The Mohawk

Here is the Mohawk from the front .. with a slight growl. People with Mohawks are mean, right ? GGGRRRRRRRR



Here is a picture of the Mohawk from the back (top eye view).



It is tough to take pics of yourself at times without a timer and a stand but I gave it a whirl. Maybe, a few of me will be taken while I am in PCB that I could show later.

I almost always do something to my head/face for a trip. It is kinda pointless tradition for me and most people roll their eyes.

Panama City Beach

Tomorrow morning, I head down to Panama City Beach, Florida. I will be back late Wednesday evening. I am staying away from all computers. Thus, I will not be blogging, reading blogs or checking email. If you must be in contact, call me on the cell. If I am not in worship or in the ocean, I may answer. I will have a week of great worship, fantastic views of God's glorious creation and spending time with 1500teens and adults and ..... I will also have the opportunity to get to know 4 students and 1 adult from Zion a little better. I am looking forward to Big Stuf. As always, it really will be some BIG STUFF.

Their topic for the week is a topic that we all need to hear !

What are you broadcasting ?

This week will also be a time of reflection and prayer. There are going to be some changes that I am going to be introducing this fall concerning christian education and community and hopefully, this week will help me grab my arms around the ideas floating in my head.

Ending Poverty in America

Ending Poverty, Not Just Addressing it

It is imperative to stop shrinking our ideas around the agenda to end poverty. Martin Luther King, Jr. did not advocate the elimination of some portion of racism. He asked the nation to eliminate all racism. Gandhi did not want to reduce the British control of India. He wanted India to be completely free. The United States and its allies did not want some of Nazi Germany to go away. We wanted to dismantle the Third Reich all together. Shouldn’t we view the problem of poverty in the same way? It is time for us Americans to put our full talents and resources to bear on the specific goal of eradicating poverty. With widespread commitment to this large and long-term vision, new, innovative strategies will emerge that address the question of why poverty exists and what must be done if this great country is to one day end it.

We, as a nation, can end it. It will not be easy but we can do it. There is one ministry out there that I think has the right approach. I need to be more adamant about partnering with them and bringing povery to an end in our town.

More Later.

4 Words - 2 Relationships

The older I get, the simpler that I am wanting to make things.

Lately, I have been mulling for the million+ time about spirituality. Then since I am a follower of Christ bringing it down into what is the purpose ?

I think that we can/should/need to look at Jesus and you know what - I bet you know this - he was asked a very similar question.

His response:

Love God, Love Others.

See there you go. There are the four words.

Love is the key and love is to be directed to two areas. Those areas are:

God and Others.

We need to be in relationship with God and others.

2 Relationships.

See, how simple it is. We need to have relationships with God and others and it needs to be wrapped up in love.

Now, can I ask you a question. To my 20+ readers, please respond. Why do we make it so difficult ?

Prison Ships ?

An article that came across my news feed:

The United States has been secretly detaining terrorism suspects aboard floating "prison ships," a British legal charity charged on Monday, but the Pentagon described the report as inaccurate.

The charity Reprieve, citing sources including U.S. military officials, parliamentary bodies and former prisoners, said it believed the U.S. government had operated as many as 17 shipboard prisons, particularly in the Indian Ocean region.

"Prisoners have been interrogated under tortuous conditions before being rendered to other, often undisclosed locations," Reprieve said, adding that it would issue a detailed report later this year.

Department of Defense spokesman J.D. Gordon called the report "inaccurate and misleading."

"We do not operate detention facilities on board Navy ships. DoD detention facilities are in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo," he said.

The United States has denied torturing terrorism suspects, but a Justice Department report last month cited FBI agents as warning that some CIA questioning techniques were "borderline torture."

The military has acknowledged holding John Walker Lindh, a U.S. citizen accused of being a Taliban and al Qaeda supporter, on ships after his capture in Afghanistan in late 2001.

Lindh was held on two ships, the Bataan and Peleliu. The government says he was given medical treatment and was not tortured. Gordon said the ships were a considered safe place to question Lindh away from the battlefield.

Reprieve named three others, including Australian David Hicks, as suspects believed to have once been held on U.S. "prison ships." It cited a former prisoner held at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as saying about 50 others were held on the Bataan.

Gordon said fewer than 10 terrorism suspects were held, on the Bataan and Peleliu, in late 2001 and early 2002. He also dismissed Reprieve's count of up to 17 ships as misleading

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My thought. We really have no clue what might be going on and what is not going on.

Hope After A Civil War

Imagine you had survived a bloody civil war a decade ago that pitted neighbor against neighbor. Now imagine your community had to choose between health care or clean water.

When villagers of Mumeya faced this choice, the Lutheran Church of Rwanda helped them reach consensus.

A grant from ELCA World Hunger helped the Lutheran Church of Rwanda’s general secretary, the Rev. John Rutsindintwarane, train a group of 22 individuals to carry out one-to-one interviews with women like Françoise Nkubana and her neighbors.

“Even though we do not have water nearby our fi rst priority is to have a dispensary,” said Françoise, a mother of four. “We need it; our families suffer from various diseases.”

The nearest hospital is 35 kilometers away in Tanzania. Pregnant women, babies, and others have died making the dangerous journey across the muddy Akagera River and steep hills.

These conversations served as a basis for assessing and addressing the community’s needs. An ecumenical committee—including men and women, youth and elders—established hope-fi lled goals to bring health care much closer to home.

As a result, 500 people in Mumeya joined together to split 240 metric tons of rock and lay a foundation for a much-needed dispensary (clinic and pharmacy). Once the foundation is laid, Françoise will help build the dispensary building.

Like the Good Samaritan, we recognize neighbors in need, even if they live across the globe. We respond to them, and we remember them in prayer. Together we “go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).

Dick .... Cheney ..... Blah

Nice Joke .... NOT

Talking about his family roots and how he's distantly related to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, the vice president noted that he had Cheneys on both sides of his family.

"And we don't even live in West Virginia," Cheney quipped.

No disrespect, My Cheney, but I am glad you are not from West Virginia. Here are some of the representatives from WV take on the situation:

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, quickly asked Cheney to apologize.

"I truly cannot believe that any vice president of the United States, regardless of their political affiliation, would make such a derogatory statement about my state or any state for that matter,"

"This is exactly the type of stereotyping that we don't need from our elected officials," said Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. "It's disrespectful, and it's certainly not funny. ... As a proud state, I can say we are disappointed."

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., blasted Cheney, saying that for a vice president to openly display "such contempt and astounding ignorance toward his own countrymen" was an insult to all Americans.

"Now that he or the administration he represents no longer needs their vote, Mr. Cheney apparently feels that he is now free to mock and belittle the people of West Virginia," Byrd said.

But all is good, right. He apologized. Here is the apology ....

"The vice president's offhand comment was not meant to hurt anyone," Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said later Monday. "On reflection, he concluded that it was an inappropriate attempt at humor that he should not have made. The vice president apologizes to the people of West Virginia for the inappropriate remark."

Tears to My Eyes

I know that some of you might not understand his but yesterday, I was brought to tears while watching Sports Center last night.

On Sunday nights, they do an "emotional" stories. They do human interest stories. They are stories about individuals and the impact that they have on society - on a human level.

The story is truly amazing.

It is about 15 minutes long. Thus, it is broke up into two different You Tube videos. They are listed in order. Yes, it is a sports story but it is a story that is about 'humans' within the sport story.

Take the time to watch the videos and if you have any sensitivity at all in you, you may want to grab some tissue. I had to wipe the tears away with my fingers last night.





I really did enjoy the story and the impact that he had on the boys is obvious. I think this is just one of the many stories of the impact that you have on people - whether you know it or not.

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Thanks to Derek for having the video liks.

Cyndi Lauper

I had no idea that she was still making music.

She was definitely very popular in the 80's (when I was in hs).

Her new album: Bring Ya to the Brink came out last week. I am currently listening to it (no, I did not buy it !!). I am only 2 songs in so I can not give much review. however, song number 3 could be what she is doing (rocking chair). i am only joking, she is not that old.

I don't have a running list but it sure does seem like a lot of the 80's artist and bands are cranking out music - very interesting.

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Update:

I am now into song 5 and it is being turned off never to be turned on again. It is not my style but her voice does not sound bad.

A Long Weekend

This past weekend was very long. I am about ready to call it a night sleep away. Here is a little recap of what occurred:

Friday

In the morning, we did Meal On Wheels. After MOW, I grabbed a quick bite to eat and finalized the driving details for my upcoming trip. I then went over to Bethany's school and watched her graduation ceremony. After her ceremony, I went to the boys school and picked them up. When we walked home, we prepared for the ice cream floats. With it being the last day of the school, we decided to make floats and pass them out to those in the neighborhood. I think we passed out 28 floats.

I then went over to the church and got things ready for Fri night. We ordered pizza's and left the kids with a baby-sitter. No, we did not have a date. We went to our adoption training. When we got home, we retired early; knowing that Saturday was going to be the looooong day.

Saturday

We woke up at 7 am to begin the day. We needed to get the kids out to the country for their babysitter and we went to our adoption training. We had class from 9 - 4 with an hour break from class.

Class was rough. We have one individual that drives us crazy. He is a challenge and I am going to do a post on him. It may not be an appropriate post and if it crosses a line with the analogy, I apologize in advance. Also, we had a 3 hour class on Child Sexual Abuse - definitely not a bed of roses topic to discuss.

However, there was a new younger couple behind us and we talked a little in discussion time and they seemed really cool. A younger couple in their late 20's. They have 2 younger boys and she is pregnant with their 3rd boy. They are looking to adopt a girl. We went out to lunch with them ... good chattin'.

After class, we went out to the family watching the kids. Hung out there for over an hour. They are a great family and love them to death. It was the first time going out there. Very cool place.

We then headed to the church building and we were there till 12:30 am getting ready for Sunday. It is very unusual that we (I) 'work' on Sat night but last night it had to occur.

Sunday

3 Worship services with grad recognition in each of the services and then at the late service, we had confirmation. After church, we had a confirmation party. I walked home and rested for 30 mins and then went to the graduation services at the high school.

After that, I went back to the church and figured out the directions to one of our students for a grad party. After the grad party, I came home and packed the vehicle.

Thus there you go ....

I am zonked. I do want to catch up on some blogs though before I go to ZZZZZ land. I am going to attempt to walk tomorrow morning BUT I am not too optimistic about that.m