Thursday, June 30, 2005


Invisible Children



Please go to this website: www.invisiblechildren.com. Please spend $25 dollars and buy this movie (they send you two, one to share).

I decided to show this video at church Sunday p.m. The depiction of the suffering children in Northern Uganda, the pictures of thousands of children huddled together in damp cellars, and the firsthand accounts of abducted, tortured, raped, brainwashed children...

This movie is not for the faint of heart. It is too graphic, too brash, too honest. If your used to Michael Jackson and the runaway bride being the main news story in the world, your comfort zone will be utterly shattered.

The only scripture we read was Isaiah 58:6-7:

I'll tell you what it really means to worship the LORD.
Remove the chains of prisoners who are chained unjustly.
Free those who are abused! Share your food with everyone who is hungry;
share your home with the poor and homeless. Give clothes to those in need;
don't turn away your relatives.

Please, visit the webpage, consider buying the video, and open your ears and heart to the cry of the poor and oppressed. Is this not the type worship our Father desires?
Here's your link, Kent...

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-06/04/content_3043569.htm

let me know if it doesn't work.

For those wondering, this is a link to an article that inspired an earlier post about the struggle to be an ambassador for Christ in another country while being a citizen of a country that doesn't embody the ethics of the Kingdom (no nation does). Scroll down to find the original post.

Also, please visit my friend Joel Quile's blog, unless you want to remain unchallenged by his post this morning.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Josiah pictures...

for those of you more interested in cute pictures than my social commentary, check out some new pictures of Josiah. Especially these.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Tomato picking homosexuals...



there have been two successful boycotts by Christians in the last few weeks. First, the AFA have ended a multi-year boycott of Proctor and Gamble for advertising on TV shoes like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Will and Grace. P&G yielded to increasing pressure, and pulled it's advertising from these and other shows.

Second, several mainline churches joined a boycott of Taco Bell launched by underpaid tomato pickers from Florida (Taco Bell was one of the major buyers of tomatoes from the region). Taco Bell today agreed to pay higher prices for its tomatoes, only buying from farms that pay twice the current wages to their employees, and will work to make sure that these workers are treated justly.

I would suspect that nearly everyone who reads this would respond by saying to the one "now that is what Jesus really finds important" and to the other "why are Christians trying to impose their views on anyone" (or why are these people imposing these constraints on a perfectly functioning market economy?)?

Personally, I appreciate the Taco Bell response more than the P&G response. An argument could be made that social justice is more central to biblical morality than sexual purity (compare Jesus relative attention to the two issues), but I think that we should come to grips with the fact that the bible speaks to both of these issues, and we should as well. But I support the actions of the Taco Bell protesters more than the actions of the AFA.

Why? Because the Taco Bell protest seemed to send a positive message to those who were afflicted and hurting, while the AFA protest, I fear, only pushes gays farther away from the church.

But whatever you think, now you can eat your chalupa and brush your teeth with Crest with a clear conscience. Any thoughts?
Any thoughts

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Being an American, or being of the Kingdom...

please, read this short news story about the reaction of muslims in Tanzania to the now confirmed desecration of the Koran by interrogators in Gitmo...

Tanzanian Muslims condemn reported US desecration of Koran

Here is my conflict: I am an American. When we are in Africa, we will still have family in America, will draw support from Americans, and will remain American citizens. I don't want terrorists to attack America for many reasons. I benefit in many ways from the government's war on terrorism.

But...

These thousands of Tanzanian youth are people with faces and names, people we hope to impact with the gospel of Christ. We will try to be Jesus to those who Jesus dearly loves. Will they ever see us as more than Americans? Will the news stories of abuses in Iraq, Cuba, and elsewhere completely bias them against our message?

When American pastors and politicians claim so boldly that America is a Christian nation, much of the world sees our fighter jets, cruise missiles, and worldwide military presence as definitive of Christianity as the scriptures. And as everyone who took Communication 101 should know, perception is reality to the perceiver.

So I am internally conflicted. But my conclusion is this: If Jesus is truly Lord, and if his Kingdom is the only Kingdom of lasting significance, then I would rather run the risk of another 9/11 type attack than provide stumbling block after stumbling block for the unbeliever. Or at least the Christian community could make it clear that the Kingdom of America is not our Kingdom after all.

please share your thoughts.

Friday, June 03, 2005

Burning down the HUT...

partial timeline from Day one of village life simulation:

4:20 receive payment for day labor

4:25 purchase fruit at wholesale to sell at market

4:30-5:00 bribe government official looking for our rent, policeman looking for our permit, and wholesaler to lie about what he was charging us for oranges

5:20 began long walk back to Kyarakunda (african village) celebrating how, through manipulation, lying, and deal-making, we had improved our lot

5:40 started fire in Lorena stove (google it to find out more) in grass thatched hut to begin cooking dinner

5:41 stepped out of hut to watch Josiah while Charity visited the latrine across the field from our hut

5:41:20 reentered Hut to find that the stove had spread fire to a tall pile of grass about a yard from the stove; immediately began stomping fire, to no avail.

5:41:30 return with water, but roof was on fire, so I threw the water on the roof... to no avail

5:41:45 flames grow to approx. 50 feet above hut. The tree, at the edge of the forest, begins to flame.

5:42 Charity exits the latrine, sees inferno before seeing Josiah and me, and screams. Josiah just watched in amazement. "Hot!" "Hot" "smoke!"

5:43 I send Charity off to get help while I stay and watch the fire. After running, with Josiah, for about half a mile, she hands the torch off to the next person to get help

5:55 The entire staff/faculty arrive in time to see our smoldering hut.

6:30 am (the following day) go outside to find the charred door of the hut flaming.



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