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Todays cool thingy is from Thalie Stephan. She is an amazing artist in our church – she is always inspiring!
Be sure to check out her site!
Sisters
I have two wonderfully amazing sisters. These two women are truly inspirational. My two sisters, Sandra and Angie have loved me as their little brother all my life. They are both brilliant mothers and wives.
The amount of strength and patience it takes to bring up kids and be a good spouse is huge and these two do it so well. I respect and love them dearly
Thank you Jesus for my Sisters
During the season of Advent i wanted to try and be thankful for as much as i can on a daily basis so I’m gonna try and be thankful for at least one thing a day
Friends
- Friends keep us grounded
- Friends challenge us
- Friends bring us good times
- Friends are there when we’re down
- Friends help in difficult times
- Friends grant us favors
- Friends make us feel loved
Over the years i have made some very good friends. There are alot of people out there that i have a lot of love for. If you are reading this and consider yourself a friend of mine then this means you. I’ve had so many great experiences that i have shared with so many people. Those people have been a major part of crafting me in to the person I am today.
Thank you Jesus for my Friends
During the season of Advent i wanted to try and be thankful for as much as i can on a daily basis so I’m gonna try and be thankful for at least one thing a day
Nieces & Nephews
The above picture is one of my many nieces. This is Leah. She is one of the cutest little babies i think i have ever seen. My sisters have developed a habit of producing these really cute kiddies. I love all of my lil nieces and nephews – there are quite a few of them and they are all really amazing little guys.
I love when we have times with the family and we get to see my siblings and all the kids. It’s amazing seeing them all grow up so fast. It really makes me think about when Ruth and I start our own family. Some big thoughts engulf me at that stage but in an inspiring way.
Then i have to go to the others= side and include the Nieces i have inherited through Ruth. Those girls are great. Been so great getting to know them and seeing them turn in to two beautiful women.
Being an Uncle ROCKS!!!!
Thank you Jesus for my Nieces and Nephews.
During the season of Advent i wanted to try and be thankful for as much as i can on a daily basis so I’m gonna try and be thankful for at least one thing a day
Our Home
According the the UK government there are over 10500 people who have applied for homeless accommodation in the last quarter of this year and we live in one of the richest countries in the world by poverty standards!!! When you start to think about people in 3rd world countries the gravity of poverty really begins to sink in.
We are lucky to have a home. We are all lucky. If you have a roof over your head that you call home – then this applies to you too. With that in mind I am so very thankful for our little flat that Ruth and I can call our home.
I pray that those who are not so fortunate will be safe. That Jesus will protect them and that above all they would come to know Him because he really is amazing especially when you realise what he’s really all about.
Thank you Jesus for our home.
During the season of Advent i wanted to try and be thankful for as much as i can on a daily basis so I’m gonna try and be thankful for at least one thing a day
My Health
There is an ironic theme today because as i write this i am feeling really l ill with a horrible chesty cold and a really bad sore/seizing throat and yet i am being thankful for my health! In context i’m thankful that generally i am healthy. Over the past week i’ve heard that two people my friends know passed away with Cancer which is so so very very sad.
Our bodies are really so fickle with such a delicate balance of temperatures, chemicals, bacteria and viruses all working together to keep our systems tip top. It’s amazing the norm is actually not being sick. When you look at how it all works the odds suggest that we should all be broken and we shouldn’t be able to get unbroken. I work with a guy who used to be an imunologist and i remember chatting to him about deseases and such and he was and still is amazed at the human bodyies ability to fight off desease and viruses.
So I am grateful for the fact taht, while i feel rubsih as i type, I am generally very healthy indeed.
Thank you Jesus for my Health
During the season of Advent i wanted to try and be thankful for as much as i can on a daily basis so I’m gonna try and be thankful for at least one thing a day
My Job
I am so lucky. I really really am. I really love my Job. Even though at the moment i’m going through a bit of a rough time i still love it. Every job has its tough moments – that’s a given. I’m just amazed that through these rough parts in this job i’m not screaming inside wanting to leave.
I get to go to work and do what i love doing – make movies. I get to pull all my skills together to create films and then i get to hone and refine those skills even futher.
HOW COOL IS THAT!!!
Thank you Jesus for a great job!
During the season of Advent i wanted to try and be thankful for as much as i can on a daily basis so I’m gonna try and be thankful for at least one thing a day
Church & Community
When i say church i mean “church” and not “the church”. I’m talking about church as Jesus intended it and not the political quagmire it often is. Church as community is awesome! When it all works in the way it should it really is fantastic. People rally round and drop things in times of need and you find yourself giving the same treatment. In true community your friendships and relationships are honest true and so so good!
This isn’t just confined to church. The same concepts can be applied to any group of friends but i guess it’s easier to recognise the actions of a tight knot community working well together in a church environment – at least that is what i have seen. As a result of this i am so thankful for our church Oaktree
Oaktree is such a great church. It’s so far from stuffy liffeless churches that so many people assume is what the church is. I have made some amazing friendships and met some really amazing people. They are a great support to Ruth and I and they hold no punches and call me up on stuff too.
If you have pre-defined ideas on what church is i dare you to come to an Oaktree service and think the same afterwards.
Thank you Jesus for Oaktree!
During the season of Advent i wanted to try and be thankful for as much as i can on a daily basis so I’m gonna try and be thankful for at least one thing a day
We are using the windows in our new building as a canvas. A canvas on Acton High Street that will be seen by many. This video is the brainstorming and then the creation of the artwork by some of our uber creative bods:
Sunsets
I don’t think i need so say much about sunsets. I can’t think of anyone who does not appreciate them
Thank you Jesus for sunsets
During the season of Advent i wanted to try and be thankful for as much as i can on a daily basis so I’m gonna try and be thankful for at least one thing a day
My ability to Create Films
I love making films. A For as long as I have been doing it i have loved it. Part of it is in the same Geekfest thread as graphics and web design – figuring out how best to do something. Its alkso to do with my love of film and creating narrative. I suppose you could say i love telling stories and i love to tell them in this medium the most.
In the last few years i have been doing more and more directing to the point now where my job title is Director/Editor. I am especially loving haviong a more holistic view of the process and creating a vision for a project and seeing it through.
Have a look below at some of my at my YouTube videos.
Thank you Jesus for my ability to create films
During the season of Advent i wanted to try and be thankful for as much as i can on a daily basis so I’m gonna try and be thankful for at least one thing a day
My ability to Photoshop
AI am in no way ever going to claim to be great at doing graphics. I have realised over the past few years where my skills really lie and graphics is not my speciality but i do love creating stuff and the fun you can have with photoshop is endless. Whether its creating funny shopped photos to creating logs or web designs photoshoping can only be classed as a truly AMAZING tool.
I would be lost with out it and that is why i am thankful for it – see a small gallery of some shopped items.
Thank you Jesus for my ability to design websites
During the season of Advent i wanted to try and be thankful for as much as i can on a daily basis so I’m gonna try and be thankful for at least one thing a day
My ability to design websites
Another one for a geekfest nomination. I started this website in 2004. I rember a couple of frineds had blogs and i thought it was a rather cool idea. I think it was my curious nature that drove me onwards to continuously imporrve it na dto get to the poimnt i am now where i can build and run entire websites on my own. I’m no pro and would never claim to be but i would say all the web stuff i have done has been a labour of love. I get huge enjoyment and a sense of achievement when i figure out how to do certain tasks.
Thank you Jesus for my ability to design websites
During the season of Advent i wanted to try and be thankful for as much as i can on a daily basis so I’m gonna try and be thankful for at least one thing a day
Philipians: 2 v1-11
So this morning i had yet another comment from another Christian on my “What Jesus Did” video on YouTube. Now I have no problem in people offering criticisms on my video content but i am starting to get a little irritated when other Christians start throwing down negative comments that neither help the cause of the video and bring down the overall view of Christians.
When i was not a christian one of the things that really hacked me off about Christians and made me think that the christian church was a complete joke was the fact that Christians are always arguing amongst themselves. Religion would always get in the way. Pride would get in the way. Now that i am a Christian i find myself really having to make an effort to not be lured in to a debate on theology when the outcome or the subject at hand really does not matter.
With this video I’ve had a few comments suggesting that I’m not giving Jesus enough respect, or that i’m not telling the entire gospel message, or that I’m belittling what my Saviour has done.
Ok.
People are entitled to their opinions and I am more than happy to discuss these matters and be challenged on my attitudes. In fact i welcome the challenge as i believe we constantly need to be re-evaluating our beliefs and why we believe them so that we can appreciate the gravity of why we became Christians in the first place.
HOWEVER!!!!!! – How, When & Where that is done is really important.
I wish these guys would consider sending me a private message with their concerns rather than starting a public debate in the comments threads thus solidifying the opinions of others who think the above – That Christianity is a joke cause Christians just cant agree on stuff.
I was keen for this film to spark a thought and if it makes people think further about Jesus then it is a success.
As I write this the number of views this vid has had on YouTube is: 16,604 – Not a huge number but when you think about the number of people who have watched this film that do not know Jesus. If this video made them think about Jesus for even a fleeting second during that day and then they remember this video at other times and think oh Him again…well them that makes the effort in making this video worth it.
I speak from experience here. When i was not a christian and i passed a church or saw something related to Jesus it would make me think. Not every occasion made me re-digest where i though my life was going or made me re-evaluate me belief system but on some occasions it did and i would remember fleeting moments where i had though about stuff. For the most part I was usually not interested and would not think about it. On alot of occasions i would feel threatened by it or unnerved or made to feel uncomfortable about it.
So I will respectfully take on board the criticisms and feedback form other concerned Christians but i do wish they would think twice as to who is also going to see their comments and how those comments will be interpreted by others who have not been lucky enough to have Jesus rock their world.
With that in mind i think the above verse comes in to play in the following respect: I want others to challenge me on this stuff. I want them to offer feedback and opinions. I want to be made to re-think.
I also want those doing so to be thinking just as hard about it as i do and will do and about how it will look to others who may be watching in the background.
Comments are more than welcome on this page!
oh and the video in question:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7td0agr7cg
Even at this time in your life you were a style icon – for the “special” people!
I have a brilliant brother. it’s his birthday today. I want you all to know how ace he is.
Like all big brothers he has had a real knack for being a pain in the backside. Be it from stealing food to throwing smelly trainers at me but through all of that he is a guy a deeply respect and i love dearly.
He is:
- a Great film maker
- a talented musician
- great with people
- brilliantly professional
- gifted with a great sense of humour
- good looking (not as gorgeous as me though – obviously)
- kind heart
- strong willed
- intelligent (sometimes – heh)
- loyal
- adventurous
- fun
- a little bit geeky
- loving
- and among so many others: a brilliant big brother
HAPPY BRITHDAY BRO – I LOVE U MAN!
Thank you Jesus for my Bro
During the season of Advent i wanted to try and be thankful for as much as i can on a daily basis so I’m gonna try and be thankful for at least one thing a day