Reflection Based on 2Pac

If the conservative church in the U.S. wants to fight so hard to end abortion why doesn't the conservative church want to fight one of the things that creates the need for abortion: poverty? Top down economics will never work. As my professor Ralph Waltins said the other day, "The people in the ghetto's are still waiting" for Regan-nomic's to trick down. Remember when you are voting this election that MaCain still buys the lies of Regan-nomics. Top down economics is a lie and has never worked for those who are poor and it will never work. Jesus fought for those who were in poverty and in need. Ask yourself the question, would Jesus support top down economics?

Reflect on Tupac's song and sit and think about how the church in the U.S. needs to respond:
Lyrics to Brenda's Got A Baby :
Brenda's got a Baby
Brenda's got a Baby

I hear Brenda's got a baby
Well, Brenda's barely got a brain
A damn shame
Tha girl can hardly spell her name
(That's not her problem, that's up ta Brenda's family)
Well let me show ya how it affects tha whole community
Now Brenda never really knew her moms and her dad was a
junky
Went in debt to his arms, it's sad
Cause I bet Brenda doesn't even know
Just cause your in tha ghetto doesn't mean ya can't grow
But oh, that's a thought, my own revelation
Do whatever it takes ta resist tha temptation
Brenda got herself a boyfriend
Her boyfriend was her cousin, now lets watch tha joy end
She tried to hide her pregnancy, from her family
Who didn't really care to see, or give a damn if she
Went out and had a church of kids
As long as when tha check came they got first dibs
Now Brendas belly is gettin bigger
But no one seems ta notice any change in her figure
She's 12 years old and she's having a baby
In love with tha molester, whos sexed and crazy
And yet she thinks that he'll be with her forever
And dreams of a world with tha two of them are together,
whatever
He left her and she had tha baby solo, she had it on tha
bathroom floor
And didn't know so, she didn't know, what ta throw away and
what ta keep
She wrapped tha baby up and threw him in tha trash heep
I guess she thought she'd get away
Wouldn't hear tha cries
She didn't realize
How much tha tha little baby had her eyes
Now tha babys in tha trash heep balling
Momma can't help her, but it hurts ta hear her calling
Brenda wants ta run away
Momma say, you makin' me lose pay, tha social workers here
everyday
Now Brenda's gotta make her own way
Can't go to her family, they won't let her stay
No money no babysitter, she couldn't keep a job
She tried ta sell crack, but end up getting robbed
So now what's next, there ain't nothin left ta sell
So she sees sex as a way of leavin hell
It's payin tha rent, so she really can't complain
Prostitute, found slain, and Brenda's her name, she's got a baby

Baaaaaaaaby

(don't you know she's got a baby)
-Tupac on 2Pacalypse Now

Colorado 2008, a walk through and reflection

Colorado has quickly become a place of peace and love for me. Despite the fact that in Christian circles Colorado is usually associated with Focus on the Family, Conservative Christianity, Young Life (a organization I generally love), and Colorado Spring(the other happy valley other than the Provo Utah area). I have come to love Colorado for totally different reasons friends, hippies, liberals, walking, and mountains. Three years ago Tim and I took a week long trip to see our friends Garret, Aubrey, Jared and the rest of the Shelsta family. I still remember the week long trip as one of the funnest times in the last three years, after all it was when I feel in love with ping-pong and groudiez.
Since that time I have gone and visited the loved members of the Shelsta family two other times, one was two years ago and the other just a week ago. This time for the first time I was out in Colorado solo, in that Tim was not with me. I left on the morning of the 21st of September and arrived in Colorado one plane flight and great conversation with a very open African American women later (lets just say I now know here son's "man's part is large" and that her neighbor once tried to sell her "Adult toys" to kill the time in a snow storm). When I got off the plane Jerry, Garret's dad, picked me up and brought me to Garret's work where I sat and drank coffee and read while waiting for Garret to get off work. Afterward, we meet up with some of Garret and Aubrey's friends at a bar in Boulder to watch the Bronco's game. Being that I am a Chargers fan I wasn't too excited that the Broncos won but hey the company was good so... When the game was done we went to Garret's church were I got to be apart of a great community of people who long to see the Kingdom manifested in the world in a tangible way. For dinner Garret took myself and his sisters to a great little local Mexican food restaurant on Pearl street in Boulder.

For the next couple of days Garret and I just hung out, went to coffee shops, watched Heroes, and just caught up on each others life's. Tuesday night Garret had a youth meeting so I sat in on it and thought he did an amazing job running the meeting. As a youth worker it is always great to be around other youth workers and see them at work. Garret is great at what he does! Right before the meeting Aubrey got back from Chicago, where she was visiting friends from college. That night all three of us went to late night Sushi, that was very good btw.

Wednesday Garret had a staff meeting so I went to a local coffee shop and got some reading done and watched some "How I Meet Your Mother," which is a great show. Afterwords I meet up with Garret and grabbed some lunch. After lunch we went on the longest walk of my life! Not that is a bad thing. Garret and Aubery only have one car so when one takes the car to work the other is left walking or riding their bikes. This isn't to bad in Boulder because everything is so close. I wish I lived in a community where I could walk or bike everywhere and didn't have to rely on my car as much as I do in Socal. Not only is walking a great way to feel and be apart of your local community but walking helps save the planet, which I am always down for, after all God did give us the command to care for the world right after he created us.Our walk took us to a local bike shop and hardware store to pick up things Garret needed to fix his bike as well as work on some other bikes him and a friend are building together. On the way back to their house Garret and sat in a park by a farms market. We had to wait for it to be 4 0'clock so Garret could pick up his produce for the week from a local farmer Aubrey and him buy from. Later that night I got to be apart of Garret and Aubrey's local church community/bible study/cell group thing. It was great to see and be apart of a community that care so much for people I also care so much about. The best thing about this community was that it was naturally multi-generational, made up of both singles and marrieds, and worked to care for others in their community.

The next day Garret and I woke up early and went on a short 2 hour hike leaving directly from their house and walking strait up into the mountains. After the hike and a much needed shower we meet up with some of his students for lunch. I don't know how Garret got so lucky, but his students are into some amazing music and even have a great little indie band! Later that night-since it was the last night of the trip-Garret, Aubrey and I packed up a dinner of wine, cheese, crackers, and a salad and drove up into the Rocky's for dinner. We pulled off on the side of the road and ate dinner looking over a beautiful Rocky mountain valley. We sat up there until it was about dark and headed down to conclude the night with a in home movie and some of Aubrey's great peach pie and ice cream.

Overall my time in Colorado was amazing as usual. It is always so refreshing to be with people who you love and you know love you. Garret and Aubrey are two people who I know care deeply about me and who I deeply care about. My time in Colorado allowed me some great time to reflect and see some practical ways to get a intentional community together. Katie and I know that if not now, even though we hope for soon, God is calling Katie and I to be apart of an multi-generational intentional community of people who work to live out the kingdom in their daily interaction and life's. Thank you again to both of them and love and peace to all.

Writing from Boulder, CO

For the last few days I have been in Boulder, CO. hanging out with my old roommate and friend Garret and my friend Aubrey, who happens to be Garret's wife. After I get back I will do more of a reflection on my time here but for now just know that it has been a great time relaxing, catching up with friends, and exploring new places. The sound track for this trip so far has consisted of:
Bob Dylan's - Blond on Blond
Jenny Lewis' - Acid Tongue
Jon Foreman's - Spring and Summer Ep's
Ra Ra Riot's - The Rhumb line
Sigur Rios' - Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
I highly recommend all of these CD's, they have all help set a great tone for this trip. Peace and Love to everyone.

Why Sarah Palin for VP scares me

Looking at CNN.com I came across this story about Sarah Palin's religious beliefs. To be really honest I wasn't too shocked after hearing Palin make a few speeches but like most people I hate to be right.
"Speaking of the troops in Iraq, Palin says on the video, ""Pray for our military men and women who are striving do to what is right. Also for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending them out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for -- that there is a plan, and that plan is God's plan.'" Video Watch Palin speak at her former church »here
The saddest part is that many people in this country, like Palin, still believe in manifest destiny. May God help us all.

Ramblings of the last month

It has been a while since I have posted. I have been busy to say the least. This last month has been an interesting time in life. For the last two weeks of July I was house sitting for Katie’s (my girlfriend) parents house while Katie, her family and some members of her church were in Israel. During those two weeks I was also in an intensive class at Fuller called Modern Church Theology, where we studied Western Church Theology since the 16th century. The class was good but way to much information to try to remember in two weeks. During these two weeks I was also helping prepare for our youth groups Mexico missions trip so I was busy.
I was though very happy to have my girlfriend back at the end of her trip and I know she was also glad to be back.
With the end of July my sister and her husband also traveled back to their home in Korea. My sister had been in the States since mid-June and her husband since the beginning of July. Much of the time they were in town Katie and I spent time driving back to my parent’s house or trying to meet them half way somewhere in Riverside County. It was hard to say goodbye to them but I know I will see them again in December. I have to admit though it has been nice to not have to spend so much of my weekend driving back and forth to Riverside County.
Two weeks ago I was Mexico with my youth group. There were a total of 21 of us and the trip was good but hard at the same time. During the week we built a 22 x 22 foot house for a family of 10, a single mom and her nine children. The family was previously living in a shack no bigger than 10 x 15. The new structure we built them will provide housing with doors and locks for many of the children to live in. It seemed as if many of the students were moved by the poverty of Mexico and by the family themselves. Many of our students connected with the family through playing with the children. One of my favorite memories of the trip actuality happened after the trip when a mom of one of our students came up to Janelle and myself and told us that her son was in tears telling her about how Jesus, one of the children, was running in and out of the house on the last day screaming “Mi Casa Nuevo!” The mom told us that he was moved by the fact that a child would be so excited about a new house that was barely the size of his living room.
Since I have been back from Mexico I have been working on work from my modern Church theology class. The work is coming slowly, needless to say I am a little burnt out on school. Since I have been back I have also gotten to have some conversations with a friend of mine named Christiana. She works for CRM and her and her husband are moving to San Diego in January to start an intentional missional community through CRM. Both Christiana and her husband Derek, my churches worship leader, have a calling to work with and in intentional communities. Last week Christiana and I had a great conversation about intentional communities because she is aware that I am interested in the topic. After our hour long conversation over the phone she has asked me to compel a group of people to meet with her boss Sam and talk about doing intentional communities. The hope is that Sam will be a resource for us as well as helping some of us think through what an intentional community might look like. Christiana warned me that many times she has seen people that have good ideas but who are not willing to make the sacrifice to make things happen. She really urged me to start praying and thinking about how God has gifted me and my calling in life. I know that God has called me to life in intentional communities but now it is just flushing out the who, where, when and sorts. I hope that the conversation with Sam will help. I have to say I am sad though that more people who have affected a lot my thinking, such as Garrett, will not be able to be at the meeting. As of now it will only be Katie, Tim and I. We hope to ask more people to join in to the conversation but have not yet. I am sure as this gets flushed out more I will be updating.
Sorry if this blog seems a little forced, because it was, I just felt I needed to post something but am sick of writing, but hey here it is so…love…

"With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly"

With the coming of July it is crazy to think that 2008 is already half way over. July has so far been a great month! The 4th was one of the best 4ths I have had in my life, just because how chill it was. There is nothing like a day off with 15 plus friends, BBQ, some drinks, football, a good walk to 7-11 and fireworks in the streets of Azusa. I think my favorite part of the night was lighting off fireworks behind Alosta place in Azusa. Since in G-town it is illegal to set off fireworks we had to mozy on down to Azusa. When walked onto the street the smell of sulfur quickly let us know we were in the right place. I think everyone who lived there on the street was out hanging out with each other and having fun. There were kids, adults, random creepy men lighting off fireworks from the back of their cars, and us. It was so cool just to see people from the community outside of their houses and enjoying one another. For far to long have we let our homes become our personal hideaways from the outside world. A night light this gives me hope for a community of loved ones.
The day after the 4th Tim, Geoff, Jackson, Ryan, Roy, Elliot and I got together and invited a few of our friends to participate in sports day 2008. The idea behind the day was to play sports all day long and then end the day with a sports movie. We all (about 10 us) meet up about 9:30 am at Azusa square and started off the day with 2 and half hours of football; this was a bad choice! After just 3 long games of football we all were already beat, yet the day had to go on and so it did. After football with played an hour of ultimate frisbee. I am happy to say that both of my teams dominated both football and ultimate, in fact the final ultimate source was something like 15 touch downs to 4.
After ultimate we went to the closest area of shade, since it was over 100 degrees outside and BBQed some hotdogs. After the BBQ about nine more people showed up and we played nine innings of softball. My team lost...sad day. During the game Jackson ended up almost breaking his thumb after a throw from Ryan to get a man out on first was way to low for Jackson to get to. The highlight of the softball game was when Tim slid into 3rd, with shorts on, only to get tagged out by the 3rd baseperson who had the ball for about 15 seconds before Tim even got to the base.
I don't know if it was the heat or what but after the softball game all nine newbes took off and left the O.G. ten of us, minus Tim because he went home to because of his bloody leg due to his slide, to finish up the day with two basketball games in the freaking hot as hell courage dome. By the second basketball game, to 15 by 1's and 2's, I was drifting somewhere between thinking I might pass out and feeling like I was going to throw-up. On top of that I had a mad headache from dehydration despite the fact that I had already finished off 5 Nalgenes of water and middle sized gatorade.
To end the day five of the original nine ran a four by four relay, each of us running a 1/4 mile. I was surprised that our team of four (Jackson, myself, Geoff, and Ryan) completed the relay under 7.30 min. That night we meet back up after showers to eat some subway and watched "We Are Marshal." Overall it was a great day! I hurt like hell for the next three days but it was totally worth it!

With half of the year over I also have come up with my top 5 CD's so far in the year 2008. Many of these CD's I have not digested in their fullness but here they are with a couple of honorable mentions:

Top Five of 2008 (as of July 2008)
1. Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust ("With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly")
2. Vampire Weekend - Self-titled
3. Fleet Foxes - Self-titled
4. Foals - Antidotes
5. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Honorable Mentions (in no order)
Thrice - The Alchemy Index: Vol. 3 & 4: Wind and Earth
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Hayden - In Field & Town
The Acorn - Glory Hope Mountain
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

Reflections on my two weeks in Systematic Theology

Today I finish my last day class for Systematic Theology 2: Christology, Pneumatology and Soteriology. As I sit in class totally distracted as the T.A. talks to us I thought I would put together a top 10 list of things learned over the last two weeks of class.

10. Getting up around 6am makes me really tired.
9. Risk online is a great way to kill time.
8. Four hours strait of Systematic Theology is never a good idea.
7. I still don't understand why we have to approach theology either "from above" or "from below."
6. The early church fathers taught crazy stuff and for the most part would be put out on the street by many evangelicals today.
5. Penal Substitution is a Western/ post enlightenment construction
4. Jurgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Karl Barth, Karl Rahner and Stanely Grenz are freaking awesome.
3. Eastern Orthodox theologians have their stuff together, and are for the most part right on.
2. White people have held the reigns of theology for way to long and this needs to change.
1. "Our God is an awesome God!"...J/K...no really, he must be to deal with the fact that we try way to hard to try to explain him