for your personal devotional time



ht: al keida

memorandum from captain random...

john mccain still thinks the "fundamentals of our economy are strong." i'm thankful for more hope we can bereave in.

today i've been wondering how the church and her mission would be altered by a long-term recession. other than encouraging compassionate redistribution, providing financial and sustainable life skills training and, if need be, turning a few of those ginormous family life centers into places where displaced families could really, you know, live their lives, i don't really know what the church in the context of depression would look like. thoughts?

the boston cohort is gathering tomorrow night (9.15.08) at danny's diner in somerville (300 Beacon Street, near the porter square stop on the red line) around 7 p.m. we'd love to see you there.

little p's laughter is the sweetest sound in the world.

this weekend, i was once again amazed by my eclectic, incredible group of friends. i do not deserve you.

overheard: traveling with autism

today the new york times had an excellent multimedia feature that focused on how a family has intentionally introduced their autistic child to the wonders of travel. anyone who has heard me talk about my experiences accompanying and empowering people with disabilities has probably heard me say that "family is the greatest disability." stories like this, as well as my interaction with many of our participant's families, reminds me that families are the greatest source of ability as well.

anyway, i enjoyed the story and i hope you do as well.

the hastily written, under-contextualized political report

yesterday we, along with an incredibly eclectic group of new and old friends, attended the barack obama rally in manchester. throughout the event i was impressed by obama's focus on progressive policy, detailed comparisons of his proposals and mccains' and the hopeful, positive tone of the whole event.

although i don't talk politics on the blog much, i am definitely an obama backer. though the polls are tight right now i think obama has the wind on the economy, the war and resource development. for those reasons, in my better moments, i believe that the american public will eventually decide to arrest the elevated entropy of our nation by voting the neo-con edition republicans out of office.

that being said, my one concern with obama's platform, and with contemporary american politics in general, is that our leaders constantly promise significant change that requires little or no sacrifice from ordinary citizens. that is why i completely agree with jeff jacoby's opinion that the change we need cannot simply be funded by increased taxes on the top 1% of americans. in order to bring economic stability to the nation and provide the innovative resource development and sweeping access to health care that this nation needs, we will need not only to tax the rich and strategically retreat from economic blunders such as the iraq war, but we will also need for the middle class to sacrifice by rolling back the bush tax cuts and so requiring the investment of ordinary citizens in the redevelopment of our beleaguered nation.

of course, that's only my opinion. i could be wrong.

Summer of Sam (and Mac)
By Kevin Smith Clark

When Ken Rosenthal makes a reminder that this is the 10th anniversary of the McGwire-Sosa battle, all it does is tell me, “You’re getting old.”

Believe me, I was completely caught up in the hoopla that summer. Living one hour (sans traffic) from Wrigley definitely added to the excitement. We’d never seen anything like this in baseball (some may argue 1961 Maris-Mantle, but that was an age of single-camera baseball coverage and no internet), and fans turned out in droves. I went to see the Cardinals at Comisky (now US Cellular) in July because McGwire would be there (he didn’t disappoint, hitting #32 that evening). It was all surreal…and then…

Canseco. Caminiti. Congress. Cowardice. Here I am, 10 years later, hoodwinked, bamboozled by two guys who will (whether or not they ever confess) a huge asterisk on their careers because of a lack of integrity. Two guys sealed their fates when they wouldn’t just own up to the allegations. “I’m not here to talk about the past.” Well, I am, Mr. McGwire and Mr. Sosa. I quote Jimmy Gator from that beautiful film Magnolia, “The book says, ‘We might be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.’” What sucks is every time a Ryan Howard, Josh Hamilton, David Ortiz, or Albert Pujols goes yard, the past ain’t through with us. Every time another player gets suspended, the past ain’t through with us. McGwire and Sosa ignited the fuse of our suspicion, and, henceforth, every Home Run champ will be placed under a microscope. His blood, urine, and hair will be examined. His former high school coach and his baby’s mama will be questioned. I can’t enjoy the long ball like I used to…perhaps it’s God’s way of forcing me to enjoy great pitching…and BTW, when did a 3.75 ERA become good? Where are Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax when you need them? Sorry, there I go talking about the past again.

Bled State
by Kevin Smith Clark

In late 2000, my mentor, Dr. John Castelein, wrote the following: "In the 2000 presidential election, truth is not non-partisan."  It took me eight years to fully appreciate this line.  Living in a battle-ground state has been nothing short of exhausting.  I'm sure you all remember Ohio's role in 2004.  Shortly thereafter came Coingate involving a trail of Republicans that led to Columbus (for more info, google "coingate" or "Tom Noe"...that should do it).  But, in this state, the truth is anything but objective.  I can't tell you how many ads I see on a daily basis..."John McCain is more of the same"..."Obama wants to tax you more"..."McCain wants to sodomize your mother while pouring sugar in your gas tank"..."Obama is a closet terrorist"..."McCain will ship your job to Mexico"..."Obama will drive your job to Mexico".  Somewhere in all of this is the truth.  And, literally, only God Himself knows it.  It's extremely difficult in my hometown where the most important issues are (in no order): stance on abortion, stance on gay marriage, stance on prayer in school.  And there's not much audience for dialogue (let me be crystal clear on this: I'm against the first two and think the third is irrelevant).

We are approximately 60 days from Bipolar National Showdown III, and I'm sick of the smack-talk, endorsed and unendorsed commercials, "eight is enough", "raisin' McCain", Sarah Palin (yes, she does look look like Tina Fey and yes, I hope they totally lampoon her on 30 Rock this year), Joe Biden's bad hair (we know you have plugs...i remember your hair during Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill), and ANWAR.  I think I'm sick of the Kingdom of America.  I'm returning to the Kingdom of God.

That's what living in a Bl-ed State feels like: a large family of manic depressives who forgot to take their crazy pills...because John McCain won't provide them for free.

this just in!

now that the republican national convention is winding down, the organizers are finally sharing their planning documents with the general public. according to these recently released documents, the four authorized responses to the speakers' staccato applause lines are as follows:

a) woo!
b) boo!!
c) moo!!!
d) USA! USA! USA!

thursday's memory verse

"some trust in dow jones and some in f-16s, but we (me?) trust in the name of the Lord our God."

~Ps. 20:7, GSV

musing...

"show proper respect to everyone, love your fellow believers, fear God, honor the emperor." i peter 2:17

"always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. but do this with gentleness and respect." -i peter 3:15

"a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." -proverbs 15:1

as a child one of my mentors taught me that respect is defined by the object.  thus, you respect a man or woman when they respect you. 

as you can imagine, this advice, when combined with my contrarian nature, led to constant conflicts with adults and authority figures. when my friend's meddlesome mother encouraged me to help my mom clean up after supper, i asked who gave her the right to tell me what to do. likewise, when an art teacher chided me in fourth grade, i decided to make her lunch duty a little slice of hell by organizing a student sit out. i could go on, but you get the idea.

i'd love to say that God, the Holy Spirit or scripture turned my act around and taught me that respect is a loving act that one extends regardless of the integrity of the object, but that simply would not be true. instead, i learned respect over the past year and a half as i've persuaded, begged and pleaded middle managers at the local market basket and supervisors at walgreens to give my students an opportunity to transition into the workplace. as a beggar you learn pretty quick that if you're asking an employer about an opening, "sir" or "ma'am" is a far more welcome introduction than "hello chris" or "hi nancy." the more formal my language got, and the more southern twang i slipped in, the more successful my cold calls were and the more convinced i became that the road to relationship is paved by respect.

tonight, as i stumbled across the scriptures above, i was reminded of this basic lesson that took me 30 years to learn and i've wrote it down more to remind myself than to instruct others. i readily admit that i still struggle with popping off to cops and when i slide into southern speak you'd best put your boots on, but i'm learning that respecting others is close to the holy and hidden heart of life.

blow win blow, burn fire burn

lately i have been getting up early to pray the daily office. when i get the chance, i have also been listening to funeral by arcade fire whenever i wash the dishes or do my chores.

clearly, neither of these practices are remarkable.

what is weird is that almost every morning over the past two weeks, i have woken up two or three minutes before my alarm blares with the following fire lyric pulsing through my head: sleeping in is giving in. no matter what the time is.

have you ever had a lyric infect your mind in this way? if so, please share what, how and when. if you'd simply like to affirm my sanity, i would appreciate that as well.

three cheers for city mission of schenectady!

when one reads stories about pentecostal pastors faking leukemia in order to cover up sexual sins and focus on the family "humorously" calling for its rapidly diminishing audience to pray for rains of biblical proportions to wash away obama's acceptance speech it is easy to lament the current state of evangelicalism.

fortunately, as i was reminded today, there are still thousands of integrous, passionate evangelical organizations such as city mission of schenectady that are serving both their communities and Lord remarkably well. today the entire quadrilateral development crew had the privilege of touring city mission's remarkable campus where the formerly homeless and working poor are offered a home, given opportunities for holistic life development and are sent back into communities as contributors and healers. throughout the day mike, their executive director, and liz, their development director, taught us not only why relationships are the key to mission, but also taught us how to establish relationships as the key of our development program.

i would like to thank jim, liz and everyone at city mission for hosting us for the day and providing me with the most amazing illustration of john perkins' and the christian community development association's focus on redistribution, relocation and reconciliation that i have ever experienced.

musing...

in milan's majestic, facist inspired train station there is an enormous, flip character train schedule that rat-a-tat-TATs the day away. one muggy july afternoon, damn near a decade ago, i sat directly beneath the board as strike inspired delays bore the day away. after the second or third hour of frustration, i noticed a cute little girl peeking and smiling at me from around her mom's shoulder.

once she directed her attention my way, i did my best to maintain it by crossing my eyes, flipping a coin as high as the board and generally just goofing around. eventually, with nothing else to do, and with her parent's tacit, if unspoken, permission, i spent the next few hours ignoring the board entirely as i challenged the girl and her brother to "quarter basketball," gave them airplane rides and found any number of ways to keep us occupied. as the evening came to an end and the board finally announced my potential departure, the parents used the few english words they knew to tell me that they were croatian refugees who were fleeing the serbian campaigns of ethnic cleansing, which were apparently proceeding even throughout the american bombing. that chance encounter taught me how small the world really is and ended up being the most meaningful experience i had in two weeks of european travel.

right now i'm not stuck in a milanese train station, but i am adjusting to a demanding new job where the incessant rat-a-tat-TAT of the clock reminds me of grant deadlines, donor events, and quarterly revenue reports that are constantly drawing one second closer. i hope in the midst of the swirling excitement and fear i don't miss out on the relationships and chance encounters that will ultimately mean so much more than one more personal win or loss.

cha-ching!

and we thought she was only an attention whore.

musings congratulates debbie phelps and nbc for doing their best to make an epic athletic feat damn near unwatchable.

ht: npr's only a game.

sounds like someone* is having...

a case of the mondays.**


* if, by someone, you mean g13.
** if, by mondays, you mean having a finger up your ass, scoring a new script and being forced to forswear alcohol, caffeine and marital relations for two weeks.

hip-hip hypocrisy!

in a move designed to admonish china for their investment in the sudan and extend president bush's impotent assertions regarding human rights, the u.s. flag bearer at friday's lavish* opening ceremonies in bejing was lopez lomong, a former sudanese "lost boy" who is now an american citizen and 1,500 meter runner.

while happy for lomong's personal success and intrigued by his personal story, i cannot help but note the hypocrisy of the american team's "statement" regarding human rights. maybe i'm crazy, but i suspect that a symbolic action condemning america's embrace of torture, practice of secret rendition and passionate persecution of unjust wars would make a slightly stronger statement about the american** commitment to human rights. sometimes i wonder if there is any end to american hypocrisy.

current reports out of china suggest that in response to american insolence, china's flag bearer at the closing ceremony will don this symbolic dress.







* woo boy. no one throws a party like an asian authoritarian regime.
** f*ck yeah!

gleanings from my morning reading

another celebrated evangelical leader, another hard nosed autocrat

everything bad is good for you

tiger and g finally find their way home

concerning the party of stupid

worst.idea.ever

a christian consumer advisory
by: slowfo

This is a public service announcement: There has been a trickling outbreak over the last year or two of people engaging in the watching of disgraceful movie content. These actions must be stopped. I am warning you. Do not do what I have done. This is my story.

I don't know where I heard it but someone encouraged me to spend my precious Netflix queue-spot on a movie titled, "Facing the Giants." I believe, "It's a great movie with a great message" is what I heard. Let me do you a favor and tell you that you should only watch this film if you are devoid of any and all possible entertainment options including exhausting the option of navel play.

Bad acting. Poor dialogue. And to call the story "predictable" is an understatement. It became a game for me to predict each scene a few moments ahead of when we viewed it....and what do you know?.....I was right every single time. It wasn't hard though. My seven year old was guessing right along with me.

Two good things have come from this movie. One, it does communicate that Jesus died to save mankind.....and two, if you really, REALLY turn to Him, you will receive (drum roll please)...a new car!!....a raise at work!....marital fulfillment including the children you were told would never be born to you!!.....and years and years of occupational success!!

Christianity Today couldn't even stoop so low as to give this film a thumbs up. Josh Hurst writes, "when a film is as unintentionally corny as this one, it's anyone's guess as to how many viewers can stomach all the schmaltz for the positive message at the end."

This movie did bring back some funny memories for me though. Anyone remember the "Thief in the Night" cheesy Christian "exploitation" film of the 70's? If not, YouTube it. Watch some of the scenes with the sound down and it will be tough to tell whether the movie is about to turn into Cheech and Chong or gay porn.

Back to the film at hand. Here's a social experiment for you....go to your local fundamentalist church this Sunday, nudge the churchgoers next to you and tell them what a horrible piece of film making "Facing the Giants" was.....and watch their faces! Ah, what fun. You might even hear one respond to you by saying, "Ya know Jesus said, 'The world will hate you because they have hated me.'" To them, you might just say, "How 'bout the world just hates bad movies. And this is one of 'em."

Lastly, this film does have some redeeming value. Try this for your next party night....grab bottles of whiskey, sit down and watch this film and drink every time tears come to the eyes of any actor on film. You'll be enjoying your evening straight away.

reader response: the soul of baseball: a road trip through buck o'neil's america by joe posnanski

for some reason, i've really struggled to finish books lately. right now i have bookmarked copies of killing the buddha: a heretic's bible, not for sale, graphic novels: stories to change your life, harry potter and the deathly hallows and keep your donors lying in various places all over the house. however, when i cracked open my discounted copy* of the soul of baseball earlier this week i simply could not put it down.

if you're a fan of ken burns' documentaries, hail from kansas city or know anything about the negro leagues you know the name buck o'neil already. if you don't, here's the briefest of synopses: buck was a solid negro leagues player, the long-time manager of the kansas city monarchs (who were, depending on who you're talking to, the yankees or the red sox of the negro leagues) and the most engaging ambassador that either the negro leagues or professional baseball has ever seen.

throughout the book, as buck speaks to and greets folks from every walk of life it quickly becomes clear that buck is not simply an old ballplayer, but a priest who shares the sacraments of celebration and forgiveness with everyone he meets. if you want to understand the priesthood of all believers that saints from peter to r. paul stevens have been extolling for ages, you best read this book.

thank you for blessing us with your presence buck and congratulations on your recent (long overdue) enshrinement in the hall of fame.


* which i came upon at the christmas tree shop, of all places, and purchased for a mere $2.99.

with eyes bright and boots on

i'm going to be moving to an office with a view* on monday, so i guess it is finally safe to report that i've been promoted. on monday i will be starting a new role as rectangle's strategic partnerships director. in this new position i will soliciting public and private foundations, managing all promotional copy and overseeing the 'tangle's volunteers and interns.

ever since my promotion was unofficially announced, my colleagues have alternated between congratulating me and sternly warning me "not to become an a*shole" on account of my new position.

for my part, i know that i am already an occasional a*shole and i am not focused on increasing the frequency or diameter of the latter anytime soon. however, i'd be lying if i told you that these consistent admonitions have not, to a degree, got to me. for that reason, i have constantly been reminding my colleagues that i have always been focused on our participants and would not take the position if it did not help the participants achieve more independent, prosperous and meaningful lives. i've been so insistent on the purity of my intentions that on a couple of occasions i have told colleagues that i am considering hanging one of the pictures of my successful students on the wall. underneath the picture, i told them, i plan to have someone with far better handwriting than mine write, "it's all about the participants."

the last time i launched into the latter apologia, i actually got a lump in my throat and my voice cracked. in the moment, i thought that my visceral reaction was simply evidence of my sincerity. however, on further reflection, i fear that i've confused sincerity with a mistaken belief in my own bullsh*t.

regardless, full of sh*t or not, i'm pulling up stakes on monday. here's to hoping that in my new role, more often than not, i find innovative and effective ways to help all people and all things grow up into him who is the head.

* of the parking lot, but still.

five simple reasons the cardinals should sign barry bonds

1. the man can rake.

2. his defensive liabilities can be offset by late inning defensive substitutions.

3. he'll make the major league minimum and would be easy to release.

4. history has proven that larussa can wrangle the roiders.

5. affirmative action. the cards only have 1 african-american player and i don't think rico washington will be around for long.