a picture of james’ chess board taken during a study break yesterday:
may you give thanks
may you give thanks,
both in times of blessing
and hardship.
may you see the hand of God
working in your life in all you do.
may you know
that the sun and rain
fall
both on the wicked and the good,
and that God is the giver
of every good and perfect gift.
may you stop
to consider
not only
your desires that remain
but your desires fulfilled,
and may you know
that you are blessed,
no matter where you find yourself.
thankful cinquain
give thanks
for all you have
all things, both large and small,
for things important and things not,
give thanks.
the state of food insecurity in the world
for those who are interested here is a link to a report released by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization today which states that approximately 6,000,000 children a year (approximately the entire pre-school population of Japan) die each year as a result of conditions brought about by malnutrition. the study states that the shortage of vitamins A and zinc alone result in approximately 1,500,000 deaths annually – approximately equal to the number of abortions performed in the united states each year.
definitely worth the read.
those are somebody’s kids too…
i watched a west wing episode last night that had a rather poignant moment. i promise this blog isn’t turning into something political, but i wanted to share it. the discussion is taking place concerning sending troops to prevent genocide in a small african country.
c.j.
Stand by while atrocities are taking place, and you’re an accomplice.
toby
I’m not indifferent to that, but knuckleheaded self-destruction is never going to burn itself out. You really want to send your kids across the street into the fire?
c.j.
Want to? No. Should I? Yes!
toby
Why? And don’t give me a lefty answer.
c.j.
A lefty answer is all I’ve got.
toby
Why are you sending your kids across the street?
c.j.
Because those are somebody’s kids too.
equality
Africa makes a mockery of what we say, at least what I say, about equality and questions our pieties and our commitments because there’s no way to look at what’s happening over there and it’s effect on all of us and conclude that we actually consider Africans as our equals before God. There is no chance.
…
This is the straight truth, the righteous truth. It’s not a theory, it’s a fact. The fact is that this generation–yours, my generation–that can look at the poverty, we’re the first generation that can look at poverty and disease, look across the ocean to Africa and say with a straight face, we can be the first to end this sort of stupid extreme poverty, where in the world of plenty, a child can die for lack of food in it’s belly.
…
It’s a fact. So why aren’t we pumping our fists in the air and cheering about it? Well probably because when we admit we can do something about it, we’ve got to do something about it.
-Bono, May 17, 2004
may you journey in Christ complete
May you journey in Christ a complete and new creation,
righteous in spirit and action.
May God plant in you a desire for His Kingdom,
a desire bearing good fruit
daily in every aspect of your life.
And may you build wisely
on a strong foundation,
certain of eternal blessing
from a God who speaks of unending love,
demonstrated in the perfect sacrifice
of Jesus Christ.
haikus and cinquains
join us at poetry.wisch.org for a rousing round of haiku’s and cinquains.
for those of you who don’t remember, a haiku is a three line poem of 5-7-5 syllables, and a cinquain is a five line poem of twenty-two syllables in the form of 2-4-6-8-2.
my current favorites:
poetry is hard
when seventeen syllables
is all you can use.
Road trip,
Songfest ’05
ten acts of song and dance.
oh my will it ever be done?
i hope.
(composed tonight near the end of the first act)…
from many, one.
There are many phrases that are popular today as we try to integrate God into our American culture. Often we are quick to point to the phrase “In God We Trust”, feeling that it is one of the core principles our nation was founded on, though the phrase was not adopted until 1956. We speak of “God Bless America”, and have songs like “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” which speak of the judgment and wrath of God burned into our minds.
Many times these phrases express our desired national sentiment or Christian representation of “God’s Country” rather than actual biblical significance. One phrase, however, captures a biblical truth that we as a church have all too often forgotten – e pluribus unum – from many, one.
Each of us comes to Christ from a different path, with different stories, different experiences. We have different talents, different desires, and different preferences. But amazingly Christ has brought us all together in His Kingdom to form one unified body under his leadership, the body of Christ.
And in the body of Christ we become one – old and young, rich and poor, successful and not, those who struggle daily with sin and those who seem to have everything right – all of us come equal and needy to the broken body of Christ.
And in the moment when we reach to his body and take his flesh and drink his blood, may we be reminded that none of us is any better than another. May we be mindful that we have no right to look down on anyone else, nor should we feel less worthy than anyone. May we respect the paths and stories of all those who have come to Christ – seeking to love each other. And may we remember that our true identity is in Christ, and that out of many, we become one.
why they hate us
at the university of texas at austin’s resurrection week this year, there were several large boards where people could write anything they wanted in response to a few questions on display for all to see. one of the boards had the question “Why do you hate Christians?” the answers were open, honest, and all too often true. here are a few i wrote down:
i hate when they think they have the right to judge.
they are very judgmental and unloving.
they go against what Jesus teaches.
they try to legislate morality.
they don’t want to show weakness.
they act perfect and self-righteous.
they lack the ability to be real.
they bomb abortion clinics
they are intolerant.
they control the politics of the country.
they would go to a gay man’s funeral and spew hate.
in a day and age where our Christian sub-culture seems to be more interested in sounding religious than being Godly, i am reminded of the words of God in hosea – “I want you to be merciful; i don’t want your sacrifices. i want you to know God; that’s more important than burnt offerings.”
may we be a merciful people.