Category: The Adventures of JB

January 3, 2015

Out of all the lessons that God is teaching me on my journey back home to Melbourne, one of the most important is “stop trying to fix things.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to my female readers that like most men I view myself as a “fixer.” Quite honestly it’s my opinion that the desire to fix things is literally hard-wired into males DNA.

It really doesn’t matter that my lack of ability means I can host a show called “how to hang a picture in two-hours” on HGTV [1]. Whenever a problem arises in life I immediately step into “fixer mode.”

 

Continue reading “Why I Stopped Trying To Fix My Visa Problems” →

 

January 2, 2015

“Hi my name is John, and I am cheap”

There I said it

My cheapness began during the years in Australia after the American dollar weakened and I found myself under-supported financially

During that time I taught myself to live frugally (cheaply), and this is a good thing since we all experience financial hardship at times.

The problem arises when cheapness becomes a lifestyle

Continue reading “Why Ministry Can’t Be Cheap” →

Okay guys I have a confession to make…I love technology. No seriously…I REALLY love technology. Which made losing my iPhone on Saturday that much worse.

For those of you who may not be aware I ran the Richmond marathon last Saturday (pretty hard to miss with the ridiculous amounts of running posts on my Facebook page).  About a half hour after the finish I got some food and began transferring everything into a free bag.

There was only problem

my phone wasn’t there.

The same one that I had been using to take a ridiculous amount of pictures with just a few moments before was no longer there. Which of course means.

1. I set my phone down and forgot about it
2. I dropped it
3. Or my personal favorite, a ninja snuck up and took it right out of my hand [1]

Quick backtracking to all the places I had been proved my phone was indeed gone for good.

Thankfully I was due for a free upgrade so the phone situation was fixed by 11:00 Monday morning. However this also meant almost two days “off the grid.”

1. No tweeting, Facebook posts, or Instagram
2. No GPS (had to actually use printed directions to get home, which made me feel like I needed to churn some butter)
3. No getting email away from my computer
4. And no phone calls or texts from beautiful women asking me out on a date (okay you can stop laughing now)

More than anything the time without a smart phone showed just how much I relied on it

For instance I use mine to:

1. Wake up every morning
2. Read the news
3. Check internet websites
4. Sort through emails
5. Get directions
6. Set a timer for my french press coffee
7. Check my schedule
8. And occasionally do my Bible Reading (usually this is done with a Bible)

Keep in mind that’s just one hour of the day!

What really worried me was the fact that I instinctively reached into my pocket ten or fifteen times looking for the phone even though my mind knew it wasn’t there.

In the end being without a phone taught me a very important lesson about life; you can survive without technology.

1. I made it home safely with printed directions
2. The world didn’t end when I went a few days without posting on Facebook
3. It’s possible to use an ACTUAL CALENDAR of all things instead of your phone for scheduling
4. And you won’t miss much being off the internet

Technology is truly awesome, however losing it shouldn’t be our worst nightmare

From Euphoria to Shame in Thirity Minutes from John Wilburn on Vimeo.

Dear world, I’m really tired of being ashamed

The truth is I’ve lived with it for most of my life. Oh there are moments when it doesn’t hurt as much, but that doesn’t change the fact that shame is always there.

The crazy thing is I have no real reason to be ashamed

1. I work hard
2. I’m constantly looking for other ways to help others
3. I respond to stress in a positive way [1]
4. And I’ve committed my life to sharing the Gospel with people in another culture

So why am I so ashamed when I fall asleep at night? Simply because my life isn’t like everybody elses

see we have created a culture through media (tv, movies) and our friends that describes in detail what a person should be like.

1. You should be married and have children
2. Have a full time job
3. A healthy social life
4. And incredibly busy schedule that has absolutely no free time

Here’s the thing…my life isn’t like that

1. I’m in my late thirties and single
2. As a Missionary I don’t have a regular nine to five job since all of my time is focused on ministry (I do work incredibly hard, but not in a regular job)
3. To be honest I’m kind of an introvert so the social life isn’t too strong
4. And being on my own means actually having free time every once in a while

So without even thinking about it I become kind of ashamed and reclusive sometimes.

But not anymore

Because I realized our cultures emphasis on being just like eveyone else focuses my mind only on the things I CAN’T do. Instead of the awesome things that I CAN do.

1. I am a personal tutor to children with special needs
2. A comedic actor
3. A entertainer [2]
4. A Ghost Story teller
5. An invaluable source of tech help [3]
6. A marathon runner
7. A silly uncle

Sadly there are many people out there like me who don’t fit into the idea of what people should be like, but we tend to hide our uniqueness [4]

Which makes me wonder…what would happen if all us decided to embrace our uniqueness instead of trying to hide it?

Look I understand there is a need for growth and development. But I’m done being embarrassed just because I am different than everyone else.

Because there is only one of me
And that’s alright as far as I’m concerned