Our very first Karen/American was born today, his name is "Eh Ywah Blu Soe" which means "love God, thanks" he was 7lbs 8oz. Tee Tu (father) and Paw Thaw Thaw (mother) are proud and happy for the long delivery to be over. The baby is adorable.
I took Micah and Logan, one of his friends hiking in the hills by our home. This is a shot of them up on one of the hills we climbed. It's a great place to hike and climb and enjoy the cool of the evening. Boys dig rocks, dirt and the possibility of being eaten by a bear...of course the closest thing to a bear was a little dog that came charging at us from the woods...I think his name might have been "biscuit"...
But get me someone to play some music.
While the musician was playing, the Lord’s power came over Elisha.
–2 Kings 3:15
Soren Kierkegaard, the eighteenth century Danish existentialist philosopher and theologian, also believed that identification is the means through which advocates influence people. He specifically addressed the “Christendom” problem-in which many people who live in a “Christian country” believe in Christianity but do not live by it and do not see the contradiction and they live the “illusion” that they are Christians! ...A “direct” approach to such people, Kierkegaard observed, arouses defensiveness and is counterproductive.
So he recommend “indirect” communication approaches that engage peoples imagination, such as through narrative, that “wound from behind” and help people to “discover” truth. He exclaims: "The method must be indirect…All the old military science, all the apologetic and whatever goes with it, serves rather—candidly speaking—to betray the cause of Christianity. At every instant and at every point the tactics must be adapted to a fight which is waged against a conceit, an illusion." (-The Point of View by S. Kierkegaard) (The above was taken from chapter 5 of the book: The Celtic Way Of Evangelism by George Hunter)
In light of the above truth...I have been thinking deeply about story, song, picture, film and basically the medium of arts in connecting with people in our day to day world.
I sat in a parking lot last Saturday night with around 300 people watching Labyrinth. Hundreds of people came out and sat under the stars to watch and listen to a tale about a girl who is growing up and needs to remember that sometimes as a "grown up" she needs to return to childhood. A profound truth that resonates in the hearts of people living to disconnected from their inner selves. I feel a deep challenge to explore more ways to rip off the roof and get people to Jesus in maybe unconventional ways because the "normal" way has been closed off, jammed up and is too crowded. (read Mark 2:1-12 for context).
I was talking to a woman, a sister, a refugee from Liberia the other day. She shared how she worked hard but had little money. I asked why. She said, she works, earns money and when she cashes her check and looks at the left over money and knows that it could feed some of her friends and family back in the refugee camp.
She sends it.
She said...I have no bank account...people are my bank account.
God give us more refugees...to teach us what it means to know you.
Did not your father (King Josiah) eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He plead the case of the afflicted and needy; then it was well with him. Is not that what it means to know me? But your eyes and your heart are intent only upon your own dishonest gain...-Jeremiah 22:15-17
I was awakened by the repetitious cry of some young woman Sunday morning at 5am. She was wandering down the street crying out:
Mommy...Mommy...mommy...momm...mom...mo....m....
What do you do.
I didn't do anything.
Shame on me.
Myanmar is the word used in Burmese language for the country. Even
before the dictators officially (or non-officially depending on who
you ask) changed the name to Myanmar. I think since before the
colonials came, not sure yet, but at any rate before they changed the
name from Burma to Myanmar.
So why doesn't everyone embrace the name? Burma means basically only
the ethnic Burman. So one can understand why the smaller ethnics
don't like this name, but Myanmar is even worse, it basically means
"country of Burmans". I'm not sure yet but it has to do with the
ending of the words that references the Burmans. Bur"MA" and
Myan"Ma". They don't pronounce the "R" or they say it the same way.
So this name Myanmar excludes the smaller ethnics, or worse it
includes them into the Burman empire. It is a name that literally
threatens ethnic cleansing or is a form of ethnic cleansing, or some
kind of genocide by wording.
That aside the ethnics don't want anything the dictators have to
offer, much less changing the name of the country. Yes, they would
prefer something other than Burma, but only by democracy, true
inclusion of everyone. It's like someone steals your dog and calls
him "spot" instead of "dot" and then tells you he is better for it,
"don't mess with his name, just give him back and then if you want to
talk about changing his name..."
I love books.
I own a lot of books.
I have spent most of my personal money on reading.
I read a lot on the net but I still buy books.
So I was so thrilled when I saw this book was given to one of my son's friends at a birthday party by another parent. BRAVO!!!! Gave a book as a gift...revolutionary! And a great book as well...go buy it, read it and enjoy the great message and fantastic illustration.
Now that we have a english tutoring group at our church on Thursday nights from 5:30-6:30PM, I see the importance of reading even more. Reading truly is a "KEY" to opportunity in our world.
Reading is a gift...thank you parents for giving something to a child of true value. I was convicted that I didn't think...probably a byproduct of tv/video game/computer culture.
Only 70 percent of American kids now graduate from high school.
70% of Washington's children under the age of five are cared for out of their homes.
Warning!!! Important stats ahead, read slowly and think about the consequences of the fact mentioned:
500,000 children in Washington state live in homes without sufficient economic resources to meet basic needs. Only 59% of Washington state's 4th graders read at a basic level. Among African American and Hispanic children, the figures drop to 39% and 31%, respectively...In 4th grade, three-quarters of Asian and white students met basic reading standards, but only half of African American, Native American, and Hispanic students met those standards. One-third of public school students in Washington State failed to graduate from high school in 2001: only 53% of African Americans graduated, 47% of Native Americans graduated, and 47% of Hispanics graduated.
"Suppose a man has a stubborn, rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him....-Deut. 21:18-21
What a way to start a scripture on the wonderful world of parenting:
"Suppose..."
If you know the end of that scripture you know, it's not one you post on the fridge at home. Suppose though...you did have such a child. Parenting is the toughest job around in my opinion...harder than marriage, at least my marriage. Adults are well...adults. Children are unreasoning creatures that wrestle you with underdeveloped brains. Resulting in ample amounts of frustrating moments that can leave you completely exaserbated. I've wanted to put my head in the sand (or stone) and pretend everything is not as it is. How can the very same parents produce such vastly different kids. Raised basically the same and yet... My hope has been hanging with white knuckles on Isaiah 65:22-24:
"No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands. They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear."
If there is a patron saint of suffering parents...I need to know his or her name.
Great thoughts from a recent speech by Dana Gioia, worth reading the whole speech for sure...here are some snippets:
Marcus Aurelius believed that the course of wisdom consisted of learning to trade easy pleasures for more complex and challenging ones. I worry about a culture that bit by bit trades off the challenging pleasures of art for the easy comforts of entertainment. And that is exactly what is happening—not just in the media, but in our schools and civic life.
Entertainment promises us a predictable pleasure—humor, thrills, emotional titillation, or even the odd delight of being vicariously terrified. It exploits and manipulates who we are rather than challenges us with a vision of who we might become. A child who spends a month mastering Halo or NBA Live on Xbox has not been awakened and transformed the way that child would be spending the time rehearsing a play or learning to draw.
Do you want to watch the world on a screen or live in it so meaningfully that you change it?
Speaking of the education system and how it's there to: "...create complete human beings capable of leading successful and productive lives in a free society...This is not happening now in American schools. Even if you forget the larger catastrophe that only 70 percent of American kids now graduate from high school, what are we to make of a public education system whose highest goal seems to be producing minimally competent entry-level workers?...To compete successfully, this country needs continued creativity, ingenuity, and innovation....Even if you (college grads) spent most of your free time watching Grey's Anatomy, playing Guitar Hero, or Facebooking your friends, those important endeavors were balanced by courses and conversations about literature, politics, technology, and ideas.
There are some truths about life that can be expressed only as stories, or songs, or images.
-Dana Gioia, American poet and Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, delivered the commencement address at Stanford in June.
Full speech here: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/june20/gradtrans-062007.html
I think I am going to purchase a few gnomes...because I can.
See it in action here:
http://www.brotron.com/main/main.html
You can buy one here:
http://www.wetanz.com/holics/index.php?itemid=13&catid=4
"When you become a Christian, Jesus will invade your life and make you into somebody he can use to change the world. Through you, he will challenge racism. Through you, Jesus will attack sexism, poverty, and militarism. That was never taught to me when I was growing up. I never heard that I could be an instrument that God could use to change the world. All I was told was that being a Christian meant I would go to heaven when I died. I was never told that the primary reason Jesus saved me was to make me into somebody whom he could use to change the world into the kind of world he willed for it to be when he created it." - Tony Campolo
Planting and growing a church is tough work....way more work than I ever dreamed. It's the kind of work that transforms you...kind of like the physical change a desk worker would have if he started landscaping. The work breaks you down and builds you up. You learn a lot and you have to unlearn more than you know. You come to realize that you are going to have to become someone bigger and deeper than you currently are to survive. You will have to grow.
Like a mad scientist who dares to work towards creating new life...you find out that life never turns out the way you thought it would. And if you are not careful the very thing that you helped create can end up trying to kill you. Unleashing life is dangerous. Like raising kids...they start out cute and cuddly and end up confronting, demanding and naively independent....for a season, God willing. Where did that little one go that adored you so???
Such is the path of life....and church planting.
Your needed for life and than you somehow become a barrier to life.
It reminds me of this quote:
Jurgen Moltmann put it this way: "If Christianity is to become aware of what it is, we must abandon the pastoral church which takes care of people, which is the usual form of the Western church. Instead, we have to call to life a Christian community church. Either we set about this church reform by ourselves, or it will be forced on us by the loss of church members."
Such is the challenge of pastoring...of being used to mother life into being.
You really do have to be somewhat of a madman to engage in it.
"We have children in our church that will grow up thinking that it is perfectly normal to be part of a church where there are people from literally around the world—together."
I read that quote somewhere and I am thankful it is true for our church too...and I think it's a good thing.
Relocating and starting a church in a more racially diverse part of town has it's challenges. Merging refugees into a growing church has it's strains and pains. But seeing a body developing that is multicultural is sweet fruit indeed. Knowing your children's view of life will be more colored, more rich, expanded and diverse is satisfying. As I sat watching my son Micah playing "Go Fish" with four other kids that barely speak english, I found myself thankful for the stretch. As they were laughing and learning, I realized my son was learning too. Not everyone is crazy about having to stretch or even deal with anyone who is different than they are outwardly. But as you get to know the "stranger" you realize that we are all pretty much the same.
That is a gift worth receiving.
We spent the afternoon the other day at our favorite little cove that we go to on Coeur D Alene lake in Idaho. The water was delicious! I find the water restorative to my soulHere the boys were trying to catch a fish that was hiding under the log.
