documenting your work & life outside of college:

Zero Tuition College (on Facebook)

Here's a great example of a simple online portfolio for documenting your work & life outside of college: http://jlkauffman.com/goals/

drink deep of God’s pure kindness

Wayne Jacobsen (on Facebook)

For those who think we need to be shamed into righteousness or fear God to find holiness consider this: "Drink deep of God's pure kindness. Then you'll grow up mature and whole in God." I Peter 2:3 (The Message)

Is there a better option than inviting new believers "to church"?

Good post (read the comments section too…)

The Assembling of the Church (on Facebook)

Is there a better option than inviting new believers "to church"?http://bit.ly/rt5jqP

Power based on love…

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.

Mahatma Gandhi

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mahatmagan395453.html#loX7kpK1f3yigjkm.99

Julie Bogart shares what her home schooled kids are doing now…

What are they doing now?  -- http://blog.bravewriter.com/2013/04/25/what-are-they-doing-now-caitrin/

“Just a couple days ago, Caitrin made a great comment about homeschooling. She said she’s realized that the main thing she got from her home education is a craving to learn. She told me that she measures herself by how much she’s learned, not by grades, not by meeting requirements. She knows that’s different than many of her peers and she credits homeschool with that quality.”

New idea… do you think it will fly? Suggestions/feedback?

Recess = a temporary withdrawal or cessation from the usual work or activity; break.

What is the one favorite activity of public school kids?  Recess!  So I figure, why not have one for our homeschooled kids as well.

I invite you to come to RECESS in (my town) on Wednesday's at the  Park from 1pm to 3pm.

In the words of the very wise Joyce Fetteroll, “Teaching is putting information in; learning is drawing information in.”

Teaching vs Learning -- http://aradicalpath.com/teaching-vs-learning/

When we are open and honest about our messy spirituality–It encourages others who may be feeling everyone else has it all together.

“In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive the community of our healing gift. If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light for others.” ― Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child

 

Robin’s story -- http://heartofwisdom.com/blog/working-harder-is-not-the-answer/

Wow…. beautiful!

There is a tribe in east Africa in which the art of true intimacy is fostered even before birth. In this tribe, the birth date of a child is not counted from the day of its physical birth nor even the day of conception as in other village cultures. For this tribe the birth date comes the first time the child is a thought in its mother's mind. Aware of her intention to conceive a child with a particular father, the mother then goes off to sit alone under a tree. There she sits and listens until she can hear the song of the child that she hopes to conceive. Once she has heard it, she returns to her village and teaches it to the father so that they can sing it together as they make love, inviting the child to join them. After the child is conceived, she sings it to the baby in her womb. Then she teaches it to the old women and midwives of the village, so that throughout the labor and at the miraculous moment of birth itself, the child is greeted with its song. After the birth all the villagers learn the song of their new member and sing it to the child when it falls or hurts itself. It is sung in times of triumph, or in rituals and initiations. This song becomes a part of the marriage ceremony when the child is grown, and at the end of life, his or her loved ones will gather around the deathbed and sing this song for the last time.

Quoted from Jack Kornfield,
A Path with Heart (Bantam Books, 1993), p. 334

a quote that sheds a light on my home education goals for Chris

AhaParenting.com (on Facebook)

"Deep down, we know that math scores aren’t what will carry our daughter through the trial of a breakup, that physical agility or prowess on the violin won’t help our son as he negotiates a conflict at work. For such challenges they will need not test scores and physical strength, but emotional integrity and skills."

Wonderful article by Natalie of Feeleez, writing at Nathan McTague's (@nmmctague.cpcc) terrific blog "A Beautiful Place of the World"

http://locallocale.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/building-an-emotionally-safe-household-parenting-advice/

Liked this quote in the comments section

from this webpage -- http://thegodjourney.com/2013/04/19/the-conversation-of-community/

One Response to “The Conversation of Community”

1. kent says:

   4/19/2013 at 6:02 am

   Wayne, when you mentioned “seeding community” near the end, a beautiful image came to mind that I think about often and personally hope my life daily mirrors in the communities I live. It’s the words by John O’Donohue that close out a film he did.

   “My hope is that these words and images have been a kind of casting of seed into the soil of the heart, and that someday when the bleakness or the storm comes that we might be gently surprised that a tree has grown inside where we can shelter and find relief and renewal to continue our journey.”

Game On!

End child nagging & negotiating with just three simple words

http://www.positiveparentingsolutions.com/parenting/end-child-nagging-negotiating-with-just-three-simple-words

Great Kids Have Parents Who Seem To Do This Well

Great Kids Have Parents Who Seem To Do This Well --> "Great kids come from families in which parents are real about their shortcomings. They come from families who live and believe in grace." -- http://storylineblog.com/2013/04/18/great-kids-have-parents-who-seem-to-do-this-well/

Help for the hard times…

How did David handle the seasons of darkness in his life? And can we learn from him?

“Here’s how he survived the dry and torturous moments when he could have sworn God had left him. Quite simply, he would take a mental journey into the past. According to his own personal journal in Psalm chapter forty-two, verses five and six— written in conjunction with his chief songwriters— he would intentionally recall those times in his past when God spoke, intervened, provided, answered, and protected in undeniable ways. By journeying into his past, he revisited God’s fingerprints that were all over his life. He reviewed the evidence that God had faithfully been present in his life. And, as you can understand, these remembrances assured him that even though God might seem distant or silent at any given moment, He really hadn’t gone anywhere. He was still presently active in David’s current circumstances. Always had been. And always would be. These remembrances gave him hope. And I’ve said all that to say this— each of us needs to nail down every God-known intervention, every protection, every revelation, every encouragement, and every answer in our past as a recognized memorial, a memorial that we can go back to over and over again as a reminder of His faithful involvement in our life. Such memorials will help us survive those dark, lonely, and scary days that we’ll inevitably face." --Arthur, Randall, "Forgotten Road"

 

_________________________________________________________

FOR WHEN YOUR DAYS ARE HARD -- http://www.notconsumed.com/2012/09/12/for-when-your-days-are-hard/  Create a wall of encouragement!

Great video…

Sundre Community Choir’s 2013 Spring Concert

How to get a VPN

http://www.hotspotshield.com/en

http://proxpn.com/

http://o.canada.com/2012/10/08/thousands-of-canadians-are-accessing-u-s-netflix/

Take the world's best courses, online, for free.

 

Join 3,291,925 Courserians.
Learn from 337 courses, from 62 universities. 

https://www.coursera.org/

I think this is where I am headed…

 

Why I Quit Homeschooling and Why You Can Too…Without Guilt   --  http://voices.yahoo.com/why-quit-homeschooling-why-toowithout-11085440.html

I really enjoy the clothing style on this Pinterest board

http://pinterest.com/canadagirl_02/style-inspiration/

LOVE this… I can see something like this at the King’s Place

 

________________________________________________________

Living Together -- http://8thday4life.com/2013/04/15/living-together/

quote from the “Living Together” post – “An interesting paradox exists today.  In a recent documentary, Happy, the filmmakers identify elements that contribute to human happiness, drawing from cultures all over the world.   A sense of community ranked in the top five, along with other interesting characteristics not foreign to genuine expressions of Christianity.  While humans crave this, our culture has all but lost it.  Substitutes for real community, such as social networking, do attempt to fill a need – yet don’t require much in the way of the hard work that goes into living in close community.  We can turn it off – shut it out – hide the bits we don’t like.”

Generational Blessings

Read this today - Generational Blessings (http://notquiteamishliving.com/2013/04/generational-blessings/). 

I love the family culture of a multi-generational home life.

“Whenever I visit an Amish family, I’m taken with the generational living arrangements. At one home, the mother and father and children still living at home have the big house and one of the married sons and his young family live in the dawdi haus (grandfather house). At another, an older daughter and her family live in a house on the same property. And at another home, the elderly grandmother and grandfather live in the attached dawdi haus.” (quote from posted blog)

Brennan Manning

http://brennanmanning.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brennan_Manning

Donald Miller on FB said:  “Brennan Manning was scandalous the way Christ was scandalous. The grace he taught was just as controversial. It still is.”

“In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive the community of our healing gift. If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light for others.”
― Brennan Manning, Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

 

"God loves you as you are, not as you should be."-Brennan Manning

 

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle," Manning has said. "That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." Manning contrasts the brutality of the institutional church with Jesus' treatment of the adulterous woman of John 8:1-11 and of his meeting of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17). He proclaims Jesus as "the human face of God."

How One Woman Created a Community Out of a Neighborhood

http://storylineblog.com/2013/01/30/a-community-out-of-a-neighborhood/ –>

“She told me that every year she chooses a theme word, and that her word for 2012 was COMMUNITY. She decided that instead of talking about community in some vague but well-intentioned way, her specific goal would be to gather 500 people around her table in 2012, one meal at a time.”

click the link above to read the whole story…

We all naturally gravitate toward people like ourselves—but what if we widened our inner circle?

 

 

5 Types of Friends Everyone Should Have -- http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationships/5-types-friends-everyone-should-have

 

 

quote from the article --

“Yet the problem with defaulting to doppleganger friendships is that shared interests can only take a friendship so far. They can even stop short at companionships of convenience that mask a lack of true intimacy. For intimacy, in fact, has less to do with shared interests and more to do with shared vulnerability, and above all, a commitment to growth. This is where the best friendships thrive—in a mutual commitment.”

• Source: relevantmagazine.com

I have come to learn this lesson…

Forgiveness does not always equal reconciliation.  Jessica shares her heart about this here - http://deeperstory.com/when-peace-is-a-burned-bridge/

Come to the table…

 

A New Approach to the Table

“In the last couple years, I’ve found that many of the most sacred moments of my life have taken place around the table. Young or old, male or female, married or single, I think the table matters for all of us. And I think the table matters whether we’re talking about a formal dining room set with matching china or a beat-up coffee table in a first apartment. What matters isn’t the food or the table or the settings. What matters is that we create spaces to see and hear one another, to learn one another’s stories, not just the textable sound bytes.” 

click on the link to continue reading… http://storylineblog.com/2013/04/10/a-new-approach-to-the-table/

a trail I have been following today…

1.  Bearing with one another in love - http://bohemianbowmans.com/bearing-with-one-another-in-love/

2.  Rick Warren’s Horrific Tragedy & The Sickening Response of Some “Christians”  -- http://frankviola.org/2013/04/08/rickwarrentragedy/

3.  Warning: The World is Watching How We Christians Treat One Another  -- http://frankviola.org/2013/01/14/warning/

4.  On Rick Warren, Tragedy, and Prodigals  -- http://tolovehonorandvacuum.com/2013/04/on-rick-warren-tragedy-and-prodigals/

 

“When we have prodigals in our families, we should not assume that this reflects badly on the parents. Kids make their own choices. We all have free will.”  ~ Sheila Wray

 

“If Christians cannot extend grace through faithful presence within the body of believers, they will not be able to extend grace to those outside.”  ~ James Davison Hunter

 

Gandhi’s famous line  --- “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ” . . . If it weren’t for Christians, I’d be a Christian.”