Author Archives: Hans Schiefelbein

About Hans Schiefelbein

In pursuit of a healthy and disciplined lifestyle. My goal is to help people attain and sustain their health.

Ed’s Story

There are life stories and then there are situation stories. What I mean is that sometimes a person’s life is a great story worth telling. And sometimes a person’s situation is a great story, also worth telling. And sometimes the two collide and a great person and a great story are so compelling that is drives us to action. I pray tonight as I write and tomorrow as you read that this post would affect you in significant ways.

Ed Dobson has been a Moody Bible “Pastor of the Year.” He was an advisory editor for Christianity Today and a consulting editor for Leadership magazine. Pastors aren’t in the business for these types of accolades, but when they happen they should be noted and should add some context to this person’s life. I had no idea who Ed was while he was a pastor. But then his situation happened. Earlier I called it a “great” story. It’s not great as in a good thing. It’s great in its magnitude; it’s great in its opportunity. Easy for me to say. Great in this case is ALS. I wonder if Ed would call it great? Having never met the man, I bet he would.

Eleven years ago Ed was experiencing twitching in his muscles. Within weeks, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS – you may know it as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. According to Ed: “There is no way to describe the hopeless feeling of knowing that you only have a few years to live, and most of that time will be in the disabled condition.” Eleven years ago he was given two to five years to live. Do the math. God wants Ed around a little longer.

The films that Flannel produce are first class. But there is extra gravity to this series. Some people have a great story to tell. Some people have a great situation that needs to be told. And then there’s Ed’s story. When you see and hear Ed’s story and his commentary on the situation, there’s an undeniable presence of authority, of experience, of knowledge that only comes from God.

I want people to see these films. I want people to help fund these films. They’ve filmed five and don’t have the money to film the last two. Let’s work together, let’s share this post, let’s buy some tickets so others can watch. Today I’m giving away ten free viewings for anyone who wants to watch. No obligation to donate. I just hope you consider and I hope you share. Thanks for reading. Ping me on Facebook, Twitter, or through the blog and I’ll email you a code to watch.

You can watch films one and two today for FREE! Below is called “It Ain’t Over” and after that you can watch “Consider the Birds.”

Consider the Birds can be viewed on Flannel’s website.

For $7 you can have the first FIVE films!

And for a donation of any size, you’ll get the biggest online hi-five I can deliver. Thanks again for reading.

Ok, still not convinced?!!
One more video:
http://vimeo.com/39638568

I’d love to hear in the comments what you think of these firms.

Rays of Hope

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Rays of Hope

Published via Pressgram

Pressgram

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I had the privilege of testing Pressgram in its beta stage. I’ve known John Saddington, the developer, for a number of years now. He created Pressgram with some deep conviction. In one phrase: “total creative control.” When we publish pictures to Facebook and Instagram, we actually give up the rights to those photos. I honestly can’t imagine Facebook using my pic for advertising purposes, but in reality they could. Yes, I still post pics to both those social networks, but a lot less than I used to. I’m transitioning to Pressgram as I go down this road of internet sharing and the new lifestyle many of us have embraced.

Many of you I love blogging and I update my Facebook and Twitter quite often. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram – those could all be gone tomorrow. I can’t imagine that would happen, but the fact is I want a digital platform where I can have complete control of my content. I have that in my blog. It’s never going away as long as I pay the bill. Saddington is a professional blogger and he loves his filtered photos. As he was thinking about his digital content and the idea that user agreements basically state you give up the right to those posted photos, he came up with the idea of publishing filtered photos to your WordPress-powered blog. At first it seemed like a stretch, but I’m starting to understand and appreciate the fact that I have complete control and ownership of these pictures. It’s reinvigorated my passion for blogging – conveniently at the same time I’ve started a new job, so there’s lots to talk about! And if you remember the initial Instagram days, it’s that good and even better. Very fresh stuff on Pressgram. Much more personal. And the platform has so much more ambition and potential in the near and distant future.

Please consider joining Pressgram. It’s FREE! Currently it’s only on iOS. You don’t need a blog to start, but it sure is fun. I say that because I constantly push people to blog and write. You have great stuff to share, you’re an expert in something and you should share that with the world. I honestly believe we become better people when we reflect on a niche topic and write.

We are trying to get as many downloads this month as possible. Katie and I are already on it and we hope you will consider joining! If not, or if you try and it’s not for you I promise not to push the issue. But I certainly wanted to make a personal invitation to my friends and family.