One A Day

The fruit of a year-long mini-project.

I took a photo of myself, via MacBook, everyday for a year.  The results were not nearly as self-revelatory as I would have imagined. But did confirm three things I already suspected:

1. I fancy myself with a beard.
2. I rarely comb my (rapidly greying) hair.
3. I enjoy being shirtless around the house.

One A Day from chris breslin on Vimeo.

preaching: Interrupting Our Story: God's Covenantal M.O. (Gen 12)

I had the chance and privilege yesterday to preach at the Gathering Church in Mark's stead.  Because we're in the middle of a sermon series considering the Christian life and mapping where we are with God, combined with this great season we're entering filled with weddings and baptisms and new starts: I found it only fitting to take a crack at communicating how God does things in the midst of all this and what that means for us.  If we're trying to walk with God and be conformed to the likeness of Christ, we better take consider how God operates so that we can appreciate it and imitate it.

It was a blast to plan and prepare the service.  Brett Harris & Co. lent their wonderful talents to a beautiful set of hymns and spiritual songs that preached, better than I could ever hope to, God's covenantal faithfulness to us throughout history.

Here's a link to the podcast on iTunes.

As always, I'd love and appreciate any feedback.

processing: Barth on Love (for Valentine's day)

This quotation from KB hangs on the bulletin board above our desk in the office:

"Love does not question; it gives an answer.

Love does not think; it knows.

Love does not hesitate; it acts.

Love does not fall into raptures; it is ready to undertake responsibilities.

Love puts behind it all the 'ifs' and 'buts,' all the conditions, reservations, obscurities and uncertainties that may arise between a man and a woman.

Love is not only affinity and attraction; it is union.

Love makes these two persons indispensable to each other.

Love compels them to be with each other."

(Karl Barth, CD III.4)

processing: The Wild Rose- Wendell Berry

The Wild Rose

(written by Wendell Berry for his wife)

Sometimes hidden from me

in daily custom and in trust,

so that I live by you unaware

as by the beating of my heart.

Suddenly you flare in my sight,

a wild rose blooming at the edge

of thicket, grace and light

where yesterday was only shade,

and once again I am blessed,

choosing again

what I chose before.

It's Alive!

For this year's pumpkin I couldn't help but remember how scary Rach's face and excitement were for the fried foods last week at the state fair. I present to you Rach's cutely frightening pumpkin doppelganger.

Dr. Rachel Breslin, DPT!

Today Rach received her Doctorate of Physical Therapy. Today marks a milestone and a new chapter. Pride, humility, and thankfulness fill me as I look at the blessings God has rained upon Rach in these last few years. Congratulations My Dear.

Anniversary Part Deux

Over this past week Rach and I nightly completed the what-were-we-doing-2-years-ago-tonight? exercise. It is a precious and peculiar thing for 2 people to be able to account for these things like that. It has become increasingly evident to me that the life and love that we've built and continue to build is special. I look back with pride and reminisce with little or no regret over this past 24 months. Moreover, I look forward with anticipation and giddy excitement over the ways that we will continue to grow together in the love and grace of God. Despite our work, particularly mine most of the time, to selfishly sabotage and hijack what we are becoming and where we are going, we continue to grow, mature, learn, and cling to each other and the Giver and Flawless Lover.

These words of St. Francis are my prayer for us; that in unity and love we continue to grow as divine instruments.

Lord, make us instrument of Thy peace;

where there is hatred, let us sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that we may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

decking the halls...

no time to write anything, therefore i'll resort to audio-visual.

happy day in the Breslin household...

Photos of Rach with PT certification in hand. Visibly excited, physically relieved. I'm very proud; it is an encouragement and a blessing to see someone pursue with passion a vocation of healing and love. This (mPT) degree and certifications are stepping stones to the dPT but are also landmarks, a tangible reminders of God's faithfulness and a notches in Rach's belt for her hard work, dedication, and tireless ethic of excellence. I am grateful for this in our family and I look forward, Lord willing, to more of the same...

the tale (tail) of king asa...

yesterday rach and i flew out the door and looked back to see a little piece of prehistoria on our own doorstep. not quite knowing whether our visitor was a good thing or a bad thing, 'we' decided that the best possible thing to do in this situation was to:

a) make rach (and not me) run back in the house (past the mini-dinosaur) to grab the camera and snap a picture.

b) name the creature king asa (rach's call).

c) do as much wiki research as possible on this spike-from-'landbeforetime'-lookalike as possible.

ladies and gentlemen i present to you king asa the alligator snapping turtle:

king asa
alligator snapping turtle