Inexpugnable

Jack in the Pulpit

2011-01-14T11:06:00.001-08:00

2011-01-07T21:30:00.000-08:00

January 7, 2011

For much of my childhood, we lived on various farms. My most enjoyable memories involve solitude and nature. Hours were whiled away, wandering fields and woods, dabbling in springs, creeks and ponds, playing with animals, and soaking in the beauty around me. It was everywhere with a lushness I would not appreciate until city living made me aware of the acute absence of it. Nature and solitude. Except in my dreams, waking and sleeping, I see precious little of either in my present life.

I travel back there though in my imagination, and it is nearly as real to me as it was when I experienced it as a child. My feet travel swiftly across the hardened dirt paths trailing across the shaded yard, alongside the flower beds, and past the crab apple bush. Then along the tractor path back to the woods. Queen Anne’s Lace, moss, Jack in the pulpit, clover, trees, goldenrod, mustard, milkweed, cat tail, and tiger lilies, black walnut trees, black cherries, elderberries, mulberries, wild strawberries, everything around me was living, thriving, growing!

Now my world, more often than not, feels like a walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Children come and go to school not knowing which of their peers may not return the next day. Instead of gardens, there is the corner store. Make sure you check the sell by dates on your purchases. There are vacant lots, cracked sidewalks, potholes, boarded up stores and businesses with hand painted misspelled signs. There are drunks and gang bangers and the occasional lady of the night meandering down the street. And there is the harshness of a world that can’t hide the reality of its barrenness in the unforgiving daylight.

A news report, the death of another child to gun violence, the harshness with which people inevitably treat each other in such a social landscape, all set my heart longing for the reality of my youth. I close my eyes and there I am, watching Jack Frost work his mischief on my windows, rubbing my pony’s nose while watching his frosted breath hang suspended in mid air, laying on my back and watching the sunlight scatter through dancing leaves. It doesn’t last long. It is only a matter of time before my daydreams are banished by a siren, a gunshot, a police helicopter, squealing tires, loud music or loud voices.

A different life, a different calling.

Zurich + Paris II

2010-07-30T21:16:00.000-07:00

After leaving Zurich on the train, we ventured to Paris. We booked with the same bed and breakfast I had booked with on my last trip, but this time our accommodation was a wonderful surprise, rather than a gloomy disappointment. We found ourselves staying is a gorgeous mansion just about 2 blocks from the Eiffel Tower. We could actually see people standing on the tower and the color of their shirts from out bedroom windows. Our rooms were decorated so beautifully they ended up being one of the highlights of the trip.
Having been in Paris before, I let Beverly tell me what she wanted to see. We managed to see quite a bit despite the few days we had. We went to Sacre Coeur, Montmartre, Galleries du Lafayette, Printemps, Barbes Rochechouart (my favorite), the Louvre, Champs Elysee, the Bastille, the Marais, Place des Vosges, and just about walked the length of Rue de Rivoli.
Beverly was really into souvenir shopping, so I went along with her without complaint and ended up having a lot of fun, except for spending over $10 for a coke in the heart of Montmartre. Oh well.

Zurich + Paris

2010-06-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

I just returned from my fourth trip to Paris. the more often I go, the more I love it. This time I went with my friend from church, Beverly Morris. It turned out that we are very compatible travel companions. We Flew into Zurich and stayed there for about three full days and then took a train to Paris. That was nice, but I was disappointed because I had booked a window seat and still ended up next to a partition between windows. Zurich is a beautiful little city, very quaint. My main goal was to see the Chagall windows in the Fraumunster church. they were exquisite.

Our Hotel was small and wonderful. The Hotel du Theatre was located right at the beginning of Old Town and just a few blocks away from the main rail station and the beginning of the main shopping thoroughfare. The location could not have been better. We explored the Old Town the evening we arrived.

We found out as well as being near old town, we were also located conveniently next to the red light district of Zurich. I've seen several red light neighborhoods in Europe, and I have to say this was one of the tamer versions. On our second day in Zurich we explored the upscale shopping district on Bahnhofstrasse. It was as one would pretty much expect it to be. A beautiful street lined with beautiful shops. I will say this, the Swiss do indeed take their chocolate very seriously. After passing by countless gourmet chocolate shops, we stopped in a little artisan chocolate shop on the way to Fraumunster. It was there that I purchased chocolate for my sons and experienced chocolate laced with absinthe. It made my head feel like my brain was full of champagne bubbles. I could see the allure.

We bought scads of souvenirs. That was a new experience for me. I do bring back gifts from my trips, but usually it isn't something one would normally classify as a souvenir. But I enjoyed it and had a lot of fun looking at the magnets and snow globes, etc . . .

We had a nice boat ride on Lake Zurich. The houses are built on the side of the surrounding hills/mountains, so it seems like everyone has a view of the lake. The houses are very large and have beautiful gardens. We also managed to pass the Lindt Chocolate factory while on the boat ride.

On the third day we had to catch our train to Paris in the evening. Since the station was close by we went ahead and walked over to double check our arrangements. There was a beautiful little market set up in the train station. It was mainly marketing Swiss products - kind of like a farmer's market. We decided to go ahead and have lunch there. Beverly bought roast chicken and I had wanted to try Raclette , a Swiss specialty, before leaving the country. It is actually just melted cheese on bread with sides of different pickled vegetables. Simple, but good. We sat down at the tables with red and white checkered cloths, and a waitress came over and offered us something to drink. I had the best Bailey's Coffee I think that is served on the planet.

There was an old gentleman sitting across from me. he had long white hair past his shoulders and wore a baseball cap. He would lean over and begin talking to me during our meal. We kept telling him we did not understand - but on he rattled. Not having learned and Germanic language, I am really clueless and unable to decipher hardly anything. None the less, we still enjoyed our meal.

Morning Einstein

2009-01-25T05:40:00.000-08:00

"Jesus is too colossal for the pen of phrasemongers, however artful. No man can dispose of Christianity with a bon mot. "

Links

2008-12-19T08:31:00.000-08:00

I need to clear my blog roll.
I'm reluctant to do so. The thought of it makes me a little sad. some of the links no longer exist, and some of them just haven't posted anything new in years. But nevertheless, the thoughts and reflections of these various blog authors meant something to me at some point in time - that's why they were added to the roll.
I guess the reason I'm so reluctant to remove them is that I'm kind of bothered by the ease and willingness with which we disconnect with people and move on in our lives. I see it all around me in our society - as if people are commodities to be traded away when they no longer have a perceived relevance to our current life, or their presence is no longer seen as needful or convenient. I see it in churches too. I'll have been a member of my church for ten years in April. I can't begin to even calculate the people I've seen come and go in that length of time. To be sure there were times when I thought it might behoove me to look elsewhere for a house of worship - but I just kept thinking about what it means to be the manifest reality of family within the body of Christ. Can we really walk away from each other at the point of conflict and say we take that call seriously? Just as love, companionship, sharing and empathy are a part of family, isn't pain, misunderstanding, and disappointment as well? Can we really expect to have one without the other?
I've stuck it out so far, because I've embraced a willingness to take the good with the bad and to pursue the call to be true family within the body of Christ. The lessons I have learned in reconcilliation, and waiting to allow God time to bring His resolution to circumstances has proven invaluable. If I had run or backed away from the situation - I never would have had those experiences or the lessons that go with them.

Connection

2008-12-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

"You can walk where things are predictable - or you can enter the wilderness. Without the wilderness, there can be neither reverence nor revelation."

Lawrence Kushner

2008-11-29T05:43:00.000-08:00

[God] is not proud...He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him.

C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis

2008-11-15T13:16:00.000-08:00

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

Transition

2008-11-10T16:15:00.000-08:00

I struggle right now to put how I feel about this election into words. I have supported Obama from the start, prayed for him and contributed to his campaign. But it never entered into my imagination the impact that this victory has had on us collectively and for me individually. There is certainly a danger in over emphasizing the impact, but I think it is just as dangerous to under-estimate it as well. It feels to me as if we were a nation slowly and painfully suffocating in a darkened room, and at the last moment when our lungs were nearly ready to burst the door slammed open and the sunlight and air poured in.

At the same time, while I have been deeply disappointed by George Bush over the past eight years, I'm not taking any pleasure in the way he is being disparaged at present. He is still the president, and we elected him - if not by our vote, then by our indifference. ( Okay - so the 2000 election results are debatable. But that is another argument.) I can't imagine what he must feel like right now. And turning on him now is kind of like a man who marries a woman who doesn't cook and then spends the rest of his life complaining that she doesn't know how.

We elected him.

Awww Shucks

2008-09-05T06:17:00.001-07:00

Have you heard about Sarah Palin's involvement with the secessionist movement in Alaska? Yes, that's right, the woman who is the Republican nominee for VP, and could be a heartbeat away from the presidency has been involved in a group which wants to secede from the U.S. Her husband was a party member for 7 years. I won't belabor the issue as the article I've linked tells it better than I can. If I'm ever required to get a background check, I'm hiring the folks who did hers. ;) I feel safer already.

Todd Palin can guffaw about the PTA all he wants, but their organizational ties to the AIP (Alaskan Independence Party) are the real story of who these "down home" people really are.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/353575/palin_s_secessionist_friends

I invite and encourage you to pass this info on.

Zero My Hero

2008-09-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

I remember my School House Rock. And I guess those who don't believe in actually funding the educational programs they profess to support would be silly enough to underestimate the value of 0 and ignorant enough to think that is the lowest numerical value there is. But Zero is actually not a bad place to start. Not like someone in the negatives who had to make up for being so far in the red that starting at zero would be a blessing. Anyone who has had to balance a budget, at home or work knows that zero can be a very very good thing. Zero in reference to our nation's budget right now would be a very good thing indeed, as opposed to the nearly ten trillion dollars in national debt that we now owe thanks to Bush. Hmmmm, let me think 0 or - 10 trillion. which would you rather be? But I digress. I tried so very hard to watch the RNC tonight. I felt it was my obligation as a citizen, but I could not make it through Giuliani's speech. It was so ugly and so nasty and so below the belt I just couldn't do it, so I turned and watch Globetrekker instead and talked with my kids about traveling.

Campaign for True Beauty

2008-08-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

Most of us have seen the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. If you haven't it features women of various ages, shapes and sizes in nude in poses that are tasteful and indeed beautiful. While I applaud the campaign and think it is a wonderful expansion of our idea of external beauty, it still does only that - focuses on the external.

So today I would like to launch my own campaign.

The Campaign for True Beauty.

Rambling

2008-06-11T20:17:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure this post will have a theme. I think it is more of an update. I left my job of nine years today to start on a new venture that I am very excited about. I'm going to be a foster mother and actually get paid to be a stay at home mom. I've wanted to do it for years, but never thought I could afford to do it and take care of the children the way I would want to. But I found a program that is perfect for me.
It will also allow me to continue studying French, and actually take a few classes in the classroom at DePaul. Been itching to do that for a while now. I would like to actually finish my degree in the classroom.

I know everyone has seen my pastor on the news, Fr. Pfleger. It has been a pretty surreal experience for me, being a part of the world "news", if you want to call it that. I keep hearing from people that he needs to stay out of politics, but the funny thing is I seem to recall that the past two elections were pretty much decided by the religious right. And the list of Republican endorsements from "preachers" begins with Pat Robertson, Dr. James Dobson, John Hagee and Rod Parsley, but certainly doesn't end there. Talk about the bizarro committee. All of them have made statements just as hard to comprehend as Jeremiah Wright and Fr. Pfleger - or even more so in my book. But for some strange reason they were spared the relentless media loop of Youtube. Kind of makes you wonder why the words of preachers rather than the candidates is such a focus this go round . . .

NOW

2008-02-28T06:03:00.000-08:00

Aren’t you glad Sarah laughed? I am. It makes me feel a whole lot better some times. In fact not only did she laugh, she then turned around and lied about it. But it didn’t stop the promise. I love her response – Now? Now you want to bless me? Now you want to give me what I have been longing for, aching for, and dying for, for so many years – so long that I had given up hope of ever seeing it – Now? Now that I am as good as dead, have been given away by my husband twice, watched him have a child with another woman in front of my eyes, NOW you want to bless me with the promise?

I think I understand how she feels. I mean have you ever wanted to ask God if He is out of His mind or what on earth He is thinking? You hope and yearn and believe Him for something and at first you are really strong and confident about it, but then time wears on, and trials begin to hit, and hit …and hit. You look to the horizon for the promise but to your horror it looks even farther away than it did at the beginning. People begin to speak over you to give up, it will never happen. They remind you of all the ways you have messed up, all of your failures and everything you’re not, how you didn’t have the right attitude all of the time, the things you said wrong, the people you pissed off, and how in general you might as well consider it “game over”. Your confidence wanes, your grip loosens on what you were holding onto so strongly. Maybe you do like Abraham and Sarah and take matters into your own hands and end up bearing an Ishmael. In fact you look around you and you have to admit, it would have been difficult to make a bigger mess of things. You get depressed, and can even get to the place to where, like Sarah, you have given up entirely. You tell yourself you don’t even care anymore and almost believe you.

And then God sends an angel into your life and says NOW!

Two Questions

2008-02-10T12:13:00.000-08:00

I've had a couple of things on my mind lately.

First of all I have been pondering the following question. In the Garden of Gethsemane, do you ever wonder who was the last to fall asleep? I do. I wonder what it felt like to try to stay awake while one by one those around you dropped off. I wonder if the last one to sucumb did so just because everyone else had, or because maybe it was just too dang lonely to still be the only one awake all by themselves in such an ominous atmosphere. The Bible doesn't tell us who it was, but it does say that the people that Christ singled out and rebuked by name were leaders. I wonder if He knew it was their example that made it all the easier for others to give in? I wonder if the other disciples looked around and said to themselves, "Well, Peter is asleep. And John is snoring! It must be okay."

I also ask myself the question, "Is the measure of our faith how well we love our enemies?" Christ washed everyone's feet - even Judas', and if I know my Saviour, I would be willing to bet especially Judas'. I have to ask myself when was the last time I washed the feet of my enemy? And I'm not talking about making magnanimous gestures designed to demonstrate that we are the bigger person. Those lack sincerity and in the end are motivated by a desire to make the other person appear small and us superior. When was the last time I did something kind for someone who had hurt me - anonymously . . . How do I talk about them behind their back? What do I secretly wish for them and their lives? Do I pray for them - sincerely?

It kind of reminds me of an old song, Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart.

In my heart.

Brooklyn's Bridge

2008-01-23T16:07:00.000-08:00

There are moments in my life when God speaks to me in a way that is unmistakable. Its as if for a moment or two, the heavens part and I walk a bridge that passes directly to my master's heart. Though granted, those moments are rare, they are powerful and trans formative. Today was such a day.

I work at a school and have been substitute teaching for one of the nuns who had surgery. The children are very good and its been as close to a breeze as substitute teaching can be, but the days are a little long and I'm in school myself - so it has been tiring and a stretch. Unfortunately my prayer life has suffered. I'm used to getting up in the morning and puttering around and making my way to the church for at least a few moments of prayer and/or quiet before plunging into my day - but it just hasn't been happening while I sub.

As this assignment is more than a few days, I knew something had to give - so I vowed that I would at the very least pray while my car warms up and on the quick drive into work. This morning as I let the car heat up I started. I was interrupted. I was interrupted by what I can only describe as a voice yelling at me in my spirit. If you have never had God yell at you, you're in for an experience. He began to admonish me to walk with my head up, to never forget that I am the daughter of a great king and to carry myself like it. He told me to never walk with my head down again, ever. Well, I was truly surprised and thought to myself that I would get some kind of crown or ornament with a crown on it to place in my bedroom to meditate on what I had just heard and experienced. But then, remembering how much I dislike Christian paraphernalia I brushed the thought aside and but continued to think about what I just felt God had said to me.

I went to work and one of the children I work with, Brooklyn, walked up to me first thing in thing in the morning - and I kid you not, she said, " I brought this to school because I wanted you to see it." and pulled out a small pink velvet box in the shape of a crown and handed it to me. She then said, " Would you keep it on your desk for me?"

This weekend I will be shopping for one of my own.

Graffiti dans Paris

2007-11-08T07:27:00.000-08:00

I took pictures for my sons of graffiti in Europe. I like this one because I thought it was particularly interesting, especially with the baguette lying in front of it on the ground.

2007-10-18T20:04:00.001-07:00

Fifty years of doubt. Fifty years of questions. Fifty years of silence. Fifty years of felt absence.

And fifty years of absolute obedience . . .

My only question is how anyone could doubt her being deserving of sainthood.

C.S. Lewis Quote

2007-09-17T18:20:00.001-07:00

"In the midst of a world of light and love, of song and feast and dance, [Lucifer] could find nothing to think of more interesting than his own prestige."

--A Preface to Paradise Lost

Dans Paris

2007-09-04T06:41:00.000-07:00

I returned August third. Well to be more precise, my body arrived back in the U.S on that date. But for some reason internally I feel I am continually walking the streets of Paris, almost like Jacob Marley, the Ghost partner of Ebenezer Scrooge. Every time I close my eyes, there I am - walking and walking. Sometimes in Montmartre, sometimes in the Marais, some times round the backside of Notre Dame even. No matter where - the feeling is always the same restless wandering. What was I looking for? What am I looking for? I am at home and at work - but still walking in my spirit.

Tallinn, Estonia

2007-09-01T05:52:00.001-07:00

Tallinn, Estonia was one of the most beautiful places that I visited this past summer. Estonia is the home of the singing revolution, which if you are unfamiliar with, I encourage you to look up in Wikipedia.

I went to 12 nations last summer, Tallinn was one of the most memorable places, and definitely warrants a return trip with my sons.

Pics from Giverny

2007-08-15T20:49:00.001-07:00

Bon Voyage

2007-08-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

Since I wasn't able to keep up with my blog while traveling I thought I would post some excerpts from the emails I sent to friends and family. This one is about my arrival.

After my arrival I discovered that my housing is actually at the
University of Paris. That in and of itself was thrilling to me. The
campus is beautiful and my room is more than I could have hoped for.
But what blessed me the most was that I was immediately befriended by
two of the residents, Yun from China and Hachim from Algeria. Yun
showed me the ropes ( God bless her!) and took me to the grocery
store. Later Hachim invited me to eat a home cooked dinner that he and
three other of his Algerian friends had cooked! They were surprised
and delighted that I am a fan of their countryman, the violinist
Djamel Ben Yelles, and I can't begin to tell you how much better and
more at home their hospitality made me feel. Who would have thought
that immediately upon my arrival I would be so embraced? Talk about
having your steps ordered.

This morning I had to go out and buy a few odds and ends to prepare my
meals with, so I ventured up where i knew there was a large immigrant
community and the shopping is cheap. I ended up wandering into the
largest open air market I have ever seen. The market was packed and
loud and beautiful. They sold everything from fresh fish to underwear
- but for me the most beautiful thing of course was the incredible
mixture of people from every race and nationality. A lot of Tunisians,
Algerians, Moroccans, Africans, etc ... And let me tell you, I have
really been enlightened on the scope of what is African Attire! But
this is the Paris that I love. The Champs Elysees and Eiffel Tower are
beautiful, but for me it is that Paris is such an international city,
and the immigrants here do not feel the pressure to assimilate. Here
the Africans wear their African attire all of the time.

Back Home?

2007-08-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

I arrived back in the states last Friday.
After being gone for eight weeks, I find myself once again experiencing reverse culture shock.
The only thing I really missed about home was my sons and the ease of knowing how to function here. (Searching for something as simple as tissue in the middle of Paris when you have a cold and the need is immediate is frustrating to say the least)
But I miss the beauty of the architecture in Europe. The fabulous quality of everyday food. The cities dripping with flowers, and the extreme kindness of nearly everyone I met.

I'm already planning for next year . . .

Back to the Future

2007-06-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in a while, but if any of my "old friends" happen by my blog I wanted to let you know that I head out for my seven and a half week pilgrimage to Europe this Tuesday, June twelfth. I will be traveling extensively for three and a half of the weeks and spending four weeks taking intensive French classes at the Alliance Francaise in Paris. Please keep me in your prayers.

Another Proverbs Repost

2007-04-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

I have added to my original Proverbs post from time to time, so I decided to repost it.

On a recent trip to the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago I noticed that it seemed to be an ancient custom for fathers to write down proverbs for their sons. I thought this was pretty cool, so even though I am a single mother, I decided I would start to do the same for my sons. What follows is the beginning of my list. I hope to have more and will add them as they come to me.

1. The words that you speak about another person reveal more about what is in your own heart than it ever will about them.

2. Arrogance is the hubris of the deeply insecure.

3. Confidence is knowing what you have. Arrogance is acting like you have more of it than anyone else. Making others feel that way is obnoxious.

4. Anger doesn't need a reason, just a target.

5. In general, people don't decide they like or dislike you based on how they feel about you, but rather how they feel about themselves when they are around you. (this is not something that is always under your control)

6. If you do what you need to do when you need to do it, eventually you will be able to do what you want to do when you want to do it.

7. Empathy is not an abstract concept. You should have it, and people should feel that you have it.

8. Life is like a baseball game. There are those who step up to the plate and swing at the ball, and there are those who sit in the dugout and watch others play the game.

9. Look where you are going. Think like you are already there.

10. Stay away from people who consistently badmouth others. They have a way of separating you from the people you need the most.

11. Prayer saves time. Tithing saves money.

12. Human communication is an inexact science at best. Just because you heard what someone said, don't believe you necessarily heard what they meant.

13. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) If we stay focused on things as they are and have been, it is unlikely that we will ever see them become as they can and should be.

14. One of the most revolutionary things you can do is to tell the truth, especially when it isn't easy and it isn't welcome.

15. The people who say the most aren't always the people who have the most to say.

16. Anyone who thinks they are incapable of being deceived already is.

17. Remember, the stone you throw today might just come crashing through your own window tomorrow.

18. Never allow your personal relationships to blind you to the screaming obvious and inhibit your ability to make sound decisions.

The Invited

2007-04-13T06:27:00.000-07:00

After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, " I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me." The disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which one of them he meant."

Isn't it amazing? The disciples were at a loss to know which one of them would be Christ betrayer. After three years together, eating, sleeping, walking, performing miracles, and going through adversity - they didn't know who the betrayer was. In fact the word says, they were at a loss. There were no evil suspicions among them. Even more amazing was that Christ knew from before the moment he called Judas to his side that Judas was his betrayer, and yet his behavior towards Judas had never given the other eleven the slightest hint. Could we say the same? Do people know who we like and who we don't like? Do people know who your enemies are?

When I was a child, I was raised in a home that had the a very strange mix of attitudes on racism. My parents would always tell us racism was wrong and that everyone is equal. They would always tell us that they weren't prejudice and didn't discriminate, but as we rode along in the car when my mother would see the Arab and Indian students from the local university she would cry out things such as, "Look at those camel jockeys! Black as the ace of spades!" Things became even more confusing as I neared dating age. It became very clear that my parents lack of prejudice and discrimination did not extend to the arena of dating and marriage. The excuse was that even though it mattered not to them, they didn't want to see me go through the hardship of an interracial relationship in our society. I guess that's why my father threatened my life at the age of 14 for walking down the street with the African- American paper boy.

Regardless of the way I was raised, the lessons in selective racism never really quite took hold. I could never really understand why anyone would want to narrow the circle of whom they chose to love. But now as an adult I find that there are many more reasons for narrowing our circle than just race. Oh race can still be a factor, to be sure. But when we examine our individual lives and our circle of friends, what do we see? If we are blessed enough to have a variety of friends from different races, what other factors can we look at? Classism? Education? Age? Outlook? Social rank? Religion? Marital status? Do we have friends that we disagree with, or does everyone in our group think like us, talk like us, look like us, dress like us and act like us? When people meet us for the first time, how welcome do they feel in our presence? How immediately do they know if they will "fit" in with us and our friends? And how obvious is all of the above?

When Jesus said that one of the disciples would betray him, they were at a loss to know which one it would be. It could have been a very different scene, especially if Jesus had not been so utterly even handed in his treatment of the disciples. It could have read "then the disciples turned simultaneously and in one voice cried out, "Judas!" I thank God that didn't happen. And as I grow older I find that I am even more challenged in the choices that I make for friends and the way that I treat others. God's arms and hands are evenly extended, to everyone, period. And I am thinking that the more we grow to be like Him the less obvious it should be in my life whom I like and whom I don't like. I find that I am being challenged to broaden my circle. I'm being challenged not to close ranks, but to open them. And to open them in a childlike trust that even if my openness exposes me to hurt, betrayal, or what have you, my God is big enough to hold me in the midst of it all.
After all, my Savior and Lord didn't lock Judas out, He called him in. He didn't push him away, but embraced him. And even as Judas delivered the kiss of betrayal, Jesus called him friend.

The Invisibles

2007-04-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

The other day I was flipping channels and hit one of those shows that I hate - it was probably "COPS", I'm not sure. I usually turn the channel as fast as possible because I just can't stand to see the way most of the people live who are on those shows. This time I stopped though. They had a drunk guy pinned to his bed in a trailer park and were asking him about beating his wife. They told him the neighbors had seen the whole thing. They went outside and his wife was sitting there, her face all bruised and swollen. She was drunk too. They began to question her and she denied he did anything to her, and defended his actions. The police told her, "Mam, the neighbors saw the whole thing. Are you defending him because he is on parole?" She told them that she had been drinking and didn't want to leave the bar and he had to force her to come home and was trying to force her into the trailer. I sat there and thought about that show and the reason I always turn the channel - because I can't stand to see the way so many people live. And I started to cry. These are people's real lives.

How long are we going to keep flipping the channel?

There is a liquor store directly north of our house on 87th street. As a result there is usually a group of men hanging about. Usually a group of drunk men. When I walk to the church I have to walk through them. I used to resent this. They set out milk crates. I have to step around and over their garbage and broken bottles.They have never bothered me. In Fact they are excessively polite and call me "Mam". A while ago I began to feel my resentment change. They made me think about my grandfather and my uncles. When I would walk by they began to tug at my heart. Now that tug is an all out ache. Now I find that although I hurt over their predicament, I am grateful for their presence. It is the only thing that keeps me from becoming a good church person.

How long are we going to keep stepping around and over them on our way to church?

Favorites

2007-04-05T05:57:00.000-07:00

" The mystery of heaven is that we are all God's favorite."
Jason Upton

2007-03-28T04:39:00.001-07:00

18 "Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.

19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.

Sometimes we make a big mistake of trying to hold things all together. We look around at what's going on in our lives and it looks to us as if things are falling apart and we panic and we try to run around and run around and run around trying to hold things together, when God is the one who is shaking them apart. He's shaking it apart so that He can rebuild, and when He rebuilds, He's going to rebuild it right. Sometimes, when we see things that are falling apart in our lives we need to just step back and let them. God is clearing out the rubble to rebuild.

Daddy's Little Girl

2007-03-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

I know I haven’t posted in a while.

I’ve been taking a math class that is hell on wheels this quarter. Thank God for Pass/Fail options.

But this morning something happened. Completely unexpected.

I was having a conversation with a close friend. She revealed to me that her father, a PK and oldest of six children was beaten on a regular basis by his father. His father was also the one who taught him about God. She said he was the only child of six who was beaten and that his father usually tied the reasoning to something spiritually lacking in him.

I made the comment that the other children, having seen what he went through, probably did their best to fall in line. After all, when I was a child I had an older sister who fought constantly with my parents over everything. I, on the other hand, gave in, all the time, even when it wasn’t healthy for me. Even when it was damaging. I told my friend it was my effort to appease them.

And then I stopped.

And as the light bulb went on in my brain I couldn’t help but mouth what I was thinking.

I said, “I’m 42 years old and I still do the same thing. Oh my God! I’m 42 years old and I’m still doing the same thing!”

The really horrible thing was what I couldn’t admit to my friend. Deep down inside, I wasn’t really trying to appease my parents. I was trying to make them love me.

This may sound a little corny, but at that moment, I finally realized that when people are incapable of loving you for your intrinsic value as a human being, there is nothing in the world you can do, buy, be or say to change that. And the longer it takes you to realize that, the more of your life you will waste trying to win over the people who can never really love you, instead of appreciating the people God put in your life who already do.

2007-02-04T16:35:00.000-08:00

"I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine.
It is only those who have neither fired a shot
nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood,
more vengeance, more desolation.
War is hell."

General William Tecumseh Sherman

Time for a little art . . . and a little fun.

2007-02-01T04:33:00.000-08:00

Kandinsky
Compositions

2007-01-25T06:55:00.000-08:00

There is nothing quite like the sound of truth echoing down the hall of lies. How you perceive the sound of it depends on what is in your heart.

Heroes

2007-01-24T19:02:00.000-08:00

I have a student who for privacy reasons I will call Aamir. I have had him for three years now. He has cerebral palsy. Aamir has had some pretty hard knocks in life. On top of dealing with cerebral palsy, his mother died about a year ago. Now he lives with his father and stepmother, whom he feels does not understand him. He has a very highly developed sense of humor, and is extremely articulate and intelligent. I would like to tell you that the other children are understanding and helpful, but Aamir has had the misfortune of dealing with some really cold hearted bullies. He gets angry and lashes out from time to time, but this year he has an excellent teacher who is really on top of the dynamics of the classroom atmosphere, so things are getting much better for him.

A few weeks ago the children had a classroom project. They had to list their goals and how they intended to accomplish them. Then they stood up in front of the class and read them out loud. After all of the future doctors, lawyers, teachers, rap artist, singers, and sports stars had their say, Aamir went to the front of the class. It was all I could do to choke back the tears as I heard him read, "My goal is to walk up the stairs. To accomplish this I will have to put one foot in front of the other."

Kind of puts it all in perspective doesn't it?

Westward Ho

2007-01-19T05:19:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to grapple with what I learned about Algeria and French colonization, and I just can't. I can't wrap my mind around one out of every three people being killed. And then I start thinking about the history of colonization worldwide and Iraq and Afghanistan and Rwanda and Sudan and on and on and on. We read about these statistics and I don't think they are ever quite real to us. They are numbers on a page and we might stop for a moment and sigh but then we just keep right on going. I'm very good at feeling sorry for myself and thinking I go through some stuff, but when I stop to actually try to put myself in the shoes of someone who has lost a loved one due to some kind of imperialist violence, I wonder if I know the meaning of the word suffering. I can't imagine the pain and the anger that would inflict on a human being.
Wikipedia states that Colonialism was often based on the belief that the morals and values of the colonizer were superior to those of the colonized.

Sound familiar?

Cést Strange

2007-01-17T19:03:00.000-08:00

Yet another odd little chapter in my strange life. I have been listening to this c.d. relentlessly for the past couple of months. It is by the Algerian violinist Djamel Ben Yelles, the most famous violinist of the Rai music genre. It only takes a few seconds of listening to realize this musician is very special. The sounds are brilliant and haunting, like nothing I have ever heard before in my life. Rai music became a major source of identity for the Algero-French community in the mid 80's. The C.D. is currently out of print but a few used copies can be found online. Needless to say I highly recommend it.
Okay, so what is so strange about that, you might ask. Monday I went out to see a movie. I had time to kill so I stopped at a major dept store near the theater just to window shop. I remembered this perfume that a friend of mine had gotten there several years ago. It was cold, I had walked a ways and was standing in a semi frozen daze staring at the perfume counter when a young man walked up and asked if I needed assistance. Normally, I would have mumbled no and wandered off, but I didn't this time. I told him what was on my mind and he started to show me a few things. We began conversing and he mentioned "home". Turns out he is Algero-French. If this weren't my life, I would ask what the chances of that happening are - but this kind of stuff happens to me all of the time. Its no longer even spooky to me - and I've almost come to expect it. We discussed Djamel BenYelles. I found out Djamel is pronounced Jamel and the young man made me promise to burn the c.d. and drop it off for him. He told me, "French people don't like Algerians. Its everywhere." I had kind picked up on this from watching so many French movies. But this comment peaked my curiosity. I looked up Algeria on line, a country I previously knew next to nothing about. I found out that when the the French invaded Algeria to colonize it they annihilated one third of the Algerian population. One Third. No wonder the music is so haunting.

Sacre Coeur - Anticipation II

2007-01-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

Anticipation

2007-01-04T04:22:00.001-08:00

2007-01-03T04:16:00.000-08:00

" Relationships don't thrive because the guilty are punished but because the innocent are merciful."
Max Lucado

Happy New Year

2006-12-31T08:03:00.000-08:00

Dont worry about a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin: dont worry about a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right!

Rise up this mornin,
Smiled with the risin sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin, (this is my message to you-ou-ou:)

Singin: dont worry bout a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin: dont worry (dont worry) bout a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right!

Rise up this mornin,
Smiled with the risin sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin, this is my message to you-ou-ou:

Singin: dont worry about a thing, worry about a thing, oh!
Every little thing gonna be all right. dont worry!
Singin: dont worry about a thing - I wont worry!
cause every little thing gonna be all right.

Singin: dont worry about a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right - I wont worry!
Singin: dont worry about a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin: dont worry about a thing, oh no!
cause every little thing gonna be all right!

Mon Soapbox

2006-12-29T19:42:00.000-08:00

And this accomplished what?
Is one more American soldier coming home?
Does it feed or house even one more Iraqi child?
Will it bring stability to the region?
Will anyone rest better tonight knowing that a weak and powerless has-been dictator who was brought to power by the CIA is now dead?
Just what the world needs right now,
more meaningless bloodshed.
Right.

Searching for Me

2006-12-29T07:45:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago Hollywood released the movie "Traffic". I didn't see it. I had already seen the British version that it was based on. Over the holidays I rented it from Netflix and watched it again. It had been a long while. My babies were little the first time I saw it. Now they tower over me.

The series tells several interwoven stories of people whose lives are all affected by the heroin trade coming out of Pakistan. One particularly poignant story is of a government minister who's daughter becomes addicted to heroin. We watch as she and her family go through all of the typical stages of a family affected by drugs. Finally after she steals from the home and makes it look like a burglary the father puts her out and tells her, "You are not my daughter."

A while later, after dreaming that he is standing over his daughter's grave he begins to search for her. He does everything he can think of, including walking the streets at night. He finds a dealer who knows her and pays him a visit. After talking to him for a little while he gets ready to leave and the young man tells him, "I wish I had someone searching for me."The father finally finds his daughter passed out half dressed with a John standing over her demanding service for his money. The Father says, "That's my daughter." The John runs off and the father takes his daughter home. Once there he begins to talk to her. He tells her, " I love you. I love you unconditionally. You don't have to stop taking heroin. You don't have to stop anything. No matter what I will still love you."

How many of us, like the young dealer, are wistfully thinking, "I wish I had someone searching for me?". We spend so much of our lives it seems searching for love. How different our lives would be if we only woke up and realized that like the father desperately searching for his daughter to bring her safely home, love is searching for us. How would our lives and our feelings about ourselves change if we realized that His love is unconditional, we don't have to stop anything to receive it, we don't have to be anything to receive it, we can just BE.

You don't have to search for love.
Love is searching for you.
Love is searching for me.
Can't you hear him calling your name?

More Great Quotes

2006-12-27T08:07:00.000-08:00

The instinct of nearly all societies
is to lock up
Anybody who is truly free.

First, society begins
by trying to beat you up.

If this fails,
they try to poison you.

If this fails too,

they finish
by loading honors on your head.

--Jean Cocteau (1889-1963)

It is better to deserve honors
and not have them

than to have them
and not deserve them.

--Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

Dignity does not consist
in possessing honors,

but in deserving them.

--Aristotle

2006-12-24T05:20:00.000-08:00

Joyeux Noel!

Christmas in Paris

2006-12-22T06:44:00.000-08:00

Pascal

2006-12-21T10:10:00.000-08:00

“Dieu est une sphère infinie, dont le centre est partout et la circonférence nulle part.”

God is an infinite sphere whose center is everywhere

and circumference is nowhere.

Blaise Pascal

2006-12-20T04:40:00.001-08:00

Its pretty cliche at this point to lament the commercialization of Christmas. Its the same old complaint usually voiced in pretty much the same way. And each and every year I have to confess, I make and break the same promise - to not wait until the last minute to shop, to avoid the crowds, to finish early and bunker down safe at home for the duration. This year as I was once again fulfilling my annual tradition of breaking said promise, I found a new irritant rankling away on my nerves. It wasn't the crowds, it wasn't the end cap loaded with the animated dancing Santa's playing the saxophone for $14.99, and it wasn't the much harangued sales clerks. This year is was the Christmas muzak.

As I walked through the aisles of the local department store it seemed almost insidious to me. But apart from some very poor recording choices on the part of some very well known vocalist, there was something else that was bothering me. I think it was that so much of the music had so little to do with the actual event of the birth of Christ. And perhaps also to hear an event that is so sacred to me trivialized with brainless diddies about sleds and reindeer. But the most irritating to me were the songs of recording artist talking about what Christmas "means to me."

Is Christmas really open to our individual interpretation?

I mean the message seems pretty clear to me, and it is backed by prophesy going all the way to the fall of man and God's promise that one day Eve's heel would crush satan's head. ( Sorry, English majors, he doesn't get capitalized.) It isn't that I don't enjoy family, and cranberry sauce, lights and mistletoe, depending on who is standing directly underneath it, but as we are rushing about in a mad dash for that perfect gift, fighting over that space at the mall, and fussing at the person who had the nerve to sojourn down the same aisle at the same time as us, perhaps we do need to stop and take a deep breath and ponder our own interpretation of Christmas.

What images and words immediately come to our minds when we think of Christmas?

Lights
Presents
trees
food?

What about

stranded
pain
blood
tears?

Usually we don't hear those words in the latest Christmas jingle. But any woman who has given birth can tell you, they were very much a part of the Christmas equation. He came through water and blood, pain and anguish, and He left in water and blood, pain and anguish.
And when he did he left us with a very clear message and he gave us the interpretation.

Salvation
Hope
Deliverance

Mon Secret

2006-12-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

"What makes the desert beautiful," said the little prince,
"is that somewhere it hides a well . . ."

Merci

2006-12-18T20:07:00.000-08:00

quotes

2006-12-11T18:40:00.000-08:00

Slartibartfast:...I'd much rather be happy than right any day.
Arthur Dent: And are you?
Slartibartfast: Ah, no. Well, that's where it all falls down, of course.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Where Grace Meets Truth

2006-12-08T05:52:00.001-08:00

Sometimes when I am reading the Bible, some small seemingly innocuous little phrase will leap out at me and get a hook in my spirit. A little voice will tell me, "There is more there than meets the eye." And that one word, or small phrase will just rattle around in my spirit for days, weeks, and sometimes even months. Its been that way lately with the book of John. In the first chapter and the fourteenth verse John describes Jesus as being the One and Only who came from the Father full of grace and truth. That last bit of that phrase full of grace and truth has been nagging at me for months now, and I have found myself asking God over and over, "Where does grace meet truth?"

Recently, I rented a French movie titled Red. It was excellent. One of the main characters in the story is a retired French judge. Through an accident involving his dog he meets a young woman and they slowly develop a friendship. During the course of the friendship he challenges her to look deeper at the motivations for her own actions and that of others, and to question the true meaning of justice. At one point he speaks of the decisions he made as a judge and questions them. The young woman protest and tells him that his decisions were just. He responded by asking, "Were they? In every case that I have decided, had I been in the shoes of the defendant I would have done the exact same thing."

So I am asking the question, "Where does grace meet truth?" And I am thinking perhaps the answer is mercy.

Mercy made Jesus write in the dirt while rocks fell from condemning hands.
Mercy healed blinded eyes rather than judging them.
Mercy raised a widow's only son from a death bed.
Mercy lifted Peter from the swirling waves of a tempest tossed sea.
Mercy responded to a blind man crying out from the roadside whom everyone else was trying to shush.
Mercy cried out from a cross, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

Truth tells us the reality of our sinful situation. That none are righteous, and that in our sinful situation, we are without hope. Grace sees us there, in that place of destitution and touches those who are willing with the gift of divine salvation. If we are really walking in truth, we understand and are overwhelmed by how utterly undeserving we are of this precious gift of absolute forgiveness, and infinite love. And in that place where grace meets truth mercy is born, a mercy that causes us to go and do likewise - To forgive the seemingly unforgivable, to love the undeserving, to be generous to the ungrateful. Like the retired judge, we walk in a place of the constant knowledge of our own unworthiness and our master's boundless mercy. We understand that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags and the reality of the situation that we are all that thief on the cross, crying out to the Christ, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And rather than the judge, we reach out our hands in mercy and become living instruments of the healer.

Ahhhhhhhhhh. . . J'adore Paris!

2006-11-27T04:47:00.000-08:00

Les Escaliers de Montmartre, Paris

Davey and Goliath

2006-11-25T15:03:00.000-08:00

Hell's Bell's la partie deux

2006-11-24T16:18:00.001-08:00

Well, I fell victim to the new Beta system with blogger and ended up messing up my old template. I did my best to redo it with my limited technical abilities, hence the changes. I'm not happy with them, but alas, here they are.
'Tis what it 'tis.

Tant pis. Quel dommage.
(Too bad. What a shame!)

Glass Houses

2006-11-24T05:59:00.000-08:00

Well, it appears that housing is big on my mind right now....

I hate to admit that at times the obvious is the hardest thing in the world for me to grasp, but for a long time I didn't really understand the old saying "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." Years of ministry and church involvement taught me the meaning. Those of us who lived through the eighties share the experience of watching the fall of televangelist Jim Bakker. Jimmy Swaggart railed against him, calling him a cancer on the body of Christ, only to have his own unsavory interactions with prostitutes publicly exposed a year later. One never knows if the rock we throw today might come crashing through our own window tomorrow . . .

There is a children's book titled, "There is a Nightmare in my Closet." And if truth be told there is a nightmare in every last one of our closets. All of us have allowed sin to get a foothold in our lives at one time or another. All of us have been swayed by our passions at one time or another. All of us have been selfish at one time or another, said things we shouldn't have and done things we shouldn't have done, made unwise choices, broken our promises, trusted the wrong person, been duped and deceived. When we are really honest, who are any of us to throw stones?

I wonder if we have any idea how much the words that we speak to and about each other are able to defile us? I was reading Isaiah six, you know the scripture about "I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips..." Then if you go on to verse 9 it it says, " Go and tell this people Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing but never perceiving".... and in verse ten it concludes "otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn and be healed."

I want to serve God with all of my heart, but I just get sooooo utterly tired of the way we treat each other and the way we talk to and about each other. I want to love with all my heart, and to be be a genuinely loving and kind person, but sometimes I just feel like the current of the quagmire that is swirling around me is just so powerful, I get sucked in. But of course greater is HE that is in me . . . I'm not trying to blame others for my own failures, just expressing how I feel right now.

St. Francis

2006-11-23T08:56:00.000-08:00

"Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words."

House of Cards

2006-11-22T01:25:00.000-08:00

There's a story in the Bible of two brothers. They approach the Messiah and make a request. They want to sit on His right and His left in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus responds by telling them they don't know what they are asking. He continues his response by teaching about extreme servanthood.

I think a lot of times we are the same way. I wonder if we know what we are asking God when we pray, and if we did would we still pray it?

We pray to grow in our love walk.
God responds by allowing someone to come into our life who's behavior is anything but lovable.

We pray to be more patient.
God allows us to wait longer.

We pray to be a purified.
God turns up the heat and allows our motivations to be exposed.

We pray for a spouse.
God tells us we need to learn to be less selfish.

We pray for a new job.
God tells us to be more productive where we are at.

We pray for rain, only to discover we have been inhabiting a paper house. We pray for wind, only discover a windy day isn't a good time to be living in a house of cards. Rain washes away impurities, and wind blows away everything that isn't stable.

So I wonder at times if when we pray, we know what we are asking, and if so, are we really ready for the answer?

Gypsy Rhythm

2006-11-18T13:22:00.000-08:00

One of my acquaintances from school is a Jazz violinist. A while ago he spent some time in the Balkans living with Gypsies and learning their violin techniques. When he came back to the states he formed what is now known as the Gypsy Rhythm Project. I finally decided it was high time I went to hear his group and took along a friend who is also a talented violinist. They were performing at a very nice steak house. The music and the food were fabulous. During the performance I couldn't help but notice a man who appeared to be inebriated. He danced between the tables like Zorba the Greek, arms held above his head, fingers snapping away.
A while later he came up and pleaded with the band to play a request. His request was granted and before I knew it, he and his wife were dancing in the small space next to our table. I have never seen anything like it. He held her close, looked into her face and told her over and over, "You're my darling, you're my baby. You are the most beautiful woman in the world." I had never witnessed a man more profusely declaring his love for his wife. It was so beautiful. And even more extraordinary was the look on her face. It was evident that she believed every word to the core of her being.
Later in the evening when the band took a break, I was able to meet this dancing gentleman and discovered that he was not drunk, but was indeed a gypsy. He told me. "No one knows about our real culture."
And I must profess, that for me it is true. I know very little about gypsies. But watching that man completely uninhibited in pouring out his affection for his wife, I knew God was speaking to me and telling me, "That is how I want to love you if you would only receive it." For years I have known that I have difficulty receiving the love of God. I think that is true for a lot of us. Especially women who have been in abusive relationships in the past, or those who come from condemning or works oriented churches. But that night I got a breakthrough, and I wasn't at church, and I wasn't at prayer. Watching a gypsy dance with his wife in the candlelight by the side of my table, I finally understood the scripture that tells us that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags, and how utterly unworthy we are of that tremendous love God has for us - and yet, instead of being overwhelmed with my unworthiness, I was instead overwhelmed by the incredible generosity and wonder of such an incredible love. A love I want to drown in everyday.

Christianity Today?

2006-10-06T07:05:00.000-07:00

This information was sent to me by a friend. I thought it worth sharing. For those of you who don't know, the above photo is a Nazi belt buckle which reads "God with us."

"The national government will maintain and defend the foundations on which the power of our nation rests. It will offer strong protection to Christianity as the very basis of our collective morality. Today Christians stand at the head of our country. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit. We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press - in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during recent years." - Adolf Hitler

Source: The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, vol. 1 (London, 1942), 871-72.

The most famous Christian of the 20th century was Adolf Hitler.

Sure, we call Hitler infamous today. But before he started gobbling up European countries like they were little bratwurst sausages, Hitler was famous as a world leader with high moral values and a distinctly Christian vision.

In fact, no present politician has more blatantly declared his Christianity than Hitler, or has had his faith so widely accepted. Millions of Christians around the world admired the savvy tyrant; a couple of his more recognizable fans included Britain’s Lloyd George and that all-American idol of idols, Charles Lindbergh. The most appealing of Hitler’s “Christian” attributes included:

•His morality. He did not smoke or drink and he abhorred pornography and homosexuality.

•His call for his nation to repent. “Providence withdrew its protection and our people fell… And in this hour we sink to our knees and beseech our almighty God that He may bless us, that He may give us the strength to carry on the struggle for the freedom, the future, the honor, and the peace of our people. So help us God.” (March 1936)

*His stand against secularism: “Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without religious foundation is built on air; consequently all character training and religion must be derived from faith….” (April 1933)

*His war on atheism: “We were convinced that the people need and require [the Christian] faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.” (October 1933)

*His blending of church and state: “National Socialism neither opposes the Church nor is it anti-religious, but on the contrary it stands on the ground of a real Christianity… For their interests cannot fail to coincide with ours alike in our fight against the symptoms of degeneracy in the world of today, in our fight against a Bolshevist culture, against atheistic movement, against criminality, and in our struggle for a consciousness of a community in our national life…These are Christian principles!” (August 1934)

•His faith-based charity: “With a tenth of our budget for religion, we would thus have a Church devoted to the State and of unshakable loyalty.” (January 1939)

•His God-given mission to cleanse Germany of evil as personified by the Jews, liberals, homosexuals, labor leaders, homeless people, immigrants from inferior cultures, and the weak and sick. “Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.” And, “We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit… We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press—in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess…” (March 1936)

•His patriotism and the belief that his nation’s weakness was because “...the watchword of German foreign policy ceased to be: preservation of the German nation by all methods; but rather: preservation of world peace by all means.”

•His condemnation of others who sought to use religion for personal gain. “Worst of all, however, is the devastation wrought by the misuse of religious conviction for political ends. In truth, we cannot sharply enough attack those wretched crooks who would like to make religion an implement to perform political or rather business services
for them. These insolent liars, it is true, proclaim their creed in a stentorian voice to the whole world for other sinners to hear; but their intention is not, if necessary, to die for it, but to live better.”

•His vow to end terrorism: “…we must not dodge this struggle, but prepare for it, and for this reason acquire armament which alone offers protection against violence. Terror is not broken by the mind, but by terror.”

•His devotion to the Ten Commandments, which he proclaimed the foundation of Nazi Germany: “The Ten Commandments are a code of living to which there’s no refutation. These precepts correspond to irrefutable needs of the human soul.”

Historians seem to have done their best to silence or suppress the outspoken Christianity of Hitler and the Third Reich. Why is this? It seems to me that there are many yet today who will follow any politician who "boldly" proclaims his Christian faith, ready to turn a deaf ear to any lies he may tell and a blind eye to whatever atrocities he may commit in the name of God, Christ and Country. Think about it.

Another Dream

2006-10-05T07:24:00.000-07:00

I had another one of my dreams.
I was riding down a beautiful boulevard. Being who I am, I had decided to ride sitting on the roof of the car, enjoying the air and the sunshine. The street was tree lined and the median was planted with lush tropical follaige and flowers. I was enjoying the day and the ride when in an instant everything changed. The sky grew dark, the wind picked up rain began to pelt down and tornado sirens began to sound. I climbed down into the car and looked out the windows searching the sky for the tornado. I spotted the funnel cloud and noticed that the tornado was in the process of forming. It would jet down and then rise back up again and again. The driver of the car began to panic and began to take uneccessary risk which were putting myself and the other passengers of the car in danger. I leaned forward and I put my hand on the shoulder of the driver and said firmly, " If you focus and speed up a little, you can beat this storm."

Musee D'Orsay

2006-09-04T15:26:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite memories of Paris.

I'm With Stupid

2006-08-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had someone you confided in only to discover they were the laaaaaaast person on earth whom you should have trusted with your secrets? You thought you had found a kindred spirit in an oasis of friendship, only to discover it was all a mirage. You think you have found a soul mate, someone you could really share your true self with, only to find that your personal business was less than sacred territory in the eyes, ears and more importantly the mouth of the one you had trusted so deeply. When such rude awakenings come in my life, for some bizarre reason I always see Yosemite Sam storming around my mind and hear his voice calling me, "Eeejit." And God knows I feel like one.

The warning signs are always there. But we never stop to think that the one who so freely shares the personal information of others might also be sharing ours. We stumble onward, foolishly engaging in emotional russian roulette, while telling ourselves, " Oh, they wouldn't do that to meeee." and whispering a silent prayer that the bullet that has struck so many others won't hit us. Mother's advice was right, don't play with a loaded gun, honey. When the light does dawn, we feel so foolish, gullible, and deceived. It sucks to be sure, but even the great wheeler - dealer business man Donald Trump owns up to the fact that he is capable of being duped. And honestly, anyone who beleives they are incapable of being deceived, already is.

Conscious Victory

2006-08-28T15:52:00.000-07:00

I have long been a fan of John Lake. John lake lived around the early part of the twentieth century. His life was marked by extraordinary miracles. In his devotional he speaks of conscious victory. Lake refers to conscious victory as the ultimate note in the heart of the Christian, and states "The nearer our life is tuned to that note of conscious victory, the greater the victory will be evidenced in our lives."

He further states, " It is a note which is so fine and sweet and true and pure and good that it causes all our nature to respond to it and rejoices the soul with a joy unspeakable."
The idea of conscious victory to my mind is a concept of choice. In other words I choose victory, regardless of my circumstances, my health, wealth, job, spouse, church, etc . . . I am not looking for outside situations or people to "make" me happy. I understand that this is the day that God has made and I WILL rejoice and be glad in it. And sometimes it really is an effort of "willing" yourself to be glad in it.

Conscious Victory - not something that just "happens" to us, not something we stumble into and not something we look to others for. Something in which we are full participants, fully alert, fully aware, fully active, and fully alive.

More Suheir

2006-08-22T23:39:00.000-07:00

" a woman will tell you
every home she has ever inhabited
has been broken into
starting with her body."

More Suheir Hammad

2006-08-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

More from the beautiful poet Suheir Hammad. This is an excerpt from
the poem "letter to anthony (critical resistance) "

II
i have always loved criminals
i tell people who try to shame
me into silence

with words like television conjugal
college libraries they say
can you imagine a library in a nigerian chinese a
columbian prison do you know what happens
in the world americans are so spoiled no idea
how lucky we are here

even you often write how
your time has offered reflection
meditation deepened your faith
but you 27 and have 10
years to go nowhere how much deeper
you going to get until a system based
on money deems you rehabilitated

i have always loved criminals
and the way you bomb my tag
butterphoenix all across your letters
reminds me our affirmation is considered vandalism

i have always loved
criminals and not only the thugged
out bravado of rap videos and champagne
popping hustlers but my father
born an arab baby boy
on the forced way out
of his homeland his mother exiled
and pregnant gave birth in a camp

the world pointed and said
palestinians do not exist palestinians
are roaches palestinians are two legged dogs
and israel built jails and weapons and
a history based on the absence of a people
israel made itself holy and chosen
and my existence a crime

so i have always loved criminals
it is a love of self
and i will not cut off any part of
me and place it behind fences and bars
and the fake ass belief
that there is a difference between
the inside and the outside

there is no outside anywhere
anymore just where we are and
what we do while we are here

and there
are people anthony who make a connection
between you puerto rican ryme slayer beautiful man and
young girls twisted into sex work and these
people nazim they are working to stop prisons
from being economically beneficial to depressed
communities and these people
bronx bomber they imagine a world
where money can't be made off the hurt
of the young the poor the colored the
sexualized the different and these people
nymflow they never heard you
spit lyrics and they won't
see the cut of your brilliance
from these mere words
but these people
42851-054 5812
they beleive human
beings can never be reduced
to numbers not in concentration
camps or reservations not in
refugee camps not in schools
and not in jails

these people
brother they resist

i will share these words
with them and i will
in your name and in the names
of all who imagine

stay well
and safe
reisist
and love
suheir

Great Quotes

2006-08-17T18:38:00.000-07:00

“ He would have been a great, great man

had somebody loved him.”

Henry Kissinger speaking of Richard Nixon

2006-08-17T04:16:00.000-07:00

I have been involved in a debate over on Fr. Neo's Blog about why our nation is so divided over Bush. During the course of our very interesting and heated "discussion" Dan Trabue, from Payne Hollow Visit posted these points. I was so impressed that I asked him if I could post them on my blog and he has done so on his as well. A BIG THANKS TO YOU MY BROTHER!

1. It is on the surface, a good thing that we have these differences between us. We have this chasm because we are striving to oppose injustice, oppression – in short, what I’ll call “evil.”

The Bush-types out there perceive there to be a great threat from “terrorists” which some have defined as “Islamo-fascists.” And there ARE those out there who’d harm innocent people and standing in opposition to them is a good thing.

Those who distrust Bush and his invasion of Iraq do so because they believe Bush’s actions are possibly illegal and that they encourage, not discourage terrorism. And standing in opposition to that which is illegal and which would encourage terrorism is also good thing.

And so, this desire to set our faces against evil is a good, wholesome desire. BUT…

2. From there, too many of us have decided that because we’re standing against evil, those who disagree with us must be standing in support of evil.

3. And from there, it becomes relatively easy for many of us to speak ill of They That Support Evil, to twist their words (“He said he doesn’t trust Bush’s leadership. He obviously hates America!” “She said that it’s a good idea to try to understand WHY the terrorists are acting like they do. She obviously supports terrorism!”) - EVEN if the twisted words are patently false – and to generally demonize the enemy.

4. Once we’ve accepted that the “other side” are not merely brothers and sisters with whom we have a disagreement over vital issues, but they are in fact monsters or monster-supporters, then they become less than human.

5. Once the enemy is less than human, it becomes all that much easier to further twist their words and demonize them and even want to see them stopped, even with violence, EVEN with deadly violence. EVEN deadly violence that kills innocent bystanders in the process.

And so, even though the initial starting place of opposing evil is a good, if we allow that opposition to begin to allow us to demonize the other side, then we have taken steps down a twisted path that can lead to terrorism, that can lead to evil, that can lead to becoming that very thing which we had hoped to oppose to begin with.

Standing in opposition to evil is vital, but HOW we do so is more vital, yet.

Repost - Persepolis

2006-08-15T07:57:00.001-07:00

This is page one of Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi. It is the autobiographical story of a child in Iran just trying her best to grow up. I highly recommend this book to everyone. It is a beautiful read. Don't let the unique format fool you. It can be deeply touching and heart wrenching. She also wrote a sequal Persepolis 2, which I find to be as equally appealing. It certainly gives the "enemy" a very human face...

Also a quote by Marjane Satrapi
"...this old and great civilization has been discussed mostly in connection with fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism. As an Iranian who has lived more than half of my life in Iran I know that this image is far from the truth. I believe that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists. I also don't want those Iranians who lost thier lives in prisons defending freedom, who died in the war against Iraq, who suffered under various repressive regimes, or who were forced to leave their families and flee their homeland to be forgotten."

The Box

2006-08-13T07:29:00.000-07:00

Where are you in relation to the box?

Maybe I should explain myself. Last weekend I had a small birthday dinner for two friends. I recently moved into a home that is only partially renovated and we hadn't gotten around to painting the dining room walls. I was a little vexed about this at first, but then I decided to break out my colored markers and allow our guest to write their birthday blessings on the wall. It turned out to be a lot of fun and drew attention away from the ugliness of the need for a paint job.

Well anyway, my oldest son Abe came home and drew a stick man in a box and wrote "Abe" with an arrow pointing to the little man in the box. A while later, another stickman appeared drawn outside the box by my youngest son, Jonathan. The caption with an arrow read, "Jon, outside the box." So of course, Mom haaaad to get in on the act and I drew a stick person flying over the box with the caption, "Mom, flying over the box."

So my question to you is this, where are you in relation to the box? Are you in the box? Outside the box? Flying above the box? One foot in one foot out? Is it a box you constructed for yourself, or did others place you there? Perhaps society has placed you in the box, family, friends, or even your church.

But you need to know, box inhabiters, you don't have to stay inside the box unless you choose to.

So I ask you again, where are you in relation to the box?

2006-08-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

I heard this poem read by the incredible female poet, Suheir Hammad. I am not sure of the author and believe that she credited it to someone else.

I will not dance to your war drum.
I will not lend my soul
nor my bones
to your war drum.
I will not dance to your beating.
I know that beat
it is lifeless.
I know intimately that skin you are hitting.
It was alive once
and hunted
stolen
stretched.
I will not dance to your drummed up war.
I will not pop
spin
break
for you.
I will not hate for you
or even hate you.
I will not kill for you.
Especially
I will not die for you.
I will not mourn the dead
with murder nor suicide.
I will not side with you
nor dance to bombs because everyone else is dancing.
Everyone can be wrong.
Life is a right
not collateral or casual.
I will not forget where I come from.
I will craft my own drum.
Gather my beloved near
and our chanting will be dancing.
Our humming will be drumming.
I will not be played.
I will not lend my name
nor my rhythm to your beat.
I will dance
and resist
and dance
and persist
and dance.
This heartbeat is louder than death.
Your war drum ain't louder than this breath.

PEACE ~ PAX ~ PAIX ~ PAZ ~ PACE

2006-08-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

Dan Trabue over at Payne Hollow Visit allowed me to share this post from his blog.Thanks Dan!!!

Have a Blessed Peace Sunday

The following was written by Gary Kohls. I'm sharing it here because this Sunday is Peace Sunday, the time we stop to recall the devastation of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to rededicate ourselves to the work of peace.

Gary is a Christian peacemaker whose writing I've read as a result of my connections to Every Church a Peace Church (www.ecapc.org). It's a timely history lesson.

Nagasaki is famous in the history of Japanese Christianity. Not only was it the site of the largest Christian church in the Orient, St. Mary’s Cathedral, but it also had the largest concentration of baptized Christians in all of Japan.

It was the city where the legendary Jesuit missionary, Francis Xavier, established a mission church in 1549, a Christian community which survived and prospered for several generations. However, soon after Xavier’s planting of Christianity in Japan, Portuguese and Spanish commercial interests began to be accurately perceived by the Japanese rulers as exploitive, and therefore the religion of the Europeans (Christianity) and their new Japanese converts became the target of brutal persecutions.

Within 60 years of the start of Xavier’s mission church, it was a capital crime to be a Christian. The Japanese Christians who refused to recant of their beliefs suffered ostracism, torture and even crucifixions similar to the Roman persecutions in the first three centuries of Christianity. After the reign of terror was over, it appeared to all observers that Japanese Christianity had been stamped out.

However, 250 years later, in the 1850s, after the coercive gunboat diplomacy of Commodore Perry forced open an offshore island for American trade purposes, it was discovered that there were thousands of baptized Christians in Nagasaki, living their faith in a catacomb existence, completely unknown to the government - which immediately started another purge. But because of international pressure, the persecutions were soon stopped, and Nagasaki Christianity came up from the underground.

And by 1917, with no help from the government, the Japanese Christian community built the massive St. Mary’s Cathedral, in the Urakami River district of Nagasaki. Now it turned out, in the mystery of good and evil, that St. Mary’s Cathedral was one of the landmarks that the Bock’s Car bombardier had been briefed on, and looking through his bomb site over Nagasaki that day, he identified the cathedral and ordered the drop.

At 11:02 am, Nagasaki Christianity was boiled, evaporated and carbonized in a scorching, radioactive fireball. The persecuted, vibrant, faithful, surviving center of Japanese Christianity had become ground zero.

And what the Japanese Imperial government could not do in over 200 years of persecution, American Christians did in 9 seconds. The entire worshipping community of Nagasaki was wiped out.

Bless God

2006-08-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

In many churches you can hear people say quite often during worship, " We bless you Lord!" or "Bless your name God." or something similar. After years of hearing this, I've got to thinking about it quite a bit lately, and I'm asking myself if blessing God is really something we can do with words. Think about it. How do you know when you have been blessed? Isn't it because of some type of manifest evidence? We know that we are blessed by God every morning that we wake up and in countless ways throughout the course of the day. In fact the blessings that we receive from the hand of God throughout the course of any given day are innumerable and impossible to even begin to tally. But how many of us bless God in ways other than what we offer during worship on Sunday? In pondering this question, I have begun to ask God about even the most mundane aspects of my life. I want to know that apart from my, "Bless you God!" on Sunday that God is truly blessed by what manifest in my life Monday through Saturday. I want to know that He is blessed by the way I respond to someone who might be a wee bit cranky. I want to know that he is blessed by the way I respond to the young person I witness making the wrong choice. I want to know that He is blessed by the way I speak to the bus driver and the blue collar employee. I want to know that not just my words during worship bless Him, but that my actions after worship bless Him as well. I guess I'm just feeling that words with out actions to back them up are just little more than lip service - which really blesses no one at all.

s'allumer

2006-07-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

I have been studying French for a year now. Recently I learned that "to light" is "s'allumer" in French. We're assuming it is derived from the same word as illuminate which is from the Latin - illuminare, which means "to light up". I found this interesting and very appropriate to what God has been doing in my life. You're probably familiar with this scenario - something unexpected happens to you and you find you respond in a way that shocks and surprises even you. I believe such incidents are not accidental, but are instead choreographed into our lives by a loving God who is ever perfecting us as we are transformed into the image and likeness of His son.
But it can be discouraging at times. We feel we have made so much progress and then something hits us that makes us question how much, or even if, we have grown at all spiritually. While praying about this recently God spoke to me and what he said encouraged me. He told me that our inner spiritual journey is like a walk from darkened room to darkened room and in each room we enter we turn on the light - if we have the courage.

We all have things in us that need to change - some we are aware of, and some hang like unnoticed cobwebs in a darkened room we rarely venture into. God never forces us into those areas, but always presents us with a choice. We can turn and close the door and walk away, or we can choose to venture in and turn on the light. And it really is all about choice. We have to choose to honestly look at those things within us that are yet to be transformed. We have to look at that bitterness, that lust, that selfishness, that self-righteous attitude, that self-pity, that inability to give or receive love, that unwillingness to forgive, that lack of trust - its ultimately our choice.
No one will force us - not even God.

Do you have the courage to s'allumer?

Shiprock

2006-07-03T18:04:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago a wonderful friend took me on a trip to the southwest. While driving we saw far off in the distance Shiprock. Like so much of the southwest, even from a distance its massiveness was a spectacle to behold. Before returning home I bought a beautiful little plaque that stated, "Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking." When I returned home I had a dream. I was wandering in the desert at night. I had been trying to find shiprock. It was so dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. After wandering for a while like this, certain I was lost, I decided to lay down for the night and wait for morning. When I awakened at dawns first light I opened my eyes to see shiprock looming high above me. I had unknowingly stopped my wanderings right at its base the night before. I began to climb its towering heights and as I did the Spirit of God fell heavy on me. The higher I climbed, the heavier it became and I began to weep with joy as I was consumed by the presence of God. I keep a picture of Shipwrock close at hand and when I am going through things other than the presence of God that are trying to consume me I look at it and meditate on it and remember the meaning of the dream. Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking.

The Yin and the Yang

2006-06-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that there is no neutral ground in the Kingdom of God? Jesus said that he who does not gather with Him scatters. You're either a gatherer or a scatterer. You're either building the Kingdom of God, or tearing it down by default. There are no disinterested spectators in the Kingdom of God - only builders or destroyers.

Lately I am coming to a much greater understanding of the frustration God exhibits toward the lukewarm Christian. In Revelation he tells us he will spew the lukewarm out of His mouth. Have you ever met anyone who just didn't want to do anything? People like that really scare me. Hangers on. They don't want to lift a brick to help build the walls, but they still want to claim association with the group. They don't have the decency to sit down with the "cold" people and get the heck out of the way of those who are building. Perhaps they would recoil at the idea of being labeled destroyers because to their own minds they aren't actually tearing bricks off of the wall. But they are destroyers by default because their lackadaisical attitude impedes the progress of those who would build, either by distraction, disruption, or a refusal to add needed resources and energy to the building.

I think each of us have played both roles at one time or another. Oh, I do believe that there are those who are predominantly one or the other. But I also think its worth while for each of us to examine our daily actions and ask ourselves if we are building or destroying in different areas of our life - with our relationships, finances, and other resources. Let's not be fooled into thinking that our selfishness or disinterest affects no one but ourselves, because every choice we make is either an act of gathering or scattering.

And yet, I love her still . . .

2006-06-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

Van Gogh

My Empire of Dirt

2006-05-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

Have you heard or seen the video for "Hurt" by Johnny Cash?
Its pretty amazing. I like the lines of the song where he sings, " And you can have it all - my empire of dirt." Whenever I hear it I can't help but think about Paul's admonition to the early church. I have grown to like this song by Johnny Cash, I guess because more than anything I feel like I share his frustration, and sense of disillusionment. It seems to express his hollowness that he now feels is attached to so much of his life and the pursuits that drove him. For me it expresses well how I feel about the modern church.

When did this become so complicated?
When did speculation become discernment?
When did gossip become a prayer request?
When did denial become a fruit of the Holy Spirit?
When did disorder become freedom and structure become legalism?

Maybe I'm just tired. I'm tired of Christians who behave as if the church is their personal platform for superstardom. I'm tired of pastors who fleece their flocks. I'm tired of slander passing for a prophetic word. I'm tired of people being so deep they have gone off the deep end. I'm tired of people being demonized because they had the nerve to speak the truth we didn't want to hear.

If we are going to lose our minds - could we at least take on the mind of Christ?
You know, the one this is supposedly all about in the first place . . .

"But each one should be careful how he builds. ¹¹For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹²If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. ¹⁴If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. ¹⁵If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." I Corinthians 3: 10-15

Hopefully you will be able to click on the linkbelow and access the video.

http://www.losthighwayrecords.com/e/cash11403.html

April in Paris

2006-05-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

Weeeee'll . . . I haven't written much lately. There are several reasons for that. First and foremost being the realization of my lifelong dream of visiting Paris. It was life changing for me, and I think I am going through reverse culture shock . . .
The trip far and away exceeded even my highest expectations. I was overwhelmed, to say the least.
There were so many things that happened to me on the trip. In order to help me remember and record them I wrote a daily group email and sent it to my friends. I will post it here for those of you who care to read it. The photo at the top was taken at the top of the spire at Sacre Coeur - my favorite spot in Paris. I thought the Celtic influence was interesting.
************************************************************************************
Apr 18

The people at the B&B where I am staying in London are kind enough to let me use the computer at the desk. I'm not sure if I will be that luck in Paris, so I will take advantage of the opportunity while I can.

The flight would have been wonderful if it had not been for a very loud spoiled toddler who screamed for three hours and then started all over again when he woke up in the morning. Good thing it wasn't reality tv - I know how I would have voted mid Atlantic. But I was one of the very few non- Indians on the flight. I was adopted in the terminal by the patriarch of a Sikh family. As it turned out we ended up in the same row on the flight. He was born in Kenya, lived there the first thirty years and then moved to London. They were all very nice. The food on the flight was Indian and amazingly good.

I am completely overwhelmed by London in the best sense of the word. I have been reading and dreaming about coming here for most of my life, and yet nothing prepares you for the real experience. I think more than anything it is the atmosphere. I wonder if that is what heaven is like? Everyone is very kind and helpful here. So far the only snag has been that here they use a smart card with a micro-chip, rather than a magnetic strip. All of the businesses still accept my old card, but I have not been able to withdraw cash. So far I haven't needed to. London has exceeded every expectation. It is all it is supposed to be and more. Red double deckers, red mail boxes, red phone booths! Red, red red - these are my kind of people - Ha! The choir at Westminster is on holiday - rats. Shopped at Harrods. Incredible. It lives up to its reputation. It actually does have stuff in every price range. Ate at a Lebanese restaurant for dinner, when I finally slowed down enough to remember that I actually need to eat . . .

Hope I can find access to a computer in Paris.
************************************************************************************
April 19

please excuse errors as the keyboards here are different.

Arrived in Paris safely yesterday. Card works in the ATM! Saw Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysee. Thought London shopping was better.

But something unbelievable . . .

I asked the folks at the hotel to direct me to the nearest Metro Stop. They told me to walk north and take the second left. A half block from my turn I saw an Indian running a corner market. I then saw that the next shop actually sold Indian groceries and that the one next to it was an Indian restaurant. I turned the corner and found myself on an entire street of Indian and Sri Lankan businesses!!! I stopped to talk to someone and they informed me that I was in the Indian and Sri Lankan community in Paris!!!!! It smells and looks just like Devon Ave. Two blocks from my hotel! This is really too much! I'm using one of several of thier internet cafes to type this. Im not sure how much access I will have as they were closed when I returned last night, so if you don't hear from me don't worry. I seem to have a knack for navigating metros. The pickpockets came at me when I got off the train. I gave them a look that sent them flying.

I had my first meal in Paris last night! Wow! I ordered salmon, always my first choice when on the menu. It melted in my mouth like butter. Have encountered the infamous French attitude, but found that if I at least try to speak the little French I know the frosty exterior melts and is replaced by the warmest of smiles. I'm going off the beaten path today as I found that the touriste spots are mainly packed with Americans - we sure do know how to make ourselves obvious.

My love to everyone.
************************************************************************************

Apr 20

I am convinced at this point that God is my tour guide. I am seeing everything I want to see and then some, including a side of Black Paris that isnt in the tour books. The neighborhoods are the way to go. The people are extremely kind, helpful and welcoming. The high tourist areas are overwhelming to me in the worst sense of the word.

Yesterday I got off the train at a busy market I had noticed next to a Tati. I found myself in the middle of the African and Arab neighborhood. A lot of people from Senegal. FABULOUS shopping! Especially in comparison to tourist areas. I walked for miles and hours all over Montmarte, turned a corner and looked up just in time to read a little sign telling me I was standing in front of the former home of Vincent Van Gogh and his brother Theo. Met the owner of a little shop who sells blown glass from Lebanon. Could not believe the prices! He told me no one from Paris shops on the Champs Elysee. The shopping is good in the hood.

Saw Notre Dame this morning. Honestly I preferred the Sacre Coeur in Montmarte. But the exterior of Notre Dame was exquisite. Again too many tourist. I had a hard time praying there for all the noise. Sacre Coeur did not allow pictures. I found out at Notre Dame that is a good thing.

Right in the middle of the Indian neighborhood there is a Hell's Angels France Biker Club. Nice to know they're branching out.
*************************************************************************************
Apr 21

Hey all! Is it really Friday already? Today I am slowing way down. After walking for four days straight I have to give my poor feet a break. Saw Musee d'Orsay yesterday. Incredible!!!! I started at the Louvre but it was sooooooooo hot and crowded I had to bail out. When a place makes you miserable it aint worth it. But I did get to see the mother of all chandeliers in Napolean's apartments. I am going to plan a trip back just to do the Louvre after Christmas. Hope Abe and Jonathan can come with me this time.

My only definite aim for the next two days is Versailles. I am not even sure I am going to hit the flea market. I found Prentemps and Galleries Du Lafayette yesterday and I'm really shopped out at this point. I might still try to go to Giverny tomorrow insted.

Only bad incident so far - I allowed a very pushy woman to get me flustered at Orsay and dropped the camera. It is fine, but I lost all my pictures .... Another good reason to come back.

The Metro here is incredible! It runs so quickly. I rarely walk into a station and have to wait for a train. There is usually one right there. And when it pulls out another is right there behind it within a minute or two. In fact it runs so well that there have been times I have hopped the Metro and come back to my hotel just to use the bathroom or drop off packages! It really does run that well!

I haven't had the same experience with food that Corey and Stacy had. Everywhere I go I get huge portions and feel guilty about leaving all that food behind as I have no where to keep it. The Kabobs at the Turkish stands are wonderful.

Gotta go.

*************************************************************************************
Apr 22

There should never be a last day of vacations. They are too bitter sweet. You should just be able to skip from next to last day to home. Just when you get to know the people in the hood and remember all of the French you forgot you have to come back home. Ces't la vie . . .

Got lost yesterday. It was fabulous! Ended up in St. Germaine en Laye. Right by the train station there is a gorgeous chateau that is now a museum. Going to try to go back today. Also has beautiful gardens and a great view of the city. Ended up taking a joy ride through the suburbs on the bus. I didn't worry because I knew that as long as there was a train station at the end of the route I could get back in the city. Passed some of those ruins of arches I had wanted to see. Passed a suburban mall that was Massive!!!!! The suburbs have a much different feel than the city, just like in the states.

Had a great breakfast this morning.

Determined not to leave Paris without eating a crepe, I ordered a Grand Marnier Crepe thinking it would come with a nice orange sauce laced with a little Grand Marnier. Little did I know that they pour a bucket of alcohol on it AFTER it cooks . . . Oh well, Bon Appetit!

The saddest thing about Europe is that her churches are full of people but no one comes to worship.

Well, I guess this is it. I start towards home first thing tomorrow.

God Bless.

*************************************************************************************
Apr 25 For those of you I haven't already seen, I want to let you know that I made it back home safe and sound.

Also, I wanted to share a couple of things about my trip. Ruth had asked me what God was showing me on my trip. During the course of my journey it was very clear to me that God was with me every step of the way. For example, I like to do needle work and on my way into Paris I was wondering if French women do needlework and if so where they buy their supplies. In search of a teddy bear, I wandered right into the needlework dept in Printemps in Paris. This happened to me over and over again on the trip. Time and time again I would have a desire to know or see something and it would just happen without my trying to make it happen - God was giving me the desires of my heart and showing me that He is with me. And even though I went on the trip alone, I have never felt less alone in my life.

Also, just when you think God is finished . . .
The flight home was incredible. We flew on a 747 and I had a window seat as well as being alone in my row, so I was able to lift the arms and stretch out. But that was far from being the biggest blessing of the flight. On the way home we flew over the tip of Greenland. The sun, of course, was out for the whole way for the return journey. As we neared the tip of Greenland I looked out the windows and began to see patches of ice floating in the water. I then began to see scattered streams of ice flows. This then turned into an ocean entirely filled with ice flows. We then crossed the tip of Greenland. the barren landscape consisted of soaring jet black mountains peeking through the snow. It was one of the most stunning things I have ever seen in my life. Isn't that just like God? Just when you think He is done blessing you, you turn around and He is pouring more on.
Run to win.

Are You Stuck?

2006-05-01T04:57:00.000-07:00

One of the things I have had to learn is that if I'm going to continue to move forward, I have to be able to ignore and avoid stuck people.

You know the ones -
Stuck people give you 900 reasons why your dream will never happen.

Stuck people are the ones who see you moving toward your future and start reminding you of your past, what you did yesterday, last week, and six months ago.

Stuck people try to suck you into their wars over non-issues like choir uniforms, what color we should paint the bathroom, and if the ushers should wear black sox or navy.

Stuck people have no greater dream than to be the biggest fish in the small pond that they are currently swimming in - as if being the president of the PTA is actually a legitimate life goal.

Stuck people are the ones who look you up and down, see that you've lost weight and act as if they would rather have their tongue ripped from their head than compliment you.

Stuck people brag that they have been doing the same dang thing the same way for the last twenty years - as if that is a testimony.

Stuck people want to keep you focused on where you are at now and what you were then, rather than allowing you to focus on where you are going and what you can be.

If you are going to fulfill your dream, you had better learn to block out and ignore the stuck people.
Stuck people want company. Then they won't feel lonely. If everyone else around them is living a life just as hum-drum and mediocre as they are, they'll spend less time in the dark corners of their minds asking themselves the question, "Could I have had more, done more, been more?"

Stuck people want you to be stuck, just like them.
Maybe some day they will wake up and realize that the fly paper of their lives isn't as great as they thought it was. But I don't have time to stick around and find out.

Well Hell's Bells

2006-04-29T04:24:00.000-07:00

Just want to say goodbye to a friend.
This is for you.
Hope you C it.
Keep your hands up.

The Boxer

I am just a poor boy, though my story's seldom told.
I have squandered my resistance,
For a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises.
All lies and jest.
Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.

When I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy,
In the company of strangers,
In the quiet of a railway station, runnin' scared.
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters,
Where the ragged people go.
Lookin' for the places, only they would know.

Lie-la-lie ...

Asking only workman's wages I come lookin' for a job,
But I get no offers,
Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue.
I do declare there were times when I was so lonesome,
I took some comfort there.
Oooh la, la, la ...

Li la li...

Now the years are rollin' by me, they are rockin' evenly
And I'm older than I once was, younger than I'll be, that's not unusual
Though it isn't strange, after changes upon changes
We are more or less the same, after changes we are more or less the same

Li la li ...

And I’m laying out my winter clothes, wishing I was gone, goin’ home
Where the new york city winters aren’t bleedin’ me, leadin’ me to goin' home

In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade,
And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down,
Or cut him 'til he cried out in his anger and his shame,
"I am leaving, I am leaving."
But the fighter still remains.

Lie-la-lie ...

by Paul Simon

Safe and Sound

2006-04-26T05:43:00.000-07:00

Eugene Burnand
Les disciples Pierre et Jean courant au sepulcre le matin de la Resurrection

Well, I made it back from Paris safe and sound. The trip was INCREDIBLE! But right now I am suffering from too much jet lag to blog much, so I will leave you with this post of my favorite painting that I saw while on my trip. The small scale does not enable one to see the emotion the artist captured in the eyes of Peter and John.

Salut - A tout a l'heure

2006-04-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

Well, the Angevoix is off to Paris for a week. I have wanted to go to Paris since I was old enough to understand what Paris is. If I do this post correctly, you should be able to go to the link and scroll around a breathtaking view of Paris at night!

http://www.arnaudfrichphoto.com/paris-panoramique-360-110.htm

Carl Larsson

2006-04-06T05:12:00.000-07:00

Carl Larsson is one of my favorite artist. He was a Swedish artist who lived in the late 19th and early 20th century. His father was alcoholic and as a result his upbringing was harsh and impoverished. It was his goal as an adult to create the warmth of the happy home that he had longed for as a child. If his art work is any example of the reality of the homelife he created for himself and his family, he certainly succeeded. The subject of most of his beautiful water colors is domestic tranquility at its joyful best.

What he got right.

2006-04-03T06:50:00.000-07:00

"Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
Matthew 14:29-30

How far do you have to sink?

Let me explain. I have been in church forever . . . well at least it seems that way sometimes. And I have heard many many preachers expound on the story of Peter stepping out of the boat to walk on the water towards Jesus. I have heard it used as an allegory on keeping our eyes focused on Christ in the midst of a trial rather than looking at our circumstances. I have heard it used to talk about faith, having it and the lack thereof. I have heard preachers use it to talk about fear versus faith. But there is one thing that Peter got very right that I have never heard anyone talk about. When Peter began to sink, he cried out to Jesus. He didn't cry out to the other people in the boat. He didn't try to swim back to the boat. He didn't try to save himself, work it out on his own, think it out, cry it out, or sulk it out . He didn't wait until salt water stung his eyes and water filled his nose and mouth. Peter saw Jesus as a first response rather than a last resort.

So let me ask you the question again. How far do you have to sink?

Dr. Maya Angelou

2006-04-01T19:16:00.000-08:00

Dr.Maya Angelou came to our church and spoke last night. Yes, I am bragging.
She was incredible.


You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

The Perfect Storm

2006-03-25T04:25:00.000-08:00

Have you met your perfect storm?

Have you ever faced a trial that seemed made to order just to take you out. One that pushed all the right buttons in all the right places of your life. One that seemed to play on your every last weakness? Did you feel capsized? Did you wonder if you were going to drown? Did you ever face a trial that took you to the point that you realized that there just wasn't any use in playing anymore, trying to hide your pain behind a false smile or faith that you just weren't feeling at the moment? Were people disappointed that you didn't handle it with the strength they thought you should have? Did you feel judged?

Jesus faced his perfect storm. He faced it on his knees in the Garden of Gethsemane. I think that it is very interesting that he takes Peter, John and James with him to pray. The Word tells us He was deeply distressed and troubled, that He was in anguish, and that His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. He told His disciples that His soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. When He finds the three disciples He chose to accompany Him asleep, it is Peter He addresses. Why just Peter? Peter the bold one, the brash one, the quick tempered and boastful, the one who swore never to disown Him? Is it because Christ knew Peter, of all the disciples, needed to see him at his lowest point of sorrow? Did Peter, more than any of the others need to see the 100% human of the 100% divine Christ?

No one likes to go through a storm. But I have learned that storms can leave behind some priceless gifts. The storms of my life gave me a whole new appreciation for grace. Now when I hear the word "grace" it flames up like a fire within my heart. When I sing about God being my strength, its as if every cell of my being is echoing the sentiment. We like to put people on pedestals and when they fail to live up to all we think they should be, we love to judge. Part of us feels betrayed, let down, and sometimes disillusioned. We ask ourselves, " How could they!?!"
Peter demanded a lot of himself, and many times people who demand a lot of themselves can be harsh judges of those around them. Perhaps that is why it was so important for Jesus to have Peter witness His agony in the Garden. Perhaps like Peter, we need to be a little less quick to judge those around us who fail to respond to life's trials with the outward appearance of strength that we think they should have . . . at least until we are sure we have already faced our own perfect storm.

More Potholes than Pavement

2006-03-23T03:45:00.000-08:00

There are times in my walk with God that I have to go old school. There are times in my life when I have to go back and sing the old hymns the way I grew up hearing them as a child. There are times in my life when my prayers are not very pretty. There are times in my faith walk when the road is so dark, and there seems to be more potholes than pavement. These are times when I have to go way back and when my Grandma Clara hangs very heavy in my mind.
Grandma Clara was called "China doll" by all who knew her. They say she was the prettiest woman for miles around and had a voice like an angel. When she met my grandfather, Paris, they were working in an elastic factory in Kentucky. They began singing gospel together and would travel around to churches singing with another couple. They got married and began to have children. My grandfather began to make what was good money at that time. Unfortunately as his money increased, his faith decreased as well as his concern for his family. He began to drink. Heavily.
As alcohol increased its destructive grip on their home the money dwindled away. My grandfather became a very bitter man, hostile toward religion and abusive to his family. He would disappear and abandoned my grandmother with her 9 small children. They lived in abject poverty. They slept on pallets on the floor. Sometimes they would wake up to find snow on the bed covers. My father said that sometimes the first child up got the clothes. He didn't have a matching pair of shoes until he joined the army.
The neighbors say that when the children were small my grandmother would scrub whatever they had, put it on them and march them to church. I can't imagine what life was like for Grandma Clara. Not back in those days. I would like to tell you that she stood firm and was a shining testimony of grace, strength, and faith, but as her circumstances grew worse she turned to alcohol as well, and it eventually took her life. I do not judge her. After her death her small children were scattered hither and yon, some of them never to be reunited again this side of glory.
Oddly enough, when things get really rough in my life, when I feel abandoned by everything and everyone I am used to leaning on, when I feel betrayed by my own circumstances, its my grandmother I think about. When I feel that I don't have the strength to take one more step forward, and that I have been knocked down for the final time, I think of Grandma Clara. I think about her and I get a sense way down deep inside of me that I have to keep going, that I am not in this alone, and that I'm not just standing firm for myself, but I am standing firm for her too. At these times I think about the way satan took my grandmother out and I know I have to make it, not just for myself, but for her.

My Daddy was a Preacher

2006-03-21T04:40:00.000-08:00

Recently I learned something new about one of my favorite artist, Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh's father was a Methodist minister. As it turns out, before Vincent became an artist he felt a very passionate calling to ministry and desired to "Preach the Gospel everywhere." He did become a preacher in the coal mining district of La Borinage, Belgium. Conditions there were bitterly harsh. Wishing to live as the people he served he gave all he had to the poor and slept on a bed of straw as they did. He was dismissed from his post for "undermining the dignity of the priesthood." He was later to write in his personal letters to his brother Theo, " Oh I am no friend of present day Christianity, although its founder was sublime. I have seen through present day Christianity all too well."

A Time to Love

2006-03-16T07:32:00.000-08:00

A Time To Love

~ Stevie Wonder

We have time for racism
We have time for criticism
Held bondage by our -ism's
When will there be a time to love

We make time to debate religion
Passing bills and building prisons
For building fortunes and passing judgements
When will there be a time to love

At this point in history we have a choice to make
To either walk a path of love
Or be crippled by our hate

We have time to cause pollution
We have time to cause confusion
All wrapped up in our own illusions
When will there be a time to love

We make time to conquer nations
Time for oil exploration
Hatred, violence and terrorism
When will there be a time to love

At this moment in time
We have a choice to make
Father God is watching
While we cause mother earth so much pain
It's such a shame

Not enough money for
The young, the old and the poor
But for war there is always more
When will there be a time to love

We make time for paying taxes
Or paying bills and buying status
But we will pay the consequences
If we don't make the time to love

Now's the time to pay attention
Yes now is the time - to love
A time love - love
A time to love
Please please won't you tell me
When will there be a time to love

Forgiveness completely

2006-03-09T20:30:00.000-08:00

It seems like lately I am learning my best spiritual lessons from either the unchurched or from children. I was thinking this morning about a former boss of mine, Jim. I worked for him when I was twenty years old. He owned a chain of restaurants and was very successful. He tried college but said he realized it wasn't for him. He would say that he knew he would never be as smart as everyone else, but he could out work anybody. Jim was as cute as a button and always on ten. Despite his success he was very down to earth and treated everyone with the same respect. It wasn't above him to come into the restaurant on a busy night and grab a broom or bus tables. I worked for him with my best friends and roommates, Ginny and Shirley.
One day Shirley's boyfriend came to me very upset. He said that Jim had slept with my roommates while on a business trip out of town and then threatened them if they ever spoke up about it. I probably wouldn't have believed it, but since the trip, Ginny and Shirley were constantly laughing and giggling about a private joke. I didn't know what it was about but I got the feeling it was about something illicit. Also I was very gullible and just couldn't imagine my friends making up such a wild tale.
Well, to make a long story short, I confronted Jim. I even threatened him. It was the only time I have ever seen him angry. He denied it and stormed out. A while later my friends arrived and Shirley confessed that it was all a big lie she had made up to manipulate her boyfriend.
I apologized to Jim and he accepted my apology graciously. Thank God he didn't want or need his pound of flesh in that small town where jobs were scarce. In fact his forgiveness was so complete that he even tried to fix me up with his best friend. And a while later, when a manager who resented my faith accused me of stealing, he intervened for me. He knew I wasn't a thief.
Jim didn't go to church. Maybe that's why he didn't know anything about church forgiveness. You know the kind where we mouth the words but still want to hold it over a person's head until we feel they have suffered sufficiently under our resentment. He didn't know about church forgiveness where we say we have forgiven, yet every time a person's name is mentioned we say more with our facial expressions than our words ever could. He didn't know about church forgiveness, where we spread our resentment under the guise of a prayer request because we are "just so concerned" about the situation. Jim didn't know anything about any of that. When he forgave you he forgave you completely and he never mentioned it again.

Broken Dreams

2006-03-03T05:50:00.000-08:00

Ever had a dream?
Ever had a dream that you nurtured and prepared for? Did you cradle it in you imagination? Did you hold it close to you like a baby? Did you feed it and coddle it, sing it to sleep at night?
You were careful who you let hold your dream. It was precious and you knew you just couldn't trust anybody. And you waited for the day that your dream would mature and walk and play and sing back to you. You waited and waited and waited, sometimes thinking you couldn't wait another minute.

Ever thought your dream was gone? Did it make you angry? Did it trouble your sleep? Did you carry your hurt around like an unprotected wound that is easily re-injured? Did you mourn your dream like the mother of a murdered baby who couldn't get justice?

Look again.
If your dream is something planted in your spirit by God,
you're baby may not be dead.
Like the daughter of Jarius, it may only be sleeping.
Just waiting for the Master's touch to wake it up again.

My Two Cents

2006-02-24T05:32:00.000-08:00

I have been very sick with bronchitis for a while. But while I was sick God really did a tremendous work in me. He dealt with me on issues of pride, humility and love, mainly love. One thing I have noticed is that when you start talking about love, people are kind of "Yeah, whatever" because we throw the word around so much we think we have gotten it already. Then we have the other church folks who are so "deep" that they try to spiritualize it to the point that love starts to look like hate and according to their "theology", justifiably so.

But I'm at a point in my life where I take very seriously the words of Christ where He said that all of the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. I like that because it makes me feel like, " Okay, so if I just focus on walking in love, the big picture, everything else will fall into place." I also find myself spending a lot of time thinking about what Paul said in I Corinthians 13 about how we can understand all mysteries, speak with the tongues of men and angels, die as martyrs and give all we have to the poor, yet if we have not love we have gained nothing.

It is so simple, and yet we make it so hard. What is so difficult about stopping and asking ourselves,"How would I want to be approached in this situation? How would I want to be talked to? How would I want to be talked about? How would I want to be treated?" But we don't do it then we make all kinds of excuses about why our mean, moody and insecure behavior is okay.

Love demands a maturity of us that aint no joke. It forces us to approach a brother or sister in love, rather than talk about them to everyone else behind their back. It ask us to believe the best of others, when appearances seem otherwise, I causes us to step forward in defence of the weak, and to put the needs of others ahead of ourselves. It gives us the humility to offer praise when it is due, to listen and consider the ideas of others and to be gracious to those who can't do a thing for us. It makes us forgive rather than engaging in spiteful petty behaviors.

It makes us stop measuring our love walk by how we treat those whom we like or have use for.

2006-02-23T04:23:00.000-08:00

“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.”

Frederick Douglass

2006-02-20T06:23:00.000-08:00

2006-02-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

"I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

What's Wrong with this Picture?

2006-02-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

February 06, 2006

Harry Belafonte event sceduled for February 7 is postponed

Belafonte, a civil rights pioneer, has been asked to speak at Coretta Scott King's funeral

Did you hear Harry Belafonte speak at the recent funeral of Coretta Scott King?
No?
Nor did I. But not because he wasn't invited. Harry Belafonte was a very close personal friend of Coretta Scott King. He helped pay for the funeral arrangements of her assassinated husband and was by her side when he flew her and her children to the actual service.

So, being the close personal friend of Mrs. King that he was, and having received an invitation to speak, why didn't Mr. Belafonte speak?

As it turns out when the Prez decided he wanted to attend the funeral and speak the White House had to approve the program and the speakers on it. The invitation to Harry Belafonte, an outspoken critic of Bush, was then rescinded.

My Pastor, Fr. Michael Louis Pfleger has had similar experiences. In 2003 he was asked by Coretta Scott King to speak at Ebenezer Baptist Church on the annual King Day celebration. A very high honor shared with presidents and other dignitaries. The Prez was there. Before my pastor spoke the president's cronies cornered him and tried to bully him about what he should and shouldn't say. He went and asked Mrs. King about it. She told him to say whatever he felt God would want him to say, and he did. Within weeks of the engagement Mrs. King received a phone call telling her my Pastor was not to speak there again. Fr. Mike is also invited to Howard University every year to speak. This year they received a similar call from the White House.

My question is this. Do we get it? Do we really understand the real state of the union that we live in? Do we really understand that we live under a government that spies on us and dictates who can speak where and when? John Lake, an Evangelist and Faith Healer well known around the turn of the 20th century made the statement that governments throughout history have discovered that you can do anything you want to a people until they don't have bread. Its only when the primal hunger urge hits them that they are moved to resistance and revolution.
What is it going to take for us to wake up? If lies about weapons of mass destruction and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina won't do it, what will?

There has been much criticism of those who actually got to speak at the funeral about the propriety of their remarks. But those who are familiar with the civil rights movement know that it is a long standing tradition within the civil rights movement to use funerals as a platform to speak out on the issues at hand. Dr. King did it many times, specifically at the funeral of the four little girls who died in the Birmingham Church bombing in 1963. To some living in our current times the need might not seem as imperative nor the danger as impending. Those who are in touch with the faces of Katrina victims know better. The times are indeed as perilous as ever and the need for a prophetic voice to address the issues at hand is as immediate as ever. Katrina should have taught us this. Weapons of Mass Destruction should have taught us this. A government spying on its citizens should have taught us this. A government that endlessly seeks to control and inhibit the media and restrict free speech should have taught us this.

Despite the uproar over remarks at the funeral, neither Bush nor the Republican party were addressed directly, but rather the issues that Mr. and Mrs. King lived and died fighting for were spoken of. Any direct inference to anyone present was left to be drawn by the hearer. And as they say, "If the shoe fits . . .

Bonhoeffer

2006-02-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

"If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Coretta Scott King

2006-02-02T20:39:00.000-08:00

"Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated."