If you get a chance go to the Ian Jukes website I referenced the other night. Some pretty cool stuff on there.
And from Freakanomics today, something I think he would be proud of:
Friday, February 29, 2008
This letter was sent from a friend in Kenya responding to the violence that has gripped the country for the past 8 weeks but is now prayerfully coming to an end. My prayers for all of those seeking to put their lives back together:
First, let me thank our creator for having enabled me to travel to and from Western Kenya safely. Secondly, receive much greetings and gratitude from the people that we were able to bless with food last Sunday. Vickie, as one of those affected by the skirmishes that have rocked our nation, it was really an honor for me and my family to be part of those who are helping.
I was first taken, by Pastor Jackson, to an Anglican church where I met about 80 displaced families. Life to some of these families has become meaningless. All have very touching stories on how they were chased and their houses burnt. Widows who were struggling to raise their children with small businesses or a milking cow and now are beggers. All they had is lost and are now crowded in what the church has been using as a store room. In here, there is no privacy but that is not an issue to them anymore. One lady who came in pregnant had delivered while here but was in good condition. The room is full of personal belongings of those who were lucky to escape with some of there things on their backs.
They however are quick to point out that they are very grateful to have found accommodation in this church for the situation is even worse in the Redcross camps. The only disadvantage is that they are not receiving any assistance from government or Redcross. They said that the Pastors in the area are toiling so much for them to eat. They were very happy and grateful to HEART for the food that was going to last them a week. The Pastors were also very happy that God had answered their prayers. My wife helped in distributing the food and encouraged them not to lose hope. She told them of our own experience of having to flee our home and relocate so far without our belongings and how we were coping with the changes. We prayed with them and asked them not to seek revenge to those who had committed all those evils to them.
Vickie, the needs are just too much. I saw children of all ages and even teenagers. My wife was quick to point out that Sanitary towels and soap was urgently needed to avert any danger of a disease outbreak. She was very much at home with the ladies and the children. They prayed for all those who had given their financial support at this time of need in their lives, to be blessed. God bless you Vickie, and all our supporters, and pray that He will bless us with more so that we can continue being a blessing to them.
First, let me thank our creator for having enabled me to travel to and from Western Kenya safely. Secondly, receive much greetings and gratitude from the people that we were able to bless with food last Sunday. Vickie, as one of those affected by the skirmishes that have rocked our nation, it was really an honor for me and my family to be part of those who are helping.
I was first taken, by Pastor Jackson, to an Anglican church where I met about 80 displaced families. Life to some of these families has become meaningless. All have very touching stories on how they were chased and their houses burnt. Widows who were struggling to raise their children with small businesses or a milking cow and now are beggers. All they had is lost and are now crowded in what the church has been using as a store room. In here, there is no privacy but that is not an issue to them anymore. One lady who came in pregnant had delivered while here but was in good condition. The room is full of personal belongings of those who were lucky to escape with some of there things on their backs.
They however are quick to point out that they are very grateful to have found accommodation in this church for the situation is even worse in the Redcross camps. The only disadvantage is that they are not receiving any assistance from government or Redcross. They said that the Pastors in the area are toiling so much for them to eat. They were very happy and grateful to HEART for the food that was going to last them a week. The Pastors were also very happy that God had answered their prayers. My wife helped in distributing the food and encouraged them not to lose hope. She told them of our own experience of having to flee our home and relocate so far without our belongings and how we were coping with the changes. We prayed with them and asked them not to seek revenge to those who had committed all those evils to them.
Vickie, the needs are just too much. I saw children of all ages and even teenagers. My wife was quick to point out that Sanitary towels and soap was urgently needed to avert any danger of a disease outbreak. She was very much at home with the ladies and the children. They prayed for all those who had given their financial support at this time of need in their lives, to be blessed. God bless you Vickie, and all our supporters, and pray that He will bless us with more so that we can continue being a blessing to them.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
I received this in an email from Ian Jukes:
But compare the way a blue whale turns around (slowly) to how a school of fish turns around - specifically a school of sardines - which has the same or even a greater mass than the whale, does the same thing. A school of sardines can turn almost instantly. So the question that comes up is - How do they do this? How do they know when to turn. Is it ESP? Do they use cell phones? Are the using the Internet?
The answer is simultaneously a little simpler and quite a bit more complex. If you take a careful look at a school of sardines, you'll notice that although the fish all appear to be swimming in the same direction, in reality, at any time, there will be a small group of sardines swimming in a different direction, in an opposite direction, against the flow, against conventional wisdom. And as they swim in another direction, they cause conflict, they cause friction, and they causes discomfort for the rest of the school.
But finally, when a critical mass of truly committed sardines is reached - not a huge number like 50 percent or 80 percent of the school, but 15 to 20 percent who are truly committed to a new direction - the rest of the school suddenly turns and goes with them - almost instantaneously!
Isn't that what has happened with our attitudes towards drinking and driving? Isn't that what became of our feelings about smoking? Isn't that exactly what happened to the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union? Isn't that what caused the Internet to suddenly appear overnight. Each and every one of those events was an overnight success that took years in the making. Overnight successes that took a small group of people who were truly committed despite the obstacles, challenge, yabbuts, and TTWWADIs to make the necessary change.
Noted anthropologist Margaret Mead once wrote "never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has." That's why we're Committed Sardines.
Or how about a small group of people committed to the Kingdom of God!
But compare the way a blue whale turns around (slowly) to how a school of fish turns around - specifically a school of sardines - which has the same or even a greater mass than the whale, does the same thing. A school of sardines can turn almost instantly. So the question that comes up is - How do they do this? How do they know when to turn. Is it ESP? Do they use cell phones? Are the using the Internet?
The answer is simultaneously a little simpler and quite a bit more complex. If you take a careful look at a school of sardines, you'll notice that although the fish all appear to be swimming in the same direction, in reality, at any time, there will be a small group of sardines swimming in a different direction, in an opposite direction, against the flow, against conventional wisdom. And as they swim in another direction, they cause conflict, they cause friction, and they causes discomfort for the rest of the school.
But finally, when a critical mass of truly committed sardines is reached - not a huge number like 50 percent or 80 percent of the school, but 15 to 20 percent who are truly committed to a new direction - the rest of the school suddenly turns and goes with them - almost instantaneously!
Isn't that what has happened with our attitudes towards drinking and driving? Isn't that what became of our feelings about smoking? Isn't that exactly what happened to the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union? Isn't that what caused the Internet to suddenly appear overnight. Each and every one of those events was an overnight success that took years in the making. Overnight successes that took a small group of people who were truly committed despite the obstacles, challenge, yabbuts, and TTWWADIs to make the necessary change.
Noted anthropologist Margaret Mead once wrote "never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has." That's why we're Committed Sardines.
Or how about a small group of people committed to the Kingdom of God!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Finished up Gang Leader for a Day this morning. A couple of highlights (or lowlights) stood out to me about life in urban poverty:
1) The story of Catrina:
Catrina had once told me that her father had sexually abused her when she was a teenager, so she ran away from home...
Catrina had a love of knowledge and would participate in discussion about nearly anything..."I will do something important one day," she liked to tell me, in her most serious voice..."I will make a difference for black people. Especially black women."
...over the July Fourth holiday, she decided to visit her siblings in Chicago's south suburbs...from what I was told, her father heard that she was visiting and tracked her down. A skirmish followed. Catrina got caught between her brother, who was protecting her, and her angry father. A gun went off, and the bullet hit Catrina, killing her instantly.
Words cannot express my heart for young ladies like Catrina, caught up in a web of violence, a cycle that they did not begin and cannot end, lives of potential ended before they could make a difference.
2) The lives of women tenants:
The most forceful stories were the tales of abuse. Every single woman had been beaten up by a boyfriend (who was usually drunk at the time), some almost fatally. Every one of them lived in fear for days or weeks, waiting for the same man to return...
When it became obvious that the housing authority supported a management system based on extortion and corruption, the women decided their best option was to shrug their shoulders and accept their fate...
Then there were all the resources to be procured in exchange for sex: groceries from the bodega owner, rent forgiveness from the CHA, assistance from a welfare bureaucrat, preferential treatment from a police officer for a jailed relative. The women's explanation for using sex as currency was consistent and pragmatic: If your child was in danger of going hungry, then you did whatever it took to fix the problem. The women looked pained when they discussed using their bodies to obtain these necessities; it was clear that this wasn't their first - or even their hundredth - preference...
"When these men start drinking, you can't talk to them. You just need to protect yourself - and don't forget, they beat up the kids, too."
I remember reading in a Time magazine article a while back about the survival tactics employed by the south Sudanese in order to get food and water. If the men left the village to get the resources necessary, they would be killed. The women had to go; they would just be raped and allowed to return to the village. I asked myself how I could let my wife leave every morning, knowing full well that she had a strong chance of being raped, but knowing no other options, she would have to go. It's the same here, the women don't want to sell their bodies, but they have no other options.
3) The corruption of the CPD:
Why, for instance, did he ("Officer Reggie") try to reduce gun violence by making sure that the gangs were the only ones who had guns?...
(After a group of cops raid a gang party...)"F---ing cops do this all the time...As soon as they find out we're having a party, they raid it."
"Why? And why don't they arrest you?...And how do you know they were cops?
"It's a game...We make all this f---ing money, and they want some."...
I had a hard time believing that the police would so brazenly rob a street gang. But it didn't seem like the kind of thing JT would lie about...
On a few occasions, I'd been riding in a car with some gang members when a cop stopped the car, made everyone get out, and summarily called for a tow truck. On a few other occasions, the cop let the driver keep the car but took everyone's jewelry and cash. To me the strangest thing was that the gang members barely protested. It was as if they were playing a life-size board game, the rules of which were well established and immutable, and on this occasion they'd simply gotten a bad roll of dice...
Once he left, I asked one of the pimps, Timothy, about "Officer Jerry." "He gets to come in the building whenever he wants and get a piece of the action," he said. Timothy told me that Sonny, the man that "Officer Jerry" had just beaten, stole cars for a living but had apparently neglected to pay his regular protection fee to "Officer Jerry." "We always joke that whenever "Officer Jerry" runs out of money, he comes in here and beats up a nigger...He got me once last year. Took two hundred bucks and then my girl had to suck his d---. A--hole.
This may have been the part of the book that floored me the most. In a way I knew this corruption and extortion happened with great frequency, but now Sudhir was experiencing it first-hand. In a way it seems fair, the cops don't have the manpower to shut down the drug trade (as long as the demand is high it will go on), so they extort money from the dealers and in many cases pump it back into positive causes in the community. Yet on the other hand, this is happening in the United States of America, the land of the free, the moral leader of the world, and the police administration turn a blind eye to it. It just doesn't seem right to me. But in reality, those with the authority have the power and the others are just players in the game. The world we live in...
1) The story of Catrina:
Catrina had once told me that her father had sexually abused her when she was a teenager, so she ran away from home...
Catrina had a love of knowledge and would participate in discussion about nearly anything..."I will do something important one day," she liked to tell me, in her most serious voice..."I will make a difference for black people. Especially black women."
...over the July Fourth holiday, she decided to visit her siblings in Chicago's south suburbs...from what I was told, her father heard that she was visiting and tracked her down. A skirmish followed. Catrina got caught between her brother, who was protecting her, and her angry father. A gun went off, and the bullet hit Catrina, killing her instantly.
Words cannot express my heart for young ladies like Catrina, caught up in a web of violence, a cycle that they did not begin and cannot end, lives of potential ended before they could make a difference.
2) The lives of women tenants:
The most forceful stories were the tales of abuse. Every single woman had been beaten up by a boyfriend (who was usually drunk at the time), some almost fatally. Every one of them lived in fear for days or weeks, waiting for the same man to return...
When it became obvious that the housing authority supported a management system based on extortion and corruption, the women decided their best option was to shrug their shoulders and accept their fate...
Then there were all the resources to be procured in exchange for sex: groceries from the bodega owner, rent forgiveness from the CHA, assistance from a welfare bureaucrat, preferential treatment from a police officer for a jailed relative. The women's explanation for using sex as currency was consistent and pragmatic: If your child was in danger of going hungry, then you did whatever it took to fix the problem. The women looked pained when they discussed using their bodies to obtain these necessities; it was clear that this wasn't their first - or even their hundredth - preference...
"When these men start drinking, you can't talk to them. You just need to protect yourself - and don't forget, they beat up the kids, too."
I remember reading in a Time magazine article a while back about the survival tactics employed by the south Sudanese in order to get food and water. If the men left the village to get the resources necessary, they would be killed. The women had to go; they would just be raped and allowed to return to the village. I asked myself how I could let my wife leave every morning, knowing full well that she had a strong chance of being raped, but knowing no other options, she would have to go. It's the same here, the women don't want to sell their bodies, but they have no other options.
3) The corruption of the CPD:
Why, for instance, did he ("Officer Reggie") try to reduce gun violence by making sure that the gangs were the only ones who had guns?...
(After a group of cops raid a gang party...)"F---ing cops do this all the time...As soon as they find out we're having a party, they raid it."
"Why? And why don't they arrest you?...And how do you know they were cops?
"It's a game...We make all this f---ing money, and they want some."...
I had a hard time believing that the police would so brazenly rob a street gang. But it didn't seem like the kind of thing JT would lie about...
On a few occasions, I'd been riding in a car with some gang members when a cop stopped the car, made everyone get out, and summarily called for a tow truck. On a few other occasions, the cop let the driver keep the car but took everyone's jewelry and cash. To me the strangest thing was that the gang members barely protested. It was as if they were playing a life-size board game, the rules of which were well established and immutable, and on this occasion they'd simply gotten a bad roll of dice...
Once he left, I asked one of the pimps, Timothy, about "Officer Jerry." "He gets to come in the building whenever he wants and get a piece of the action," he said. Timothy told me that Sonny, the man that "Officer Jerry" had just beaten, stole cars for a living but had apparently neglected to pay his regular protection fee to "Officer Jerry." "We always joke that whenever "Officer Jerry" runs out of money, he comes in here and beats up a nigger...He got me once last year. Took two hundred bucks and then my girl had to suck his d---. A--hole.
This may have been the part of the book that floored me the most. In a way I knew this corruption and extortion happened with great frequency, but now Sudhir was experiencing it first-hand. In a way it seems fair, the cops don't have the manpower to shut down the drug trade (as long as the demand is high it will go on), so they extort money from the dealers and in many cases pump it back into positive causes in the community. Yet on the other hand, this is happening in the United States of America, the land of the free, the moral leader of the world, and the police administration turn a blind eye to it. It just doesn't seem right to me. But in reality, those with the authority have the power and the others are just players in the game. The world we live in...
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Gone Baby Gone just gained permanent status in my all-time top five along with Crash, Love Song for Bobby Long, Constant Gardener, and Point Break. Fabulous film!
On a related thought, aside from movies, I'm almost done with Gang Leader for a Day...slow start to the book but it is finishing strong. Definitely a worthwhile read.
On a related thought, aside from movies, I'm almost done with Gang Leader for a Day...slow start to the book but it is finishing strong. Definitely a worthwhile read.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Four great quotes from Randy Alcorn's recent Eternal Perspectives newsletter:
A godly man is a praying man. As soon as grace is poured in, prayer is poured out. Prayer is the soul's traffic with Heaven; God comes down to us by His Spirit, and we go up to Him by prayer.—T. Watson
Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure.—D.L. Moody
Pray for 'all men.' We usually pray more for things than we do for men. Our prayers should be thrown across their pathway as they rush in their downward course to a lost eternity.—E.M. Bounds
(This quote should be incluced in every "Christianity 101" class ever taught.)
Search for a person who claims to have found Christ apart from someone else's prayer, and your search may go on forever.—E. Bauman
A godly man is a praying man. As soon as grace is poured in, prayer is poured out. Prayer is the soul's traffic with Heaven; God comes down to us by His Spirit, and we go up to Him by prayer.—T. Watson
Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure.—D.L. Moody
Pray for 'all men.' We usually pray more for things than we do for men. Our prayers should be thrown across their pathway as they rush in their downward course to a lost eternity.—E.M. Bounds
(This quote should be incluced in every "Christianity 101" class ever taught.)
Search for a person who claims to have found Christ apart from someone else's prayer, and your search may go on forever.—E. Bauman
Great, fabulous, absolutely fascinating op-ed by William Easterly in the February 7 Wall Street Journal. I just found it on his blog. A couple of quotes that will suck you in and make sure you read the whole thing:
Is it really the poor's only hope that the Gap will donate a few pennies per sexy T-shirt for AIDS treatment in Africa?
Mr. Gates also announced his foundation is starting "a partnership that gives African farmers access to the premium coffee market, with the goal of doubling their income from their coffee crops." This is fine as a modest endeavor to help a few Rwandan and Kenyan coffee farmers, but it's hardly going to remake capitalism. The main obstacles to exports in poor countries are domestic ones like corruption and political strife, not lack of interest from rich-country buyers for premium coffee.
Is it really the poor's only hope that the Gap will donate a few pennies per sexy T-shirt for AIDS treatment in Africa?
Mr. Gates also announced his foundation is starting "a partnership that gives African farmers access to the premium coffee market, with the goal of doubling their income from their coffee crops." This is fine as a modest endeavor to help a few Rwandan and Kenyan coffee farmers, but it's hardly going to remake capitalism. The main obstacles to exports in poor countries are domestic ones like corruption and political strife, not lack of interest from rich-country buyers for premium coffee.
I have a serious problem. It's one that I've known about for quite a while but only recently really noticed the affects.
My problem is that I read articles like this and become unable to function normally. It could be about child prostitution in Thailand, AIDS orphans in Africa, sex slaves in the US or Mexico, abandoned children in Guatemala, it doesn't matter, I hear the stories and cease to be able to live in a right state of mind.
Not all people exist like this, and I don't think that is a bad thing. Some people can hear the stories, feel bad, have pity on those affected, but go on with their daily lives without much problem. They find fulfillment in what they do for a living, support causes that are close to them, and find peace in their lives.
I am not like that. I need to be there with the people. I need to be holding the children, feeding the poor, playing games and rehabilitating the slaves. I need to let them know that not only do I love them, but God also loves them and thus they have infinite dignity, value, and worth just because of who they are. I need to let them know that their plight is the result of a world gone wrong, that it wasn't in God's plan, but He is redeeming the world and wants them a part of His new creation. There is hope for them, and I need to be a vessel that shares this hope. I can't live any other way.
Please pray for me as MAJOR decisions are coming that will shape my future world, pray that I seek God and following His leading and calling in whatever direction it may be.
My problem is that I read articles like this and become unable to function normally. It could be about child prostitution in Thailand, AIDS orphans in Africa, sex slaves in the US or Mexico, abandoned children in Guatemala, it doesn't matter, I hear the stories and cease to be able to live in a right state of mind.
Not all people exist like this, and I don't think that is a bad thing. Some people can hear the stories, feel bad, have pity on those affected, but go on with their daily lives without much problem. They find fulfillment in what they do for a living, support causes that are close to them, and find peace in their lives.
I am not like that. I need to be there with the people. I need to be holding the children, feeding the poor, playing games and rehabilitating the slaves. I need to let them know that not only do I love them, but God also loves them and thus they have infinite dignity, value, and worth just because of who they are. I need to let them know that their plight is the result of a world gone wrong, that it wasn't in God's plan, but He is redeeming the world and wants them a part of His new creation. There is hope for them, and I need to be a vessel that shares this hope. I can't live any other way.
Please pray for me as MAJOR decisions are coming that will shape my future world, pray that I seek God and following His leading and calling in whatever direction it may be.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with passion come and kicking down that door
I've written here before of my love for Sarah Groves' song "When the Saints" and how it stirs within me a passion for the work of the Lord, a prayer for those afflicted in this world and respect and gratitude for those who risk their lives doing the work of the Lord and rescuing others from the darkness and control Satan has over much of this world.
Last night I was researching for a Sunday school class and came upon some old notes on "The Kingdom Community" from Matthew 16:13-20. We all know the text, where Jesus asks Peter who he says He is and Peter answers that He is the Son of the living God and Jesus then gives Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven. A few notes caught my eye, specifically on vs. 16-20:
I see the man with passion come and kicking down that door
- Sarah Groves, "When the Saints"
I've written here before of my love for Sarah Groves' song "When the Saints" and how it stirs within me a passion for the work of the Lord, a prayer for those afflicted in this world and respect and gratitude for those who risk their lives doing the work of the Lord and rescuing others from the darkness and control Satan has over much of this world.
Last night I was researching for a Sunday school class and came upon some old notes on "The Kingdom Community" from Matthew 16:13-20. We all know the text, where Jesus asks Peter who he says He is and Peter answers that He is the Son of the living God and Jesus then gives Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven. A few notes caught my eye, specifically on vs. 16-20:
- Hades is the region of departed spirits of the lost, but also includes the righteous who died before the resurrection of Christ
- Hell would be the Old English equivalent of Hades, the opposite of Heaven, or the Bosom of Abraham, or the Elysian Fields of Ancient Greek mythology
Jesus said "The gates of Hades will not overcome it (the Church)"...some thoughts on ancient warfare that in the context add to these words:
- ancient cities had walls for defense and invading armies, when seeking to conquer a city, would concentrate on the gate, the weakest area of defense
- they would use a battering ram to try to hammer down the gate, and the defenders would do what they could to prevent enemies from succeeding (including pouring burning oil, shooting arrows, etc.)
- the attackers would put a cover over their head or build a tower for the attackers and roll it to the city towers to gain an advantage again, and this would continue
What does this mean in the context? It helps to pictures Hades as a walled city with strong gates. Jesus is saying that His Church will be on the offense and laying seige to the city, but Hades will not be able to hold it back. In other words, God's people will break down the gates of the cemetary (Hades) and let the dead out and allow them into the Kingdom of God.
Powerful stuff!
Let me add one more idea. My point in teaching this idea this morning (though I never got to it, we ran out of time) was to propose that when Jesus instituted the Church in this text, the idea was that the Church would be on the offensive, attacking the gates of Hades, the dominion of Satan, and preaching the Good News and letting people into the Kingdom of God. Like the "man with passion kicking down the door" in the song above, the Church, envisioned by Jesus, would be kicking down the door of Satan's stronghold and rescuing people from the dominion of darkness.
Is that how the Church operates in today's world? Maybe, maybe not. I see instances where we are both on the defensive and we retreat to our fortress and I see instances where we remain in the frontier and continue our attack. In any case, it is prudent for us to understand Jesus' intentions for His Church as we seek to follow Him and spread His Kingdom to the ends of the earth.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Another interesting thought from Joe Boyd:
I think it is hard to follow Jesus and still believe that someone else is smarter than him. I'm teaching a class at Vineyard midweek on discipleship for a few hundred folks. In a pre-survey, 31% of the attendees checked that they do not believe that Jesus was the smartest person who ever lived. 98% of them labeled themselves as followers of Jesus. I don't mean to come down on anyone, but I wonder if this isn't key to our discontent as disciples. (Over 61% also said that they felt something was missing in their faith.)
I think it is hard to follow Jesus and still believe that someone else is smarter than him. I'm teaching a class at Vineyard midweek on discipleship for a few hundred folks. In a pre-survey, 31% of the attendees checked that they do not believe that Jesus was the smartest person who ever lived. 98% of them labeled themselves as followers of Jesus. I don't mean to come down on anyone, but I wonder if this isn't key to our discontent as disciples. (Over 61% also said that they felt something was missing in their faith.)
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