Poetry
This month two of my poems were featured in the Fall Journal of “The Way Back To Ourselves.”
Poetry is a recently resurrected passion of mine and it’s been such a challenging and life-giving creative exercise. I believe there are certain truths that can only be communicated through the language of poetry.
Here’s the shorter of the two poems:
Click here to read the other—“War of Silences.”
My favorite poem in the journal is from another North Carolina-based poet, Ashley Sposato: “All Hallowed.” It’s an enchanting, haunting tale of the coming of winter and how it stirs the soul. Best read while sitting beside a fire on a cold night. Here’s a short excerpt:
Leave a comment and share her work—let’s make Ashley famous!
A Conversation on Awe and Wonder
My friend Wade Joye invited me onto his podcast recently to discuss my journey with awe and wonder. It was a really fun conversation—I shared what God has been teaching me through this discipline, and also talked about my battle with anxiety.
Watch on Youtube:
How I’m using ChatGPT
Writing
I’ve been dumping collections of random ideas and notes into ChatGPT and asking it to give me ideas for individual articles and essays, as well as giving me example outlines for how I can structure my ideas into coherent writing.
I have a tendency to be wordy and meandering in my writing. If I’m unsatisfied with a paragraph, I’ll give it to ChatGPT and ask it to streamline and simplify. I never copy and paste from ChatGPT, but it often gives me a spark to refine my own writing.
Health
I’ve been trying to figure out some confounding symptoms in my body for months now. I started tracking my symptoms, as well as my diet and exercise, every day. Now I can dump my symptom logs into ChatGPT and ask it to find patterns, triggers and suggest potential root causes.
Learning and Research
I’ve been taking longer articles, and sometimes even books, that I don’t want to spend the time to read all the way through, and asking ChatGPT for simple summaries. It starts with an overview, and then I can ask for more detailed explanation of particular points that I want to know more about.
I haven’t used it for this purpose yet, but with Christmas around the corner I imagine ChatGPT would be a great tool for generating gift ideas for family and friends.
Resources for Church Leaders
Vance Roush, the founder of Overflow, and I had a wide-ranging conversation recently on AI and emerging technology in the Church, cultivating generosity, and practical tactics for accessing more resources to grow the Kingdom.
Vance is one of the brightest leaders in the Church today and I love learning from him. You can watch the conversation here:
On that note, focus412 is putting out excellent resources for church leaders on a regular basis now via YouTube and Instagram.
Books I’m revisiting
“The Almanack of Naval Ravikant” by Eric Jorgenson
My hands-down favorite book for anyone interested in launching a business, building wealth, and living an altogether happier life. Naval is a modern sage, a fountain of wisdom, philosophy and business strategy.
“The Everlasting Man” by GK Chesterton
For nerds like me who are into philosophy, theology, and apologetics…this is the perfect book to read around Christmastime. Chesterton was a mentor to CS Lewis and writes with breathtaking wit and power. This book is divided into two parts, “The Creature Called Man” and “The Man Called Christ.” He argues for the uniqueness of humanity and the timelessness of Christianity, and within it is a beautiful exploration of the power of Christ’s birth.
Coming Soon
Two more articles (at least) on the spiritual discipline of SOLITUDE. Here’s the first:
6 Phases of Solitude
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In my essay earlier this Fall, "The Profane Presence of God," I wrote a line that I was nervous to publish because of how it might offend Christians. I published it anyway:
The Year End Review and a whole month’s worth of content on how to end your year well and start the next one strong.
MAYBE a Christmas shopping guide with some of my favorite books, items and gadgets. Maybe.
The fifth and final installment of my series on the Sabbath of the Land. Here’s part 4, which includes links to all the others:
Taking Back Sabbath (part 4)
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This is the fourth in a 5-part series on the spirit of the sabbath. Through this journey we press beyond the shallow ideas of sabbath that are commonly taught today, and go deeper to discover the real meaning and power that we’ve been missing.
Thank you for following along the journey—your support means the world to me. Please don’t ever hesitate to comment or message and let me know how I can serve you!
Much love,
gb
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