Vetrean Pastor, Life time Learner, Problem Solver, Servant-Leader and Motivational Speaker.

Why You Should Raise Your Kids in the City | This Is Our City | Christianity Today

The darkness of the city is easy to see. In the first few years we lived here my sons saw, from the vantage point of the back of our van where they were waiting for us to come out of the evening service, a robbery suspect chased down the sidewalk, caught, and spread-eagled, handcuffed, and Mirandized on the hood of the car parked behind us. We drove past hookers in silver lamé bikinis and stilettos, watched over by their pimp, on our way home. We watched one man knock another one out in a fistfight at a street fair; and, memorably, a well-dressed man in the financial district drunkenly fall to his knees, vomit all over himself, and then stagger off.

Naturally, these incidents were the subject of lengthy family conversation and discussion. That sin should be so visible, and appear in its true, ugly colors, is of inestimable value in a culture that glamorizes depraved behavior, laughing off drunkenness and promiscuity as "partying," and mocking those who don't participate. I never had to give one lecture on the evils of drunkenness to boys who had seen them live, in living color, for themselves.

But in the city, your kids see sin and its consequences while you are still with them and can help them process it. Eventually they're going to encounter it for themselves, usually when they leave the protected environment of home for the big wide world—just when you are no longer around to discuss things.

I have had parents counter this suggestion by saying that, as valuable as processing the ugliness of this broken world with your children might be, there is such a thing as seeing too much, too soon. Possibly so, but my daughter-in-law (with degrees in education from Vanderbilt and Harvard in primary and secondary education, and with experience in teaching both) pointed something out to me: If children are really that young, too young for some sights, they simply won't see them, or understand what they're seeing. Children find a great deal of the world inexplicable, so the very young are not usually in danger of being damaged by fleeting glimpses of the sordid world. By the time they are old enough to notice what they're seeing, it's time for parents to be talking to them about it, anyway. And it's usually way younger than you thought!

via www.christianitytoday.com

learning my lines. . .: Crossing The Line With Ellen Degeneres. . . .

To be honest, you feel like a killjoy when you start to question stuff like this. But we still need to stand back and ask the hard questions. Did Ellen cross a line? Did the parents cross a line? Do we cross a line when we ignore what's really going on to enjoy the cuteness of a couple of little kids, justifying it all by saying, "Come on, they're only little kids"? Do we allow our emotions to trump responsible thinking and critique? I'm afraid we're losing our ability to think critically and Christianly about all of life, a reality which requires us to recapture and relearn skills that evidence discipleship of the mind.

I took some time to think more intentionally about this whole thing. I wrote up a 2-page 3(D) review of these videos of Sophia Grace with Nicki Minaj for our latest edition of ENGAGE. You can download the pdf of my review here. Use it to provoke your own thought. If you're a parent, talk about it with your kids. If you're a youth worker, spend an entire evening looking at, talking about, and thinking through the video clips.

After you read it, I want to know. . . Am I over-reacting? Should we be concerned? Is this evidence of deeper issues in our culture? If so, what are those issues? What do you think?

via learningmylines.blogspot.com

Welcome to the Wild Wealthy West, We use people to get stuff!!!

Thoughts about Black Friday:
• Do I use people to get stuff?
• Will my friends be my friends if they never gave me anything again but a nice conversation?
• Are we better than brutal dictators who kill for power when we trample a pregnant woman and a man to buy stuff?
• Are people more important than what I want?
• Do I really need a new phone or a new shirt?
• Why do I buy things that I do not need to impress people who act like they don’t need me?
• Is there a difference between things I need and things I want?
• Is Christmas really about giving gifts that people need or the satisfaction I receive from making people happy?
• When will my longing for stuff be satisfied?
Read the article below and let me know...

"This Black Friday has been marked by disaster as a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death by the crowd of savage shoppers, hurrying to get their hands on the different displayed products that were on sale.

Black Friday is the Friday that immediately follows Thanksgiving and though it‘s not an official holyday, it represents the start of the winter shopping season and it’s the day when people start putting up their Christmas decorations. Black Friday is a merchant’s heaven as many people go into some sort of a shopping spree and most employers give the day off.

Unfortunately, some people don’t know the difference between being excited about something and acting like a mindless crowd of savages. The identity of the Wal-Mart employee was not made public and the shop’s owners were not available for comment.

This points out to the kind of world we are living in and it gives a totally different meaning to the word consumerism. The Wal-Mart employee was just 34 years old and he was unfortunate enough to be in front of the crowd of shoppers who ripped the store’s doors from the hinges this morning. People there declared that the crowd was so powerful that several people were injured, a pregnant woman was knocked down and parents had to hold really tight to their children in order to protect them.

Black Friday is the day when shopping is the main activity of most people as discounts are everywhere and, usually, companies make offers that are hard to say no to, but actually causing someone’s death to get your hands on some cheaper product seems tasteless and grotesque" -By Davie Barret 19:26, November 28th 2008.
© 2007 - 2008 - eFluxMedia

God, Please, Bless Africa!!!!!

child's scream in a Kenya shack By Sue Sprenkle Jun 3, 2008

Sue Sprenkle EDITOR'S NOTE: Sue Sprenkle, the International Mission Board's overseas correspondent for Africa, has reported from that continent for the last 10 years. She remains haunted by the atrocities she witnessed during Kenya's post-election violence earlier this year – and continues to wonder about the fate of one little boy. Warning: contains graphic content. NAIROBI, Kenya (BP)--An ocean of sticks, clubs and machetes wave to the low, rhythmic chants of Kenyan youths. Nearly 100 gather to protest the fate of their country in a small slum in Nairobi. A few hundred yards away, government forces dressed in protective gear form a line to keep them from advancing -- riot shields raised, guns and tear gas bombs poised. A water cannon truck moves into position. Chants of "No justice, no peace!" grow in volume. The mantra steadily gains power. Stones start to fly. Youths in the front line try to advance through milky gray clouds of tear gas while the rest break ranks and run down three-foot-wide paths between shacks, eyes bloodshot, filled with anger, looking to wreak havoc on anyone who is not a member of their tribe. Police chase after them, but it's useless. There's no way to keep up with the spreading frenzy. Screams echo from every direction as people are pulled from their homes and savagely beaten. People run screaming, desperately searching for safety. In chaos like this, it is difficult to differentiate one scream from another -– but today is different. I hear a piercing wail octaves above the others. I put away my notebook and camera and follow the sound. I step over makeshift barricades, walk through the black tar smoke of burning tires and jump over open sewage. Rioting youths run past, raising their pangas (machetes) and rungus (clubs) to the sky in triumph. They want their picture taken and strike a pose reminiscent of conquering heroes. I ignore them. I am focused on finding the source of the heart-wrenching sound. I am closer, but run into another group of youths looting and pulling apart meager slum dwellings. It's not difficult. Walls of thin, corrugated metal are knocked over with a couple blows. They tire of this and set the homes on fire. There's dancing and singing and celebration. The scream gets louder and more intense. I cover my ears. I don't want to go on. Something inside me warns against finding the source of this sound, but it pierces my soul. I continue on. Feet sprawl from the door of a smoking, tattered shack. An older youth ahead on the path looks at me. He smirks, then kisses a bloody panga before raising it in the air. I know what just happened. Another blood-curdling scream brings my attention back to the shack. I take a deep breath and step inside. Someone must still be alive. On the floor is a young woman. Blood oozes from a gash in her head and pools on the dirt floor around her. A toddler stands next to his dead mother. Tears drop from his round cheeks and splash in his mother's blood. He runs to the only chair not overturned in the ransacked house. He crawls up on it and turns his back to me -— as if hiding -— and continues to scream. I look up and down the smoke-filled path to find help, but everyone has fled. I step over the mother's body and into the blood. The closer I get to the toddler, the louder he screams. I know I scare him, but I have to get him to safety. I pick him up. He kicks and hits me. He screams in my ear. It's the scream that drew me here. Months later, the toddler's cry and other sounds of terror still haunt my sleep. I wake up wondering what happened to him. I wonder if he still sees the attacker as I do when my eyes are closed. I wonder if he survived the internally displaced persons (IDP) camp I took him to. My mind constantly plays the "what if" game. What if I had followed the sound just a few minutes earlier? What if I had not stopped to take a picture en route? Would the mother still be alive? What if I had brought the toddler home with me? What if he ends up on the street or in an orphanage because no one claims him? I can never answer these questions. It is Christ's love that draws us to these things. I close my eyes and hear his haunting scream once again. On some level, I never want to forget that sound. --30-- © Copyright 2008 Baptist Press

Christianity Today: Barack Obama… Do you consider yourself born again?

Christianity Today: You've talked about your experience walking down the aisle at Trinity United Church of Christ, and kneeling beneath the cross, having your sins redeemed, and submitting to God's will. Would you describe that as a conversion? Do you consider yourself born again?

Barack Obama: I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn't 'fall out in church' as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn't want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals. There is one thing that I want to mention that I think is important. Part of what we've been seeing during the course this campaign is some scurrilous e-mails that have been sent out, denying my faith, talking about me being a Muslim, suggesting that I got sworn in the U.S. Senate with a Quran in my hand or that I don't pledge allegiance to the flag. I think it's really important for your readers to know that I have been a member of the same church for almost 20 years, and I have never practiced Islam. I am respectful of the religion, but it's not my own. One of the things that's very important in this day and age is that we don't use religion as a political tool and certainly that we don't lie about religion as a way to score political points. I just thought it was important to get that in there to dispel rumors that have been over the Internet. We've done so repeatedly, but obviously it's a political tactic of somebody to try to provide this misinformation- "I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ."Interview by Sarah Pulliam and Ted Olsen | posted 1/23/2008 02:18PM

The Root of the Chaos in Kenya

Another fellow blogger provides us with a view of current events in kenya through the spectacles of her personal theological orientation. "This drama (referring to the current crisis in kenya) started when Pius Muiru left the pulpit to seek the presidency out of nothing but greed. It started when Margaret Wanjiru brought shame on the church by disowning the father of her children. When government officials decided to rob the poor, and fatten their own pockets by increasing their salaries, at a time when people who really served, such as police, nurses, doctors and teachers, were living from hand to mouth. When Kenya decided to host a forum (was it called the World Social Forum?) and people came out in large numbers stating that they were homosexuals on national television. It started when gospel musicians decided to forget God and go secular and Mungiki began to terrorize innocent civilians with the president's full knowledge and seeming consent.That, my fellow Kenyans, is just a sample of the root of Kenya's current situation. It would be a grave mistake, therefore, to expect Mwai Kibaki and/or Raila Odinga to act to restore peace in the streets and households of Kenya. Unless we want to wait a very, very long time, we should not look to the “president” or the international community for assistance. No blog, no text message from home, no report “from the ground” (my new favorite term), no amount of noise is going to be of any use, unless it is noise made not outward, to other people, but upward, to the One Who is in control. It is up to us to act, but this war can only be fought on our knees. Kenya needs to pray.Kenya, for the most part, has been a double-minded nation, especially in recent years. We as Kenyans need to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts. If we draw near to God, James said (James 4:7-8), He will draw near to us. It therefore follows that if we forsake Him, He, being the Gentleman that He is, will not intrude in our affairs, but instead will also forsake us. But what a comforting blessing it is to remember that He is not like humans, and has assured us that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deut 31:6).Pray, pray, pray, Kenya!! There is yet hope!!!" Yes my sister we will pray for Kenya." Yes there is still hope for Kenya.

Pray for the Children of Kenya East Africa!!!

"When Elephants fight it is the grass that suffers"-African Proverb. A fellow anonymous blogger talks about the current crisis in Kenya. "I’ve woken up to war cries outside my window. Kibera has poured out into our neighbourhood, one rival group hunting down another, sticks and stones in hand. There are cries of war renting the air.The mob stops occasionally to ransack kiosks nearby. Gun shots interrupt the mayhem. My next door neighbour is inconsolable. Her sister was out walking in Riruta trying to get away from it all with her children and she ran into a mob. The last she heard from her, she was trying to beg someone to let her into their house. Our watchman says he ran into Mungiki on his way from Kawangware to work. If you glance out into the distance, there’s smoke rising up out of Kibera, testimony to what must have transpired there at night.In response, army helicopters are flying menacingly low.Now I agree with Ptochos. In re-reading it, I can see how my shell-shocked blogging has come off as glib.Yesterday’s hasty enthronement in the face of unresolved issues is going to haunt this country for a long time to come. It’s no matter to gloss over.Meanwhile, the grinches who stole the election are safe in their high-walled, heavily guarded compounds far far away from here.Weep for this place called home. Something needs to be done. Or UNDONE........... We're venturing out tentatively. There are cars on the road, there weren't before.Yet in the middle of all this, the people give me hope. My neighbour downstairs says she’s noticed children roaming around unsupervised. She’s gone out to bring them back, into her home if necessary.Because they’re just children.ODM has announced that it will form a parallel government and give the people their president tomorrow. I wondered at first why it was Ole Ntimama who read the statement rather than Raila himself, but when he spoke, I realised how upset he was.I can see how. He's been working towards this most of his life, and then when he thinks it's within his grasp, someone comes along and snatches it away from him.The Election Observation Mission of the European Union has just released a statement that calls into doubt the final result.Nation TV is now broadcasting images of violence. Kisumu is on fire. In Eldoret, reports are that 7 people have been killed. I know there must be mayhem in Kibera. I can see smoke rising up out of there in the distance. There were reports of clashes between rival groups in Mathare and houses being burnt.KTN is not broadcasting its Prime Time News. Instead, it streaming CNN feed. Channel 1 has switched off Aljazeera and is broadcasting Christian music videos. There's a preacher on KBC 1, while Citizen is broadcasting a premier league match.Kenyans are bracing themselves for the worst. My phone is full of text messages warning me not to leave my house tomorrow. I wasn't planning to.I think the directive to media houses as read to us on KTN a while ago is not all there is to this. There must have been further undisclosed instructions.There's a news blackout and I can't begin to tell you how jittery all this makes me"-Blogger from Kenya.

A sad day for democracy.

The  assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto marks a sad day for democracy on the stage of world of events. The senseless murder of a leader who stood for freedom in the face of religious prejudice and social injustice in any land reminds us that that humanity without supernatural interaction or direction will self destruct. May her restless soul rest in Peace. God bless you and yours and may heaven continue to grace us with powerful women like you.