Month: February 2010

  • Asking Questions Just Isn’t Cool

    I ask a lot of questions. I always have. As a child and teenager, this made me HUGELY unpopular and, let’s admit it, labeled me early on as less cool than the last kid picked for dodgeball.

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  • There Will Come a Moment

    There will come a moment when you feel it. An aching burden in the cavernous dark of your hollowed-out chest. Your heart flexing, struggling to expand. Pressing against ribs like the bars of a prison. Desperate for release. To be free. Internal bruises ache in and around your ribcage express your panicked desire for escape.

    In that moment, you will have a choice. A choice you haven’t felt able to make until that very moment. If chosen, you can once and for all surrender that protective covering… that hardened shell designed to shelter your bloodied heart.

    Your heart wants to escape. To be free. Pumping faster and harder with a frenzied desperation. To reach beyond the walls. And in this moment, you can finally choose to be different. No more mental assent. No powerless and vain attempts. Step forward. Shed your shell like a husk of corn. Let the raw kernel of self out into the clear, clean light. And be changed.

    Find the warmth you silently cried for so many times, yet never received. Allow yourself to be scooped up like a little child. Let the Father comfort you. That warm place of safety you’ve always dreamed of is finally here. He holds you tightly as your fears wash away with each wave of acceptance.

    Wave after warm and soothing wave rolls over your body now, and in that deepest place… in the pit of your chest… you aren’t alone. Accepted. Yes.

    No need for embarrassment. Shame has no place here. You were never disqualified. You never held the power to negate the suffering and sacrifice of the Son of Man.

    And now you know. Your new name. You are… Beloved.

    Daniel Dessinger

    July 10, 2005


  • Evidence of my Poetic Roots

    I was leafing through a journal from 2005 and saw this entry:

    I am a poet at heart. I long to make my pages sing of beauty, divinity, and human achings. I wish for my words to be breathed upon and made a living document – a Pinnochio of poetry.

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  • From Dr. Pepper to Organic Green Tea in 6 Easy Steps

    Since I married Heather in 2004, I’ve taken the slow approach to healthy living, opting to adapt incrementally over time so that my body and mind don’t rebel against me. Too often, people think they have to make drastic changes in order to live healthier lives. That’s not necessarily so. With willpower and attempting massive change, there’s the real possibility for failure and shame, which lead a person to avoid trying again.

    Here’s an example of an approach I took to rid myself of my soda drinking addiction:

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  • My First Guest Post on Mommypotamus

    It’s a great honor to be invited to be a guest blogger on Mommypotamus.com. I mean that. When your own wife thinks enough of you to ask you to contribute, it’s no small thing.

    Here’s an excerpt:

    “There’s something strategic, prophetic, and pioneering in all this. God has called us on a strange journey. I call it strange for your benefit because, honestly, it’s all become quite normal to me. Not to spoil all the future posts Heather may have planned, but one can only endure so many ground eggshells, kale chips, and fermented “stuff” before pretty much nothing short of a live animal on the plate would be surprising.”

    If you’d like to catch the whole blog post in all it’s chocolatey goodness, you can read the full article here.


  • There’s Something Prophetic and Pioneering in All This

    Hey, everyone… Daniel here. As I began to explain in my last blog post, we’re doing the family blog thing. Originally, we were going to start a third blog for all our family stories, and Heather and I both sort of just agreed that the family blog should reside right here at Mommypotamus.com (UPDATE: The family blog never happened. Mommypotamus kind of became a big deal all on its own).

    There’s something strategic, prophetic, and pioneering in all this. God has called us on a strange journey. I call it strange for your benefit because, honestly, it’s all become quite normal to me. Not to spoil all the future posts Heather may have planned, but one can only endure so many ground eggshells, kale chips, and fermented “stuff” before pretty much nothing short of a live animal on the plate would be surprising.

    The Family Vision

    We have a family vision, and it’s been taking on more and more definition as time passes. Vision is important. Very little is MORE important, honestly. Without vision, the people perish. Without vision, we live wasted, purposeless lives and look back at the end and wonder if all that time we spent was worth it. Each of us has a God-given mission, and the Dessinger family is determined to see those individual missions and the unified family mission come to full-fledged reality.

    I can’t spell it all out for you yet because A) I don’t know it all, B) I don’t feel comfortable putting all that out there before it’s happened, and C) God typically doesn’t like it when we blab about what He hasn’t released us to say.

    Suffice it to say, the burden for that specific house is heavy on our hearts. We’re a significant ways from attaining it. But either God will deliver, or He will lead us to a better option. I’m all for exceeding my expectations. I’m all for the “more than I can ask, think, or imagine.” I have a wonderfully potent imagination. Yay, God!

    Thoughts on Pioneering

    Let me say this both to pacify my own heart and to encourage maybe a few of you out there. Pioneering is hard, often lonely, sometimes maddening, frequently frustrating, sometimes hopeless (feeling), and always worth it if you’re called.

    There are other people doing the organic thing, or growing their own gardens, or starting farms. But there’s something unique stirring here that’s more holistic and, dare I say, supernatural at work here. You see, I’m not so much the gung ho gardener or do-it-yourself permaculture guy. I’m more of the “recognize that God intended and desires us to be whole in body, soul and spirit IN THIS LIFE guy.” And He has given His Church power to accomplish this.

    I want to live a life of significance. I very much respect the Haggertons for all they do because they are forming community at the point of giving selflessly and from rich deposits in both their minds and spirits. Jim Bob and Cindy have cultivated a spirit of excellence over the years that is evidenced by the excellence in which they love and help others. They are pioneers in that they’ve learned a collection of amazing things from various sources and have put them together to provide a unique flavor of ministry that heals people.

    God has given us a vision to pioneer in much the same way. Ours will look different, but we are very much excited to be molded and shaped so that we can make the passions of our hearts actually useful and find amazing fulfillment using our most beloved personal gifts to transform people.

    Let me encourage you to pursue the purpose God has given you. Each one of you will feel incomplete as long as you are settling for a life of something less. I settled for years, but all the while God was working other areas of my heart so that a few years ago I would begin stepping one foot at a time into the purposes and destiny that will most fulfill us.

    I pray God’s blessing on you. I pray He will breathe His breath of life on your hearts and cause your passions to come alive again. I pray He will give you wisdom and understanding of the passions and the leadings of the Holy Spirit.

    Some of you will read this and wish I’d left God out of it. Sorry. He’s so closely tied to who I am that I would be false to ignore it. My heart’s passion is for the wholeness and restoration of the whole man or woman. Not just the body. Not just the soul. Not just the spirit. I want it all. For me and for you.


  • A Family that Blogs Together Stays Together

    My wife (Heather), my mother-in-law (Barbara, aka “Gigi”), and want to do something new. We want to blog. Together. On one site. That’s right. A family blog. Wait! Don’t click away! It’s not as boring as it sounds.

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  • Shamed into Blogging

    I’m watching Motherhood (starring Uma Thurman and Minnie Driver) with Heather. We’re holed up in my mother-in-law’s room while Gigi does her very best to keep Katie entertained for two solid hours.

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  • The One My Heart Loves

    Today was one of those magical days where my heart swells from the pleasure of spending memorable moments with my family. I am gushing with affection, so I had to share a photo with you of THE ONE. My Beloved.

    God has been Oh So Good to me. Thank You, Jesus, for blessing a man like me with a woman like Heather.


  • The World Washed White as Snow

    It’s amazing what the biggest snow storm in memory can do to bring a sense of newness to one’s life.

    This is Dallas / Fort Worth, where just a month ago it snowed for the first Christmas in 80 years and is now more than four inches deep. We could reach nine inches by the time this weather is through.

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