dream today

Tomorrow marks ten years that I have been married to my best friend and life-long lover. Christy is truly a gift to me. We met when we were 16 while still in high school and dated for five years before marrying. We grew up in central Ohio, studied in Indiana (married while in college), headed to Chicago to begin our 'adult' lives together and in little over a year after that we moved to Ireland. We have lived here now for 8 years in three different homes (and two countries - N.I. /R.O.I.). We have made so many friends together over the years and experienced so many things in our 31 years of life - most importantly bringing two new lives into this world - Neve (4) and Aidan (almost 2). It's amazing to think that by next year - at the age of 32 - we'll have been together for half of our lives! My wife truly is an amazing woman, mother, friend, lover and companion. She has capable hands when it comes to making a dream reality, she is full of lau

Three weeks ago I was able to spend an astounding four days in Oxfordshire just five miles outside of Oxford itself. It was our annual Diocesan Youth Officers symposium which enables many of us in youth ministry throughout Ireland to relax, strategize and catch up with one another. We stayed in the beautiful house and grounds of Stanton House while there (a Christian retreat centre of sorts). Our time was guided by significant inputs from one, Mr. Mark Berry (Abbott of Safe Space in Telford, England). Mark's contribution was invaluable and so inspirational. He led us through issues around the emerging church / fresh expressions / missional communites, borrowing heavily from his own experience within his own community in Telford. Here are the notes in of the sessions in PDF from his blog. The three areas we considered were Exiles, Exodus and Entrepreneurs - fantastic! Get the notes and have a read through them. We were also able to spend an afternoon in Oxf

A friend and mentor (of sorts) has written a bit on what the Celtic Christian influence can offer to the emerging church /fresh expression conversation/exploration today. He is Rev. Ray Simpson, the Guardian of the Community of Aidan & Hilda , based on Lindisfarne (Holy Island) in Northumbria, England. There is a page on his community's website that gives a very cursory look into this, listing some of those aforementioned influences as: Daily corporate prayer Eating places - e.g. cafes Accommodation units - e.g. hostel, B and B, on site units for members Learning courses - resource centre Work and creative arts projects Sacred space Mentors and counsellors Allotments, gardens or another earth-friendly link Facilities for all or most ages Social entertainment You can read more on it here . If you'd like to go even deeper, check out Ray's book The Church of the Isles (scroll down) So, for those of you engaging in this conversation, how can you see

Two months ago the family and I traveled to Dublin Zoo . It had been something I wanted to take the kids to for over a year. The day was slightly overcast but dry, and the trip was well worth it. Neve and Aidan thoroughly enjoyed taking in all of the sights, smells (maybe not so much) enthralling to see the wide-eyed and sounds of the zoo. It was so wonder and smiles on the kids faces. The animals that were memorable for me were the tiger (they were just opposite the kids at ey e level behind thick glass) and the gorillas. There was a massive male gorilla who played tag with all the younger ones. What a laugh to watch! On a different note, the lion that you see roaring at the beginning of MGM films was from the Dublin zoo. See below. "Although MGM calls the lion 'Leo' his actual name was Cairbre. He was born at Dublin Zoo on 20th March, 1927. A second lion from Dublin Zoo was also filmed to replace Cairbre but the zoo has no knowledge

A little lighter look with a bite! Labels: cartoon , debate , funny , Immigration , satirical , video

I thought this article on collaboration inspiring creativity was refreshing. It illustrates well that humans work best in the context of community with a shared vision. It's unified diversity. More and more I have a growing desire to be a part of an intentional, creative, committed community of like-hearted (not like-minded) individuals working collaboratively on projects of eternal significance. What about you? Read the article in US News & World Report Labels: collaboration , community , creativity , innovation

"Not only do pastors need to be faithful, Blackaby says more need to devote more time to spiritual matters. Noting that 'you can’t give people what you don’t have,' he said the best way pastors can lead people into a growing, dynamic walk with God is to have their own. 'Too many pastors get into the pulpit expecting people to do things they haven’t done themselves,' he said. 'The best thing you could ever do for your people is to go to the next level yourself.' " the rest of the article Happy Shiny Pastors is another article regarding stats of pastors being fulfulled/ruined in their profession/calling Labels: church health , health , pace , rhythm , spiritual health , transparency , well-being

About two months ago I had the privilege of visiting an ancient Irish monastic site in Lough (Lock) Erne called Devenish Island . It's a place I had long known about but I just never had the right opportunity to visit it. When I was speaking on a youth weekend in Enniskillen I took some time out to finally make a visit. It was well worth it. The Irish, even though living on an island, have long had a love for situating themselves on smaller islands within and around the country. Devenish is no exception. It was established as a monastic community not far from the current town of Enniskillen , Co. Fermanagh in the 6th century by St. Molaise and is now a tourist attraction with the occasional pilgrim paying a visit. This ancient site truly would have been of prime importance in its heyday being located on what would have been the highway of the day - along the route of the Shannon river running through nearly 3/4 of Ireland. I'll post a few high

I spent about five hours on the top of the Slieve Bloom mountains (centre of Ireland) about six weeks ago. I went there to read a book that I had to do a book report on - it was an amazing location. I was inspired to write a poem because it was such a beautiful day. It's called 'be'. Click on the image to enlarge it. Labels: be , beauty , inspiration , mountains , poem