It Is Not Okay To Encourage Suicide, Even If It This Guy

Let me start with a portion of Scripture from the epistle of James.

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.” – James 3:9-10

I’m sure that this scripture is not strange or new to you. Most Christians have heard numerous sermons about the dangers of the tongue, how it starts fires and destroys people. And if it hasn’t been preached, the changes are good that you have read through this epistle as it is very popular as a guide in spiritual maturity.

That’s what I want to talk about: spiritual maturity, suicide, and Adolf Hitler.

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Please, Learn The Names

My first and middle names aren’t difficult to say. Nor are they particularly difficult to spell. But over the 30 years of my life, I have discovered that plenty of people have problems pronouncing and spelling my last name.

It’s Rivett. Like the small fastening screw, ‘rivet’ but with an extra ‘t’ on the end. It isn’t pronounced with a French accent. It is not ‘Riva’ or some strange variation thereof. My name is Reginald James Rivett.

Because I’ve had to spell out, time and again, I have a certain sensitivity to getting other peoples’ names correct. Even if it is a largely common name like John, I’ll make sure that it is spelt with the ‘h’.

It is a respect thing for me, and sadly something that is lost on too many Christian, pastors included. I think it is high time we start remedying that.

What 5 Years Of Marriage Has Taught Us

Today marks the 5 year wedding anniversary for my wife and I.

It was a sunny day in 2012 when a goofy looking kid and a stunning bride stood in a beautiful garden in Alberta, Canada, and promised to love each other forever. It was a day that I’ll never forget.

Looking at my wife in her beautiful white dress, I thought I was totally prepared for what lay ahead of us. While that was partially true, there have been many things that I have learned along the way. But marriage is the coming together of two people, a husband and wife committing to do life together.

So, these are not just 5 things that I have learned in 5 years of marriage. These are 5 things that WE have learned (and are still working on) in 5 years of marriage.

We Need To Take The Gospel To Our Parenting

It is often the problem for Christians that we live without acting on what we confess to be true. We claim that we are saved from our sin by our faith in Jesus, but we continue to strive for a certain goodness. For example, when bad things happen, we complain and moan to the heavens. “Why did this happen to me?Haven’t I done everything You demanded of me?” As if our works earned us some safety or haven from destruction.

When we stop and think about it, we realize that when we complain about bad things happening to us or God “letting” us suffer, we aren’t living out what we believe. We are confessing with our lips, but our hearts are far away, as the prophets said. As followers of Jesus, our walk needs to match our talk.

But as much as this is true about our faith, it is also true about our parenting.

Be Careful Little Eyes: A Warning About Non-Canonical Books

I’m a bit of a pack rat. I’ll store away old books and old notes from bible school class I took (or didn’t take if I have friends willing to share). I’ve got binders and folders clogging up shelves. I have gigabytes of PDFs and e-books that I will read one day, ranging in subjects from biblical theology to mythology, monster-ology and whatever else may have peeked my interest in the last 10 years.

At the same time, I like things organized. I like knowing where those old bible school notes are. I like have files within files, carefully cataloguing what I have so I know where it is when I need it, or if I ever need it.

It was in a stack of old bible school notes that I found something truly bizarre. I found copies of non-canonical texts, and boy, did they make for interesting reading (like science fiction with Jesus interesting).

That may sound confusing, but let me explain, and then I’ll tell you about this weirdness.

MyBookLook: Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins

“What we forget is that the story of the Starving Artist is a myth. And like all myths, it may be a powerful story, one we can orient our entire lives around. But in the end, it is still just a story.”

How could something like this be a myth? All artists starve. They suffer for their art. Without that suffering and pain, what are they putting into their work…right?

While this may have been the perception of artists for centuries, the idea that real artists need to starve just isn’t true. Not even in the beginning, not even during the Renaissance when art was making huge strides in the world. The truth is that Real Artists Don’t Starve, and Jeff Goins is going to show us why this is not a myth, and how we can be artists with full bellies.

Never Forget

It happened 16 years ago, but for some people, it feels like yesterday when their loved ones were lost in the 9/11 attacks.

September 11th was a truly tragic day for America, and the world. When those two airplanes flew into the Twin Towers, the world gasped in horror. Then in tear-filled eyes watched as they came crashing down.

Almost 3 thousand people lost their lives that day. Some 6 thousand were injured. And the world over was scarred forever.

It didn’t matter what you were doing that day, what job you were at, or who you were with. People remember September 11th. But we need to remember something else.