The Poor Will Always Be With You

I have been thinking about poverty the last couple of days. Jesus said the poor will always be with you. I remember reading somewhere that poverty, physical poverty (I know there is a spiritual poverty as well, but this isn't what I am talking about) is really alienation from a society on the basis of wealth. The term poor is a relative term. So in a society like in the US our poor may have hot water, electricity, TV ect. But they are still poor because they are alienated (haves vs. have nots). But there has to be a difference between poor and struggle for survival. There are areas in the world where poverty has placed people in a daily fight for survival.

I have heard this statement, that the poor will always be with us, said many times as a reason why Christian churches don't need to focus on the poor in society. They need to focus on worshipping Jesus because the point of the passage is that the poor will always be with you. So when it comes to poverty that breeds inhumane conditions, the church still doesn't engage. Why? Because the poor will always be with you so they see this as a losing battle. No matter how much they engage it won't change the situation.

But I wonder if perhaps the situation can change. Perhaps the whole level of the world's living can be raised so that those who are considered poor, or alienated from the general society because of their wealth, will still have everything they need to live. I think of it in terms of illness and doctors. What if the doctors were to say you know the sick have always been with us and always will be. Everytime we come up with a cure a new disease comes along. Instead lets just focus on studying medicine and never applying it. The world would be a much worse place. The truth is that because of the doctors intentional efforts to solve medical issues the expected living age and quality of life has risen.

Wonder what would happen if the whole church engaged itself with the poor?

Fat with Material Goods

I was reading the Easter to Easter devotional today. Major Hinson uses the passage when Jesus went into the Temple and cleared out the money changers to prepare a place for prayer. This area was supposed to be a place of prayer "for all nations." Instead it had become the market place of only one nation.

I had a vision of our own country. In this vision we were all in that area of the Temple. There we were carrying on our religious functions in the wealthiest of manners. We bought the nicest buildings, furnished them with altars we couldn't afford, went into debt to attract people for the kingdom.

But across the world and across the street in some cases, children made altars out of trash piles and prayed for God to save them.

Christmas!

Well, just a little over an hour left in a day that I have been thinking about since June. My favorite season of the year. So forgive me if I am feeling just a little bit down. I am so glad that New Years falls just after Christmas. It gives me something to look forward to after the big day. I just want to take a moment to thank God for all that He is and does in this world and my life.

The world is a mighty messed up place. I got news from a friend today that his wife will be going through a major surgery within the next week. She has cancer and the situation does not look good. So today, while the rest of the world is merry, I doubt that they are "feeling" so merry. And honestly, it is difficult for me to feel merry with the weight of this news on my shoulders. It just seems like Christmas should be different. It seems like the world should be different.

Several friends have blogged about how Christ's virgin birth into this world was so fairytailish and yet we have heard the story so many times that it has become mundane. Well pain doesn't allow it to be mundane. Christ, this anomaly, is the reality of hope in a sinful world.

Merry Christmas!

Predestination

What's the difference between an Arminian who doesn't believe and act on behalf of world evangelism and a person who believes in predestination?

Not much.

For predestination believes that some people are predestined to hell.

And all over the world there are people who have never heard the gospel. And how can they believe if they haven't heard? And how can they be saved if they don't believe?

So if you believe that God wants all men to be saved then YOU must help provide them the opportunity. You can sit around in North America all day and debate the predestination and sovreignty character of God, but faith without works is dead.

So do you truly believe if you aren't actively engaged in bringing hope to the nations?

Would you rather?

Would you rather win a million dollars or solve global poverty?

My Grandfather

My Grandfather was a veteran of world war II. He was wounded twice. He had metal from the shrapnel that hit him that worked its way out of his eyes his entire life. He was a farmer. He owned over a couple hundred acres of farm land in Tennessee. He was up every morning before 5 am to study the Bible before starting his day. When he passed away they found thousands of dollars stored in some of his overalls in his closet because he didn't trust banks. He never talked on the phone. Most of his life was spent without indoor plumbing. He was a simple man. He had a twinkle in his eye whenever one of his grandchildren were mentioned. When did he pass away? 1997. Why am I writing about him now? Because I am sitting in my wife's grandmother's house. My wife's grandfather passed away this year and we are down here with their family for the first Christmas without him. Since its Christmas and all perhaps there is someone we can all thank God for whether they are still with us or with Him.

Ice Storm

In honor of the ice storm that swept through last evening:

Tree of white, leaves from sight,
Ice covered, frost bitten, dark of night,
Do you dare trust the Sun to melt the pain,
Or do thoughts of refreezing, your war paths tame?

Oh Beautiful, but frost covered tree,
listen to hear the warm melody,
open your branches where the birds may sing,
Open your branches its spring, Its Spring!

I've been tagged

Five things about something...

1. I know how to say "the frog is ribbotting in the marsh" in Kartuli which is the official language of The Republic of Georgia.
2. I hate tag games.
3. Will Bill Gates give me some money now?
4. I hate forwarded emails.
5. I love Christmas and start thinking about it in June.

PS I am not going to tag anyone so no one else has to go through this.

Doing the Most Good

Ok. So I am late to the party but it took me a while to form an opinion I wanted to share on this one...

I was in class tonight and we were using the analogy of a lake as the way organizations and churches work. On the outside of an organization all you see is the surface. As on the outside of the lake all you may see is the water and some ducks. But underneath the surface there all kinds of dynamics going on.

For instance, people see bell ringers, thrift stores and disaster canteens. That is the surface of the organization. But underneath the surface are the myths that we all buy into...listen to one:

While women weep as they do now, I'll fight.
While children go hungry as they do now, I'll fight.
While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, I'll fight.
While there remains one drunkard, one poor girl on the streets,
While there remains one dark soul without the light of God I'll fight, I'll fight to the very end!

W. Booth (supposedly)

And another:

"Wherever on earth there is a soul, there, in measure, must beat the heart of The Salvation Army." -Mrs. Commissioner Booth Tucker


These are the statements buried way down, deep in the mud of the so called organizational lake. Though they are not readily seen by the public they are foundational to the whole chemistry of the lake.

What I feel is that I wish, personally, that our brand came from somewhere deeper in our organizational fabric. To me it is a bobber when it should be an anchor. There was a Christian song that was popular a few years ago that went:

I'm diving in, I'm going deep in over my head,
I want to be Caught in the rush, lost in the flow,
in over my head, I want to go
The river's deep, the river's wide, the river's water is alive
So sink or swim, I'm diving in

Stephen Curtis Chapman

Joy asked how to do we engage the public with our faith? Well in my mind our organization has to do it with its statements as well as our soldiers with their personal ones.

Atlanta Race Riots of 1906

A race riot occurred in Atlanta during the night and early morning of September 22-23, 1906, during which a mob of ten thousand white people assaulted every African American they could find. The Atlanta Constitution reported that "in some portions of the streets, the sidewalks ran red with the blood of dead and dying negroes." Du Bois went to Atlanta as soon as he heard about the riot and wrote "A Litany of Atlanta" on his way to the city. It was published on Oct. 11, 1906, in both The Voice of the Negro and The Independent. [JZ]

A Litany of Atlanta
By W. E. Burghardt Du Bois
Done at Atlanta, in the Day of Death, 1906(1)

O Silent God, Thou whose voice afar in mist and mystery hath left our ears an-hungered in these fearful days --
Hear us, good Lord!
Listen to us, Thy children: our faces dark with doubt are made a mockery in Thy sanctuary. With uplifted hands we front Thy heaven, O God, crying:
We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord!
We are not better than our fellows, Lord, we are but weak and human men. When our devils do deviltry, curse Thou the doer and the deed: curse them as we curse them, do to them all and more than ever they have done to innocence and weakness, to womanhood and home.
Have mercy upon us, miserable sinners!
And yet whose is the deeper guilt? Who made these devils? Who nursed them in crime and fed them on injustice? Who ravished and debauched their mothers and their grandmothers? Who bought and sold their crime, and waxed fat and rich on public iniquity?
Thou knowest, good God!
Is this Thy justice, O Father, that guile be easier than innocence, and the innocent crucified for the guilt of the untouched guilty?
Justice, O judge of men!
Wherefore do we pray? Is not the God of the fathers dead? Have not seers seen in Heaven's halls Thine hearsed and lifeless form stark amidst the black and rolling smoke of sin; where all along bow bitter forms of endless dead?
Awake, Thou that sleepest!
Thou art not dead, but flown afar, up hills of endless light, thru blazing corridors of suns, where worlds do swing of good and gentle men, of women strong and free-far from the cozenage, black hypocrisy and chaste prostitution of this shameful speck of dust!
Turn again, O Lord, leave us not to perish in our sin!
From lust of body and lust of blood
Great God, deliver us!
From lust of power and lust of gold,
Great God, deliver us!
From the leagued lying of despot and of brute,
Great God, deliver us!
A city lay in travail, God our Lord, and from her loins sprang twin Murder and Black Hate. Red was the midnight; clang, crack and cry of death and fury filled
the air and trembled underneath the stars when church spires pointed silently to Thee. And all this was to sate the greed of greedy men who hide behind the veil of vengeance!
Bend us Thine ear, O Lord!
In the pale, still morning we looked upon the deed. We stopped our ears and held our leaping hands, but they -did they not wag their heads and leer and cry with bloody jaws: Cease from Crime! The word was mockery, for thus they train a hundred crimes while we do cure one.
Turn again our captivity, O Lord!
Behold this maimed and broken thing; dear God, it was an humble black man who toiled and sweat to save a bit from the pittance paid him. They told him: Work and Rise. He worked. Did this man sin? Nay, but some one told how some one said another did -- one whom he had never seen nor known. Yet for that man's crime this man lieth maimed and murdered, his wife naked to shame, his children, to poverty and evil.
Hear us, O Heavenly Father!
Doth not this justice of hell stink in Thy nostrils, O God? How long shall the mounting flood of innocent blood roar in Thine ears and pound in our hearts for vengeance? Pile the pale frenzy of blood-crazed brutes who do such deeds high on Thine altar, Jehovah Jireh, and burn it in hell forever and forever!
Forgive us, good Lord; we know not what we say!
Bewildered we are, and passion-tost, mad with the madness of a mobbed and mocked and murdered people; straining at the armposts of Thy Throne, we raise our shackled hands and charge Thee, God, by the bones of our stolen fathers, by the tears of our dead mothers, by the very blood of Thy crucified Christ: What meaneth this? Tell us the Plan; give us the Sign!
Keep not thou silence, O God!
Sit no longer blind, Lord God, deaf to our prayer and dumb to our dumb suffering. Surely Thou too art not white, O Lord, a pale, bloodless, heartless thing?
Ah! Christ of all the Pities!
Forgive the thought! Forgive these wild, blasphemous words. Thou art still the God of our black fathers, and in Thy soul's soul sit some soft darkenings of the evening, some shadowings of the velvet night.
But whisper -- speak -- call, great God, for Thy silence is white terror to our hearts! The way, O God, show us the way and point us the path.
Whither? North is greed and South is blood; within, the coward, and without, the liar. Whither? To death?
Amen! Welcome dark sleep!
Whither? To life? But not this life, dear God, not this. Let the cup pass from us, tempt us not beyond our strength, for there is that clamoring and clawing within, to whose voice we would not listen, yet shudder lest we must, and it is red, Ah! God! It is a red and awful shape.
Selah!
In yonder East trembles a star.
Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord!
Thy will, O Lord, be done!
Kyrie Eleison!
Lord, we have done these pleading, wavering words.
We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord!
We bow our heads and hearken soft to the sobbing of women and little children.
We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord!
Our voices sink in silence and in night.
Hear us, good Lord!
In night, O God of a godless land!
Amen!
In silence, O Silent God.
Selah!

A Response to Marty's Blog on U2

hey Marty:
I went to see Donald Miller, Sara Groves and some other band that used to be cool...ummm...forgot their name...ummm...uhhh...Jars something Clay or whatever...that same night that you went to see U2. When we got there Donnie as I call him was reading from one of his books (and that was all he did that night, no speaking) and it was actually pretty good, then came Sara and she rocked actually, and then came the Jars and they surprised me some and I actually enjoyed it, although I tried my best to talk Kell and Lesley into going to look for this local fudge shop during their set...to no avail...But I have to say that at this "Christian" concert, I never seemed to get to this same moment of worship that you spoke about in the context of the drifting weed (I know the weed had nothing to do with the worship experience). Point being...I am left wondering if you can program worship or not? And perhaps if I had been less focused on the fudge as you were less focused on the weed (hopefully) thenI would have been more focused on God...of course, then I could do the same thing in Church on Sundays no matter how traditional the meeting...and of course that's not what your blog is saying at all...its saying U2 is AWESOME and something about that brought you to the throne of God...so maybe we need AWESOME worship leaders like you and Phil just to REALLY ROCK OUT so the rest of us postmodern freaks can really get into the presence of GOD in our very unique personal way.

Baptism

I have been thinking about a couple of reasons I have heard we don't do baptism. I have some questions:

I heard:

Our uniform is our baptism. Baptism is just a sign of our conversion. This is what our uniform does for us.

My question:

If we are to pick a sign should we not pick the one that best represents the action that has taken place? In that case I would pick water baptism over wearing the uniform because it represents dying with Christ (going down into the water) and rising again in the power of the Holy Spirit (coming up out of the water). When it is done, it is done. You can't deny that you have been baptised.

Wearing the uniform on the other hand can be put on and taken off (unfortunately this is the model of salvation that we struggle with...how many times do we say, "how do we keep our youth saved between youth councils?")

I hear:

Baptism is not essential to salvation therefore we shouldn't do it.

My question:

Should we only do the bare essentials? Should we not live in the abundant life? Tithing is not essential to salvation. Should we not do that? Wearing a wedding ring is only a sign of my marriage. Does it downgrade the quality of my marriage to wear that sign? Should I take off the ring?

Guard Against Greed

This is a devotional written by Captain Roni Robbins for the Southern Territory's Easter to Easter Campaign. Sometimes I see new program ideas motivated only by being able to secure more funding. When I hear someone presenting an idea in the back of my mind I am thinking and what will be the price tag? How many ideas do you hear where it cost no money? These are the thoughts that have come to me after reading the devotional below...

Acts 16:19-24a

Money and greed caused an outcry of opposition against the gospel. The owners of the enslaved girl had lost their top moneymaker.She had been delivered by the power of Christ. As a result,her owners were frustrated, angry, and full of vengeance. Theyapprehended Paul and Silas and violently dragged them before thecity magistrates.Money and greed also caused corruption of the publicofficials. They gave in to the influential owners and to the public. Truejustice was by-passed. Paul and Silas were not allowed to answerfor themselves; in fact, they were not even allowed to speak. If thecourt had been interested in true justice, the magistrates would havediscovered that the two men were Roman citizens much sooner thanthey did. They would have also found out that the two men had onlyhelped a poor enslaved girl.However, the officials and rulers allowed themselves to beinfluenced and guided by their own selfishness and self-seekingpurposes. Tempted by money and greed and the promptings ofinfluential people, they gave in.As we ‘serve helpfully,’ we need to clearly understand thatboth personally and organizationally, we are not exempt from thesesame temptations of money and greed. As Frederick Booth-Tuckersaid, “Money is the rock on which many a good religiousorganization has made spiritual shipwreck.” He went on toadmonish, “Let us fling the devil’s golden bribes back in his face!”This is sound advice. salvationists, we must guard againstany form of greed or covetousness. Let us covenant that we will notforfeit our soul for the sake of money and greed (Mark 8:36). Wecannot afford to allow salvationism to be spiritually shipwrecked bycrags of covetousness.

Convicted Gang Member's Journal

For any of you who are praying for our situation I wanted to give you a glimpse of a journal from a convicted gang member...

In the streets its eye for an eye. your homie is your eyes and ears. People locked down scream free me. Gangster die a violent death wit closed caskets to horrible to view to the public eye. No man can be trusted. But you remain loyal to your thugs, hoping to rise higher than those who hate and are jealous and despise you.

apathy

I always journal when I write a sermon. Tonight I will be speaking at the training school for their teen praise meeting. I am using Jeremiah 29:11 as the scripture. But the topic is apathy. Do our teens have a vision for their lives? I wonder if the reason that many of them are apathetic towards things of the spirit is because they don't have a vision for their life that matches the calling of Jesus Christ.

I know so many of us don't figure out what we are going to do until we are finished with college. But perhaps that is a problem. Our relationship with Jesus is not just a fifteen minute time period that we spend each day reading a devotional. Our relationship with Jesus integrates every aspect of our lives. What is it that we dream about during the day while we are at school or work? What do we wish we were doing? Who is it that we wish we could be?

John Calvin (I know I immediately turned some folks off by mentioning his name, but this quote has nothing to do with eternal security or predestination) believed that it was important to have a set time and place to go to church. He thought that institutionalizing the services helped remind humans to worship God. He thought that humans were likely to be lazy with out a set structure to encourage them to worship. Isn't it the cry of our day to move away from institution towards a more casual worship? I know I am a voice for this type of movement. And I think we will have to make this move if we are going to be relevant!

But...

... if it is causing apathy then perhaps we need to adjust our strategies slightly to call for accountability among our members. Otherwise, our move to embrace the culture will not produce disciples.

Color of Skin - Content of Character

When my next door neighbor first moved in several months ago, someone called the dog pound on his dogs. He immediately assumed that it was me. I asked him why? He said it was because I was new to the neighborhood and no one else in the neighborhood would have done that. I wondered inside if it had to do with being one of the only "white" folks in the neighborhood. Something felt wrong about it.

Then I realized what discrimination was like. The way many people African American, Jew or Muslim are discriminated against by the European Americans. Sometimes in the depths of our hearts its the color of their skin that influences our perceptions of the content of their character. Perhaps it was good for once to feel what that is like. To be judged for something that I didn't do simply because of some external factor (either being new in the neighborhood or perhaps the color of my skin).

Maybe the dream still waits to be realized!

Fear

Last night I was reading some notes for a class I am taking. The subject was fear and leadership. The priniciple was that leaders must deal with their fear or they will not be able to lead without abusing their power.

I went to bed. At 12:15 I heard noises next door. Someone was being arrested, again. At 2:15 am I woke up and my security lights were on. I heard a knock at my back door. Kelly grabbed the phone and held it in case we needed to call the police. I went to the back door. The person had parked their car within six inches of my car. It blocked the drive way from an escape of either car. I went to the back door and asked who it was...no answer. I went to Kelly and told her to make the call.

The person went to the front door. I didn't recognize him. The police showed up. The person didn't have a good story for why he was there. The police arrested him. His car wouldn't start...they towed it away. Kell and I spent the rest of the night at the in-laws house.

Am I afraid? Yes.

The Loss of a Friend

What mixed feelings urban ministry can bring! Yesterday there was a major raid in our neighborhood. The swat team came in unmarked police cars and took out several guys from our neighborhood. For some months now we have been struggling with an increase in foot traffic around our house. We were afraid because many people who were desperate and could be potentially dangerous were walking past our house on a constant basis. We made friends with some of the guys that were involved in this. One guy in particular I have had many deep discussions with. Although his life is not lined up with God's purposes at present God worked through him to minister to me on several occassions. Yesterday the police had him lying face down to the ground with handcuffs on his wrists. The feeling is a wierd mixture of relief that some of the safety issues for our neighborhood will improve and sorrow for a friend who is now going through some very real and difficult transitions. Don't get me wrong he deserves what is happening...but we all deserve some sort of punishment don't we? But Christ's love reaches even beyond our evil to minister to our hearts!

Coming Home

A title that I despise but it seemed appropriate for this poem that I wrote:

Coming Home

Lord, in this moment I ask you,
Make your home within my heart
Let all thoughts of leaving leave you
May you finish where you start
Hear confessions, How I need you,
Purify my darkest parts.

Lord, in this moment I praise you,
Your the master of this home,
I am but a palace for you,
Without you I am alone
Rule my every intention
Till I am a worthy throne.

Lord, in this moment I praise thee,
Weak, timid, lost and afraid
The small strength that is within me
Isn’t enough for each day
Through my weakness your strength fills me,
Puts your glory on display

Make this willing home a blessing
To those near and far away
Let the street kids join in singing
“This is the day the Lord has made”
With the angels backup voices
Telling of the price He paid

All that He is lives within me
Pray His word and do not cease
Then I work out what is in me
And His power is released
Victory! Victory! Victory!
Sin’s destruction is deceased!

When this home has served out its time
Then my eyes at last will close
And no longer see sin and crime
With the king I will repose
All thoughts of leaving will leave me
I will cleave the lord of hosts!

Preparing for the battle

Christ knew the will of God and the reality of the future. This replaced vision in Him. He did not cast a desirable outcome before Himself and then seek to move people there. He aligned Himself with what He knew was His role in history and in the future and then He led people to do the same. Christian leaders don’t have the joy, burden or responsibility of knowing the end from the beginning. But surely this knowing God’s will versus planning a desired outcome is the kind of leadership that God desires from Christian leaders.

When Christ was administering the last supper He must have had so much joy, anticipation and heaviness in His heart. And yet I can only see Him 100% enjoying the fellowship time that He spent with His disciples. This is another important lesson for leaders; the night before the war deserves a time of love, fellowship and general easiness.

Prayer is also another part of the preparation for the big battle. Would Peter have faltered had he stayed up in prayer?

Jeremiah 33:3..."seeking God's way"

Why do you oh Lord seem so hard to find?
If you are very near, why seek with ALL heart, soul and mind?
The best of things are free, so why withhold from me,
eternity, mystery of trinity, vision of your majesty?

Why does my tower of Babel never reach beyond the clouds?
Why my faith in Jesus so threatened by death shrouds?
Why abundant life, fenced in by this mess called earth?
Why the Pearl traded, for things that have no worth?

Can this flickering flame of faith be fanned to holy fire?
Can the Christ of cleansing blood burn out each base desire?
Show me great unsearchable things the way I do not know,
My king, my lamb, my source of strength, increase this candle's glow!

Managing Life

I wish I didn't have to manage life. The problem with having a vision for where I want to go in life is that I then think that I am responsible for getting there. So I get so frustrated when unexpected things throw off my plans. I have been talking about the class that I was supposed to take at Columbia next week for months. I took off a week vacation and have spent nearly three and half weeks reading four books to get ready for this class. Yesterday I found out that the class was cancelled and would not be rescheduled. This sets me back a few months on my graduation date which would have been next Sept. I was planning on finishing up that in Sept. then studying and taking my GRE before Dec. and starting to work on a degree in international development next Jan. So now I am under quite a bit of a time crunch.

But you know life can throw you some positive curves as well. As I was driving home from work today I saw a guy driving a moving truck next to me. I hadn't seen him in over a year and had lost contact. So I waved him down and we had a talk. He gave me his number. He was struggling with some life issues the last time I had seen him and he still is. i got his card. It looks like the Lord has just provided another person to add to my network of faith relationships.

Guess this all comes back to God's providence and plans rather than mine...why is this lesson so hard to learn?

Transformation

I have been focused on determining between God's agenda and my agenda. What I have found is that I don't spend enough time in prayer. Many times I am afraid to spend time in prayer because I may find out that things that I have been pushing for the Lord doesn't want for me. But when I do go to the Lord in prayer I find out that I have nothing to be afraid of. I am ok with letting go of things that He doesn't want for me and many times I am given confidence that He has placed certain visions in my life in order for me to accomplish them for Him.

Lucy is cool

When I say Lucy is cool it is one of those things that I had to come to realize rather than one of those things that I knew instantly. Who is Lucy? She is a retired officer at my corps. I don't mean to sound disrespectful but when I think of retired officer I usually don't think cool. I usually think "those people who don't want me to worship in my heart language" or "those people who don't understand why I don't particulary love the uniform" ect.

That is what I thought of Lucy before I got to know her. Lucy is radical. She believes that if you pour your life into the life of someone else and give what God has given you to that other person then you will become God's tool in that person's life. I know that's not radical. The thing that's radical is that she actually does it. I have watched her over time start one on one relationships with some of the younger ladies in the corps and I have seen them change to become bold witnesses for Christ.

She does something that our generation is prophetically crying out to the generation that she belongs to. We say, "Its about relationships!" We go on our tirades talking about how the church has to many programs and isn't focused on what really matters. But we spend so much time complaining that we don't have the time for the relationships either.

We need to be radical, not just talk about it! Quite frankly I need to be more radical. I have tried to become more intentional about building witnessing relationships. I have a few that I feel are just that. But I make an appointment and go and have lunch with someone and it goes well but then there is a lull in the relationship before there is another chance to get back together. Since I only have about three relationships that I feel are witnessing relationships there are weeks that pass without any real witnessing opportunities. This has led me to believe that I need to build more witnessing relationships so that I am cultivating multiple relationships and living a constant radical life.

My New Year's resolution? I just made it while typing...By the end of this year I want to cultivate enough deep relationships with non-believers that I will have one quality witnessing conversation every day.

Tsunami

I am amazed at how many people have died in the Tsunami. On 911 we experienced the death of several thousand people and it impacted the whole country. Of course, that was a deliberate attack and it took away our feelings of security. But what about those people that live in the countries that were hit by this Tsunami? I don't think it would be an overstatement to say that some of them probably are afraid to walk next to the ocean. It has taken away their security as well.

I was pleased to see that the US has decided to give 350 million to help the recovery efforts. As the only "superpower" as they say I think that it gives us the responsibility to lead in supporting not only this clean up effort but also to lead in helping the people of the two thirds world to have safety and development.

First Blog

I have been wanting to do this for a while. So I was just having a lazy Sunday afternoon and thought I would put this together.