Welcome to my head.

I've Moved

2008-01-10T22:09:00.000-08:00

I am now at wordpress under philnamy, sorry for not posting this sooner. See you on the other side.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-24T23:04:00.001-08:00

It's 10:44 pm Christmas eve. Abby and Emma are sound asleep in bed and Amy and I are getting everything ready for Christmas morning. I remember when I was a kid waking up on Christmas morning and just freaking out at the site of a Christmas tree surrounded by presents that 'Santa' had brought while I was asleep, we didn't even have a chimney.

Tonight I pulled a Clark W. Griswald and told my daughter that Santa had been spotted over Chicago and he would be in Seattle in 5 hours. Just then the thought came into my head of when do you actually tell your kids that Santa is just a big fat alcoholic who can only get work in the mall during the Christmas season. I also wondered if it is wrong, or to put it more clearly, how wrong is it to pretend to your kids that Santa is real. Maybe that is why there are so many messed up people in the world who are seeing psychiatrists, because their parents lied to them about Santa. I think I will tell her next year that Santa died in a horrible reindeer accident while flying over Northern Canada.

I hope that my family and yours have a great Christmas this year. I hope that we will remember what this season is all about, Jesus.

Yea, it worked.

2007-12-22T11:25:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of my trip to Chicago. Enjoy.

Jesus on a plate in the antique store.

Ben and Rusty.

Smile in the elevator

The Groom

The dudes

Rusty took me to a Blackhawks game. Dream come true for me and the lame sized crowd that showed

One night in Chicago

2007-12-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share some pics and memories of last weekend when I was in Indiana and Chicago with my good friends. Unfortunately blogger is not letting me upload pictures at this time. I have not had many problems with blogger, but this is enough to make me want to bail out and join another carrier, any suggestions? Until then, or until I can get my pictures to load here is a great youtube video that I found on my good friend Lars site. Heres hoping we see some pics of Chicago soon.

Christmas Vacation

2007-12-20T12:16:00.000-08:00

Christmas is coming soon.

36 at the DMV

2007-12-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

Today is me 36th birthday. I woke up at 1:30 this morning as Abby, our 17 month old was coughing and crying a bit. I picked her up and she threw up all over me. It is now 14 hours later and I smelled it again just in writing this. Anyway, it was a huge toss, filled with rice and something red. So now I am sitting at the DMV approx. 20 numbers away from mine. So far the B-day has been stellar. I am looking forward to tonight when Amy and I get to go out for a nice quiet dinner together, far away from throw-up and lines.

Off the topic of birthdays

Have you ever been away from your daily responsibilities for a while and when you get back you feel as though you will never catch up again? That is kinda how I feel after coming back from my friend Sams wedding. We had a great time, got plastered by a blizzard in Chicago and went to a Blackhawks game, but now I feel slammed. Maybe its cause I don't know how to rest, or maybe its cause its the holidays and I haven't got Amy anything, but whatever it is it sucks. Here's hoping you and me find peace and rest this Christmas season in the midst of chaos.

Later.

Ywam shooting update.

2007-12-13T17:29:00.000-08:00

I am travelling to my good friend Sam 's wedding currently so I won't be doing a justice post tomorrow. I did want to take a moment and update you on what I know about the ywam shooting in Denver. I talked to my good friend mike today. Mike is from ywam vancouver and he attended the memorial service for Philip and tiffany in Denver yesterday. He said it was a hard and emotional service as friends and family of philip and tiffany. The guy who was shot in the neck is now in stable condition. He and tiffany were about to get engaged. Please pray for him and his hurt and loss. Please also continue to remember the family, friends and ywam Denver.
Thanks

YWAM Denver Shootings

2007-12-09T18:05:00.000-08:00

Today a tragic thing happened at a YWAM base in Denver Colorado. At approx. 12:30 am a man came to one of the YWAM houses and asked if there was a place for him to stay. The people there told him that there was not and then he pulled out a gun and started shooting. Two people were killed, one is in intensive care and one is in good condition.

At 1st I wondered if they were going to get slammed with people saying that they are Christians yet didn't act like it because they didn't show hospitality. Then the more I though about it I praise God that they said no because if he opened fire while the house was awake and full of people I can't imagine what potentially could have happened if the house was asleep and he was in there. Please pray for the families of those hurt and murdered, for the YWAMers who are living there and for the apprehension of the murderer.

Below is a letter that we received an hour ago from Peter and Linda Waren, the base directors.

Dear friends of YWAM Denver,
Linda and I just returned from the hospital at 6am. Along with a number of
our staff and students we were awaiting news of our four staff who were
shot last night. It's with a heavy heart I need to tell you we just lost
two of them. Tiffany Johnson and Phil Crouse passed away in surgery in the
early hours of this morning, Sunday December 9th. They were wonderful
young YWAMers in their early twenties. Dan Griebenow is in critical but
stable condition with a bullet still lodged in his neck and Chuck Blanch
has two bullet wounds in his legs but will be fine.
Thanks for praying for us. Our whole community has been uprooted as the
base in Arvada has been declared a crime scene and no one can return to
their beds during the investigation. We've relocated everyone up to our
mountain campus, Eagle Rock, for however long this takes.
Please lift up the family and loved ones of those who were lost in prayer.
We're so grateful for the worldwide YWAM family that is reaching out to us
during this difficult time.
Your brother in Christ,
Peter

Read More

Theology

2007-12-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

Last night our family put up the Christmas tree. I look forward to this time well before we actually do it, I think it is because I have great memories of putting the fake tree up in my house as a kid. So Emma, our 5 year old started talking and we were asking her about Christmas and she was explaining it to us. So, here is the true meaning of Christmas told by my little girl.

Evangelism

2007-12-04T15:32:00.000-08:00

I read two interesting posts today on evangelism that I thought I would share. They are very interesting and a lot of good to be found in both.
David Fitch and Ryan Benhase

San Diego

2007-12-03T23:33:00.000-08:00

So this weekend our family went to San Diego to visit our good friends Craig, Kay Charlotte, Ingvar and Jessie. It was an amazing time for our family. The reason we went was to talk about Mission Adventures international and how that is going to look. I will spare you all the details, but I do want to talk a little bit about friendship and hospitality. From the moment we got there we felt that they were happy to have us around. I learned once again this week what it means to serve. We were treated like royalty during out time there. We had great food, constant coffee and drinks, lots of good conversation and a trip to Seaworld. I just want to send a shout out to our dear friends with Mission Adventures in San Diego. We love you dearly, and you taught us many things this weekend about family, service, humility, transparency and friendship. Thanks.

Before I sign off I want to share one story illustrated by pictures. On the last day we went to La Jolla to walk on the beach and see the pelicans. While we were waiting for the girls to park Ingvar, Abby and I were hanging out watching to seagulls. Abby was eating a banana and a seagull took interest. He kept getting closer and closer and Abby was not backing down. Eventually, the little nasty bird grabbed the banana from Abby's hand and flocked off (flocked like a flock of birds, clever eh!) Abby was not happy, but we, and the rest of the people watching couldn't stop laughing. Here are the pics.

prayer of justice

2007-11-30T16:04:00.000-08:00

God, the father of the forsaken, the help of the weak, the supplier of the needy; you teach us that love towards the race of man is the bond of perfectness, and the immigation of your blessed self. Open and touch our hearts that we may see and do, both for this world and that which is to come, the things that belong to our peace. Strengthen us in the work which we have undertaken; give us wisdom, perserverance, faith and zeal, and in your own time and according to your pleasure prosper the issue; for the love of your son Jesus Christ.

From eerdnans book of famous prayers, 1983.

Apple *&#@

2007-11-26T17:04:00.003-08:00

I have been on hold with Apple Computer for the last 86 minutes. I have been trying to get a reimbursement for my AppleCare since the computer that it was on is now in the grave. I have been passed around to 3 different people and they are still trying to figure things out. The deal is that I talked to someone two weeks ago and they game me a case # and told me to write a letter requesting the reimbursement. I did this, and after not receiving anything for the last two weeks I decided to call. Basically they sent my reimbursement to someone else and are giving me the runaround. Currently, and for a while now I have nothing good to say about Apple. This does not mean that I recommend you buying a PC, I am just venting. For more venting check out Justin

A good Black Friday

2007-11-23T21:07:00.000-08:00

Friday is usually the day I write about injustice, but I had such a good day with my girls I want to post about that. I feel privilaged to have a family that is close. I do feel that it is an injustice for kids to grow up without a healthy family, not that I am the greatest dad or husband, but I love my family and want to be a part of their lives as much as I am able.

Today was a great Black Friday. Emma, Sam and I headed downtown on the Metro Bus with our friends Gordon and his girl Grace to see the parade. After the parade we met up with some other friends and went out for crumpets. I have never had crumpets before, but man, they are delicious.
After that Ben, Jaya, Emma and I went to see the ginger bread houses. We waited in line for about 30 minutes, but it was fun and they were tasty looking. Then Emma and I went and got some pizza for lunch and headed over to the Westlake Center carousal. From there we walked around a bit and took a picture of the Buy More Stuff people. Then we took the bus home to get mom and Abby.

A half hour after we got home Amy, Emma, Abby and l hopped back on the bus back to downtown for the lighting of the Christmas tree. They also blew off some fireworks directly over our heads so we were covered in sparkler dust. After that we met up with Mel and Jaya down at Pacific place and watched the snow show (they blow bubbles all over the lobby and it looks like snow, pretty cool). Finally, we got back on the bus and went home for dinner. After dinner we cuddled up in bed and watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Good day to be sure. Hope yours was good as well.

Good Night.

Beauty

2007-11-19T23:03:00.000-08:00

The other day I received an email from my good friend Ben. We are talking as a base about what our vision is, and where we are going. Here is an excerpt from his email.

"The word is beauty. Not in the classical aesthetic sense only, but in a new way. Here are some examples of beauty, I think:

Bicycles (especially track bikes and tall bikes!)
Well-made espresso
Birth
Justice for the poor
Life-giving, challenging friendships
Art, in all it’s personalities...

Of course, not everyone thinks a placenta is beautiful, and not everyone likes ambient electronic music, but that’s the point. It’s long hallway, with a million doors cracked open.

Do you know what I mean? What if part of our “mission” is to bring/recognize/incubate beauty, in our city and our world. The discoveries that students make about their families, and about themselves, these are beauty. The first time an American kid sees what India looks like, the wells we dig... I could go on and on.

I want us to build beauty in this city, and everywhere we go. I want to make good art, build bikes, craft coffee, and hear people."

This is beautiful. I have been thinking of this since I received Ben's email Sunday. This has to be the way to live so that we can draw people to Jesus. Jesus is not a God of religion and law, He is a creator of all things beautiful. As a kid I used to have to hide the music that I liked from my parents because it was seen as bad, even though musically it was amazing. The music that I did keep on my shelf was called "Christian Rock" which was not very good, but it was allowed. In this I am saying that beauty does not just come from the Christian, it is in all of us, and it is from God.

One of the things I appreciate from the church that I attend now is that they do everything with beauty and professionalism. When they were starting they didn't have a worship band because no one in the church was good musically, so they found other way's to worship without music, I respect this. I pray that we as followers of the beautiful Jesus can live lives of beauty that draws others to Him.

Here are some things that I find beautiful:
The cross
My little girls laughter
Rain
Silence
Culture
Friends

I pray that we can live out lives out of beauty. That we would see beauty in the people and things around us and that we would project beauty on to them.

Bangladesh

2007-11-17T11:13:00.002-08:00

The other day Bangladesh was rocked by a cyclone. So far the death toll is over 1,500. Please pray for the families who have lost loved ones, children who have lost parents, the relief workers and the people who have lost homes, crops, and business.

Read more on the BBC

Water

2007-11-15T21:32:00.000-08:00

-More than 1 billion people in the world are in need of clean water.
-More than 2.2 million people die each year from preventable diseases caused by contaminated water.
-More than one in six people on the planet don't have access to clean water
-In Africa half the population has no access to clean water, that's 360 million people.

This is a problem. This morning when I was making coffee I decided to use purified water out of the Brita filter instead of the tap. I actually had a choice to use purified water or purified water. This is s problem. I want to talk about two groups of people who are doing something about this.

Ethos Water provides consumers with the opportunity to donate to clean water projects in the developing world by buying a bottle of water. For each bottle of water purchased in the U.S. $.05 is donated to the Ethos water fund. The mission of Ethos water is "to help children around the world to get clean water and to raise awareness of the world water crisis." Since 2002 Ethos water has committed over $4.2 million in grants to it's beneficiaries. You can find Ethos water at Starbucks coffee companies. Make sure that you don't buy coffee there, just water. Not that I have any ethical problem with Starbucks, it's just that there coffee sucks. You can read more about ethos here.

Halfway There is a group of friends who decided to get together and do something about the water crisis in Africa. Half the population of Africa lacks access to clean water, that's 360 million people or another way to put it is 360,000,000 people. My friends decided that they should put there talents together and raise some money to dig wells. What they did was to make shirts and sell them. Here is how it works. You buy a t-shirt for $15 and 100% of the money goes into the ground to dig wells in Africa. How does that work? Well the people you buy the shirts from have already payed the tax, the shipping and the cost of the shirt. Another thing you could do is to buy 48 shirts for $196.00. This cost covers all the expenses and in turn you sell the shirts for $15-$20 each and all the money goes to wells. To learn more about this go to Halfway There.

Do something, do anything.

Daddy Day

2007-11-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

Thursday is the day that I stay home with the girls so that Amy can get out and do the work she needs to do, it also gives her a break as the primary care giver, during the day, of the girls. I love that my job allows me the flexibility to work from home. I do not take it for granted one bit, although some times, just from growing up in this culture I feel that since I am the man that I need to be always going off to work and Amy, being the woman needs to always be at home with the girls. This idea is wrong and frankly lame. I am not a man because I go to work, I am a man because I have a penis, that's all it takes.

Anyway, so this morning I woke up and got the girls breakfast, which is the usual, and I just finished the laundry. Abby is walking around with Emma's panties on the outside of her pants, way to go dad. I love that I know and am connected with my girls. I understand that most men don't get to have as much time with there kids as I do, and that makes me sad as I know they would love it. As a home group we are going through this book about marriage with kids. For the most part I can't relate as it is talking about dads who don't know what to do when left alone with their kids. I guess this is the norm in our culture.

I pray that I can take advantage of this time that I am given and decided to take. I know it would be easy to just put on a movie for the girls and go about my day, but I might as well not be here if that is the case. Today, I plan on giving Abby a nap, doing a little work on school and MA and going for a walk. My friend Brian may be coming over also, which is great as it will show him that dudes can hang out with there kids during the day as well as girls.

So, to all you stay at home dads out there cheers.

Weekend Fun

2007-11-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

This past weekend my friend Colin from Winnipeg came to visit. It was a good time and we saw a lot of the city. Colin arrived on Saturday and we spent the day walking around down town. One of our stops was at the public library, I love this building. For one, it just looks cool from the outside and inside. For two, they have the coolest kids area of any library I have ever been to. Colin is an architect so it was great for him to see this bizzarly built building from what sounds like an equally bizzar architect.

On Sunday we went to the worship service at Mars Hill and spent the day hanging out once again. Sunday evening we went to the Moore theater and heard Rob Bell talk on his "The God's Aren't Angry" tour. It was a great night as I saw a lot of friends there, some of which I see daily and others who I have not seen in years.
Yesterday we went for a drive to get some good coffee at Cafe Fiore where my friend Rachel works. From there we went to the Ballard Locks and watched a huge barge go throught being towed by a tiny little tug boat. Then we went and ate the worlds largest burrito at Gorditos. The four of us actually split it and still had leftovers.

Finally, to end the weekend off just right we scalped tickets into the Monday night football game between the Seahawks and the 49ers. We got in for $20 and watched a slaughter as the Seahawks destroy the 49ers 24-0. Thanks Colin for coming, and thanks to my family for being so flexible with all our running around.

I feel like this weekend I was able to give of my time and my energy. I want to continue to live this way. To live in such a way that others feel that they are important and that it is a blessing for me to spend time with them as much as it is them spending time with me. I want to give of my time and energy to others.

Displaced

2007-11-08T21:05:00.000-08:00

Each Friday I want to post on a different Justice issue and spotlight some people who are doing work in that particular area. I want to start by focussing on Darfur and Chad and the displaced people there. A displaced person is a person who is forced to leave their home country because of war, persecution, or natural disaster; a refugee. Since 2003 more than 200,000 Sudanese have been killed and an estimated 2.2 million driven from there homes. Most of the displaced have made their way to camps within Darfur or into the neighboring country of Chad.

The people who remain in Sudan stay in camps for internationally displaced people. These camps are maintained by groups such as Unicef. It is very dangerous in these camps as people are abused, beaten, raped or killed, predominantly women. More than 12,000 relief workers deliver food, water and medical care to those in these camps.

When I think of displaced people I think of Jesus. Jesus was driven from His home when Herod wanted to kill Him. He also say's that "the Son of man has no where to lay His head." I believe that the displaced and the refugee are very close to Jesus heart. He is near to them in these camps. He feels their pain and understands as He was also there. He goes to them in the form of other people and organizations like World Relief and others.

Jesus, please be near to the refugee and the displaced tonight. Keep them safe and put your joy in their hearts.

Information Taken from Need Magazine

Guest Posting

2007-11-08T11:13:00.000-08:00

I have not posted in a couple of day's on this site, but I have posted. My good friend Lars has not been posting for the last few day's due to a writers strike in Hollywood. Lars has decided not to write until the strike is over as one of his friends is a writer and he is standing with him in this. Anyway, if you would like to read my last post you can go to his site. It is a good way for me to connect you with him as well as he has a lot of great things to say.

Tomorrow, and every Friday I will be posting on justice issues and spotlighting people and organizations who are working in these areas. I am very excited about it, I hope you will tune in.

Thanks

Phil

Jamie Arpin-Ricci

2007-11-05T21:49:00.000-08:00

I just want to paste a post from my friend Jamie in Winnipeg. It is a great post, as are all of his. I would encourage you to check him out.

But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew 9:12,13 (NASB)

Growing up, when I heard this Scripture, I often found myself confused. I understood the basic premise- that Jesus did not surround Himself with the religious elite, but came to seek and to save the lost. However, it was clear to me that Jesus held His strongest words or reproof for those who were part of the established religious community. They were exploiting their power and position, compromising to the powers of the surrounding culture and play-acting their reighteousness for show. Would this not make them, in a very reall sense, "sick" as well?

Over time it became clear to me that while they were indeed "sick", they had in their means and understanding the "cure", but ignored it. When Jesus referred to the "sick", He was referring to those who were on the outside. While many of the people Jesus focused on were victims of systems of injustice (the poor, orphans, widows, etc.), they were also sinners who were responsible for their sins. And yet Jesus did not approach these sinners with reproof but with mercy, compassion and love. Clearly, from the religious leaders he wanted them to practice the same way of life, not primarily concerned with their adherence to the letter of the law. In the end, Jesus addressed those leaders only as much as was necessary (often at their initiation), spending most of His time and energy with those He was called to.

Despite this seemingly clear and simple lesson, we find it very difficult to practice it ourselves. Sadly, so much of our time, energy and resources are invested in challenging failed models of faith that we see all around us. While prophetic voices are needed to call the Church on our very really failings and compromises, we are called primarily to be incarnational agents of mercy and compassion to those on the margins. Our corrective efforts must be first and foremost within ourselves and our own communities, allowing our lives to be a living rebuke to those who fail to follow Christ's way.

In our passion to see the Church challenged and changed, have we blinded ourselves from our primary responsibility? Have we allowed ourselves to be distracted from our missional vocation as the Body Christ with an excessive effort at "self-improvement'?

Writing

2007-11-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

Good morning to you. I realize that I have not been writing or posting a lot lately. There has been a lot that has been going on in my life over the last week and a half or so, both good and bad. It has been a very difficult time for me. I am slowly learning again to continue to put Jesus first in all situations. He is God and my circumstances are not. What a revelation eh!

I have spent some time with some good friends this past week, both in person and over the phone trying to figure some stuff out and I appreciate your insight and guidance. I woke up today after reading a chapter from
Mark Scandrette's book Soul Graffiti and spent about 15 minutes in silence, just being with Jesus. I have tried to do this lately, but with kids I have justified sleeping in. Today I got myself up, thank you daylight savings time. As I was sitting there I felt Jesus speaking to me about starting new. The verse I read was Galatians 2:20 where Paul talks about being co-crucified with Christ. It is not our lives we live, but His. I want to walk and be Christ to the people in my life. My wife, my children, my friends and family. After reading I went and shaved for the 1st time since July and will try, with Gods gracious help to serve and be Christ today to the people he has placed in my life. Pray for me.

Thanks.

Let it speak for itself

2007-10-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

This was posted by my good friend P. Wade

Blessed and Overwhelmed

2007-10-24T21:34:00.000-07:00

Today I feel blessed and overwhelmed. I will start from last night, the beginning. I took yesterday afternoon off as it was sunny in Seattle and went with my family to the zoo. After supper I went out to a local establishment to study and get my work done that I didn't do in the afternoon. My good friend met me there and we were going to study together. We were only there for 15 minutes or so when my friend reached for his drink and it spilled all over the table and all in my computer. The computer shut down immediately and has not came alive since, 24 hours later.

As you could imagine this caused an awkward silence and deafening wonder between my friend and I. There was not much to talk about after this, we both were thinking about the disaster we just witnessed, not the spilling of micro brew, but the computer drowning. Anyway, the time came for us to talk about the worst possible situation. What if we needed to replace the computer? My friend did the noble thing and said that he would pay for it, just as if I had spilled the drink on his computer I would pay for it. It is amazing how quickly beauty can turn into pain

So, this morning I took Justice (computer) into the apple store and got the estimate. It was going to cost $1350 to get her back to normal. I was sick by it, but what could I do. I was not sick because my computer was broke, or because a drink was spilled, but I was sick because someone had to sacrifice and lose out as a result. Here is where my #1 strength empathy comes in. After I dropped off the computer Amy and I went to a store on the way out of the mall to buy some presents for family. I told her that the present she picked out would go great in my mom and dads house. We both looked at each other and I just stood there and started to cry. My parents have been separated for four years now. I couldn't believe my words. Amy just looked at me and said "I never realized how emotional you are Phil."

So now I am done another day. I still feel horrible for what happened with my friend and the computer, but it is feeling bad for him, not for me. I am grateful to you my friend for being cool with this. Thank you for making it easy on both of us and for being a responsible, and true bro. In light of these last 24 hours I have felt, through my small, minuscule loss a heart for those in San Diego who have lost homes, memories, family and more as a result of the fire. I pray God give them comfort.

Thanks for listening.

Phil

Winnipeg in the 80's

2007-10-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

So I am taking a short break from my studying to make a quick post. I am sitting in the Library listening to 80's rock, poison to be specific on the i-pod and I had a flashback to 1988. I was living in Winnipeg in grade 11 at the time. In my flashback I was getting off the metro bus, in the winter to go to my after school job. I worked across the street from the CN railroad station sweeping floors at an electronics warehouse. It was so weird, I was just transported there so clearly. I ended up getting fired from the job as I was a lazy a#@ and didn't do a very good job sweeping. I have attached a picture of what I can remember the bus and the day looked like, as well as what I looked like back in the day with my friend Jeff. I am thankfull we grow up.

Anyway, back to studying.

Bloglines

2007-10-20T23:23:00.000-07:00

So I just finished adding all my blogs to Bloglines. I have a lot of blogs in my bookmarks. I don't even read them all, I just have them there and open them all up in tabs once in a while. I want to be better at keeping up with my friends and I also want to have my hand on the pulse of what is going on in the world more. I hope that this little tool helps me do that as each time a new post comes up bloglines will show it. It should keep me on top of things more. Hers hopin.

Phil

Seattle

2007-10-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

So I woke up this morning to a dark, gloomy, rainy Seattle morn. It was beautiful. Some people hate waking up and it being dark and cold, but me, well I find it rather contemplative. I put on some music and puttered around the house making my coffee and feeding Abby breakfast. It wasn't long before I felt myself in this place of worship, where I was overwhealmed by the grace and love of Jesus, for me and for the world. It is weird, and I can't explain it, but I do know that this morning, in the cold and rain of Seattle I felt Jesus and am thankfull for Him and for who He is and what He means to me.

Happy Thanksgiving (Canadian)

2007-10-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving. On Sunday we had a bunch of people, mostly Canadians and their spouses or soon to be over to celebrate. We ate till we swore we would eat no more, then an hour later we were eating again. It was a great night and the food ruled, thanks to P.Wade. Yesterday Emma and I carved a pumpkin. I found out real fast that I don't have pumpkin carving skillz.

The Forgotten City - Firozabad, India

2007-10-08T10:48:00.001-07:00

It is day 27 of Ramadan. There are only 4 day's left, ending on
Oct. 12. I was reading this prayer profile today for Firozabad and was deeply moved to pray and share it with you. It is so brutal that there are no known believers there. Please take a moment, if you have and read and say a prayer for these men, women, boys and girls of India.

Firozabad is a significant city of approximately a half million people located 45 minutes east of Agra by car (the city where the Taj Mahal is located). Firozabad is still being researched for ministry purposes. No local congregation of Christians exists there at the present time. It appears that about half the population is Muslim. The remaining population is comprised of Hindus and Jains (believers in Jainism). A very large Jain temple is located on the outskirts of the city.
Breathing Glass in Firozabad
The glass industry is very well established at Firozabad. It has been called the glass capital of India. Local artisans and factories produce glass bangles (bracelets), drinking glasses and a wide variety of other glassware. Some people have observed that the people of Firozabad do not breath air but glass. Dozens of shops in the markets sell nothing but glass bangles. Thousands of children work in the glass industry around the 300 glass factories polishing and painting the glass bangles in very poor conditions. The city also suffers low literacy and there is significant pollution linked to the glass industry.
The tallest building in the city is the main mosque in the heart of downtown. During Friday prayers this mosque is full with several hundred Muslims present. Large numbers of young boys are attending the Qur’anic school linked to the mosque. It is still not certain if most of the Muslims in this city are truly religiously Muslim or simply culturally Muslim. The women wear traditional Muslim dress.
No Known Churches… Yet
There is no known believer in this city. Some Christians who recently visited Firozabad saw God open doors for the Gospel with four young Muslim men. They gave a copy of the Bible to one of the young Muslims who is also sharing it with the others. Through phone calls and e-mails it seems that they continue to read the Bible. Some of the visiting Christians were even invited to a wedding in the same family as the young man who has a copy of the Bible. The young Muslim men know that the Christians are followers of Jesus and that we pray for them daily. Hopefully Christians visiting the city will continue to find men and women of peace and good will.
Firozabad in some ways is what you would call a forgotten city. It is the closest large city to Agra, the tourist capital of India, and yet there are no tourists who visit this city. When a tourist does come to Firozabad, traffic literally stops on the streets.

Prayer Points for Firozabad:
* Pray for God to raise up workers to go to this city and share the Gospel message (both short term and long term workers are needed).
* Pray for discernment of those who go to work in this city as they do research and minister.
* Pray for God to speak to the city’s youth through His Word (including those mentioned above).
* May people become dissatisfied with Hinduism and Islam and long for more than they presently have.
* Pray for the many children used as cheap labour in the glass factories and for real solutions to the pollution problems.

The source

Muslims of Mauritania

2007-10-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ramadan is over in approx. 7 day's, but please continue to remember Muslims and the believers in Christ who live in and are in relationship with Muslims that God's work would be done and His name be praised.

“The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.” (Isaiah 35:1)
Mauritania, an Islamic republic in North Africa, is a vast desert; constantly hot, dry and very dusty. Its legal system is a combination of Shari’a (Islamic law) and French civil law. Independent from France in 1960, Mauritania has suffered from a succession of military coups and ongoing tribal conflict. A severe drought over the past decades has devastated the country. In 1957, a small fishing town called Nouakchott was chosen to be the capitol of the new country. Now there are more than 600,000 people living here. The capital has become a crossroads for many ethnic groups with nomadic roots.
Miracles Despite the Heat

A Christian who recently visited the country described the general situation of Mauritanian believers. “You can have freedom of speech, if you are a Muslim. You can have freedom of religion, if you are a Muslim. It is in fact OK to be a Christian, but it is offensive to speak of Jesus as anything other than one of the prophets.” In this setting God is doing wonders, despite the guards that sometimes stand at church doors to ensure that Mauritanian citizens don’t enter. God has given dreams to Mauritanians even in remote areas. In the interior of the country, an Imam showed the Jesus Film in a mosque. The Iman later died and the results are unclear, but such seed sowing needs to continue. By God’s grace, there are now Mauritanians following Christ in many countries around the world.
Testimony from Mauritania:

Soon after coming to faith in Christ, Bokar told his Christian friends that he wanted to do away with a special undershirt inscribed with Koranic passages and interwoven with dozens of amulets. Several Mauritanians were afraid and said the shirt could not be destroyed, that if burned, it would jump out of the fire. This type of shirt makes the wearer impervious to any weapon. It is one of the most powerful enchantments known to the Hal-Pulaar (Fulani). After much prayer, Bokar burned his iron shirt, and the result was tremendous spiritual growth in his own life. Many who heard of the incident gained a new respect for the power of the Gospel.

Subjects for Prayer
* Pray for revelations of the love of God for whole population of over three million people.
* Desperate poverty plagues the lives of most Mauritanians, causing a sense of hopelessness and despair.
* Despite the grip of Islam on the country, animism is practised by most people. The deep-rooted fear of evil spirits (known as jinn) binds many people. Many seek supernatural help through divination and occult practices.
* There are often tensions between different tribal groups, (Soninké, Fulani, Maures, Wolof, etc.) which can lead to violence.
* Corruption is endemic in all areas of society.
* Divorce is widespread, and women and children often suffer the most.

Pray for Muslims

More on Myanmar

2007-10-02T08:28:00.000-07:00

For those who are not farmiliar with why there is protests and resistance going on in Myanmar here are some things I saw on the BBC front page this morning.

"On 22nd February, a small group of around 25 people attracted little attention at first in the crowded Rangoon market. Then they brought out home-made posters, and began shouting." "Their complaints seemed innocuous enough. "Down with consumer prices," read one poster. "We want 24-hour electricity," read another. They pointedly avoided saying anything critical about Burma's military government." "UN figures show that one in three children is chronically malnourished, government spending on health and education is among the lowest anywhere in the world, and average income is below $300 a year. Diseases like tuberculosis and HIV/Aids are increasing at frightening rates.

"The World Food Programme [WFP] provides food aid to 500,000 people across Myanmar [Burma] but that really only represents the poorest of the poor," said Paul Risley at the WFP in Bangkok.

"What we've found is that over the last decade, opposite to virtually every other country in Asia where slowly poverty is being gnawed away at and food security is becoming more commonplace, in Myanmar there are more people living below the poverty line and more people facing food insecurity," he said.

Towards the end of last year, prices of basic commodities began rising sharply in Burma. Rice, eggs, and cooking oil all went up by around 30-40%.

For a population that on average spends 70% of its income on food, this was very difficult to absorb. It is not clear why this happened, but the inherent distortions and rigidities in the military's economic management can easily lead to sudden bottlenecks in the supply and prices of basic necessities."

"Then came the rise in fuel prices on 15 August. There was no warning. Gas prices rose by 500%, and diesel - which more or less powers everything in Burma, from transport to the essential generators - doubled in price.

The impact was immediate. People could not afford to go to work, and the increased cost of transport started pushing food prices even higher.

Within days activists were out on the streets in protest. When they were arrested, the monks - who can accurately measure economic distress by the food put into their begging bowls every morning - took their place.

Myanmar

2007-10-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

Please pray for Myanmar and the grave injustice that is going on right now as thousands of peaceful protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, according to reports today. The people being executed are sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children of God. Read full article below.

The Crisis in Myanmar

God is with the poor.

2007-09-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

Critical Mass

2007-09-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight my friend Marty and I rode critical mass. The last Friday of every month, in nearly every major western city in the world there is a critical mass bike ride. Critical mass is where large groups of people meet on bikes in a central place and claim the streets to bring bicycle awareness and also alternative means of transportation. Tonight some people rode to remember the cyclist who was hit and killed by a truck in Seattle just a couple of weeks ago.

There were approx. 400 people riding tonight. We rode for 1 1/2 hours from downtown. We went west on 15th to Ballard, then up Leary to Freemont. From there we went up Stone to Revena and down Revena to University Ave. Finally we headed over to Gas Works Park to end. It was a great night. It was fun to ride with all those people. It was good to see my friend Bubba and all the friends he has made in the bike community and it was fun to ride with Marty.

Thanks Seattle.

Forgetting What is behind...

2007-09-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

Phllipians 3:12-14Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one think I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Jesus.

Yesterday I was sitting in church and out of no where this verse came into my head. Mark, the pastor was not even talking about it, but there it was. For the last 10+ day's I have been doing somewhat of a Ramadan fast, praying for specific things in my life as well as some friends who are working with Muslims in India and Canada. Since doing it I feel that my mind has gotten clearer and things in my life that I have been desiring for a while now are happening.

I have realized that there are some things and circumstances in my life that are broken and beyond repair. For the last while I have spent my energy trying to repair these things, but I cannot. A few of these things are my dad and the situation of my mom and his divorce, some friendships that have been broken and even things with YWAM. The realization that I had on Sunday was that instead of trying to fix unfixable things I need to let them die and in doing see new life come. The paradox of death as taught by Christ is that when things die, a grain of wheat, there comes life.

I cannot fix the brokenness of my parents divorce, but I can hope for a future and live for that. I can't fix the broken relationship's that I have with my friends, but I can forget about the past and look to them in hope for the future. I can't fix the brokenness that has taken place in YWAM Seattle, but I can let the old YWAM, which has been waiting to die for some time now die and look to the new life that God has.

This has been a heavy, but good week for me. I thank God for revealing this to me, not out of anything in me, but out of His infinite mercy and understanding.

Amen.

The Farmers Marked and Crab

2007-09-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the girls and I went down to the U-District Farmers Market to get some produce. I love the Farmers Market. It is just this cool place where people of all kinds are congregating at the same place to get good, fresh, local grown fruit, vegetables and everything else. We picked up some asparagus, some strawberries, squeaky cheese and Amy’s favorite, carrots straight out of the garden.

After that we drove 30 miles N. to Marysville as I was speaking and hanging out with a group of college students. They had rented this sweet retreat house overlooking the Pueget Sound. After we were done they asked if I wanted any crab as they had caught a bunch earlier in the day. So we had fresh, free crab for dinner on Saturday night with our friends Gordon and Deborah. I was a little disappointed that they didn't scream when I dropped them in the boiling water, maybe that is just lobster. Anyway, it was a great day and a good weekend. I hope yours was a blessing as well.

Free Hugs

2007-09-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

Ramadan

2007-09-13T11:35:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. It runs through October 12 and is a time of prayer (5 times a day), cleansing, inside and out, and fasting from early morning till sun set. Please remember the Muslim people during this time and pray that the Almight would reveal himself to them. To read more or go through a 30 day prayer focus for Muslims check out
30 day's. Here is a short story from today's prayer focus.

For Friday, 14 September, Ramadan 2007. "Loving Muslims Through Prayer"

Outside, the muezzin finishes his call to prayer over the loud speaker. Instead of going to the mosque, a young man decides to pray at home. But first he does the ritual cleansing. In his cramped bathroom he begins by declaring his intention to cleanse himself and pray by saying "Bismillah" (In the name of God). He then washes his hands up to the wrists, three times. He rinses out his mouth with water three times and cleans his nostrils by sniffing water into them, three times. He proceeds to wash his whole face three times with both hands from the top of his forehead to the bottom of his chin and from ear to ear. Finally he washes his arms three times up to the elbow and ends by washing his ears and both feet.

Then the young man remembers the previous night. He was near the bars of Gemmayzeh, an eastern Beirut "Christian" neighbourhood. So many pretty young women were there. The young Muslim had really desired to enter a bar himself, however he had no money. His anger rose a he thought of the conflict with Israel and conflicts with Christians. No job, little money. No peace.

Then he unrolled his prayer rug.

Good Morning

2007-09-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up grateful.
-Grateful that my 2 girls stayed in their beds all night and Amy and I had our first full undisturbed nights sleep in a while.
-Grateful for our roommate Sam
-Grateful for coffee
-Grateful for a sunny day in Seattle
-Grateful that God hears our prayer
-Grateful that Emma gets to go to school in 25 min.
-Grateful for my friend Lars who encouraged and helped me get my i-Phone
-Grateful for my i-Phone
-Grateful that after I drop Emma off for school Amy Abby and I are going to a cool cafe to work on stuff together for Mission Adventures
-Grateful that my children are safe and well. We watched Blood Diamond last night, so I am very grateful for the safety and protection of my kids.
Grateful to Jesus who gives us new hope each day.

I pray that on the day's when I do not wake up grateful because I was up all night with the girls and it is raining, possibly tomorrow, that I would remember that Jesus is still faithful and there are always reasons to be grateful.

First Day Of School

2007-09-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

Today was Emma's first day of school. Here is how it went down.
7:30am wake up
8:00am have breakfast
8:20am Get dressed and pack lunch and back pack
8:30am Watch PBS Kids as Courious George is on
9:00am Load up the kids in the van
9:05am Leave for Olympic View School
9:15am Take Emma to her kindergarten class
1:30pm Pick her up and go for ice cream at Dicks.

Man, what a cool day for her and us. We all have been waiting for this for years now. With it comes a grown up little girl, Saddness and joy, and much responsibility. I dread the call from the teaching at 1:45pm asking me why I have not picked up Emma from school, Jesus help me. Anyway, good times and we willl do it again tomorrow and for the next 12 years.

Competitors in the World Beard and Moustache Championship

2007-09-03T11:47:00.001-07:00

I was reading on the BBC the other day about the World Beard and Moustache Championship. Here are the BBC's top picks and one of mine. Enjoy. Oh and by the way, two of the pictures are of people living in Seattle, any guesses?

Freed South Koreans return home

2007-09-01T22:31:00.000-07:00

Finally after five weeks the remaining Korean hostage are freed to go home from Afghanistan. Thank you to those of you who were praying for them. I am not sure of all that went down to get them home, probably some good things and probably some bad, but that is not the issue right now, the issue is that these innocent men and women are home safely with their families. I hope and pray that the rest can get sorted out quickly so that things like this never happen again.

Please do not forget that there are two families who did not get their loved ones home as they were executed. We want to grieve and mourn with those who grieve and mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice.

Freed South Koreans return home

2 Years Later

2007-08-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

I was on my friend Jamie's blog and saw a video he posted about Katrina now, two years after the hurricane. Please continue to pray for those affected by the hurricane. It seems to me that when something disastrous like this happens we pray and act until the media stops talking about it then we stop caring. We need to stop letting the media tell us what is important and search it out ourselves sometimes. Just because something is not on the news, or is hard to find on the BBC or CNN doesn't mean that it is taken care of or over. I know we realize this, but do we live this way? I do not for the most part, but I am trying. Jesus, please continue to carry the people affected by Katrina. -Amen-

Praise the Lord

2007-08-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

I just read today that the Taliban has agreed to release the 19 S.Korean hostages that have they have held for the last 4+ weeks. This is an answer to prayer for many people, including me. I figured I would add the link so you could read for yourself if you have been following this. I am just thankfull that they can go back to their families. Continue to ask Jesus to be with them as they have a long recovery ahead, both physically and emotionally.
BBC

Abby Walks

2007-08-26T01:48:00.000-07:00

Today Abby walked with the baby walker. She is on the run. Here is the 1st glimps for you.

Welcome home to me.

2007-08-24T12:39:00.000-07:00

Well we are finally home in Seattle after 3 months of being gone. Our family left Winnipeg at 9am Monday and arrived in Seattle at 5pm on Tuesday. We drove straight through with a 3 hour sleep break at a rest stop in Montana. It was a great trip and the girls did great strapped into their car seats for hours and hours.

It is so good to be home. It is good to see friends, it is good to sleep in my bed, it is good to have home cooked meals and it is good to be at World Cup cafe in the U-District. We have been able to get together with a lot of our friends since being home. On Tuesday Gordon and Deborah came over for dinner. They have been very kind friends to us. They picked up some groceries for the house and brought over dinner. Thank you guy's so much. Later that night our staff came over to hang out and have a short meeting, as we have not all been together this summer. I am greatfull for all of you who I get the priviladge of working with. Thanks for being good friends and continuing to help me to think and grow. Last night we went over to Zach and Amandas house to celebrate Amy's 30th birthday. It was so fun to be with good people, eating good food and laughing a lot.

I pray that I never take these things or my friends for granted. It is sadly true that for the most part we don't know what we have until we are far away from it. I want to be appreciative of the things and peope that God has placed in my life when I am in the middle of it, so that it is not to late. Thank you Seattle, and thank you my friends for all that you do for me and all that you let me do for you.

John Rambo

2007-08-19T19:42:00.001-07:00

I appologize that my blogs have been less than deep and meaningfull lately, I have been on a rest/vacation with my family. I will start posting more of my thoughts on things next week. My family and I leave on 3 day jouney to Seattle tomorrow. I am excited about sitting in the car and driving. I hope I will be able to process this time at home and what is coming up. Here is our trip plan.

Also, to keep you busy for the next 3 minutes, here is the trailer for the new Rambo movie. I can't wait.

Tim Hortons

2007-08-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

So after reading a comment from my friend Chris Whitler's blog on coffee which read "While I really try to be fair trade, I am also a coffee slummer (I like light/mild roasts) so there is a special place in my heart for Tim Horton's. I left the house and headed to Tim's for a coffee and a maple dip while listening to Road Apples by The Hip. I felt truly Canadian. Thanks Chris.

Starbucks

2007-08-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up early and went for coffee. I am in Winnipeg, so my options are slim. I have Second Cup, Tim Hortons, Smitty's or Starbucks. I heard my mom leave the house approx. 15 min. before I got up and I knew that she would be at Starbucks, so I went there. The last time I was at Starbucks was approx. a year ago when I was in Winnipeg last. I was hesitant to order a coffee, as last time I checked I didn't really like Starbucks, but I ordered one just because it was early and there was coffee. Well, my memories served me correctly. I don't like Starbucks coffee, it is just gross. I can't wait to get home to Seattle on Wednesday and get a tasty short with room americano from my friend Rachel at Caffe Fiore.

Still around

2007-08-16T05:38:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let you who read this blog know that I do still walk the earth even though I have not posted in a while. I have been in Winnipeg, Canada with my family and not posting for some reason. It has been good. Doing lots of projects for mom like painting the house, re-screeining the doors and stuff like that. It has also been good for Amy and the kids and I to spend time together. A couple let us use there place at a resort for 2 nights which also ruled. Anyway, things are good and more blogging will come.

later

Family

2007-08-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in the Vancouver airport at 6:16am waiting to board my flight. I am 4 hours away from seeing my beautiful wife Amy and my two girls Emma and Abby. This is the second time that I have written this and both times I have been overcome with emotion and tears. It has been a very long summer without them, almost 5 weeks and in just a few hours it will be over.

The reason that we were apart was that we were helping to start the YWAM Mission Adventures program in Costa Rica and Amy had to leave half way through the summer. Amy’s brother was having a wedding reception in Saskatchewan and so Amy and the girls went back for it while I stayed in Costa Rica to see the program through. The result is that now we have a Mission Adventurers program running in Heredia, Costa Rica and hopefully in the next year we will see, for the first time Costa Rican students going through the program and being sent out to do Missions locally and abroad.

It is not often that I feel we make hard sacrifices for Jesus, but I feel that this was definitely one of them, not just for me, but also for my whole family. I pray that God never asks this of us as a family again, but regardless of how hard it was if He asked we would do it. Not to put this whole thing on God, we did schedule the summer knowing it would be long, but we do feel that it was the right thing for Amy to be home and for me to stay.

I wonder as followers of Jesus if we have or are willing to make the sacrifices for Christ that He has asked, or may ask of us. For me at least I feel that my walk with Jesus is just natural, it is who I am. It is not really hard, nor is there many sacrifices to make. Is that OK? Am I to comfy in my walk with Christ? Is there room for discomfort or will I just bitch and moan if it gets hard or uncomfortable in any way. Do we feel that if things do get hard in life that it is not Jesus, but the Devils doing? God would never ask me to do anything hard, or that would cause me pain.

I don’t believe this is right. I believe that God does and will ask us to do the hard things. I believe there has to be sacrifice in my walk with Him, it needs to stretch me and it needs to hurt. Jesus life was full of hardship and sacrifice, why should mine be any different? I just ask for strength and courage when the difficult times come.

The News

2007-08-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in a Hotel in San Diego this morning, as I got bumped from my flight (sorry Jim for now calling) and looking at all the stuff that is going on in the world. It is breaking my heart for the people who are hurting so badly due to these disasters. I just wanted to show a few images and ask us to pray and stand with the hurting.

Almost 20 million people have been displaced as some of the worst floods for years have hit a wide swathe of northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

"Everything is underwater," says mother of seven Musamat Manwara Khatoum as she stands knee-deep in water.

"We've lost our crops, there's nowhere to put the children down, not even a place to cook."

I went down not long after the bridge collapsed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There was a bridge that I had driven over not long before - gone! I think most of us were in disbelief. I kept getting text messages asking if I was alright. People were having trouble getting cellphone reception. I know my own mother was in tears when she was finally able to reach me. What a strange day!
HJJ, Minneapolis, MN

The Korean Christian workers - 18 of them women - were seized on 19 July as they travelled by bus down the main road from Kabul to Kandahar.

The aid workers' leader, Pastor Bae Hyung-kyu, was the first to be shot dead by the militants. His death was reported over the weekend.

On Tuesday, South Korea confirmed that a second hostage had been killed - 29-year-old Shim Sung-min, a former IT worker.

At least two of the remaining hostages are seriously ill, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency

Morphing

2007-08-01T23:34:00.001-07:00

So I found this site tonight that morphs photos. It is on morphting.com and it is great. I wanted to see what me and the typical on line picture of Jesus would look like morphed and here are the results.

It is a great site that I think I will have lots of fun with now that I am almost done speaking and doing Mission Adventures for the summer. If you get any cool morphs from it let me know.

Good night.

Off Again

2007-07-30T19:34:00.000-07:00

Phil here writing you from 30,000 feet on my way to Ensenada, Mexico. I arrived home from Costa Rica late Saturday evening, spent Sunday at church and hanging out with good friends and took off to the airport first thing this morning (thanks Zach) for Ensenada. I am going to be speaking on the Mission Adventures program down there until Thursday afternoon, when I fly back home to Seattle.

As I look back on my summer I am overwhelmed by what God has allowed my family and I to be apart of. We helped to start the Mission Adventures program in Heredia, Costa Rica. We were able to go to Costa Rica as a family. Amy and the girls were able to attend her Grandpa's birthday party and her brothers wedding reception. And I was asked to speak on the Mission Adventures program in Los Angeles and Ensenada, Mexico. I feel privileged to be doing what we get to do. I am grateful to Jesus for counting us worthy, and grateful to those of you who support us with prayer and finances, Thank you.

Please continue to pray with us and for us this week as we, our family, has been apart for almost one month. It has been very difficult for us to be apart, but I feel that it is a sacrifice that we have made for the Lord, one that I hope we never have to make again. Also, please pray for me as i speak and for the students as they have to sit and listen to me speak. Last week a girl in Los Angeles called me an amazing ADD speaker, I will take that as a compliment.

Thanks

Women Jailed For Testicle Attack

2007-07-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

Below is an article I read in the BBC news a while ago, but it resurfaced today once again. It is a painful, but enjoyable read.

A woman who ripped off her ex-boyfriend's testicle with her bare hands has been sent to prison.
Amanda Monti, 24, flew into a rage when Geoffrey Jones, 37, rejected her advances at the end of a house party, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

She pulled off his left testicle and tried to swallow it, before spitting it out. A friend handed it back to Mr Jones saying: "That's yours."

Monti admitted wounding and was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

'Pulled hard'

Sentencing Monti, Judge Charles James said it was "a very serious injury" and that Monti was not acting in self defence.

The court heard that Mr Jones had ended his long-term but "open relationship" with Monti towards the end of May last year.

The pair remained on good terms and on 30 May she picked him up from a party in Crosby and went back for drinks with friends at Mr Jones's house.

An argument ensued and Mr Jones said there was a struggle between them.

In his statement, Mr Jones said she grabbed his genitals and "pulled hard".

I am in no way a violent person
Amanda Monti
He added: "That caused my underpants to come off and I found I was completely naked and in excruciating pain."

The court heard that a friend saw Monti put Mr Jones's testicle into her mouth and try to swallow it.

She choked and spat it back into her hand before the friend grabbed it and gave it back to Mr Jones. Doctors were unable to re-attach the organ.

In a letter to the court, Monti said she was sorry for what she had done.

She said: "It was never my intention to cause harm to Geoff and the fact that I have caused him injury will live with me forever. I am in no way a violent person."

The letter added: "I have challenged myself to explain what has happened but still I just cannot remember. This has caused much anguish to me and will do for the rest of my life."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/4253849.stm

Published: 2005/02/10 15:13:36 GMT

© BBC MMVII

2007-07-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

We have a new newsletter out. Here she is below, enjoy the read. Feel free to print it out as it makes for some great bathroom reading.

This is LA

2007-07-19T14:28:00.001-07:00

So I am in LA and so far so good. This week I have spent most of my time teaching 80+ students about Jesus, life and justice. I love doing this, it is an honor and shock most times that people actually let me stand up front and say stuff. Anyway, I have had some good responses from the students and the youth leaders, yea.

It is so weird to be back in LA doing this. I worked in LA with Mission Adventures from 95-97 and coming back now it seems and looks the same in a lot of way's. Not that it is a bad thing, but it is just one of those moments where you feel like you were brought back in time, but you are older and people will listen to you now. I feel that I have learned some stuff in coming back and hopefully have given as well.

It has been over 2 weeks without my family now. It is hard and no fun. I really miss them. Yesterday Emma left a message on my phone asking for a trampoline. She could pretty much ask for anything at this point and get it. I will see them in two weeks, praise God.

I have also got to spend time with my sister and her husband James. We went to Santa Monica and Venice yesterday. It was hot and my face is burned off. It is good for them to be here. They are getting some much needed rest and seeing a different side of Jesus and ministry. James is off surfing for the first time today with my friend Paul, heres hopin he don't die out there.

Anyway, that is all for now, just keeping you updated. I hope things are good with you, let me know.

Thanks

Rated G

2007-07-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't make it to Panama, I will explain later, so now I am sitting in the mall in Costa Rica waiting to see Transformers the movie. I will explain later about Panama, but first I thought I would share this blog rating system that I found on Dan Kimballs site about blog rating. Here is my rating:

I am shocked and saddened by this as to get an R you just need the words Missionary, Dead, Hell and Death. I will try harder. To get your own rating check it out here

12 hours round trip

2007-07-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a van load of Mission Adventures students, Alvaro and I went to see a volcano and the water fall, It was a 4+ hour drive to get there. So, we didn't see the volcano as it was covered in clouds, but we did get to the waterfall. I have done some amazing things and seen some amazing things during my time with YWAM and this waterfall definitely is up there with them. It was a 10-15 min. hike down to the waterfall. At first I wasn't going to jump in, but after seeing it I had to. It was like an Indiana Jones movie, without the hat and whip. Anyway, it was an amazing day, even though I drove 8+ hours just to go swimming.

Tomorrow I go to Panama, just for the day and the stamp. It is a four hour ride on a bus and I already have the Van Halen song downloaded onto my i-pod ready to go. I will let you know how that adventure goes tomorrow or Sunday.

Later

Hunger

2007-07-05T14:57:00.000-07:00

Today with the students we were talking about hunger in the world, specifically in Africa. The wealthiest fifth of the worlds people consume 86% of all goods and services, while the poorest fifth consume only 1%. I saw this picture and thought it fit well

Displace Me

2007-07-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

On April 28, 2007 the guy's from Invisible Children put on an event where they gathered 80,000 people from 15 different states to go through a displacement camp simulation. It was a great time for young people to show the government that they care about the displaced in N. Uganda as a result of the 22 year war over there.

Tonight we are doing a presentation to the 31 youth who are here with us in Costa Rica on the displacement issues in Africa, specifically N. Uganda. The definition of a displaced person is a person who is taken from their homes and forced to live somewhere else in their own culture or country because of war or persecution. Here are some statistics on this:

11.8 million displaced people in Africa

Country breakdown:
Angola – 51,700
Burundi – 100,000
Central African Republic – 212,000
Chad – 140,000
Congo – 7,800
Côte d'Ivoire – 709,000
Democratic Republico of the Congo – 1,000,000
Eritrea – 43,000
Ethiopia – 190,000
Kenya – 431,000
Liberia – 20,500
Senegal – 64,000
Somalia - 400,000
Sudan – 5,355,000
Togo – 1,500
Uganda – 1,500,000
Zimbabwe – 570,000

I am excited to share about this issue and also to share that there is something that can be done to prevent it. Check out this video released last week from the Invisible Children guy's on there displace me event.

Displace Me

A new house.

2007-07-02T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last week a Mission Adventures team from Marysville, Washington came down to Costa Rica and built a house for a family here. The team worked their hearts out for 8 day's and got the house almost fully done. The above picture is the house the mom and her family used to live in, and the picture below is the new house almost finished.

Below is a video of the mother getting the key to the house and her daughter thanking the team for the blessing. The encouraging thing that I heard tonight is that the mothers family came in to finish the work on the house. It should be fully done this week.

Hair Cut

2007-06-27T15:59:00.001-07:00

I want to start by saying that I have not had much time, or made much time to check blogs or to blog blogs in the last little while. Things here in Costa Rica have been busy, but really good. I am typing with mud and tape all over me as we were doing the drywall in the house we are building this week. Anyway, back to the post.

I have not had time to do much, but yesterday I did make time for a hair cut. My friend Mario and I went to see Julio the barber and it was the greatest most enjoyable hair cut experience that I have ever had. He started by taking the clippers to my head and cleaning everything up. Then he went in with the straight blade by the side burns and on the back of the neck. After that, he styled my hair the way I wanted it and began cutting. He was fast. The scissors never stopped moving and I was in and out of the chair in 10 minutes. The whole time I was wondering how I was going to post this to give it the credit it deserves. So, if you are ever in Heredia, Costa Rica go to Julios and get your hair cut for a whopping $2.50. I already can't wait to go back.

Costa Freaka Rica

2007-06-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

Well we are into our 1st cycle of teams in Costa Rica and so far so good. The church is from Marysville, WA and we have worked with them since 1999 in Mexico with Mission Adventures. It is great to have them here as they are good friends and a great team. There are 23 of them all together and are here till the 29th of June. Our schedule is very busy as we are building a house in the day time for a family and we have meetings at night from 6:30 till 10:00. The building is going great so far. Today we are going to finish putting up the walls and start on the roof. In the meetings we are challenging the students to "Wake Up" and find out what God's call is on their lives. We are talking a lot about different social injustice issues and what our responsibility in that is.

The weather here is very consistent. It is beautiful and sunny all day until approx. 3:00 and then it just dumps down rain until about 6 or so. As a result, we are leaving for the work site at 8:00 so that we can get a good amount of work in before it rains. Please continue to pray for us and the girls (Emma and Abby) for health, safety and that they have a great missions experience with us.

As always, we appreciate you and your involvement, to whatever extent that may be, with us and in our ministry with YWAM.

Thanks.

Phil, Amy, Emma, Abby.

Non-dairy coffee creamer

2007-06-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to post this for a while now, but have not made time until now. So here goes. I have been frustrated here in Costa Rica with the non-dairy coffee creamer. 1st of all, it is non-dairy and it is creamer. How does that work? I don't know either. Secondly, the coffee at the YWAM property is good, but they make a lot of it at one time so after a while it is not very hot. My frustration is that non-dairy coffee creamer does not mix well in non-hot coffee. There is nothing worse than having cream colored, or as the Crayola crayon company so wrongly called it in the 80's, flesh coloured chunks of non-dairy/powder floating in my coffee. OK, there is worse things, but this is definitely not good.

My solution to all of this, keep putting non-dairy coffee creamer in my warm coffee and thank the good Lord it is not Starbucks.

Why I miss the hose.

2007-06-15T22:08:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been missing the hose that most Asian countries put in the bathrooms by the toilet. I grew to love the hose during my time in Cambodia as I was sick for a couple of day's and had to use the toilet a lot. The hose saved me from chafing, chapping and cracking. Now, for those of you who are not familiar with the hose let me explain. Instead of using toilet paper on your bum after a poop you spray yourself with the hose. It is very clean and yes, your bum gets and stay's wet. But that is fine as you are hot all day anyway so a wet bum feels kinda refreshing.

Anyway, being down here in Costa Rica, a country that I love, I am missing the hose. Costa Rica, like a lot of Central American countries does not have a hose by their toilets. In Costa Rica you use toilet paper and when you are done you throw it in the trash bin beside or in front of the toilet. This used to be kinda gross to me, although I understand why they do it, poor plumbing, but after Cambodia and not having to touch my bum, the idea of putting my paper in the trash on top of others paper is getting to me. Anyway, it was on my mind so I thought I'd share.

Phil.

"White people wear sagging pants too."

2007-06-14T08:47:00.001-07:00

This is great. Check it out. Sagging Pants

Wireless in the jungle

2007-06-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

Two day's ago my family and I arrived in Costa Rica. I am so glad to be back here. It is good to see my friends Alvaro, Terry and Josh and it is good to finally be in the place that we have been preparing to come to for months now. Earlier this afternoon I was sitting in the class room typing on my lap top and a crazy rain storm came out of no where. The sky went dark and it started to pour. It felt so strange, like I was in a movie or something. Have you ever seen that Sean Connery movie Medicine Man? It was like that, but with a Mac Book Pro. I was sitting in the middle of the jungle, it was pouring rain and I was surfing the web wirelessly.
Another thing that was bizzar is that while we were meeting a bird slammed into the window and the cat came and got it and pretty much did what Sylvester tried to do to Tweetie Bird in all those Warner Brothers cartoons. It was sad, but that is the way nature goes I guess.

More later.

Off to Costa Rica

2007-06-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow our family is off to Costa Rica for the summer to partner with and help start Mission Adventures training there. We have been taking teams to Costa Rica for the last 5 years, but this year instead of running the training portion of the trip in Seattle, we will be partnering with the Costa Ricans and running the training there. We will be working there for 6 weeks and hosting 83 participants from three different youth groups from Canada and USA.

Our first week there we will be working with my good friend Brandon from Marysville, WA. We will be building a house for a family there. Here is the email that I received from Alvaro about the family. "Hey Phil, here are some pictures of the old house, Memo and other guy are making a mess as you will see in the picture, what we are going to do is to leave the half walls that we can re-use, and they will also build a new floor. Also in one of the pictures you can see the lady and her 2 daughters, by the way she have 14 kids, amazing isn't it? That lady is leaving with her daughter of 26 years old, the girl works but per month she gets paid like $130 USD. and her mom, the owner of the house works only sometimes when she cooks bread and sells it. We also talked to the Mayor of the city the house is in and she was very open Arturo & I talked to her, she was very open and gave us all the permission to build the house". I am very excited to be a part of this families life.

This summer l will also be speaking on the Mission Adventures program in Los Angeles and Ensenada, Mexico. Amy and the girls will also have some time in Canada with family as her older brother and his wife are having a wedding reception. It will be busy, but we hope to see lives changed, our marriage grow, Abby walk and Emma learn spanish. Good times will be had. Please keep us in your prayers and we will keep you updated. Thanks.

One more thing that I wanted to mention. I was reading my friend Chris Whitler's blog and I was blown away by what he is doing in their ministry.

The Grey House

2007-06-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

One large project that we've been working on the last couple weeks is the potential purchase of some property for YWAM Seattle. (Not US buying the property, but YWAM buying some property!)

Here's the link to the page on YWAM Seattle's website that details the purchase, including a flyer that hopefully most of you received in the mail. If you haven't received it, and would like to, we can get one in the mail for you right away.

The website gives many details, but we also wanted to communicate personally what this house means to us... This house we're trying to purchase has been a place where we have invested many hours over the last 4 years. This is the house where all of our students stay when they go through our Discipleship Training School. We've had many meetings there, eaten countless meals, and had lots of meaningful conversations with both students and staff. For more details on the program we direct, feel free to check out the Urban DTS page on the YWAM Seattle website. We've been responsible for most of the content, and it does a good job of summing up what our primary roles here are all about.

YWAM Seattle has been renting this house for 4 years, and we believe that now is the time to make some steps towards purchasing the property. We (both us personally and YWAM Seattle) love this neighborhood and are ready to put down some tangible roots here. If you're interested in hearing more please let us know.

We've been busy designing promotional material, planning open-houses, and meeting with potential donors. You can be praying for us this Thursday evening as we're helping host an open-house for some potential donors. This has really been a big step of faith for us as an organization, considering that we're quite small and we don't have much extra money. We'll keep you updated on the process. Thanks for your prayers.

Check this out.

2007-06-03T23:02:00.000-07:00

Poo Poo Head

2007-06-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I went out with my good friend Bubba to a Me Without You show down up on Capital Hill. The show was great. It was the 1st time I had seen them play, or even heard their music. One of those unexpected surprises. One cool thing about them is that their tour bus is a crappy old Grey Hound bus that they converted to run on veggie oil.

So, everything was going good until I got back to the car and saw that some poo poo head backed into me. I wasn't so much pissed that I got hit, I was more pissed that he or she didn't leave a note. Not even a "sorry I hit you, I'm not going to leave my name, but I just wanted to acknowledge that I did it." That would have been fine, not the best, but better than the cowerdly thing they did in just taking off. The other thing that bums me out is that the van was a gift from our friends Tom and Tracy. We want to take care of it as much as we can. So, now I have a hit and run on the back of the van and one on the front. It is going to cost $450 to fix. My deductable on out insurance is $500 so it isn't even worth going through them. I am probably going to leave it for the time being. If I am going to spent that much on my van I will do it on the brakes. If you know a good auto body guy for free or cheap though please let me know.

May 30

2007-05-30T23:20:00.000-07:00

It is 11:21 pm and I am sitting outside with Amy by candle light, smoking a cigar and getting caught up on work. It is kinda romantic and kinda pathetic all that the same time. Today was a good day. It was Emma’s 5th birthday so we did what all families do on their daughters 5th, we went bowling. It was great. After that we came home and played outside in the kids pool. Later on some of Emma’s friends came over, who are also our friends and we ate lots of yummy food courtesy of Amy and opened presents. It was fun. I am truly thankful for the community that I have around me in Seattle.

This evening I went to the women and children’s center. It was so good to see my friends there. I hung out with Braxton (4) and Ietza (3). I also got to see my friend Anton (4) before I left as he was at school. One cool thing was that Braxton's mom told her that she had to go and get cleaned up before snack, but Braxton told her she would rather hang with me and skip snack. I am going to miss these kids as I will be not be able to go this summer. I am thankful for what they have given me and what I have been able to give to them.

I also got a call at 11 on Skype from my good friend Jim Walker. He told me he reads my blog. Thanks bro, I am sure you have nothing else going on in your life right now to keep you busy (haha).

Memorial Day Yo!

2007-05-28T08:01:00.001-07:00

Good morning. It is good to be up early, before my family as it gives me time just to sit in silence and listen and process the day and life. I have been thinking a lot lately about life and future. It has been good, but I have not really spent much time just sitting with Jesus asking what He things. I have just been going on my own thoughts and feelings, which can also be from Him, but I don't want to not give Him time. Anyway, this morning we just sat and hung out for a bit, if feels like a while since that has happened.

This weekend has been good. I have been able to connect with my good friend Lars and his family. Lars and I met in the summer of 2000 as he brought his church up to Seattle and we hosted them for Mission Adventures. Since then we have been close and he has been a good ear for me to talk to. Our family also went to Fiji with Lars old church in LA and Lars came with me to Cambodia last year. On Friday we went out to the island and hung out in a little 2 bedroom farm house with Lars family. It was great to just get away with Amy and the girls and do nothing but sit with friends and eat. It was great to be able to process our thoughts a bit with them as well. Thanks Rude family.

Today I am looking forward to just putting around the house, as it is Memorial Day, and getting things done that have been waiting to be done for a while now. I am also looking forward to hanging out with good friends as there is a bbq party tonight. And if that were not enough, tonight is game 1 of the NHL Stanley Cup finals between The Ottawa Senators and The Anaheim Mighty Ducks. If you are looking for good hockey and great fights I highly recomend you give the NBA a rest and watch on. Anyway, have a great day and thanks for reading.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

2007-05-22T07:32:00.000-07:00

Bats at the Billabong

2007-05-20T05:18:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in the transit lounge in Taipei on my way home to Seattle to see my girls, emailing and drinking a Tuk Tuk Boom Boom, see Wades blog. I am sad to leave Cambodia, a place that I love dearly. I was talking to my friend Rachel about it on the way to Taipei. I told her that the one thing that I will not miss is the extreme poverty and the sights of people wounded by land mines and children sitting naked on the sidewalk learning how to walk. The ironic thing about this is that these same things are what keep me coming back to Cambodia and what will bring me back to Cambodia as long as Jesus allows.

I have learned a lot from Cambodia. I have learned about generosity, faith, perseverance, laughter and love. I have seen many committed people who care deeply about the justice of others. I have seen a nation destroyed by genocide come back to make it work in whatever way they can. As my friend Wade Say's, "Cambodia is a punk rock country. If all they have is a coconut tree and a chair they will sit down and sell coconuts. They will not give up."

On another note. Last night I was swimming in the pool at the billabong and saw thing flying around my head and skimming over the pool. It turns out they were bats. It was the coolest thing, yet totally freaky to be swimming in the dark and have bats flying all around your head. Yet another reason I love Cambodia.

More Cowbell

2007-05-18T23:39:00.000-07:00

Well the team is gone and me and my friends Wade and Rachel are taking a day to relax at the billabong hotel in Phnom Penh. It is a beautiful day, approx. 90 degrees out and we are chilling by the pool eating good food and taking naps whenever we want. I am grateful for the last 3 weeks. It has been hard to be away from my family, but I have seen many lives changed.

For example the other night I was driving with a couple of guy's from the team and asked them if they were going to upgrade to 1st class on the plane. My friend Mike, who was one of the team members responded by saying no as that would be the same amount as it would cost to put 3 wells in the ground at a village we visited. People are going home thinking differently about missions and injustice, that is one of the main reasons that I was willing to leave my home for 3 weeks.

I am very grateful to my wife, my children and the YWAM Seattle leadership for allowing me this opportunity to do these types of things. Thank you so much. Before I sign off, here is a cool thing that happened last Sunday at. We were in church and singing some good old worship songs with the team and I thought something was missing. So, i stepped behind the drums and for one song, I think it was day's of Elijah I played the cowbell. Yep, I had a fever and the only cure was more cowbell. Good times in Cambodia.

Hot

2007-05-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Cambodia, or as I have been calling it, "the sun." It is hot here, but I am not complaining, just stating the obvious. I love it here. My friend Rachel was asking if I could move here ever. I told her that there is nothing that i don't like about this country, and so yes, I could move here.

The team is doing great. We just started on our building project yesterday, so we are a few day's behind due to rain and miscommunication. We also went to an orphanage yesterday and everyone loved it. We played with kids, had lunch together, sang songs and gave out gifts. The kids sang for us as well, it was beautiful. We talked a bit today about culture and how it is so different here. With the Christians here, they really love Jesus with all their hearts and are doing his work, but you can't help but notice the western influence in the church here. The songs they sing, the way they respond to the work or to worship, etc. It looks allot more western than Cambodian. It is scary that when we westerners come over here we in the name of Jesus we not only bring Jesus, we bring Him in the way that works for us.

My friend Wade and I were talking about this today. What would a truly Christian and truly Cambodian church look like? Beautiful I am sure. I am scared though that I may not be able to see it until I reach heaven. I hope that all we are bringing here is Jesus and not culture. And I definitely hope we are not taking Cambodian culture away.

I see this even in the building. We have some contractors here from the Canada and it is very frustrating to do things the Cambodian way as it is very different and does not make sence to us. It is a fine line between doing things differently and teaching them how to do things more effectively. Pray for us that we would be sensitive to this.

Thanks.

$10.00

2007-05-09T02:18:00.000-07:00

It is 4:20pm in Cambodia right now and 2:20am back home on the west coast. Today was a very hard day for me. The team that I am hosting from my home church in Winnipeg went to a hospital to do some visitations, bring food and drink, and pray for the sick. I have never had an easy time seeing the poor and the sick, but they are people who are close to God's heart and so it needs to be close to mine. Today however was harder than most.

We passed by an outside hallway, where they keep the trauma and burn patients. I looked over and saw this beautiful little girl with burns all over her backside and between her legs. It was horrible to look at, but I could not turn away. I wondered what Christ would do in this situation and thought that He would just go over to her, sit beside her and weep over her pain. So that is what I did.

The little girl was 2 1/2 years old. She was playing in the kitchen kicking a ball 3 day's ago when she backed into a pot of boiling water. One minute she was just being a little kid and the next her life drastically changed. Why her? Why such a beautiful, innocent little girl? Why not me? All these questions rushed through my head. She was laying naked on a banana leaf on top of a wooden cot with an iv in her head giving her liquid and hopefully medication. I saw her wake up a couple of times and wince in pain, but her mother soothed her back to sleep as only a mother could.

I asked the mom through our translator how long she would be in the hospital and she told me two days because they didn't have enough money to pay for the food. The food was $2.50 per day. It broke my heart to hear that this little girl and her mom had to go home because they couldn't afford the $2.50 per day hospital bill. Trevor, the youth pastor reached into his pocked and gave the mom $10.00. As she grabbed it I saw her little girl wince in pain once again and once again saw her mom soothe her to sleep.

Dear Jesus, this was only one child, one child out of millions in this beautiful country that suffers daily because of the selfishness and dictatorship of one man, Pol Pot. Please continue to heal this nation and bring it back on it's feet. Raise up doctors, raise up business, raise up workers to advance the beautiful kingdom of yours in Cambodia. Please continue to pray for the healing of this little girl.
-Amen-

Darah

2007-05-02T17:14:00.000-07:00

Well I am in Cambodia and so far loving every minute of it. Yesterday Wade, Rachel and I spent the day with Darah, a tuk tuk driver. He took us all around the city of Phnom Penh showing us all the non-touristy places. It was so cool just to hang with him and hear about his family, his job and his life. We wanted to go for lunch at a local Cambodian place so he took us to Mekong Island. We thought that it was going to be totally touristy by the picture, but it turns out that the guy who took the picture is also a master at Photoshop. When we got there we hopped on the ferry (less glamorous that it sounds, see picture)

and headed across the water to the island. The island paradice was a bunch of sketchy 6 foot high huts, mostly under water with grass roofs on them. We walked along the littered beach to the huts all the while being mobbed by sweet people asking us to buy their scarfs that they made. When we got to the huts the 4 of us sat down in confusion for lunch.

People were surrounding us the whole time asking us to buy stuff and we almost fell into the Mekong as the floor we were sitting on broke through. We waited for a while for lunch, still not knowing what was going on, but having a great time talking and hanging out with all our new friends trying to sell their stuff. When lunch came we were not let down. A whole fish, ungutted, a whole chicken, a crap full of rice and perfect mangos with salt and chilli. We ate till we were full and also shared our food with 3 kids and a one eyed dog waiding in the river. We all agreed that this was our greatest outreach eating experience ever, and combined we have had a lot of eating outreach experiences. Just one more reason I love this country and the people God has placed in it.
Good times in Cambodia.

Cambodia

2007-04-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

Good morning. I just wanted to send out a quick note letting you know
that I am heading to Cambodia tonight. Yep, in 13 hours I will be on
my way to the airport for the long flight overseas. I am very excited
to be going, but totally bummed that I will be away from my family
for the next 3 weeks.

For those of you who don't know why I am going I will explain. My
home church, WEFC is sending 23 young adults to Cambodia for 2 1/2
weeks and myself and two of my friends will be leading it. We will be
hosted by the YWAM base in the capital city for the first couple of
days. While there we will be going to the Killing Fields, where
thousands of people were buried in mass graves during the reign of the
Khmer Rouge. We will also be spending some time with IJM
(International Justice Mission). After this we will be heading up to
Angkor Wat to see the temples.

The majority of our time will be spent in Sihanoukville working with
the Samaritan Love Mission. We will be reconstructing their worship
center. We will also be running a children's program, teaching
english, visiting an orphanage and a hospital (the HIV and
Tuberculosis ward), and spending a day at a local Cambodian village.
I am very excited at this opportunity to be able to work and minister
with my home church. This is the first time we have done a trip
together.

Please keep us in your prayers and I will continue to send out
updates to let you know how things are going. Have a great Sunday.

Thanks.

Phil, Amy, Emma and Abby

Displace Me

2007-04-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

I spent today at Magnison park with a few friends helping out with the Invisible Children’s Displace Me event. There were approx. 5,000 people who attended the event. Basically, they are sleeping outside in a simulated displacement camp to say that we see the displaced in N. Uganda and we want to do something about it. They are sleeping in make shift cardboard boxes, eating crackers and drinking water until 9am tomorrow. It was amazing to be apart of.

The thing that was most amazing and encouraging is that three guy's with a passion went to N. Uganda a few years ago and their passion is bringing change to the night commuters of N. Uganda. I am encouraged to continue to follow the desires and passions that God has put on my heart, even if I am the only one. Thanks Amanda, Bubba and other Amanda for coming and helping out.

The local news did a report as well. You can read it here.

A weekend with Lars, Charlie and Nickleback

2007-04-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in the Kansas City airport using the free wireless on my way home from Dallas. This past weekend I was hanging out with my good friend Pastor Rood. Lars invited me out a month or so ago to be involved in bringing awareness of social injustice to his youth and college age students. It was a great opportunity and privilege to be able to share my heart about the lack of justice in the world and also the lack of Christians who are doing anything about it, or worse yet, don't even know about it. I am seeing more and more that justice is very near to the heart of Jesus and so I feel that it needs to be close to our hearts as well.

It was a also a great weekend just hanging out with Lars and his family and friends. When I arrived on Friday Lars took me out for half price Mexican, which was delicious. We also went out for coffee a lot, walked around Dallas and spent a good amount of our time in the car listening to Nickelback. I am pretty sure that Nickelback is the official band of Dallas they were played so much on the radio. We were joking this morning about hearing them on the radio on the 5 minute drive to the airport and we were not let down. Kinda makes you want to smash your radio through the front windshield of the car.

We also went to The Den, which is worship night started by Keith, the college director. It was a great night. The set up in the room was great as we were all facing each other and were able to interact with Keith who was speaking and one another. One thing that was funny though is that this one older lady brought her dog Charlie. She brought Charlie over to Lars and I and introduced him as her Christian dog who travels with her and is involved in the college groups because he likes the music. The thing about Charlie though is that he is a stuffed dog. No, not a real dog who is stuffed, but a toy dog. Wow, that was awkward.

So, needless to say this weekend ruled. I am excited to get back to my girls in a few hours and am still contemplating buying a Dorothy doll from the Wizard Of Oz for Emma since I am in Kansas.

Thanks for reading.

Good Friends and Rosie Thomas

2007-04-18T23:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight Amy and I went out to the Rosie Thomas show at the Triple Door. It was the second time we have seen Rosie there and like the 1st time it was fantastic. Amy had the Manderin Chicken and I had the Pad Thai. The chicken was great, the Pad Thai was horrible. Anyway, the evening was super. Thanks Katie for babysitting.

During the show the waitress came over to us with a couple of drinks that our friens Billy, Rachel and another Rachel bought for us. I have seen this in movies, but I have never had a drink sent over to me. It got me to thinking about being a blessing to others. It was a total blessing that our friends were thinking about us and spent money on us and it got me to thinking. How do I bless others, not just with money or gifts, but with words? I want to be more intentional about being a blessing to others. What do people need to hear from me? What do they need to recieve from me? Even buying someone a cup of coffee or writing them a hand written note to say hi could make all the difference in someones day. I hope I can do this better tomorrow.

Good night all.

Baby Doll Karaoke To Rage Against The Machine

2007-04-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

This past weekend myself and a few of my friends attended the Film Faith And Justice event here in Seattle. On Thursday they showed Camden 28. On Friday Amy and I watched Born Into Brothels and on Saturday I attended a previewing of Sentenced Home in the afternoon and in the evening we saw Iraq In Fragments. On Sunday evening we had the privilege of hosting an evening with the guy's from Invisible Children and heard about what is going on over in N. Uganda and how we can be involved.

Why do I tell you all this? Well because I feel like something significant happened in my life this weekend. I am really trying to see a regular, monthly gathering of people happen where we look at different areas of injustice and see what we can do about it. I also want us to see Gods heart towards injustice. Lately I am looking and reading the bible through different eyes, eyes of Justice. Why didn't I see some of these things before? Things that show so clearly that God is not just about a deity in the sky that is just waiting for you to say a prayer and go to heaven, but He is a loving God who cares deeply about people and hates when they are treated with injustice. He tells us to love the poor, visit the sick and care for the orphan. This weekend there were new areas of injustice that I was exposed to and I pray that I don't forget, but that I continue walking this road that I have found myself on.

Film, Faith And Justice

2007-04-12T23:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went with a few friends to the Film, Faith and Justice night at the University of Washington Campus. The night was put on by The Other Journal which is an online quarterly publication promoting vibrant discourse surrounding the intersections of theology, culture, and social justice (a quote from their page).

The key speaker for tonight was Shane Claiborne who is a part of a community in Philadelphia called The Simple Way. Shane is a follower of Jesus, an author and an activist. I was blown away by his words and life. The thing that really struck me is that he is very intentional about what he does. He is intentional about where he buy's cloths, living in community, and how to fight for the rights of the oppressed. The way he talked about Jesus was so beautiful and so true.

As Christians I feel like we spend most of our time trying to be better people. Read your bible more, pray more, go to church, be a good friend, don't do bad things and don't drink cheap American light beer. Well the last one I would have to agree on. What Jesus focused on was caring for the poor, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, hanging out with orphans and widows, and loving your enemy. How many times in church or at camp do we hear those things? Now I am not knocking church or camp, I love them both, but I am saying that there is more, much more.

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." James 1:27. Shane talked a lot about this. Who are we caring for? Why do we do the things we do? What can we be doing less of and what can we be doing more of? How do we love our enemy? How can we, little us, change the world? These are the ways we need to be thinking. The thing is that the more we pray, the more we read our bible, the more we spend time with believers the more we should be doing the James 1:27 stuff, but it seems as thought so many times we just stop at the growing in Jesus part.

Jesus got away from the crowds to spend time with the Father so that He could go back and be doing His will. It shouldn't stop with growing in Jesus, that should be the beginning and the thing that sustains us till the end while we are doing His will. I encourage you to buy and read Shane’s book The Irrresistible Revolution.

He has risen. He has risen indeed.

2007-04-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " Then they remembered his words.
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Thank You Jesus

2007-04-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

IJM and sex trafficking

2007-04-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

In 25 day's I am going with a team of college students from Winnipeg, Canada to Cambodia. I have fallen in love with this little country in South East Asia and am excited to go back for my third time. Cambodia is a beautiful country with a horrible past and a ongoing horrible present. Sex trafficking is a major thing in Cambodia. Even though prostitution is illegal it still has a strong presence there. I was listening to a pod cast the other day and they were covering some people from the International Justice Mission (IJM), who went into a brothel undercover to shut it down. I was listening to it today in my local cafe and crying as my heart broke for this country and the corruption that exists there. I have attached the link, please take 5 minutes and listen and let your heart be broken for the children of sex trafficking in Cambodia.

Sex Trafficking

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

2007-04-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

Today was opening day at the ballpark. The Mariners were playing the Oakland A's and I thought it would be a good time for Emma and I to check out the game. This was going to be Emma’s first time scalping tickets with her old man so I was not sure how it was going to go. I knew one thing; we had Emma's cuteness going for us.

There were a couple of things from the get go that were already not in our favor. We got down to the ballpark in the middle of the 3rd inning so parking was tough to find. What do most good Christians and non-Christians do when they can't find parking? The pray. So Emma and I proceeded to ask the Lord for a spot. We ended up finding one like 5 minutes later about a 1/2-mile away from the park. Then came the fun part. The game was sold out with over 47,000 people in attendance. We asked around for a while and were about to give up when this lady approached us and told us that her friend had won 2 tickets and she wanted to give one to us. Yeehaaa. Now how do two people get into a sold out ball game with only one ticket? You just go in I guess. The ticket checker took Emma’s ticket and told us to enjoy the game and let us in. Thanks ticket checker guy.

The first place we went was to the kids play area. It was pretty packed and you needed a ticket to get in, even though it was free. We didn't have a ticket because they were all given out when the game started, but some people didn't show up and so the guy let us in. We played for a while and decided to leave early to go to our seats. On out way out we saw the Mariner Moose in his moose house and we were the last people to be able to see him before he went out into the stands. That was great as Emma got to give him/her a big hug and check to see if he/she had real moose hair or not.

As we were walking up to our nose bleed seats we saw one of 2 home runs in the game where the Mariners won 4-0. We sat there for an inning and a half and then got up during the 7th inning stretch to sing Take Me Out To The Ball Game. As we were singing we saw the Mariner Moose come into our section so I grabbed Emma and we ran down and were able to stand right beside him. We all sang the song and Emma and the Moose proceeded to give each other high fives.

All in all I'd say it was a great day. I love doing things with my little girl, especially when it involves really cool things for free.

The Hip

2007-03-29T23:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went with a few friends to see The Tragically Hip. They are one of my favorite bands and to top it all off they are from Canada. They are one of those bands who can sell out a 30,000 seat venue in Canada, but then they come down to the USA and they play theaters. It is great for me as it is way more intimate and I don't have to sit one mile away.

They played this song tonight that took me back to 1994 when I was working with YWAM in L.A. I remember listening to that song on my discman while working in the rain. I remeber how cold it was, how wet it was, what I was thinking and exactly where I was. It was such a wierd and vivid memory. I love when that happens, although it is a bit scary as well. The power of music is strong.

So needless to say, I had a great evening with Amy, my friends and The Tragically Hip.

Sex Trafficking

2007-03-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

I was looking at the IJM site today and saw a link to a video that CNN did on sex trafficking. They talk about Thailand and Cambodia being among the places where the most girls are trafficked. Both of those countries are near to my heart, especially Cambodia as I am taking a team of students from my home church in Winnipeg there next month. Please take a moment and watch this short 2 minute video and pray for protection and people to help stop this injustice.
Sex Trafficking

Slavery

2007-03-26T00:14:00.000-07:00

Today, March 25, 2007 marks the 200th anniversary of the abolishment of slave trade. Wikipedia defines slavery as "people deprived of personal freedom and compelled to perform labour or services. The term also refers to the status or condition of those persons, who are treated as the property of another person or household. Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation in return for their labour. As such, slavery is one form of unfree labour."

Even though the practice of slavery was abolished 200 years ago there are more slaves today than ever before. Free The Slaves states that there are 27 million slaves in the world today. Today we are fighting against a new kind of slavery. A write up from Free The Slaves and a book entitled Disposable People by Kevin Bales defines this new kind of slavery in the following way. "Three trends have contributed most to the rise of modern slavery. The first, a recent population explosion, has tripled the amount of people in the world, with most growth taking place in the developing world. The second, rapid social and economic changes, has displaced many to urban centers and their outskirts, where people are powerless and without job security. The third, government corruption around the world, allows slavery to go unpunished, even though it is illegal everywhere. In this way millions have become vulnerable to a resurgent form of slavery. This new slavery has two prime characteristics that differentiate it from the slavery of the past: slaves today are cheap and they are disposable.

In Old Slavery, also called chattel slavery, slaves were extremely expensive to purchase and often yielded low profits for their owners. Since there was always a shortage of potential slaves, and enormous costs associated with transporting them from one continent to another, those already enslaved were considered investments and held for generations. Their health was generally maintained (at rudimentary levels) and it was of enormous importance to assert ownership over this valuable ‘property’. Slave-owners took great pains to emphasize the ethnic differences between themselves and their investment.

New Slavery turns each of these characteristics on its head. An average slave in the American South in 1850 cost the equivalent of $40,000 in today’s money; today a slave costs an average of $90. In 1850 it was difficult to capture a slave and then transport them to the US. Today, millions of economically and socially vulnerable people around the world are potential slaves. This “supply” makes slaves today cheaper than they have ever been. Since they are so cheap, slaves are no longer a major investment worth maintaining. If slaves get sick, are injured, outlive their usefulness, or become troublesome to the slaveholder, they are dumped or killed. For most slave-holders, actually owning the slave is an inconvenience since they already exert total control over the individuals labor and profits. The slave-holder cares more about these high profits than whether the holder and slave are of different ethnic backgrounds; in new slavery, profit trumps skin color. Finally, new slavery is directly connected to the global economy. As in the past, most slaves are forced to work in agriculture, mining, and prostitution. From these sectors, their exploited labor flows into the global economy, and into our lives."

So much has been done, but there is still so much left to do. This seems like a task that we cannot even touch. I would say that it is a task that we have to touch. Do something. Read a book, write a letter, say a prayer, tell someone else, or go and be a part of ending modern day slavery. Here are a few resources to look at.

Stop The Traffik
The BBC
IJM
Amazing Grace

Breathe in suffering, breathe out compassion

2007-03-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight a few friends and I gathered together to watch the documentary Scared Sacred. It follows a Canadian's journey to all the "ground zeros" of the world. He goes to Hiroshima, The Killing Fields, an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan and New York City. He goes to all of these places where terrible things happened to innocent people and tries to find the sacred in the scared. It is a beautiful picture of healing, forgiveness and hope.

One of the things that he repeatedly said was that we need to "breath in suffering and breath out compassion." This is a hard yet beautiful way to see life. To many times we encounter horrible things and we just let them pass over us and then we move on with our lives. When I went to Cambodia last year and heard and saw what happened during the reign of the Khmer Rouge it was overwhelming. Even thought it was so overwhelming I had the potential to just turn around and move on with my life, or to stop, breath in their suffering and in some way breath out compassion for these people.

The same thing can happen right here at home. We hear of people being treated unjustly, we see a lonely elderly person, we encounter homeless people on the street and the tendency is to just give a sigh and move on. What would it look like if we were to stop and breath in their suffering and breath out compassion? Would we start to look at life differently? Would we start to look at our responsibility on this earth differently? Would we be more prone to act in situations that move us? I think so. This is how I am starting to live my life and already I am seeing a difference. There is a sign on a church billboard by my house that says' will the world be a better place because you lived? I hope so.

Dominique

2007-03-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I care deeply about is injustice. It is something that I have cared about for some time now, and probably have posted on before. Injustice, if you were to describe it is when someone of power takes advantage of people who don't hold as much power. This could be manifested in the injustice of human trafficking, bonded labor, unfair wages, sex trafficking, or spousal abuse. I have always wondered how I can be involved in bringing some sort of justice into these areas, but have never figured out how, until recently.

The organization that I work with in Seattle (YWAM) is very involved in the city, specifically urban ministry. For the last few years I have been involved in volunteering at different organizations, such as the homeless men’s shelter, a street feeding program and the homeless women and children’s center. I usually only help out when we are running schools or have teams in. I drive the teams down town mostly to be a representative of YWAM. I have never really enjoyed doing this kind of urban ministry. To me it seemed impersonal and I had no passion for it. This sounds bad, but it gets better and most of you reading this probably feel the same way.

This fall I brought a team of students down to the homeless women and children’s center every Wednesday evening. Something started happening inside of me the more I went. I started to see the shelter as meeting an area of injustice. The injustice was kids growing up without a father figure in their lives. Just 4 years ago my dad left my mom and started a new life away from our family. Although I was 32 years old at the time I felt the loss of my dad. Our relationship changed when he left. Our conversations became more shallow, and when they were deep it was because we were talking about the situation of him leaving. I haven’t gone to my dad for years now just to get advice, ask for money or for encouragement because of the way this has affected me. I want to get there though.

Back to my point. The reason that I have continued to go to the women and children’s center even after the school finished is because my reasons for going came out of a belief system that I have. I believe that kids should have a father and mother figure in their lives. I am not against single parents, I couldn't imagine how hard it must be to raise a child by yourself and I also don't know the situation of all single parent families. Sometimes it is healthier for a child to have only one parent if the other one is or was being abusive. I am trying to cover my bases here so as not to offend, hopefully you get where I am coming from.

I see me going to the shelter for 2 hours every Wednesday evening as an outward manifestation of what I am passionate about in my life, injustice. I want to be there for children like Dominique (pictured above), Braxton, Zoe and Ricardo as a healthy male figure they can talk to, play with, hug and wrestle. It is a small thing, but it is something.

What are you passionate about? What moves you? What do you want to see happen in the lives of others? What are you doing about it? I have said this before, and I am saying it again now, DO SOMETHING.

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' -Matthew 25:34-39

CBC Radio 3

2007-03-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

If you're like me you are sick of the radio and hearing the same music over and over and over and over again. During this season of Lent I have been intentionally not listening to the radio, with the exception of the news and it has been great. It has pushed me to pray more, to think more and to engage more with the people in the car with me. The other think it has done is relieve me of listening to crappy music.

For a while now I have been downloading the weekly podcast of CBC Radio 3, an independant Canadian music podcast. It is so new and refreshing to hear this music. There is a part of me that thinks I like it just because I am from Canada and it is in my blood, but the other day I was talking to my friend Scott Bothell at dodgball and he loves it too. In fact, as I am writing this I am listening to a band from Edmonton called Shout Out Out Out Out and loving it. Another band that I have been enjoying is Mother Mother.

Each week CBC Radio 3 plays 60 minutes of new music. Not so much new to Canada, but to us outside of Canada. They play all sorts of music from rock, dance, techno, hip hop and country.

Anyway, just a bit of newness for those of you who are looking. I hope you go and check it out and I hope you enjoy new and creative Canadian music.

St. Particks Day

2007-03-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was St. Patricks day. A day held by many as the day to get drunk and find any trace of Irish in their blood or family line that they can to justify getting drunk. For us at the Cunningham house it was a day to connect with some friends and cook some good old fasioned Irish food and drink. I was born in Belfast so I feel that I am somewhat authentic.

We had our friends Sean and Heather over as well as Gordon and his daughter Grace. I made some Irish potatoe bread, sausage rolls and Guinness beef stew. We also had some Guinness, which I hear is good for you.

The thing about St. Patricks day that most people don't know is that it is in honor of Patrick of Ireland. He is a real person, but he did not, contrary to popular belief, drive the snakes out of Ireland. Patrick was from Scotland and was a slave in Ireland. He escaped his slave owner and went home where he met and fell in love with Jesus. Feeling a draw and calling back to the people who enslaved him, he went back to Ireland to share with the Irish the message of the cross. He is credited with bringing the gospel to the Irish people. I am greafull for this man, who considered all loss for the sake of Jesus Christ. Below is the prayer of St. Patrick, it is a beautiful prayer.

I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through the belief in the three ness, through confession of the oneness of the Creator of Creation.
I arise today through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism, through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial, through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension, through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.
I arise today Through the strength of the love of Cherubim, In obedience of angels, In the service of archangels, In hope of resurrection to meet with reward, In prayers of patriarchs, In predictions of prophets, In preaching of apostles, In faith of confessors, In innocence of holy virgins, In deeds of righteous men.
I arise today Through the strength of heaven: Light of sun, Radiance of moon, Splendor of fire, Speed of lightning, Swiftness of wind, Depth of sea, Stability of earth, Firmness of rock.
I arise today Through God's strength to pilot me: God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me, God’s host to save me From snares of devils, From temptations of vices, From everyone who shall wish me ill, Afar and anear, Alone and in multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and those evils, Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul, Against incantations of false prophets, Against black laws of pagandom Against false laws of heretics, Against craft of idolatry, Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards, Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ to shield me today Against poison, against burning, Against drowning, against wounding, So that there may come to me abundance of reward. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through belief in the threeness, Through confession of the oneness, Of the Creator of Creation.

World On Fire

2007-03-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

Hockey Night In Canada

2007-03-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

On Thursday evening the New York Islanders were playing the New York Rangers in a hockey game. Now most of you are probably not into hockey, but this story is unbelievable. Ryan Hollweg from the Rangers gave a sweet, and legal check to Chris Simon of the Islanders. Apparently Chris Simon decided that he needed to get back at Ryan so he skated over to him and basically close lined him with his stick across the face.

For this incident Chris recieved the stiffest fine and suspension in NHL history. He is suspended for the rest of the season, minimum 25 games and a maximum of 43, without pay. Based on Simon's $1 million US salary, the suspension will cost him a minimum of $80,213.90. The money forfeited goes to the NHL players' emergency assistance fund. It is sad to me that this Canadian grew up dreaming of playing hockey in the NHL and winning the Stanley Cup. It is just stupid to throw that away for revenge. Hitting is a part of the game. These guy's grew up getting hit and pushed around on the ice, it is what they do. It just makes me sick how someone can throw that all away with a revengeful stick to the face.

How many times do I do this? In writing a critisism of Chris Simon it has made me think of the times that I have turned away from all that I have lived for with Christ. I grew up in the church. I have heard all my life about sin and that Jesus came to take away our sin and give us new life in Him. St. Paul in the bible tells us that when we are in Christ the old has gone and the new has come. I know this stuff, but so often I get up after being knocked down and take my so called stick to Jesus face. Oh what a sinfull man I am. When I go against everything that I have given my life to it doesn't cost me $80,000, but it does, in some situations make Jesus look bad. Who am I to do that! Anyway, I pray that I would all the more live my life out of love, charity and justice so that I can show the true love and character of Christ through it.

Welcome to my head.

I've Moved

Merry Christmas

Yea, it worked.

One night in Chicago

Christmas Vacation

36 at the DMV

Ywam shooting update.

YWAM Denver Shootings

Theology

Evangelism

San Diego

prayer of justice

Apple *&#@

A good Black Friday

Beauty

Bangladesh

Water

Daddy Day

Weekend Fun

Displaced

Guest Posting

Jamie Arpin-Ricci

Writing

Let it speak for itself

Blessed and Overwhelmed

Winnipeg in the 80's

Bloglines

Seattle

Happy Thanksgiving (Canadian)

The Forgotten City - Firozabad, India

Muslims of Mauritania

More on Myanmar

Myanmar

God is with the poor.

Critical Mass

Forgetting What is behind...

The Farmers Marked and Crab

Free Hugs

Ramadan

Good Morning

First Day Of School

Competitors in the World Beard and Moustache Championship

Freed South Koreans return home

2 Years Later

Praise the Lord

Abby Walks

Welcome home to me.

John Rambo

Tim Hortons

Starbucks

Still around

Family

The News

Morphing

Off Again

Women Jailed For Testicle Attack

Newsletter

This is LA

Rated G

12 hours round trip

Hunger

Displace Me

A new house.

Hair Cut

Costa Freaka Rica

Non-dairy coffee creamer

Why I miss the hose.

"White people wear sagging pants too."

Wireless in the jungle

Off to Costa Rica

The Grey House

Check this out.

Poo Poo Head

May 30

Memorial Day Yo!

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Bats at the Billabong

More Cowbell

Hot