

Apples. Catholic Churches. Used Book Stores. Gospel Music. Brussel Sprouts.

Lentil Soup. Train Rides. love. Sleeping In. Failing Miserably. Waking

up to the sun rising. Staying awake until the sun rises. 80's Dance

parties. Typewriters. Dustin Hoffman. Raping my thesaurus to sound

more intelligent. Spicy Foods. Cuba. Conversations with people in person. Running barefoot. Pretending. Whispering in the dark.

My Life (At least the way I see it!)

I have driven a quarter mile in under 10secs

I have broke the sound barrier, backwards

I can run a mile in under 4 minutes if I wanted to

I've run with scissors

I have eaten raw eggs, cookie dough & potatoes & raw meat left out on a counter(mix with beef & chicken)

I have run on wet, slippery surfaces when the sign has said walk

I've talked and texted on my phone during a movie

I have golfed in a lightening storm

I have gone swimming right after I ate

I have eaten standing up & in in bed

I have pretended to be someone else

I acted like I was crazy walking down the streets of new york

I have brought a knife to a gun fight and I have also brought my guns to town

I have gotten out of a helicopter without ducking

I like Michael Bolton

I have driven in a presidential “arcade”

I don’t think outside the box, I don’t even know what a box is.

I don’t chew gum and walk at the same time.

I never read license agreements before clicking I have

I mostly do not read instructions

I have written the great American novel although it is not published or written on paper

The songs I sing in my head are Grammy worthy

I can moon walk

I've fried eggs on a sidewalk on a hot day 

I did not drink plenty of water when it was too hot or I was high up in elevation

I have loved deeply

The door has hit me in the butt on the way out.

I’ve stepped on many cracks and as far as I know, my mom has never had a broken back

I have blinked and missed it but have also not blinked and been amazed

I have been to the highest point in most cities I have visted while sometimes being at my lowest

I believe that if it is broke, it can be fixed, but I also believe just because it’s not broke that it shouldn’t be.

I have out run a packs of wolves, gazelle, & Hussein Bolt

I have sat and talked with presidents dignitaries & important historical figures

I fought the law and I won

I have danced in the rain and all the other elements

I have danced when no one was looking

I know somebody who meet chuck Norris

I have danced with devil in the pale moonlight, and I now regret it.

I have invented some of the greatest things on earth, but not the internet.

I have hung out with Rob Lowe, Laurie Singer, some country singer & Michael Dukais at the same time

I have sung on the stage of the grand ol’ Opry & got a standing ovation

I have traveled by plane, train & Automobile on one road trip

I married my girlfriend

I often forget when to hold em, fold em, when walk away or when to run

I have not walked away or run when I should have

When somebody has said don't go outside or go in the dark basement because they've heard a noise, I have.

I want to live long and prosper.

I won’t back down

I believe 8 tracks will make a comeback.

I am a pro at two truths and a lie

I have slept during church

I have clapped when the signs or announcers has said not to

I've cheated death on more than one occasion

I have taken the road less traveled

I have helped an elderly lady across the street and fix a tire

I have taken the road of destruction

I almost took the highway to hell but go off at the last exit

I have jumped on many beds

I do know what I’m talking about

I have bumped my head and not wet my bed

I cried at a chic-flick

I have stood on the front of a ship and yelled, “I AM king of the world”

I've been in over my head and in too deep

I have tread water for 15 minutes

I played in a band in front of a crowd of thousands

I've played with fire and not got burned

I have been once bitten, twice shy.

I like to pump up the jam

I’ve won some and lost some, but have won more than lost

I counted the cost and it was high

I have climbed the highest mountain

I have scaled these city walls

I have found what I’m looking for

I have touched and I have seen

I was blind but now I see

I was lost and now I’m found

 

Welcome to My Journey

First of all welcome! 

I hope you like this and me! Who am I kidding, I really don't care (that's the old in my talking.) I'm doing this for me. It's been a really tough year, lots of changes in and around my life, family, occupation, friends, view of God, everything, and this is going to be a way for me to clear some space out of my head. If you want to peak in on my journey and get a glimpse fine. Comment fine. Don't fine. I am choosing to write for me and in the process, figure out who I am as I am approaching fifty. I thought I use to live for an audience of One, then my wife, then my kids, I even preached it! I found out, I WAS living for an audience of one, it was me. I was 1st, 2nd, 3rd and on down the list in my life. I was wrong. 

I have had a tremendous season of loss. Loss of many things: the person I thought I was, the person who I thought I was becoming, relationships, churches, possessions, money, family, spiritualness, self worth and identity, just to name a few.

Let me tell you a little bit about what you will experience if you chose to journey with me (and as with any good journey, the destination will remain the same, but the route may change!) 

I think I am a pretty smart person but my grammar and my structure aren't always pretty. I was a lazy student growing up in this formative years of learning such things. Now I regret it. But this is going to be my raw download. My "english major" wife, I'm sure will fringe (by the way, I'm glad she is still by my side after all these years.)

This blog is going to be honest and raw. After all, I'm getting older and I guess when you get older you have wisdom and can just say it the way you see it! Here are the some of things & topics you may see in future post. Some serious stuff and some funny stuff but some stuff I just wonder about and even wrestle with on this journey:

My approaching mid-century age:

     Hair growing in places i don't want,

     I already went through puberty, while am I still getting pimples?

     The truth about cats.

     Why didn't I like myself earlier in life? I was much better looking, in better health,        could do more things, was friendlier and more free.

Thoughts on Society

Some thoughts I felt I couldn't share before because of my position: politics, gay marriage & gay rights, abortion, sin, the Church, Christianity, guns and gun ownership, legalization of cannabis or as all the young people call it, marijuana and many other topics.

Hobbies (may even include some recipes!)

These writing will be meandering. Not of a "preacherboy," but of a person trying to figure it out, trying to make sense of himself as he approaches 50. I always thought I wanted to be a spiritual sherpa, but I don't know what the start of that journey is--I will have to look at that apprenticing model! I feel I have learned some lesson in life and carry those life lessons with me in order to share my experience with others, much like a caddy. 

I hope you will join me.

Brett

ORA Provides Cutting-Edge Technology For The New Way to Pray

 Introducing "ORA" a disruptive technology to promote the oldest form of recognized religious expression in the Christian and Jewish faiths--prayer. The ORA system creates a personal mobile experience for the individual and an enterprise-quality community management platform for any organization to invite, connect, share, respond and interact with one another in intercessory prayer.

“That’s a lot of words to describe it, but ORA’s technology gives us the ability to do so much more to leverage existing social networks and mobile devices to connect individuals in the most meaningful relationship they can have with others and with God,” said Jeff Bone, Chief Marketing Officer for ORA.

“ORA collects, organizes, tracks, reminds, connects and securely shares prayer requests and answers with anyone you choose. ORA does this at a personal and intimate level with your friends and family through the mobile platform or ‘app’ on your smartphone. ” Stated Dusty Gulleson, ORA Chief Executive Officer.

“We're looking forward to integrating ORA into the life of both our physical and online church congregations. What an incredible tool to engage communities of believers around the power of prayer!” stated Nils Smith, Web Pastor at Community Bible Church of San Antonio.

Social networks are typically inappropriate “high noise” areas that are not private enough for many sensitive postings like prayer requests. ORA offers an environment where prayer is the most important thing. ORA not only makes prayer available on your smartphone, but it makes comments, reminders and prayer partners always available too. ORA offers immediate feedback to requests, questions and comments from prayer partners and helps to track and remind the user of how prayers are answered immediately or over time. ORA helps you get a glimpse of the eternal that can be missed when we’re caught up in the stress of everyday life.

ORA is a free download for iPhone (and is coming soon for Android). The ORA smartphone app integrates into the ORA Community system. The ORA Community system is a software as a service (SaaS) solution designed with many more management features that allows an organization to administer community-wide prayer communication and easily integrate with existing email, church management or relationship management software from leading providers. For a limited time, ORA is offering a no-cost trial of the ORA Community system for an organization.

Visit the ORA website for more information: http://ora.net

Download ORA for the iPhone in the App Store! http://appstore.com/ora

Enter ORA’s Apple iPad Mini Giveaway this week! http://bit.ly/orapromo

David Platt via Verge Network:The Key to Radical Living

Let's Get Biblical! Biblical!

At Whipple, we're just finishing up a series talking about the Bible, it's reliablity, it's origin and how to study it. One of our staff created this real cool read through the New Testament in 90 days plan. We are challengeing our church (actually double-dog daring our church) to do it. So I'd thought I'd share it with you. If you want, there is also a bookmark pdf coming! As we read together, we'll grow together! The reading begins July16th and ends on October 13th. Please comment on here if you will take the challenge, I triple-dog dare you!

In His Grip

Brett

New_Testament_Challenge1.pdf Download this file

Suffering Outside the City Gates

Challenging and inspiring the way only Francis Chan can bring it! "If you're not suffering, you shouldn't be at peace." What? Yea, watch this video.