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About
- no greater love.
'dear children, let us not just love with words or tongue, but let us practice the reality & action of love.this is how we will know that we belong to the truth...'1 john 3:18,19love with hands & feet.faith with eyes & ears.hope with with joy & tears.this is the desire of my heart; to see the life of Jesus Christ made a reality in mine.i don't have a bullet point presentation.i don't have a marketing strategy.i don't have all the answers.but i do know who i love:the homeless rabbi, unrelenting lover & righteous King;Jesusand along with Him, His children;my brothers & sisters.my family.in brothels & battlefields.in prisons & penthouses.in daycares & drug clinics.so i choose to make a conscious decision to lay down my life for this man,and his adopted sons & daughters;that He may receive the glory He deserves &His love may be made known to those who eagerly await to see the image of the invisible.
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Posts
This week we are partnering with ‘No More Traffik on our Streets’;
a week long campaign to raise awareness & prevent modern day slavery through human trafficking,
for the purpose of sexual exploitation in Belfast, Northern Ireland & the UK.Human trafficking for sexual slavery is the 2nd highest grossing criminal industry in the world, and the fastest growing.
Our family will be getting involved this week with a visiting DTS outreach team from Harrisburg, PA by raising funds for the event through busking,
screening a documentary, holding all day prayer rallies to contend for purity in our generation & taking slots in the 24/7 prayer & worship room hosted by the event.We’re greatly anticipating God’s justice to be poured out mightily upon Belfast this week & for mercy to triumph over judgment,
as many sons & daughters receive the spirit of adoption & realise their true identity in Jesus.Stay tuned for updates throughout the week!
crisp is the day as it is fresh.
the inlet slow glistening crystal.
the mountain faces brushed with the glow of dawn.
the forest pines an arrayed choir in warm-up;
peacefully still while humming sweet & solemn harmonies on their lips.
the translucent moon hangs mid-way up the horizon, as if granted permission by the sun to extend her term a few hours longer in child-like anticipation of witnessing the once in a lifetime serenity & splendour of the new days emerging.
but then of course, the dawning of every new day is but a once in a lifetime event.last weeks unseasonal warmth brought to life BBQ’s, afternoon naps on the lawn & inflatable pools.
it was a sunny treat that lifted our spirits & vitamin D levels.last night, it was snowing.
welcome to Ireland.
raw songs from the soul;
this album has been wrecking me this week.- searching for home . .
well it’s been just over a month since I touched down in Northern Ireland, it has certainly already been full of adventure, discovery & growth!
I’ll do my best to recap;Week 1
I arrived via a scenic ferry ride into Dublin, the Republic’s capital, to be joyously greeted by two members of our family, Michael & Jaimie.
They’re taking on a role of carrying & breathing life into the vision of what we’re doing here in pioneering a missional community.
After unpacking & settling in at the YWAM Ireland base in the quaint Rostrevor, the three of us journeyed up to the north coast & the Coleraine area;
the place we feel the Lord is calling us to plant this community of His.
We were house hunting. We were dreaming.Things didn’t go exactly to plan & we quickly realized that real estate agents & the property market alike were not in our favor.
Basically, there are a whole bunch of logistics & laws that apparently seek to make it quite difficult for 8, non-students to live under one 5-6 bedroom roof.
However, we have not been deterred & simply recognize that Jesus is giving us a greater opportunity to trust in Him, for every awesome house we see that won’t work out, we are only encouraged in our faith, knowing that our Father must have something even better for us!Portstewart; one of three towns in the Coleraine area which could potentially be our new home.
Week 2
The family expands!
One of my best friends & long time travel companion, the Norwegian Spaniard, Juan-Erik Gabrielsen arrived.
Juan-Erik and I met in Kona, Hawaii in July of 2010 & have since been on multiple outreaches & various traveling shenanigans together.
Our family spent most of this week praying & seeking the Lord on what it looks like for us to get into the rhythms of a gospel rooted lifestyle;
praying, worshiping, studying the word, serving, eating & being merry.
We’ve since been operating in a flexible schedule we believe the Lord has gracious defined for us.We also took another trip up to the North Coast and instead of visiting various agents & jotting down numbers on ‘To Let’ signs, we spent most of the time asking Holy Spirit to give us His eyes to see the area with.
What song was He singing over the land?
What dreams did He want to release?
What strongholds was He highlighting?It was a very insightful & inspiring time, as we sort after His Kingdom & presence first, we found that He definitely has thing under control.
Just a classic shot of the evening meal.
Week 3
Jesus was really beginning to impress on us His desire that we would truly embrace every season that we’re in, anticipated or unforeseen.We felt like there was a need for us to really be a part of the YWAM base in Rostrevor in the capacity that we have to give, so we’ve since been far more intentional with our friendships & involvement with the base,
which has actually been providing huge open doors for us as to somewhat ‘inject’ the base with whatever revelation & experience we have, especially in the areas of prayer & worship, adoring Jesus for who He is as the foundation of our lives & encountering the Holy Spirit who empowers us to live a sustainable, missional lifestyle.We also came up against some defensive attitudes & reserved hearts in our attempt to begin making more connections with churches & ministries, but recognized that Jesus is faithful to see His bride united & we are blessed to be a part of that every increasing union.
Week 4
Coming up the month mark was crazy!I’d really been experiencing some beautifully sweet times of intimacy with the Lord & my spirit was being deeply impacted by greater & greater revelations of His unyielding love for me.
My best friend whom I am blessing to be pursuing a relationship with, (unclear? check earlier post) Samantha & I, had also been praying for perspective & for God to release timing on when she should make the journey out here.
She’d come up against multiple difficulties with Visa’s & flights, and we’d both felt we’d heard various things from the Lord as various times;
it was all a little confusing.I’m stoked to say that it’s all worked out & that tomorrow, after months apart, she & I will again be reunited.
Did God lie in giving us dates & strategies? Is He so needy that this was His desperate way to get a conversation out of me?
Hahah, no!
His heart is so jealous for relationship with His children that He desires we would partner with Him in every area of our lives.
Had Samantha & I not been on this journey of faith & trust, we wouldn’t know Jesus like we know Him today.
My favorite way to spend the morning.
Week 5
And then there were six!
Mr & Mrs Noah & Vanessa Whitnar, which is still a little funny to say out loud, are our newly married dear friends & members of our family.
We’re so excited for them to be joining us & especially for Noah as it’s his first time here in Ireland & everything is new & fresh for him.
We definitely had more success in making connections with some prayer & worship ministries in Coleraine, especially making an awesome contact & new founds friends with some crew from the Coleraine House of Prayer,
which has just been so encouraging for us.Noah & Vanessa enjoying a bit of rare sunshine.
Well, that brings everything pretty up to date.
Hope all is well you & your journey.
Stay tuned for more frequent updates in the future.Shalom!
Tattoo Design
Quality ink always begins with a quality design, and when you make a life time commitment, you want to be happy with it.
Henceforth, I will now be offering my services for custom tattoo design.
Whatever you may have in mind, I'd love to do my best to bring it to life.
The funds raised from this project will go directly into supporting my involvement with pioneering a missional community in Northern Ireland.
Feel free to contact me & we can talk ideas & work out a quote.
Here are some samples of my work:You look down the street & everywhere you look you’re getting messages put in you face & giving you stimulus.
Advertisements screaming at you all day. All that is visual pollution & since it is so ingrained in our subconscious we no longer notice it.
Walking down the street & you see this big advertisement of beautiful woman, it’s like getting raped.
There is a chemical reaction happening in my body. It’s like a voice of energy somehow because sometimes it takes me half a day to get this picture out of my mind.
This is something I’m not asking for.Bomb It! film documentarysome talents transcend fads . .
I know that thanks to particular individuals and the joyous bliss of living in a viral media culture, the genre ‘spoken word’ has received more than it’s fair share of attention lately.
don’t get me wrong; as a huge fan & fellow writer, I love the art of spoken word.
all I’m saying is that ^THIS^ is as real as it gets.
the lost art of listening;
we perfect it daily in a land of ever-present white noise & children who’ve outgrown their ears.recent thoughts . .Something pretty spectacular has happened to me recently.
The spectacular thing is that is hasn’t just happened to me, but also to my best friend . .
We’re in love!
Her name, is Samantha.
To put it simply, she’s the most beautiful, inspiring, zealous, compassionate & joyous girl I’ve ever met.
We met at YWAM in Kona, Hawaii in July, 2010,
and have been continually growing deeper in our friendship since.
After road tripping across America, staffing with Prayer & Worship in Hawaii and generally being a big part of each others lives,
Jesus at last fully opened our eyes to each other & we came to realise that we truly are perfect for one another, and that it was about time to make this thing official!
So, on New Years Day, I planned a little surprise trip up to Samantha’s home town of Rapid City, South Dakota,
and with rose in hand, on graffiti covered rooftop, I asked if I may pursue a relationship with her, with the intent of marriage.
She agreed;
I was stoked!
And so the journey has begun …
Samantha had already felt confidently from the Lord that she was to move to Ireland to be a part of pioneering our missional community out there, before we were even thinking about being together,
so there’s definitely been some divine intervention going on for us to be heading in identical directions (spiritually & geographically) with our lives.
We’ve incredibly inspired by the remarkable journey Jesus has taken us on so far,
and look out onto the countless unwritten pages of our lives with wondrous awe & blissful expectation.
The vision for our relationship?
The Kingdom of God, on earth.
In us & through us.
Forever.
Oh, what discoveries await …
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Support
- plant seeds into the kingdom that will reap eternal reward . . .the ability to do what I do relies on the abundant provision of Jesus; the creator & owner of all things.
I would love to encourage you to ask the Lord if He would allow you to partner with me financially in the journeys of life which lay ahead of me.
whether it's a single donation, or a commitment to regular support, it would be greatly appreciated.
you can donate via paypal :
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Status
- true manhood is being secure in sonship.
- airport reunion here we come . .
- swim in Northern Ireland : check!
- quality coffee. at last.
- 'who told you that you were naked?'
- i'm in love with my best friend! - Samantha Schneider.
- whenever I think about cutting my hair, I just watch Lords of Dogtown, and realise I'm thinking foolishly.
- - and the gates of hell . w o n ' t . stand against us -
- today i journey to my new home. oh how restless my feet, how ready my soul. - I R E L A N D -
- snow on the ground. foxes in the park.
