Love Wins!

A few posts ago, I mentioned that some local kids were going to respond to the needs being felt in the Gulf Coast area due to the recent hurricanes.  It's my awesome privilege to report that they've met their goal of raising $2000!

For a look into their efforts,
check out http://mitchellkatrinarelief.blogspot.com

The Trees Were Clapping

Mitch McVicker has a song on his first CD entitled “Gospel Rain.” In one of the verses of that song, Mitch sings:

And every leaf that falls is a kind of burning bush
And I can hear your call when I stop to look
You tell me you’re there whatever happens
And I hear the trees clapping their hands

The last line of that verse has been stuck in my head for over a week now. Labor Day this year was a time of rest for my family. No ball games. No lawn mower. No nagging feeling that we had to be “doing” something. Instead, we piled in the truck and made the short trip to Spring Mill State Park for a late picnic lunch. That I wasn’t screaming at everyone to “LET’S GO!” was in itself a testimony to this day, and the day just seemed to unfold right on schedule.

I took the time to read on a blanket in the shade, which quickly turned into a wonderful nap. And it was good to just “be.” I wasn’t mad at myself for “wasting time.” I didn’t kick myself for not journaling. I slept. Straight up. No guilt.

Before we ate dinner, everyone seemed to congregate on my blanket, and we talked, looked at clouds, watched a few leaves fall, and spent time together. It became more than just being in the same place together, it became an experience of oneness, truly being “together.”

As hunger began to set in (something to be feared with my family), talk turned to food. I love to grill out with charcoal, and though I don’t use it much, on this day I fired up a pile of Kingsford, in preparation of BBQ pork tenderloins. It was awesome, but we lacked one traditional picnic item – fried chicken.

Now there was a family about 30 feet from us, and they had that fried yard bird that Jacob and I craved. As that family finished eating and went on a hike to the old cemetery, we half-jokingly talked of making a daylight raid and snatching their bucket of Colonel’s Magic. Our laughing turned to talk about how people seem to trust each other a little more when they are outdoors at a park or campground. These folks walked away from 3 picnic tables full of food, dishes, and lawn chairs – the works – and probably never thought for a minute about someone taking anything. We remembered our past campouts, when we would leave coolers, lanterns, and tents – everything – at our site as we went swimming at the park lake. And it was always there when we got back. It seems that people can be good, despite what the evening news would have us believe.

So, as we’re finishing up our meal, our talk about the goodness of people grew deeper, as it was suggested that maybe it seems like people are good at parks because they are surrounded by God’s creation, and He in fact lays heavy over those places. Mitch’s song came back to me at that moment, and all I could think of was that sound that I’d been imagining I was hearing – “And I hear the trees clapping their hands!”

The rest of the week I spent a lot of time wondering about people, and how if being surrounded by God’s presence in Nature did in fact spur people on to new levels of goodness, then maybe if people were surrounded by God’s presence in and through the lives of those who are living joyfully for Him, our world could be a better place. Jesus told us that when two or more come together in his name, he would be with them. How cool is it to really consider that we, when sharing Jesus in community, can bring out goodness in people just by radiating God to them. Somehow, that sounds a lot like worship to me.

In closing, I wanted to share a passage that Mitch pointed me to, in hopes of it speaking to your heart as well:

Get out the message – God Rules!
He put the world on a firm foundation;
He treats everyone fair and square.

Let’s hear it from Sky,
With Earth joining in,
And a huge round of applause from Sea.

Let Wilderness turn cartwheels,
Animals, come dance,
Put every tree of the forest in the choir –

An extravaganza before God as he comes,
As he comes to set everything right on earth,
Set everything right, treat everyone fair.

~ Psalm 96: 10-13 (The Message)

Here’s to singing praise with the trees! May everything be made right in Him.

Peace.

Some Kids Respond

A few days ago, I posted a collection of thoughts, blogs, and links to all kinds of information dealing with Hurricane Katrina. As a part of that post, I mentioned that my son and other local kids wanted to help out. If you're interested in reading more about their efforts, and helping them out with their project, here is a link: http://mitchellkatrinarelief.blogspot.com/.

Thanks in advance for checking them out!

Peace.

Taking Care of Business

Check out this homemade billboard from New Orleans. Funny AND effective!

Katrina: Perspectives and Affects

A couple of days ago, I posted some wandering thoughts that I was trying to capture and sort through as our nation began to realize just how devastating Katrina was, and still is, at least in affect. In the time since, there has been breaking news story on top of breaking news story (most of which were bad – really bad!), gas prices have jumped around the country, people are responding, people are thinking, people are talking, and the world is watching. I wanted to try and group some of these ideas into one common place, to give you all each a chance to kick around some of these perspectives. So here goes . . .

The World is Watching: Check out this story that Reuters is reporting from London. I wonder sometimes if others outside of our country can’t see things a bit more clearly because we are all, to some extent, affected by our country’s culture. Certainly a sobering look at what the rest of the world thinks of our nation.

One person’s thoughts: A blog that I frequent, and that I highly recommend as a source of well written, challenging and insightful thoughts and comments, is Through a Glass Darkly. In a post on Friday, September 2, abbasfriend (the blog owner) wrote a great piece that I encourage you to read. Then re-read it. Let it sink in. Good stuff, to be sure!

A Way to Help: The United Methodist Church has a relief center in Baldwin, LA that is serving as a distribution point for supplies being sent to shelters, refugee centers, etc. They are providing a hand’s on way for folks to get involved. Check them out at this site: http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=3438 There are links from there to other ways of helping through the same agency. I’m not a United Methodist, by the way, but I do think they are in a great spot with a great way to help.

A Pastor’s Rant: A pastor and author that I highly respect is Doug Pagitt from Solomon’s Porch in Minneapolis. On his blog, he lets it eat today, and if nothing else, I encourage you to check it out to get a sense of his passion.

Some Kids Respond: My son and some friends wanted to do something to help out after the hurricane hit, so they decided to buy some of the rubber slogan bracelets made popular by Lance Armstrong and LIVESTRONG. So, we parents helped find a supplier, and are in the process of ordering 300 purple bracelets with “Katrina Relief – Love Wins” imprinted on them. The kids are going to sell them for $5 each, and send 100% of the money to a relief agency. Whatever they end up with is more than I would have done in 6th grade, that’s for sure.

Gas Prices, Consumption, and the Kingdom: I couple of posts ago, I talked about the FX show “30 Days,” how I was being challenged to consider how I consume resources, and how that was a reflection of my attitudes towards the Kingdom of God. Ya, I did some thinking about all of that stuff, but it wasn’t until Wednesday that I began to do something about all of that. Gas prices went from $2.49 in our area to $3.19 in one day – heck, I think it was even in like 4 hours! So, I parked my pickup truck, and dug my bicycle out of the storage shed. Thursday morning, I pedaled of to work, and 30 minutes later, I rolled in. I gotta tell you that I wasn’t thrilled about heading home after a physical day, but it was all good. In fact, I’ve enjoyed it, and now, another guy from my neighborhood is joining me. I have to admit that me saving a buck in gas money played a part in this. But I think Jesus, to some extent, was involved too. And that may be the biggest lesson for me – even though I intellectually believe that He should be impacting all of my life, including the decisions I make, I know that’ not always the case. But slowly, that’s changing. If it took $3 gas and an old Schwinn to make me see that, then that’s cool with me.

Blogs that are speaking volumes about Katrina: Lots of folks have more and better stuff to say than me about Hurricane Katrina, how she has changed our country, and how we can help. Check some of them out:

http://scottbridwell.typepad.com/
http://www.katrinahousing.org/
http://webranding.typepad.com/projectkatrina/
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/30/help.agencies/index.html

Okay, after all of that, I think the best thing we all might do for a night is turn off the TV and the computer. Relax. Breathe. Chill. Create the time and space to enjoy a night free from thinking about death, destruction and chaos. As I mentioned in the last post, God is still on His throne. That IS enough.

Peace.