At $2, think of it as video dim sum.

All the video at thetinycompanycalledme.com me is now just $2 a serving - except the stuff that's free.

Under the Moon + Stars (feat. Mark Yaconelli)

The newest piece is called Under the Moon + Stars, featuring Mark Yaconelli telling a delightful story about something that happened the summer he was 13 years-old. It's a great way introduce a conversation about the future, about dreaming, about growing up, about being the person who believes in people + about the people who believe in us...

All the videos at thetinycompanycalledme.com are short, sweet, cheap and tuned to ignite reflection + conversation about faith + spiritual formation, about taking risks, going deep, growing up.

Know anyone who cares about things like that? Send them on over for a free taste, or an inexpensive meal, you know for... the soul.

Happy New Year.

jh

Meet Your 2nd Wife | SNL (+ comedy) at its best

As husband, father, brother, son, youth worker - all of me - I don't think it gets much better than this...

2015 | the year in US gun violence

The costs and benefits of cheap and easy access to firearms are written between the lines of this summary from the Gun Violence Archive.

You can find out how many people have been shot near you this year right here (one murder/suicide .57 miles from my home this year).

Click here to connect with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America — the movement birthed in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Connecticut three years ago today. 

Use these links to communicate your passion directly to your US Senators and Congressional Representative.

If you're good with things as they are for a little while longer, no action is required at this time.

total embarrassment two | how it maybe came to this...

How did Jesus become an embarrassment to the Christian faith? Perhaps this snapshot tells part of that story…

My friend lamented, among other unsettling developments, the taking down of 10 Commandments displays in public spaces - as if most, or even many, of us care the tiniest bit about keeping those commandments personally or collectively. 

I said, “I think, if you care about the 10 Commandments, then live them out. Be the public display, carved in flesh and bone." I didn't mean to be glib... at least not entirely. 

If we were talking about taking down public displays of The Sermon on the Mount, I might have to think a little harder, but there's no danger of that. Nobody wants to be reminded of what Jesus said about how we are to conduct ourselves - the behavior and motives of those who learn his way. This is where Jesus is an embarrassment to the Christian faith. He prohibits exactly what most people seem to relish and demands exactly the sort of things almost no one likes or wants to do. He forbids retaliation and revenge, commands us to love our enemies and persecutors, and make peace with them or die trying. He calls us to be merciful, to forgive those who wrong us, to give up anger, to negotiate and reconcile, to settle out of court. Jesus commands us to love God as if nothing else matters, and he commands us to treat everyone we encounter with the loving kindness we want for ourselves. Christians hate this stuff so much we almost make it disappear by never talking about it, or talking about it only to explain it away. Most folks don't know how disagreeable the demands of Jesus are, because we've hidden them away where they can't do us any damage - or do us any good either... 

The rollup to Christmas has long been dedicated to considering and expressing our longings. What I long for this Christmas looks something like being the sort of person, and living in the company of people, who might be willing to love Jesus as Jesus is; not as we have attempted to remake him in our own image. I say "attempted" because the effort has failed so spectacularly that even a child - perhaps especially a child - can spot the fake a mile away (which is about as close as many of our neighbors want to get to anything like "church"). 

I want to welcome the embarrassing Jesus, and anyone he brings with him, to the feast of Christmas this year. To me, rest of it sounds like noise.

climate talks are... ahem... heating up in Paris

More than 100 countries have agreed to drive through a legally binding climate agreement in Paris.  China, Brazil, India, and South Africa are as-yet-uncommitted. For every 10,000 signatures to the petition linked below, Avaaz will will send an SMS to their delegates' phones inside the conference center. 

We're all in the same boat; if you want to know that everyone is rowing together, consider adding your name to the 42 million member Avaaz coalition petition. 

Thanks.

jh

total embarrassment | how did it come to this?