memories – Joel Bidderman

39 and the journey

Today I turn 39. One soul-training exercise that I do: create space to remember God's faithfulness. Part of that process is letting go of the frailty fixations of my false self (i.e. regret), and I believe part of that process is inviting Holy Spirit to give me proper perspective on what really matters in life. As I approached my birthday this year, I couldn't help but remember a song that I wrote back in 1999, called 39 (a letter home). Anyone who knows me knows that a conceptual [...]

By Joel| 2018-01-16T06:48:42+00:00 March 12th, 2016|Abandonment, Memoirs, memories, Music, trust|Comments Off

The slow death of hurry

I remember the morning, and mornings just like it. Early morning sunlight streamed in the window of the cabin, as the end of my bed started to warm from the first rays of sunlight. Sitting up on the edge of the bed, I hung my feet off the side, letting my feet feel the cool wood floor of the cabin. Shuffling my feet on the ground I made my way to the kitchen of the small cabin, where I put some coffee on, and I stared anxiously as [...]

By Joel| 2018-01-16T15:20:41+00:00 May 30th, 2015|Breathe, discipleship, memories, Minimalism, prayer, Rhythms, Simplicity|0 Comments

Any Opportunity for the Incarnation

Today is Christmas Eve, and below I am posting a video containing one of the Christmas songs that I've written over the years. However, I use the word "Christmas" gently, lightheartedly and passionately all at once.Gently, because yes, I know the arguments behind the calendar days on which Christmas and Easter holidays occur as having pagan roots, I know the realistic theological and historical argument that Jesus was not born on December 25th. I use it gently because I don't want to come across as one who thinks [...]

By Joel| 2014-08-18T22:34:43+00:00 December 25th, 2011|Advent, Christian Music, Christianity, Incarnation, Jesus Christ, memories|0 Comments

Who Am I? : Stacking Stones Part VII

Who am I? Sounds like a loaded question. And depending on the day you might get a different answer. Yes, I am Joel. I want to be more Jesus than me. But usually I'm me. I used to think that my 20's were all about figuring who I am. Mostly, I found out who I'm not. Sometimes it was positive, sometimes it was not. I learned that I fell short of my ideals 98% of the time, during the other 2% I was just confused. Blessedly clueless. My [...]

By Joel| 2014-08-18T22:34:45+00:00 October 26th, 2011|memories, Stacking Stones|0 Comments