May 30

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!

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

Bats at the Billabong

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

IJM and sex trafficking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hockey Night In Canada

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.

Free writing

I am in Montana at the Mission Adventures theme gathering and wanted to share some stuff that is going on. So far it is going well. We took some time to connect and here from God this morning and it was encouraging what He had to say. One of the things that we did to free up our imaginations was to write for 5 minutes about anything that came to mind. Here is my 5 minutes of free writing.

Stressed! Things were fine or so I thought, then someone else realized my mistake. I wish it wasn't Lent then I could swear. Maybe it's good that it is Lent. Maybe I shouldn't be swearing. Why do I swear sometimes anyway? I think that it is funny I guess. Now I don't use the big swear words, like the bad ones, the ones you can say just by raising a finger, but I say words that would make someone blush. I don't like sin, but I do like to make people laugh. So, when Lent is over will I return to my colorfull shock value language or will my heart be changed?

I guess this shows what is in my heart. I want more of God. This is why I am taking this time of Lent to look at my heart and look at the things in my life that are not really glorifying to Him. I want to live holy, but I don't want to live under the law, I want to live under Christ. I am continually being renewed, thanks be to God.

Romans 7:23-25 (The Message)

It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

Leaving town again.

Tomorrow my family and I are headed out of town to Montana. Amy and I are participating in the anual Mission Adventures theme meetings. I am excited about this as it is a great time of getting together with friends and seeking God (however that looks to you) about what the theme of Mission Adventures is going to be for 2008. There is approx. 7000 youth who participate in the Mission Adventures progam in over 30 different locations world wide.

I love being a part of this as I have seen thousands of lives changed as a result of the Mission Adventures program. What is Mission Adventures? Well here is a link to it for you. I love being apart of something bigger than myself. If you have the opportunity to do or be involved in something, anything that is bigger than you I encourage you to go for it as it will change your life.

The dodgeball picture is just there cause we play dodgeball on Monday nights and the YWAM drama I was going to post is to cheesy and defeats the purpose of this post.

Where are the friends?

The other day I was in line at the customer service desk at QFC (a grocery store out here) and there were two people in front of me. The person directly in front of me was a 50+ year old lady and the person in front of her, who was at the front of the line was probably in her mid 60's. The lady at the front of the line was waiting as the agent was paying some bills for her and she turned to the lady behind her and asked if she could tell her something.

She proceeded to tell her, a total stranger by the way, that a few day's earlier she had just lost her sister, who was her best friend. She was crying and as far as I could tell had no one to talk to about her sisters death. She told her that she did not even want to leave the house, but that if she didn't then the bills would not get paid and she could be kicked out. This whole time her voice was cracking with the emotion and grief that she had in her heart.

As I stood there I asked myself a couple of things that I wanted to scream out loud. Where is this lady's family, or friends, or community? Why doesn't she have anyone to talk to besides a total stranger in line at a grocery store? What could I do? I have been thinking about this lady for the last two day's now. To be honest, I haven't prayed for her since, but have just held it to myself. It broke my heart. Now I don't know the whole story, but, I see this as an injustice. James told us in his book that true religion is to look after orphans and widows in their distress. I am not sure if this lady was an orphan or widow, but she was alone and it seemed like no one was looking after her.

Jesus, please care for this women. Please comfort her and bring people around her. Jesus, she needs you, she needs others.

Emmas Dance Party

So tonight we had Emmas dance party. It was fun. We made punch, veggies and dip, got princess cups and plates, and blew up a bunch of pink balloons and yellow streamers. Her friends Corrie, Drea, Zach and Malachi came over and from 7-8 they danced the night away. There were only a few incedents that were out of control, but nothing to serious. Abby even woke up from her sleep and was happy to dance around the living room with her sister and friends. I just wanted to give you the i-pod play list for your enjoyment.




Daniel Bedingfield- Wrap My Words Around You
David Crowder- Revolutionary Love
Ben Parsons
Def Leppard- Rock Rock Till You Drop
The Dixie Chicks- Goodbye Earl
Gomez- See The World
GRN- Welcome To The Jungle
Jack Johnson- Upside Down
Joan Jett- I Love Rock N Roll
Johnny Cash- Get Rythm
Madonna- Hung Up
Men At Work- I Come From A Land Down Under
Nena Hagens- 99 Luft Balloons
The Soggy Bottom Boy's- I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow
System Of A Down- Radio Video
Delirious- The Happy Song
U2- Vertigo

There you have it. Now make it your own favorite play list and dance away. I know it is kinda scattered, but it was good.

This evening dreams came true

Tonight Emma wanted to have a dance party. So, Amy and Emma got dressed up in their finest digs and we got some streamers, shut off all the lights and got out the flash light. Amy wore a black dress and Emma wore her Cinderella dress. So what do you do when your girls want to have a dance party? You put on some 80's metal. I, without even thinking about it put on Shake Me by Cinderella, one of the finest rock bands of the 80's and the girls danced away as I shook the flashlight and dropped confetti.
It was 5 minutes of fun that I couldn't wait to share. Good times, and let 80's metal and my beautiful girls rock on.

Cars with Emma

Last night Emma and I went to the community center as they were showing Cars. It was fun to be there as a few of my other friends were there with their kids. The thing that was fun about last night is that Emma and I agreed to pick out each others clothing. She looked great as she didn't really keep her end of the deal, but complained until she got to where what she wanted and then thanked me for picking out such nice clothes.

I wore a pair of pants that I have not seen let alone wore in years. I also got to wear a shirt that I used to like, years ago. She finally picked out some nice steaming hot wool socks for me to wear and to top it all off a pair of gag underwear that I bought as a funny gift last Christmas for Amy. This is the 1st time they have been worn and I am now fully convinced that thongs/g-strings are not for me.

Lent

We are in the second day of Lent and I am encouraged by this time set aside to focus on my savior Jesus Christ and His life and sacrifice on the cross for the world. For me I want these next 40 day's to be a season where I purposefully press into Jesus and His heart for me and the nations. In years past I have spent the season of Lent soley focusing on me and my journey and my relationship with Christ. While this is important, I feel that I was missing a necessary ingredient, that being the nations.

Christ came into this world to seek and save the Lost. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." -Jesus-
I want to focus on the sick, the orphan, the widow and the broken. I want to know and own God's heart towards the injustices in the world. This season of Lent I want to spend growing not in selfishness, but in prayer and intercession for others. I believe it starts with me, but it cannot stop there.

I encourage you to take this time, this season to purposefully journey with Christ in whatever way works best for you. I encourage you to sacrifice something for the next 40 day's and replace it with a focus on Christ. If you are looking for a time to reflect and a guided journey though the season of Lent you can check Richard Dahlstrom's daily posts.

Youth Retreat

This past weekend I had the privilege of speaking at a Jr. High/High School retreat at White Pass. It was a great time for my family and I as they came along with. I felt lead to talk about areas of injustice such as the water shortage in Africa and Night Commuters. I didn't want it to be just another spiritual high retreat where we talk all about us and how we need to be more spiritual and what we need to do to be closer to God and be better people. We hear that all the time, and as true as it is, there is more to it. I wanted people to look beyond themselves and get involved in something more. I also wanted to make awareness of what is going on Globally that is on God's heart. So many times I feel like we are trying to make it us and God, but what about them? The majority of the retreat was spent focusing on that.

There was a beautiful response from the youth as many of them made commitments to pursue the things that they are passionate about and in turn make the world a better place. I challenged them to sit with the outcast, pursue there passions, care about the poor and commit to something. I pray that they would not just come away from this retreat feeling good about themselves and then fall away from things after a month or so, I pray that this time would be different. I am thankful for what Jesus did and that he used me as a part of it.

We also played some killer tackle football in the snow.

Seattle Times Survey

The Seattle Times recently did a survey to see if students could go 3 day's without their music or mobile phones. It was interesting to read that not one student could do it. Here is the article for you to read.

Four days unplugged? LOL ... RU crazy?

It's tough tuning out in today's world. Just ask a dozen communications students at Seattle University who recently attempted a 96-hour "media deprivation" experiment: No listening to iPods or car radios. No checking e-mail. No chatting on cellphones. No surfing Web sites such as MySpace.com or Facebook.com. No watching "Desperate Housewives" or "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

The experiment originally was supposed to last a week, but it was scaled back when the students protested. But even four days was too much — each of the students cheated, some more than others. Which perhaps proves professor Mara Adelman's point: The art of alone time is increasingly lost in our hectic, frazzled, wired lives. Adelman believes her new upper-level course "Restorative Solitude" is unique. It explores the importance of quiet time for clarity, creativity and spirituality, and touches on techniques ranging from long-distance running to meditation. It also explores the darker side of solitude: loneliness and isolation.

Students spend time in each class trying such meditative techniques a slow walking and focusing in on breathing, and they complete projects examining various aspects of solitude. Seattle University, with its Jesuit underpinnings, offers a range of liberal-arts courses that attempt to mesh academics with spirituality and well-being.

Before attempting Adelman's media diet, students kept a log of their consumption. On a typical Thursday, junior Blaire Babcock, 21, found she checked her e-mail five different times, turned on the TV three times, checked her phone messages twice, browsed Facebook.com once, and once listened to her radio while jogging. "After reviewing my media log I noticed that I compulsively check my e-mail and phone messages for a fear that I will miss something. I found that I become anxious before I check my e-mail," she wrote in a course paper. "I turn on the TV as soon as I am up or return home. I enjoy the background noise but I rarely give it my full attention. I'm often multitasking." The diet came as a revelation to Babcock and the other students.

"The silence was deafening," said junior Cheryl Lee, 20. "You have to get comfortable with just listening to yourself and your thoughts because there's nothing to keep you distracted." Lee and the other students said they felt better able to concentrate and discovered they had more free time to spend reading and doing homework. For those born before 1980, "LOL" is Internet jargon for "laughing out loud." :)

Lee also found one unexpected benefit. Because her CD player didn't start blasting the moment she turned the key in her 2005 Toyota Corolla, for the first time she noticed an unusual rattling noise in the engine: "like there's marbles inside a box and someone's shaking the box." She is planning to consult a mechanic. Lee said her undoing came with her cellphone, which she switched to vibrate and mostly left at home, but which she couldn't face turning off altogether. "There's some things that need to still be communicated via the cellphone," she said.

Cecile Andrews, a guest lecturer and author of the book "Slow is Beautiful," told the class recently that it seems people across the U.S. have ratcheted up the pace of their already crazy-busy lives.

"It's a bizarre way to live," Andrews said. "It just doesn't work."

I recomend you try this little experiment one weekend or even for a day. One of the things that I am thinking of giving up for Lent is Music. I have done this before and filled my head with teachings, or pod casts or prayer. It was great to do and refreshing. Try it.

Half Way There

According to the United Nations, more than half of Africa's population lacks access to clean water. That's three hundred sixty million people. A couple of my friends decided to do something to change this horrible statistic. They came up with a t-shirt idea that can bring clean, pure water to villages in Africa. They are calling it Halfway There The reason for the name is that half of the African population is still in need of pure water. What they are doing is selling these t-shirts (they are not sleeveless as the picture shows) to people and all the proceeds goes towards drilling wells in Africa.

My friends home group came up with the idea and now Mission Adventures is behind it as well. God is definitely behind what these guy’s are doing. When they went to their fabric guy to see how much it would be for shirts he told them that he had to make a profit, so his profit is going to be $.01. Then they went to the printer and he told them that they only needed to pay for the ink. Finally they went to their web designer and they told them they would put the page up for free. This is amazing.

When I read in the scripture about what God wants from us I see a lot of things. The one thing that I feel that we miss a lot though is where it talks over and over again about being active in our faith. Looking after orphans and widow's (James 1). Showing mercy to others (James 2). Caring for the sick and visiting the imprisoned and feeding the hungry and clothing the naked (Matthew 25). Christianity is not just about growing in the Lord and having a good quiet time and telling people about Jesus, although these things are part of it, but it is also about caring for Gods people.

I encourage you to go to the site and see about purchasing a shirt and being a part of something bigger than yourself. I realize there are lot's of ways to get involved in injustice issues, so if you are doing something already thank you. But if you are not doing anything you can start here.

Thanks.

Pray for Uganda

I read this in the BBC last week. Please take a moment and read this and let your heart be stirred. If you know anything about what is going on in N. Uganda and are praying for them over there I pray that this would encourage you to keep praying.

Justice in Ensenada

I am sitting in a room in Ensenada Mexico involved in a Mission Adventures training program. Myself and a few of my friends are running an introduction to Mission Adventures mini conference for 20 YWAMers from 7 different nations. I was able to talk a little bit about training sessions. As a part of the Mission Adventures program we have teaching sessions that these leaders are responsible for leading or facilitating.

I talked about areas that I am passionate about, specifically the areas of worship and injustice. As I talked I could feel passion and rage building up in me. Passion as I am very passionate about justice and worship, and rage as I realized that many people are not challenging there youth to rise up to something greater then themselves. I feel that growing up I was told that being a Christian is about reading your bible, prayer, going to church, personal growth and fellowship with other believers. While this is true, it is not enough and it is definitely not the only thing that Christ called us to.

We are called to love Jesus and in response to His love for us we are called to feed the poor, cloth the naked, visit the sick and take care of the needy.

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Matthew 25:24-40
"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. 35For 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, 36I 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? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

I wanted to encourage people to make the progam they are running reflect the things that they are passionate about in life. To own the program and lead youth into something that is bigger than them. I love that God has given us a challenge and a calling. I am glad for the opportunity to be involved in that and bring it to others.

Am I just going crazy?

So tonight, after a long day of work and play, Amy and I once again headed home to giver Jack Bauer and 24 another go. This time we got the right season, but the wrong disc. Man, the video store is sure making money off of my mistakes. This is not like me, I promise. Maybe it is like me and I am just being myself. Anyway, I guess I will just have to give it one more try another day. If we finish season 5 before season 6 comes out on video it will be a miracle. For those of you who don't care about 24 and just think I am an idiot, you need to start at season one and you will understand.

Good night.

Sad but true.

So tonight I went to the store on my way to dodgeball and picked up the next thrilling disc in the 24 series. After the game I headed home to cuddle in bed with Amy and watch a little Jack Bauer. When I got home I hung with Emma a little and talked as she fell asleep, cleaned up a little bit around the kitchen, put clean sheets on the bed and crawled in for a few hours of intensity. Well wouldn't ya know, I picked the wrong season. Yep, I grabbed season 4 disc 4 instead of season 5 disc 4. There are words for this kind of mistake, but I love Jesus so I will not use them.

So for the rest of the night, until now, I played mini golf on line. It wasn't as good and not as many people died, but it did pass some time and help me to forget. Tomorrow is another day, but it sucks that I have to wait another 24 hours ironically till I can watch. It is going to be one of those day's.

Good night.

Abby Jayne Cunningham

This morning Abby, my 6 month old and I had breakfast together. She is so cute and getting so big. I, being the proud daddy that I am decided to share it with you.

P. Wade (DIY Gourmet) Pallister

My good friend P. Wade Pallister has been posting steadily on his Food Blog. It is amazing what that man can come up with as far as recipes. He really does create with excellence. I wish we all lived this way. Just in the way where we find out what we do well, or what we are most interested in and do it to the fullest. In my life I just get to lazy or apathetic to do anything 100%. I look at one of Wades posts on Ramen. Now Ramen is normally seen as a poor college persons meal, but Wade turns it into a feast that would be enjoyed by a king. I would say the King of Kings, but that would just be cheesy. I want to encourage all of us to read Wades blog and cook some sweet meals for yourselves and those you love and I want to encourage us to live our lives with excellence. Put the things that you are good at out there so as to bless others through it, as we are blessed through Wades cooking. I love when people take the time to share with us (for free) cool things that they have created, just to be a blessing, or show off, but who am I to judge.

Eat well and good night.

Phil

Umm WOW!

Diego and Boots

Yesterday Alvaro and I drove 3 hours north to the province of Guanacaste to visit our friends Diego and Salla. It was a great time visiting them. This morning Deigo and I went for a quad ride into the wetlands and I saw boots. Not the monkey, but actual boots. I have been laughing in my head all day as I have been thinking of posting that. Maybe it is funnier to me. Anyway, we drove through the bush and saw monkeys, cool birds, ate fruit and just talked about their vision for their small village of no more than 200 people.

Diego and Salla moved to Guanacaste last year to start a new rural YWAM work. They are working a lot with community developement and trying to bring the truth of Jesus to this community that is very religeous, but does not love Jesus. This week they have been running a kids camp out of their house and so this morning after our talk we went back to his house where about 15 kids were waiting. We talked about Jesus and I got to share about Jesus and what He thinks about family. Most of these kids are raised by their moms as their dads have left so I got to talk about how Jesus had a mom and how He was adopted by Joseph. It was fun to be involved in ministy like that again.

It is so exciting what Diego and Salla want to do in their community. They want to get the road paved. They want to buy some land and make a lake filled with fish so that they can teach the women to fish and teach them a trade. They want to rebuild the community center and fix up the church and the school They also want to put a swimming pool on their land so that teams can have a place to refresh after long days of ministry. It is very hot there. Their vision stretches far beyond them, that is where I see God in it. They are beautiful people and I am priviledged to be a part of their lives.

Today I saw a rainbow and it wasn't on a flag.

I am in Costa Rica for the next 6 days and today I saw something very unusual and strangely familiar. I saw a rainbow in the sky. Now I see rainbows all the time living in Seattle, but they are not in the sky, but on flagpoles. It was very beautiful.

So today was very interesting. I spent my morning drinking good coffee and talking with old friends. Alvaro and I talked about Mission Adventures and how it is going to look running it here next summer. It is very exciting what God is doing and is going to do. After that we had lunch and then Alvaro and I headed into Heredia to get a tire fixed. This is where things went different than it would have if I were back home in the UsofA.

We got the tire fixed and then on the way home the car overheated. We waited for a bit till it cooled down then we drove to a mechanic shop. Alvaro knew the guy who owned it and so he checked out the car and recommended another guy up the hill who was better with foreign cars. Before we left Terry, the base director drove up and we spent some time talking to him and he recommended the same place for the car.

So we drove up the hill to the foreign repair shop and it turned out the Alvaro knew him as well. The guy checked out the car and told us that he would take care of it, we would have to leave it over night. We ended up having to walk home and on the way we ran into a girl that Alvaro knows. We walked to her house, as it was on the way and her mom offered to give us a ride home. As we were driving we just hung out, talked and looked at a beautiful rainbow that spanned the whole horizon.

Life is so different here. It is relaxed. Things are slow. There was no stress today, just going to places and talking with people and helping them and them helping us. The life of a missionary I saw today is one of relationship. One of taking things as they come and not letting it ruin your day. I am glad to be here. I can't wait for what tomorrow holds.

Up up and away

Tomorrow I am heading to Costa Rica for a week to meet with the YWAMers there and talk about future outreach plans. It will be very exciting to see where God takes us. I will also be meeting with a couple of youth pastors who are doing a trip with us this summer and are heading down to Costa Rica next week on a pre trip. Please remember us in your prayers that we would accomplish all that needs to get done. Hense, I will not be blogging as internet access will be minimal.

Please also remember my family as we will be apart for the next week.

Thanks

i-phone

Finally, my own domain name.

So yesterday I went and got myself my own domain name. I feel like I am a part of the world wide web now. So, for those of you who are reading this blog you can now just type in philnamy.com to get to it. I have been thinking about doing this for a while and yesterday was my day. I heard about this site that you can buy domain names off of called go daddy from my good friend Lars Rood. So there you go. Thanks for reading my little rant and have a great Friday.

Phil

Communicating Through a Noose

My good friend Stephen Crawford forwarded me this article written by Shane Claiborne. It is a good read and very thought provocing as it talkes about taking matters into our own hands and out of Gods, specifically the execution of Saddam Hussein. I have read Shanes book Irresistable Revolution and totally enjoyed it. To read the article click here.

YWAM and the Church

Lately I have been thinking a lot about YWAM and it's call in relation to the local church and her call. Specifically my call within YWAM and YWAM Seattle. For a while now my focus has been on helping people live better lives here at home, or wherever they are going back to after their DTS. I have been trying to build community and wanting people to get involved in community groups. I have also been wanting people to get involved in some sort of church, however that looks.

Just recently it has hit me that I think that I am either in the wrong place, or focusing on the wrong thing. I was called by Jesus a long time ago to be a missionary, and 7 years ago to be a missionary with YWAM Seattle. So based on that, and the fact that Jesus has not called me, to my knowledge, to do anything else, I am not in the wrong place.

What this leaves me to believe is that I have been focusing on the wrong thing. I believe that people learning how to live better lives at home and also the job of building community is the job of the local church. Unfortunately, for most of my friends the local Church is not doing her job well. Some of my friends feel burned and let down by the local Church, and if you have done any reading on Emerging Church lately you will see that a lot of people out there feel the same way.

The job of the local Church is described well in Acts 2:42-47

"They spent their time learning from the apostles, and they were like family to each other. They also broke bread and prayed together. Everyone was amazed by the many miracles and wonders that the apostles worked. All the Lord's followers often met together, and they shared everything they had. They would sell their property and possessions and give the money to whoever needed it. Day after day they met together in the temple. They broke bread together in different homes and shared their food happily and freely, while praising God. Everyone liked them, and each day the Lord added to their group others who were being saved."

Now I am not saying that this is the only job of the local church, but I believe that she is there to teach God's people and bring community.

So what is the job of me, the missionary? I believe, in my position it is to bring awareness of what is going on in the world internationally with areas of injustice and in areas where there is a high percentage of un-reached people and encourage individuals to go. I am specifically speaking of my roll in YWAM. I am a missionary working in a missions organization, I am not a pastor working at a local church. I want people to go. The anointing on this mission is one of sending people cross culturally to bring the good news of Jesus to the un-reached and the not yet believers.

How do we work together with the local church? Well, if we are both doing our jobs and following our calls then the local church will be able to train, equip and disciple people in their relationships with Christ and each other and then we can help these people who understand Christ and community go overseas and bring this to others. If the local church does not do her job then we get a bunch of messed up people who are in no position to tell anyone about Jesus. Similarly if we don't do our job then there will be a bunch of great people who are just staying home and making America a better place and not reaching the world. How sad.

I am sure I will get some comments on this. I invite them as it will help me process more and help me see where others are at with this.

Thanks.

Star Wars Lines That Are Improved by substituting the word pants

Oh man, this is great. My friend Wade showed me a site that has Star Wars lines where one word is substituted by the word pants. Here is a sample, and for more i will put the full list link below. Enjoy laughing your pants off.

“A tremor in the pants. The last time I felt this was in the presence of my old master.”

“You are unwise to lower your pants.”

“We’ve got to be able to get some reading on those pants, up or down.”

“She must have hidden the plans in her pants. Send a detachment down to retrieve them. See to it personally, Commander.”

“These pants may not look like much, kid, but they’ve got it where it counts.”

“I find your lack of pants disturbing.”

"These aren't the pants you are looking for."

“These pants contain the ultimate power in the Universe. I suggest we use it.”

“Hans will have those pants down. We’ve got to give him more time!.”

“General Veers, prepare your pants for a surface assault.”

“I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants back home.”

“TK-421... Why aren’t you in your pants?”

“Lock the door. And hope they don’t have pants.”

“Governor Tarkin. I recognized your foul pants when I was brought on board.”

“You look strong enough to pull the pants off of a Gundark.”

“Luke... Help me take... these pants off.”

“Great, Chewie, great. Always thinking with your pants.”

“That blast came from those pants. That thing’s operational!”

“Don’t worry. Chewie and I have gotten into pants a lot more heavily guarded than this.”

“Maybe you’d like it back in your pants, your highness.”

“Your pants betray you. Your feelings for them are strong. Especially for your sister!”

“Jabba doesn’t have time for smugglers who drop their pants at the first sign of an Imperial Cruiser.”

“Yeah, well, short pants is better than no pants at all, Chewie.”

“Attention. This is Lando Calrissean. The Empire has taken control of my pants, I advise everyone to leave before more troops arrive.”

“I cannot teach him. The boy has no pants.”

“You came in those pants? You’re braver than I thought.”

For a full list of 236 lines click here