Peace is not merely a distant goal

eucatastrophe
eucatastrophe | illustration by Jonathan Blundell

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

Through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder.

Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can’t establish truth.

Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate.

Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that…

We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the dis-chords of war.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

– Martin Luther King Jr.

Today, I’m reminded of the speech President Bush didn’t give on Oct. 1, 2001.

The speech was written by Brian McLaren as an illustration on the different path America could have chosen in a post 9/11 world (the above quote from Martin Luther King was included in the speech).

I encourage you to read it the entire speech. To chew on it and consider how different the last 10 years might have been had the speech been given.

(read the speech)

May God bless the entire world.

Agents of grace

Fail
Ice Cream Fail | Photo by jblndl

We all have certain expectations of others, don’t we?

We expect our bosses to treat us fairly.

We expect our friends to return our phone calls in a timely manner.

We expect our spouses to treat us right and fight with us on our side.

We expect our neighbors to keep their yard freshly manicured, just like ours.

We expect the other drivers to observe the same laws we observe and to properly yield to us.

But sadly… no one will live up to our expectations 100% of the time.
Continue reading Agents of grace

Insurgency of Love & Weapons of Mass Beauty

Grace Bombs
Grace Bombs | Illustration by Jonathan Blundell

The Outlaw Preachers (#outlawpreachers) have a great practice known simply as Grace Bombs.

Essentially, when someone’s hurting, feeling down, needing a hand to hold or a shoulder to cry on, everyone’s invited to record a short video or voice mail and the messages are collected and sent directly to that person ASAP.

Grace Bombs can also take the shape of a Flash Mob of Love via Twitter — with a mass of messages of encouragement directed towards individuals in need.

Imagine if all the Insurgents of Love put our heads together and found ways of putting Grace Bombs into mass production.
Continue reading Insurgency of Love & Weapons of Mass Beauty

Free copy of St. Peter’s Brewery

Still waiting to get a copy of St. Peter’s Brewery? Not sure you want to fork over $15 for a hard copy? Understood!

Since it’s my birthday today — and it’s far better to give than to receive — I’m sending out a PDF copy of the book to all the subscribers of my e-mail newsletter (The Insurgency of Love)!

Of course, once you read the book in PDF format, I’m sure you’ll want to buy your own hard copy, as well as copies for all your friends… 🙂

But until then, simply sign up for my e-mail newsletter and you’ll get a copy of the book e-mailed to you first thing tomorrow morning.

It’s as easy as that!

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy both the book and the newsletter.

What is the Insurgency of Love?

The Insurgency of Love is a monthly (sometimes twice monthly) e-mail newsletter hoping to
A.) Give real examples and ideas of how we can all be Insurgents of Love (i.e. your stories!)
B.) Give some added insight/updates into some of the projects I’m involved in.

Subscribe now.

Join the Insurgency of Love

19/365

After getting blocked from GMail for a few hours last week (after my once in a blue moon spam offering) I decided it might be time to put together a different option for future notifications.

As I thought through the idea of a newsletter, mailing list, etc. etc. I decided I wanted more than just a typical mailing list.
Continue reading Join the Insurgency of Love