John Halpin

When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground. John 18:6

[Paul David Tripp @PaulTripp]

In my years as a biblical counselor, I quickly discovered that I was counseling eternity amnesiacs.
What is an eternity amnesiac? It’s someone who has functionally forgotten the Forever life to come and tells themselves that this life on earth is all there is to life.
(I wish I could say to you that I have never suffered from eternity amnesia, but I have. I still do. And I still will, until I’m finally home Forever with Christ!)
As eternity amnesiacs, we make our lives much more difficult than they need to be.

[Dan White Jr. @danwhitejr]

I've watched it a hundred times.

A family starts attending a missional/micro church and immediately loves it's simplicity, shared-life in community, and presence in the neighborhood. It feels like the Church they've always been looking for.
1/3

[John Halpin @JohnwHalpin]

@whitesox garrett who?

[Crazy Vibes @CrazyVibes_1]

July 26, 2020. A beach near Collingwood, Ontario.

Sixteen-year-old Jamey Ruth Klassen was supposed to be enjoying a quiet family vacation beside the icy blue waters of Georgian Bay.

Farther out on the lake, a man named Christopher Robertson had taken his kayak out alone for a peaceful paddle. Then the kayak filled with water and flipped.

Suddenly, he was stranded in the freezing bay, clinging desperately to the overturned hull while shouting for help.

Jamey didn’t hear him directly.

What she heard instead were strangers nearby calling 911, panicking about a kayaker who had disappeared beneath the surface and wasn’t coming back up.

Most teenagers would’ve stayed on shore.

The water was brutally cold. The distance looked impossible. Lifeguards and paramedics were already being called. Waiting would’ve been understandable.

Jamey never waited.

She ran toward the water and dove in.

Alone, she swam nearly 600 feet through Georgian Bay — the distance of two football fields — pushing herself farther and farther from shore toward the empty kayak floating in the distance.

By the time she reached it, Christopher Robertson was gone.

Then Jamey looked down.

Through the clear Canadian water, she could see him lying motionless twelve feet below on the lake floor.

She took one breath.

And dove.

The cold tightened around her body instantly as she reached the bottom. She grabbed Robertson beneath both arms and forced herself upward, dragging his unconscious body back toward the surface.

He wasn’t breathing.

His body hung limp in the water.

Jamey refused to let go.

She turned him onto his back, balanced his head against her shoulder, wrapped one arm across his chest, and began swimming him toward shore using only one arm and her legs.

Every second became harder.

Her muscles burned violently. Her lungs screamed. She had no formal lifeguard certification because the pandemic had canceled the courses she planned to take that summer.

Still, she kept kicking.

Then fear hit her.

Jamey realized she might drown beside him before reaching shore.

Exhausted and losing strength, she used the last thing she still had left:

Her voice.

She screamed for help.

A nearby paddleboarder heard her cries and rushed across the water. Together, they lifted Robertson onto the board while Jamey, shivering and exhausted, swam the remaining distance alone.

Onshore, police officers and paramedics immediately began CPR.

Moments later, Christopher Robertson started breathing again.

He survived.

Nearly a year later, Jamey Ruth Klassen received the Carnegie Medal — North America’s highest civilian honor for heroism. Out of millions of people, only eighteen recipients were chosen that year.

But Jamey barely spoke about herself afterward.

Instead, she used the scholarship money from the award to attend nursing school at McMaster University, quietly continuing the same instinct that had driven her into the freezing water that day:

If someone needs help, you go.

No hesitation.
No spotlight.
No waiting for someone braver.

Just a sixteen-year-old girl who saw a stranger drowning… and decided his life mattered more than her fear.

[Dan White Jr. @danwhitejr]

When Jesus calls the Pharisees whitewashed tombs it did not come out of nowhere.

Jesus reclined and dined with them for 3 yrs. He went to school and studied with them. He extended friendship and conversation at their tables. He asked them curious questions & told stories.

1/2

[Dan White Jr. @danwhitejr]

For too many Christians "loving their enemies" is just praying for people you don't like and being nice to them.

This is not enemy-love. It's sentimentality.

[John Halpin @JohnwHalpin]

@crazyclown74309 @YouTube too bad about Buch

[Dan White Jr. @danwhitejr]

I'm not all that interested in future church trends or new growth techniques.

For 2000 years, the most relevant church has always been the one gathering around a table, caring for the neighborhood, loving their enemies, and following the words and ways of Jesus.

[Dan White Jr. @danwhitejr]

Jesus disappointed those who expected a warrior swinging a sword, not a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes - those who expected rescue through judgement, not rescue through suffering.

God incarnate meets us where we are, but may not give us what we really want.

[Dan White Jr. @danwhitejr]

Instead of publishing the Fastest Growing Churches every year...

What if we celebrated some of the most unnoticed Faithful Neighborhood Churches that love the poor, the widowed, the lonely, the refugee, the least?

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

On this day in 1929, George Stinney Jr., was born.

He was the youngest person executed in the US in the 20th century. He was so small they had to stack books on the electric chair.

Due to no evidence, his conviction was vacated 70 years after his execution!  

A THREAD!

[John Halpin @JohnwHalpin]

@WingRaider @steve_reyers this

[John Halpin @JohnwHalpin]

@Urtoastyy @Mitchwiers22 @P1KLETICKLER @Steinner92 @NHL @NHLdotcom lombardi

[the red cedar tweeter @AcctKyle]

kerry carpenter 3 run homer, but it’s moneyball

[Erik Vance @PrayOrDie]

We’ve made ministry about showmanship, numbers, lights, cameras and action where we’ve fallen in love with the institution of church more than the creator of the universe. God is not pleased. Repent

[John Halpin @JohnwHalpin]

@PrayOrDie Pharaoh had two repeating dreams and Joseph said that was God’s way of confirming it will come to pass. Interesting that cows (& corn) were in those dreams.

[John Halpin @JohnwHalpin]

@Zac_Hammer @LGRWProspects Don’t

[John Halpin @JohnwHalpin]

@TrevcoInd Intense! Haven’t tried it yet. How is it? I think I’ll stick with the sauna

[John Halpin @JohnwHalpin]

@RyanHanaWWP Sprong, Ghost, 1st for Zegras, 3rd. Who says no?

[Dan White Jr. @danwhitejr]

Make Disciples, Build Tables, Love Your Neighbor, Welcome the Stranger, Live in Community, Forgive your Enemies, Follow Jesus.

Kinda Simple—Really Easy to Lose Sight Of.