Falafel is good. Maoz falafel is good falafel.
Throughout Amsterdam, there are these great stands with large lettering - MAOZ. This was my sign to start salivating. Seriously. You walk up, "Groote Falafel alsjeblieft." That's all it takes. One sentence, three words, and within about two minutes you get to load up your warm pita with all the fixings your heart desires - carrots, lettuce, peppers, and garlic sauce. B-E-A-Utiful. I could go for one right now, but I'm about 4000 miles short.
Still, MAOZ, makes me think of Seth. I used to go there with him. We would walk from the Leidsekade, down the canal, across the street and wind our way through to the good livin. Most often, we would talk about how we weren't making any money and wondering if we ever would...? Would our wives put up with our nonsense forever...? Would we make it in Amsterdam...? Those were tough questions to deal with on a day to day basis and maybe that's why we needed the falafel fix. It was genuine and real. Once we learned the smash technique it got even better. I always left that place with a smile, a full belly and some terrible breath. Good stuff.
Seth reminds me of falafel and falafel reminds me of Seth. That's some good times.
8.10.2006
8.09.2006
a love so beautiful
If you have kids, I hope you will know what I mean. Love. Simply. I shouldn't even write anything else. I look at him and my heart is immediately soft and alive, smiling at the moment.
He is growing so fast now. He speaks in full sentences though he doesn't use words. He runs. He runs so fast that his legs can't aways keep up. He falls. But he gets back up. He runs, arms wide into my open arms and jumps for me. It is the best of feelings.
When he sleeps he sticks his little butt in the air and folds his arms underneath his chest to stay warm. It doesn't look comfortable to me. I've tried it and only lasted a couple minutes. He likes it though. Sometimes I go in his room at night and watch him sleep. I peer through the rails that make up his bed and just stare. I cry once in awhile overwhelmed by him. He was so little and helpless. Now he is getting so big and independent. He's still only 16 months.
He tries to use a spoon and fork. He eats cantaloupe like I do. He pushes a little play cart around pretending he's on an important mission. He quacks like a duck and roars like a lion. He plays non-stop with the energy of ten grown men.
He fell asleep on my back while hiking the other day. I loved it. His head rested against me neck as I tried my best to walk smoothly over decidedly uneven terrain. He must not have noticed though.
He hugs me. He gives me open mouth kisses. He loves me and I love him too and it's so, so beautiful.
He is growing so fast now. He speaks in full sentences though he doesn't use words. He runs. He runs so fast that his legs can't aways keep up. He falls. But he gets back up. He runs, arms wide into my open arms and jumps for me. It is the best of feelings.
When he sleeps he sticks his little butt in the air and folds his arms underneath his chest to stay warm. It doesn't look comfortable to me. I've tried it and only lasted a couple minutes. He likes it though. Sometimes I go in his room at night and watch him sleep. I peer through the rails that make up his bed and just stare. I cry once in awhile overwhelmed by him. He was so little and helpless. Now he is getting so big and independent. He's still only 16 months.
He tries to use a spoon and fork. He eats cantaloupe like I do. He pushes a little play cart around pretending he's on an important mission. He quacks like a duck and roars like a lion. He plays non-stop with the energy of ten grown men.
He fell asleep on my back while hiking the other day. I loved it. His head rested against me neck as I tried my best to walk smoothly over decidedly uneven terrain. He must not have noticed though.
He hugs me. He gives me open mouth kisses. He loves me and I love him too and it's so, so beautiful.
8.08.2006
brightness in the woods
So, I was reading Total Truth last night by Nancy Pearcey. I was astounded yet again by the idea of two things:
1) There is a Total Truth. As much as the society in which we live fights against such a notion, it is there and it is real. It is Christ. He was born of a virgin named Mary, conceived by God as his only son. He lived a righteous life unincumbered by the death of sin. He related to us in mind, body and spirit. He was beaten, tortured and whipped because he spoke and lived the Truth. He died. But, he rose again to wipe away every tear from the eye of the human race. Sin cannot and no longer will overcome. Jesus has.
2) As a Christians we are called not only to stand out against the backdrop of culture in which we live and grow, but also to dramatically change the worldview in which our society sees. It is not just about the individual affecting change; it is about the community of believers putting on a different set of glassed through which to see. The glasses are tinted with grace, hope and love, all of which come from the glory of Christ.
This is some great stuff.
1) There is a Total Truth. As much as the society in which we live fights against such a notion, it is there and it is real. It is Christ. He was born of a virgin named Mary, conceived by God as his only son. He lived a righteous life unincumbered by the death of sin. He related to us in mind, body and spirit. He was beaten, tortured and whipped because he spoke and lived the Truth. He died. But, he rose again to wipe away every tear from the eye of the human race. Sin cannot and no longer will overcome. Jesus has.
2) As a Christians we are called not only to stand out against the backdrop of culture in which we live and grow, but also to dramatically change the worldview in which our society sees. It is not just about the individual affecting change; it is about the community of believers putting on a different set of glassed through which to see. The glasses are tinted with grace, hope and love, all of which come from the glory of Christ.
This is some great stuff.
8.07.2006
leaving the concrete jungle behind
I've been posting many times in the past year about how much I miss Amsterdam and indeed I do. The city has cast its spell on my in a very real and relevant way.
Sometimes though, I am grateful to be somewhere else - Colorado. Jayla and I went hiking yesterday on the Lower Maxwell Falls Trail outside of Evergreen, Colorado with our friends Joe and Shelley, our boys (Asher and Jay) and our two dogs (Leo and Hali). Living in Amsterdam, I often missed the "great outdoors" and the escape it provides from the madness of city or suburban living. Yesterday was just such an escape.
It took us less than 45 minutes to get from my house in east Denver to the trailhead southwest of Evergreen. As we tied up our shoes, loaded the boys into backpacks and leashed the dogs, I realized we were in for a great adventure. Entering the forest of tall pines, we walked slowly through glorious scents of pine and moss. Trees all around us were reaching heavenward grasping for pieces of light left for them by those above. Ferns, wildflowers and fingerlings graced formed a green ground cover so pleasantly reminiscint of my days hiking in the mountains of North Carolina. It has just rained for three straight days, so the typical dry Colorado climate had been replaced by a more temperate, moist one with even a touch of humidity in the air.
We meandered along the trail gazing left and right, up and down interupted only by the occasional whimper of one of the boys asking for something to drink or eat. Leo and Hali were zigzagging back and forth frolicking in the beautiful playland they were meant to roam. It was the outdoors.
I miss Amsterdam alright, but it sure was great to be in the woods.
Sometimes though, I am grateful to be somewhere else - Colorado. Jayla and I went hiking yesterday on the Lower Maxwell Falls Trail outside of Evergreen, Colorado with our friends Joe and Shelley, our boys (Asher and Jay) and our two dogs (Leo and Hali). Living in Amsterdam, I often missed the "great outdoors" and the escape it provides from the madness of city or suburban living. Yesterday was just such an escape.
It took us less than 45 minutes to get from my house in east Denver to the trailhead southwest of Evergreen. As we tied up our shoes, loaded the boys into backpacks and leashed the dogs, I realized we were in for a great adventure. Entering the forest of tall pines, we walked slowly through glorious scents of pine and moss. Trees all around us were reaching heavenward grasping for pieces of light left for them by those above. Ferns, wildflowers and fingerlings graced formed a green ground cover so pleasantly reminiscint of my days hiking in the mountains of North Carolina. It has just rained for three straight days, so the typical dry Colorado climate had been replaced by a more temperate, moist one with even a touch of humidity in the air.
We meandered along the trail gazing left and right, up and down interupted only by the occasional whimper of one of the boys asking for something to drink or eat. Leo and Hali were zigzagging back and forth frolicking in the beautiful playland they were meant to roam. It was the outdoors.
I miss Amsterdam alright, but it sure was great to be in the woods.
8.04.2006
learning God through son
I learned something about the Lord Almoghty today.
I caught a glimpse of how the God must feel when bad things happen to us, whether provoked or unprovoked. This morning, after finishing making some pancakes for myself and Asher, I turned from the stove to put something in the sink. And, as I turned back around towards the stove, it was just in time to see Asher reaching for the griddle, which was still very hot. It was a "matrix" moment as if everything went into slow motion. I realized what was about to happen, but could do nothing to stop it.
Asher reached up and wrapped his precious little fingers over the edge of the griddle and for what seemed like a lifetime, held on. I'm sure it wasn't more than a tenth of a second., but it was long enough that in that time he was gasping for breath as the pain registered from the ends of his fingertips, up his little arms, through his nervous system and into his brain, where millions of little pain receptors sounded an alarm all at once.
Both Asher and I were frightened and hurt. His pain was tangible and physical - real. My pain was just as real, only it struck me deep within my heart. I had just witnessed my son learn something very important - HOT. I took the necessary steps to ease the pain - running his hand under cold water, applying burn cream and most importantly holding on tight. I held him as he screamed and screamed as I have held never before. He was me. For that moment, nothing in the world - nothing - could have separated me from this little boy. As much as the water and the cream helped, I think he too wanted nothing more than to be close - a hug, a tight hug. He wanted love.
Through this unfortunate even in our house this morning, I learned something ever so important. I am loved just the same by an eternal Father. He sees me do things both in accident and on purpose and he doesn't stop me. But he helps me through. And, in those moments of greatest need it sure does feel good to be loved.
I caught a glimpse of how the God must feel when bad things happen to us, whether provoked or unprovoked. This morning, after finishing making some pancakes for myself and Asher, I turned from the stove to put something in the sink. And, as I turned back around towards the stove, it was just in time to see Asher reaching for the griddle, which was still very hot. It was a "matrix" moment as if everything went into slow motion. I realized what was about to happen, but could do nothing to stop it.
Asher reached up and wrapped his precious little fingers over the edge of the griddle and for what seemed like a lifetime, held on. I'm sure it wasn't more than a tenth of a second., but it was long enough that in that time he was gasping for breath as the pain registered from the ends of his fingertips, up his little arms, through his nervous system and into his brain, where millions of little pain receptors sounded an alarm all at once.
Both Asher and I were frightened and hurt. His pain was tangible and physical - real. My pain was just as real, only it struck me deep within my heart. I had just witnessed my son learn something very important - HOT. I took the necessary steps to ease the pain - running his hand under cold water, applying burn cream and most importantly holding on tight. I held him as he screamed and screamed as I have held never before. He was me. For that moment, nothing in the world - nothing - could have separated me from this little boy. As much as the water and the cream helped, I think he too wanted nothing more than to be close - a hug, a tight hug. He wanted love.
Through this unfortunate even in our house this morning, I learned something ever so important. I am loved just the same by an eternal Father. He sees me do things both in accident and on purpose and he doesn't stop me. But he helps me through. And, in those moments of greatest need it sure does feel good to be loved.
8.03.2006
growing weary and tired
in relating to a post from a couple days ago about mystery, i have contemplated about it yet again. this following passage is one of the best known in the Bible and one of my favorite nevertheless:
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
and what strikes me most going through it this time is actually two things. first, we cannot fathom God's wisdom and understanding. we cannot. not we can almost which is good enough or we are pretty smart too, but we cannot. my problem with this is that i continue to try over and over and over and over to be God. I want his knowledge, not too unlike adam and eve. i hate admitting this. i want to know the answers though. but i cannot.
secondly, something slightly new popped out at me in regards to my relationship with the Almighty. i could be wrong, but i don't think He ever guarantees a free ride through life. his grace abundantly covers us and he washes our garments clean as the driven snow. but never, does he say, "all will be gone, here is a free ride." no, it's quite the opposite actually. instead, he commends us in our suffering and trials and hardships and tells us "though life is hard, I will be with you and give you strength." he gives us what we need to make it through the valleys of life rather than what we need to skirt around them. it's a wild thing really. we are not meant to run from life and but to live it to the full and in doing so, have the strength of Christ himself living in us. wow.
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
and what strikes me most going through it this time is actually two things. first, we cannot fathom God's wisdom and understanding. we cannot. not we can almost which is good enough or we are pretty smart too, but we cannot. my problem with this is that i continue to try over and over and over and over to be God. I want his knowledge, not too unlike adam and eve. i hate admitting this. i want to know the answers though. but i cannot.
secondly, something slightly new popped out at me in regards to my relationship with the Almighty. i could be wrong, but i don't think He ever guarantees a free ride through life. his grace abundantly covers us and he washes our garments clean as the driven snow. but never, does he say, "all will be gone, here is a free ride." no, it's quite the opposite actually. instead, he commends us in our suffering and trials and hardships and tells us "though life is hard, I will be with you and give you strength." he gives us what we need to make it through the valleys of life rather than what we need to skirt around them. it's a wild thing really. we are not meant to run from life and but to live it to the full and in doing so, have the strength of Christ himself living in us. wow.
8.02.2006
toil in vain
" ... my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain" (Isaiah 65:22-23)
There is a great article on Sojourners right now about the minimum wage. This stuff really rattles my cage. Check it out:
Minimum wage double-cross in Congress
by Yonce Shelton
There is a great article on Sojourners right now about the minimum wage. This stuff really rattles my cage. Check it out:
Minimum wage double-cross in Congress
by Yonce Shelton
8.01.2006
Good friends and a toast
sometimes when i'm lonely i think of my brothers and sisters in amsterdam. i miss them dearly. for three years, we were intertwined, like morning glory growing up the nearly fence. wrapping, curling, twisting together. we knew each other in a way which few people do.
they are still there, well most of them and i'm not. not physically anyway. i'm with them though. there is nothing like a friendship to kindle warm thoughts of the heart. nothing quite like it at all. i'm warm inside from the times i shared with them - linda, lee, patricia, chris, eva, eric, leslie and todd. there are many more, but these are those in the picture. and i'm learning that there is no friendship that can quite copare to those which are celebrated through serving together for the sake of christ. nothing.
all of a sudden, i'm in fellowship with the apostle paul who so steadfastly prayed for and encouraged his brothers and sisters in places like ephesis and greece and rome and phlippi. in some small way, i too hope to be an encouragement for those still serving dutifully in amsterdam.
i pray for you, my spiritual family, that you may understand the depths of christ's love. i pray that you will use the amazing power of the gospel to its full in reaching those who not yet know the riches of grace in abundance. i have no doubts that you will steadfastly and diligently walk through many valleys in order that you will find a resting place high upon the hills, where the view is nothing short of splendor. keep on keepin on my friends. i love you.
they are still there, well most of them and i'm not. not physically anyway. i'm with them though. there is nothing like a friendship to kindle warm thoughts of the heart. nothing quite like it at all. i'm warm inside from the times i shared with them - linda, lee, patricia, chris, eva, eric, leslie and todd. there are many more, but these are those in the picture. and i'm learning that there is no friendship that can quite copare to those which are celebrated through serving together for the sake of christ. nothing.
all of a sudden, i'm in fellowship with the apostle paul who so steadfastly prayed for and encouraged his brothers and sisters in places like ephesis and greece and rome and phlippi. in some small way, i too hope to be an encouragement for those still serving dutifully in amsterdam.
i pray for you, my spiritual family, that you may understand the depths of christ's love. i pray that you will use the amazing power of the gospel to its full in reaching those who not yet know the riches of grace in abundance. i have no doubts that you will steadfastly and diligently walk through many valleys in order that you will find a resting place high upon the hills, where the view is nothing short of splendor. keep on keepin on my friends. i love you.
7.31.2006
a mystery gained...
i feel like i need to know. lots of things i mean. like mysteries - i like mysteries. but i only like them when i get to find out what happens in the end. that's why i think i have a hard time sometimes with regards to my faith. it's a mystery. and though i know what i believe and i know what i think i know, i don't necessary believe what i know.
so for example, i believe in the following (otherwise known as the apostles creed):
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.
and i know these things are true because i read them in the bible, because the longing in my heart shows me the truth and becuase experience tells me so. and yet, there is still so much left to mystery, a mystery in which i can believe in the ending and know it's true, but i won't experience it for awhile.
this is hard for me.
it's not like the end of a movie when you know the mystery will end, or at the end of american idol when they boot someone off the show. you get to know the end. you solve the mystery. maybe i'm a product of the modern world - i want things now. i don't want to wait for the mystery to be unveiled. the mystery of life. the mystery of christ.
but i was reading in colossians a day or two ago and was comforted. read if for yourself. the mystery in which i place my hope is not of this world or of this time or of this place. the mystery is eternal love and sufficient grace and unbreakable hope - it is CHRIST.
Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Colossians 1:24-2:3
so for example, i believe in the following (otherwise known as the apostles creed):
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.
and i know these things are true because i read them in the bible, because the longing in my heart shows me the truth and becuase experience tells me so. and yet, there is still so much left to mystery, a mystery in which i can believe in the ending and know it's true, but i won't experience it for awhile.
this is hard for me.
it's not like the end of a movie when you know the mystery will end, or at the end of american idol when they boot someone off the show. you get to know the end. you solve the mystery. maybe i'm a product of the modern world - i want things now. i don't want to wait for the mystery to be unveiled. the mystery of life. the mystery of christ.
but i was reading in colossians a day or two ago and was comforted. read if for yourself. the mystery in which i place my hope is not of this world or of this time or of this place. the mystery is eternal love and sufficient grace and unbreakable hope - it is CHRIST.
Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Colossians 1:24-2:3
7.27.2006
$1318 per second
Are you serious...? This is rediculous.
Exxon Mobil makes over $10 billion
No. 1 U.S. oil company earns $1,318 a second -topping forecasts - but comes in just shy of a record.
By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer
July 27 2006: 10:09 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Profits at Exxon Mobil surged 36 percent to a near record $10.4 billion in the second quarter as surging oil prices helped the world's largest publicly traded company soundly beat Wall Street forecasts.
The company's profit - which amounts to a cool $1,318 a second - is the second biggest ever reported by a U.S. company, behind only the $10.7 billion Exxon itself earned in the fourth quarter of 2005.
Big oil dominates
One look at the largest corporations in the world and a single conclusion jumps out: Natural resources are driving the global economy as never before.
PO'd at the pump
Some small business owners are turning their frustration over high oil and gas prices into big bucks.
Big Oil's pain
While record prices have produced record profits, they have also helped make crude a lot more expensive to pump.
The earnings equaled $1.72 a share, topping the $1.64 a share analysts had forecast on average, according to First Call.
The $1,318 a second would buy enough gasoline, even at the current $3 a gallon average, to drive a Hummer H3 between Los Angeles and New York three times.
New York-based Exxon Mobil caught considerable flack from the general public for its record fourth quarter, which came soon after gasoline prices hit record highs.
Compounding matters, the company gave its outgoing CEO Lee Raymond a retirement package worth about $350 million around the same time.
That combination of events led to a public outcry calling for restrictions to CEO pay, and from lawmakers who wanted to institute a windfall profits tax on the oil industry or even break up some of the oil giants that merged in the 1990s.
But the industry says that oil prices fluctuate widely over time and that, in the long run, it's actually less profitable than a number of other industries.
Officials have also argued against a government-forced break up, saying oil companies need to be big to compete in a global market against foreign state-run firms, some of which are larger than Exxon Mobil.
Surging oil prices helped Exxon in the quarter, when crude prices jumped 31 percent.
Exxon said spending on exploration and production rose 8 percent in the quarter, to $4.9 billion.
That may be good news for investors, who have been concerned that high oil prices would lead to company to boost spending even further.
But it might be bad news for consumers hoping that more oil on the market would help lower gas prices.
Industry experts say that it's getting increasingly expensive for oil companies to get easily refinable crude oil out of the ground.
At the same time, high prices have led to surging demand for exploration and drilling equipment, and workers, causing the price of such services to jump roughly 15 percent a year over the last several years, industry executives and analysts say.
Then there's the geological fact that new, large, high-quality oil fields are simply getting harder to find.
Meanwhile, new production hasn't kept pace with surging demand - not only from the United States, but from China, India and other rapidly growing economies - which has driven prices up nearly fourfold, from around $20 a barrel in early 2002 to a trading high of $78.40 earlier this month on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Tensions in the Middle East and other parts of the world and speculative buying by big investment funds has also helped fuel the runup.
Exxon Mobil makes over $10 billion
No. 1 U.S. oil company earns $1,318 a second -topping forecasts - but comes in just shy of a record.
By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer
July 27 2006: 10:09 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Profits at Exxon Mobil surged 36 percent to a near record $10.4 billion in the second quarter as surging oil prices helped the world's largest publicly traded company soundly beat Wall Street forecasts.
The company's profit - which amounts to a cool $1,318 a second - is the second biggest ever reported by a U.S. company, behind only the $10.7 billion Exxon itself earned in the fourth quarter of 2005.
Big oil dominates
One look at the largest corporations in the world and a single conclusion jumps out: Natural resources are driving the global economy as never before.
PO'd at the pump
Some small business owners are turning their frustration over high oil and gas prices into big bucks.
Big Oil's pain
While record prices have produced record profits, they have also helped make crude a lot more expensive to pump.
The earnings equaled $1.72 a share, topping the $1.64 a share analysts had forecast on average, according to First Call.
The $1,318 a second would buy enough gasoline, even at the current $3 a gallon average, to drive a Hummer H3 between Los Angeles and New York three times.
New York-based Exxon Mobil caught considerable flack from the general public for its record fourth quarter, which came soon after gasoline prices hit record highs.
Compounding matters, the company gave its outgoing CEO Lee Raymond a retirement package worth about $350 million around the same time.
That combination of events led to a public outcry calling for restrictions to CEO pay, and from lawmakers who wanted to institute a windfall profits tax on the oil industry or even break up some of the oil giants that merged in the 1990s.
But the industry says that oil prices fluctuate widely over time and that, in the long run, it's actually less profitable than a number of other industries.
Officials have also argued against a government-forced break up, saying oil companies need to be big to compete in a global market against foreign state-run firms, some of which are larger than Exxon Mobil.
Surging oil prices helped Exxon in the quarter, when crude prices jumped 31 percent.
Exxon said spending on exploration and production rose 8 percent in the quarter, to $4.9 billion.
That may be good news for investors, who have been concerned that high oil prices would lead to company to boost spending even further.
But it might be bad news for consumers hoping that more oil on the market would help lower gas prices.
Industry experts say that it's getting increasingly expensive for oil companies to get easily refinable crude oil out of the ground.
At the same time, high prices have led to surging demand for exploration and drilling equipment, and workers, causing the price of such services to jump roughly 15 percent a year over the last several years, industry executives and analysts say.
Then there's the geological fact that new, large, high-quality oil fields are simply getting harder to find.
Meanwhile, new production hasn't kept pace with surging demand - not only from the United States, but from China, India and other rapidly growing economies - which has driven prices up nearly fourfold, from around $20 a barrel in early 2002 to a trading high of $78.40 earlier this month on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Tensions in the Middle East and other parts of the world and speculative buying by big investment funds has also helped fuel the runup.
7.26.2006
way too fat!!!!
Check out this article about obesity in America. This is crazy:
Study: More Americans too fat for X-rays, scans
It's especially crazy cause my next door neighbor was just telling me about how in New Orleans he had to use extra long needles on some people to get the epideral into the spine - because they were too fat. Yikes
Study: More Americans too fat for X-rays, scans
It's especially crazy cause my next door neighbor was just telling me about how in New Orleans he had to use extra long needles on some people to get the epideral into the spine - because they were too fat. Yikes
7.25.2006
7.12.2006
Photo Wednesday
I haven't posted in quite some time now, but I thought I'd come back with some shots of my recent road trip to Durango, CO. What a beautiful drive. If you ever get the chance - take a ride to Durango.
6.27.2006
character over personality
It has been impressing on my for quite some time now - character is much more important than personality. Well, I'm reading the "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" right now and it's only confirming my conviction on this. Covey speaks candidly about the differences between CHARACTER ETHICS and PERSONALITY ETHICS. I don't have time to explain here so maybe you could pick up the book, but it's some good stuff. Here are a few quotes in relation the the aforementined subject of character versus personality.
It becomes obvious that if we want to make relatively minor changes in our lives, we can perhaps appropriately focus on our attitudes and behaviors (personality). But if we want to make significant, quantum change, we need to work on our character.
In the words of Thoreau, "For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root." We can only achieve quantum improvements in our lives when we quit hacking at the leaves of attitude and behavior and get to work on the root, the paradigm from which our attitudes and behaviors flow.
Jesus probably couldn't agree more.
It becomes obvious that if we want to make relatively minor changes in our lives, we can perhaps appropriately focus on our attitudes and behaviors (personality). But if we want to make significant, quantum change, we need to work on our character.
In the words of Thoreau, "For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root." We can only achieve quantum improvements in our lives when we quit hacking at the leaves of attitude and behavior and get to work on the root, the paradigm from which our attitudes and behaviors flow.
Jesus probably couldn't agree more.
6.26.2006
more nature...
I was another ride this past Friday around Evergreen which is in the foothills surrounding Denver. It was a 60 mile ride with 6000 feet of climbing. Awesome. I saw tons of wildlife again. It was beautiful!
Bull Elk
Mule Deer
Hummingbird
Buffalo
Bull Elk
Mule Deer
Hummingbird
Buffalo
6.22.2006
a link to some thoughts about church
In my friend Todd's blog he posted today about Thoughts on Church. His thoughts are summarized from a book called Houses That Change the World, by Wolfgang Simpson.
I like these thoughts, especially in regard to the general point that today's church (and when I say so, I mean the Western Culture version and I mean, in general) is ME oriented. It's about the individual. The individual salvation. The individual membership. The individual worship. It's kind of funny, because in the middle of this ME-centric church world is the desire for churches to grow Super-sized. the first question is always, "well, how many people come...?" or "how many have been saved...?" Are these the right questions.
No.
These are the by products of something engrained in people by Western Church. How Big...? How fast...? How many...?
Shouldn't the questions be more like... what are you doing to equip believers...? what are you doing to help people grow in the knowledge of God...? what is your missional value system...? If these questions don't all have the same answer, then we are going down the wrong path. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. It's not because I think so, because honestly, it doesn't matter what I think. It matters because Jesus tells us so.
The Great Command. The Great Commission. The new Command. Simple. Jesus.
I like these thoughts, especially in regard to the general point that today's church (and when I say so, I mean the Western Culture version and I mean, in general) is ME oriented. It's about the individual. The individual salvation. The individual membership. The individual worship. It's kind of funny, because in the middle of this ME-centric church world is the desire for churches to grow Super-sized. the first question is always, "well, how many people come...?" or "how many have been saved...?" Are these the right questions.
No.
These are the by products of something engrained in people by Western Church. How Big...? How fast...? How many...?
Shouldn't the questions be more like... what are you doing to equip believers...? what are you doing to help people grow in the knowledge of God...? what is your missional value system...? If these questions don't all have the same answer, then we are going down the wrong path. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. It's not because I think so, because honestly, it doesn't matter what I think. It matters because Jesus tells us so.
The Great Command. The Great Commission. The new Command. Simple. Jesus.
6.20.2006
refugee allstars...
It's World Refugee Day... check out details at
Amnesty International
UNICEF
Human Rights Watch
Here is a good article about the refugee crisis in Africa at present... and an excerpt...
ENTEBBE, Uganda (CNN) -- Just imagine for a moment that everything you own -- from your hard-earned money to your home to your car to little mementos like pictures on the wall -- has just been taken from you by a group of people who don't like the way you look or the shade of your skin or the shape of your nose. Everything gone except, perhaps, the clothes on your back.
You've been forced to flee, probably separated from your family and end up on the run with a bunch of people you've never met, but with whom you now share a common goal -- staying alive.
Many hours or even days later, you arrive at a shelter run by an international nongovernmental organization.
You're tired, exhausted, sick to your stomach and scared to death. You end up sharing a tent with 40 to 60 other strangers where your bathroom, bedroom and kitchen combined have all been reduced to little more than the size of a normal bed.
And this will be your home for the next few months, perhaps years, and in some cases, decades. This is what it's like for a person fleeing persecution, war, civil strife, genocide.
Imagine living like this for years if not decades, raising your family in a refugee camp because you can't go home. Even if you do manage to go home, you learn someone else has taken over your land, your home, your life.
Amnesty International
UNICEF
Human Rights Watch
Here is a good article about the refugee crisis in Africa at present... and an excerpt...
ENTEBBE, Uganda (CNN) -- Just imagine for a moment that everything you own -- from your hard-earned money to your home to your car to little mementos like pictures on the wall -- has just been taken from you by a group of people who don't like the way you look or the shade of your skin or the shape of your nose. Everything gone except, perhaps, the clothes on your back.
You've been forced to flee, probably separated from your family and end up on the run with a bunch of people you've never met, but with whom you now share a common goal -- staying alive.
Many hours or even days later, you arrive at a shelter run by an international nongovernmental organization.
You're tired, exhausted, sick to your stomach and scared to death. You end up sharing a tent with 40 to 60 other strangers where your bathroom, bedroom and kitchen combined have all been reduced to little more than the size of a normal bed.
And this will be your home for the next few months, perhaps years, and in some cases, decades. This is what it's like for a person fleeing persecution, war, civil strife, genocide.
Imagine living like this for years if not decades, raising your family in a refugee camp because you can't go home. Even if you do manage to go home, you learn someone else has taken over your land, your home, your life.
6.19.2006
the most controversial film ever...
The Passion was just listed by Entertainment Weekly as the most controversial film of all time. It shouldn't surprise me though as Jesus himself predicted the very same thing (well, not about the movie, but about following him.)
6.15.2006
What am I doing...?
I ask this question, because this is again the question I am asking myself almost constantly over the past few days (and for that matter few years). I think in its own way, the World Cup has brought up yet another challenging idea to me. What I'm seeing about the beauty of soccer, I mean football, and indeed why it's the world's game, is because all races, all creeds and all income levels play this stinkin game. There is no race barrier, no income barrier and no country barrier. It's for everyone. You don't need an expensive bike like in cycling. You don't need to shell out $30 every time you want to play like in golf. You don't need skis, and boots and poles and $100, like everytime you want to go skiing. You don't need to have shoulder pads or goalposts or hoops or ice or snow or water. You just need some land and a ball or a coconut. Barefeet. No problem. No money. No problem. You, some friends, some space and some make shift goals. Game on.
What it makes me realize is that I want my life to be like football, the world's game. I want my life to reflect a simplicity of action and thought which excludes no one. I don't want race, ethnicity, economics or politics to ever separate me from someone else. I think of the U2 line "where we live should not determine whether we live or die."
And, yet I want that simplicity to also reflect a passion and intensity that draws others in. Have you seen the fans at the World Cup... insane. I want people to be attracted to a lifestyle not my own, but of a greater love. The passion I dream others see in me is the passion gained through a philosophy and lifestyle of following Christ. I think of the rich man who asked Jesus what it takes to enter the Kingdom of God and Jesus simply answered. "Go and sell all your possessions and come follow me." Wow.
So, anyway, I'm just thinking. What can I do to seperate myself from the politics of this world and start living in such a way that is to live... fully alive I mean...? Or, as Paul puts it "to live is Christ and to die is gain."
What it makes me realize is that I want my life to be like football, the world's game. I want my life to reflect a simplicity of action and thought which excludes no one. I don't want race, ethnicity, economics or politics to ever separate me from someone else. I think of the U2 line "where we live should not determine whether we live or die."
And, yet I want that simplicity to also reflect a passion and intensity that draws others in. Have you seen the fans at the World Cup... insane. I want people to be attracted to a lifestyle not my own, but of a greater love. The passion I dream others see in me is the passion gained through a philosophy and lifestyle of following Christ. I think of the rich man who asked Jesus what it takes to enter the Kingdom of God and Jesus simply answered. "Go and sell all your possessions and come follow me." Wow.
So, anyway, I'm just thinking. What can I do to seperate myself from the politics of this world and start living in such a way that is to live... fully alive I mean...? Or, as Paul puts it "to live is Christ and to die is gain."
6.09.2006
this is fighting music...
PHOTO FRIDAY - another picture of Asher - in fighting mode...
So, I've been listening to a lot of Bob Dylan, Rage Against the Machine, Bob Marley and Public Enemy lately. I used to listen to a lot of Rage and Public Enemy but not much over the past few years. Anyway, I've been drawn to them because their music represents something more than just music. It represents something about justice and reflection and oppression and more. Their music has a message.
Rage talks of injustice in Mexico, Dylan of the war in Vietnam, Marley of oppression in the Caribbean, and Public Enemy of the African American race. I'm inspired by these musicians to let me actions speak louder than my words. Plus, I like their music.
But, I don't find too many artists out there today who have done what these guys have done for music. Do you know any contemporary musicians who speak out against the injustices of the world (besides U2) - please let me know if you know any, I'd love to take a listen.
6.05.2006
a nature tour...
One of the great things about moving back to Colorado from Amsterdam has been riding my bike. Yesterday I rode from Loveland up to Estes Park through the Devil's Gulch, back down Big Thompson Canyon, through Masonville and to our house in Fort Collins. It was about 76 miles with 5000 ft. of elevation gain (can see a map of the ride here - put it in hybrid and zoom in to see the satellite imagery). I'm no Tour de France type of guy, but I nonetheless enjoy the freedom a bike provides. It also gives you a chance to take life on the road a little more slowly.
I can explore. I can feel the wind on my face. I also get to see wildlife and yesterday was no exception. I saw the following animals on my ride.
Mule Deer
Wild Turkey
Red Fox
Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep
I can explore. I can feel the wind on my face. I also get to see wildlife and yesterday was no exception. I saw the following animals on my ride.
Mule Deer
Wild Turkey
Red Fox
Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep
6.02.2006
Photo Friday and other links...
in the spirit of others like JR who do photos on every Friday, I've decided to join the foray...
***This is my beatiful son Asher playing in a box in our living room. He is a precious example of the glory of God.
Here are a few other useful links...
Todd's post on the Global Day of Prayer
Sander's post about the Dutch Pedophile Party
A great site about Kicking the Oil Habit
***This is my beatiful son Asher playing in a box in our living room. He is a precious example of the glory of God.
Here are a few other useful links...
Todd's post on the Global Day of Prayer
Sander's post about the Dutch Pedophile Party
A great site about Kicking the Oil Habit
6.01.2006
before him, I AM
I've always been one to love sports, and more appropriately the act of getting "in shape." There is something mystical about putting your body to limits that intrigues me and actually, at times, drives me. I often miss the intense nausea which accompanies the moments before football games. I love pushing me body on hill climbs to where it feels like I will pass out in any given blink of time. Call me sick... I like this stuff.
I had a realization today though that knocked me off my feet a bit. It's this. As much as I love to push my body to new limits, I can't say the same for my body and spirit. That is, why won't I push my mind to exhaustion...? and more importantly, why won't I seek the ultimate thrill of knowing Jesus to the full extent possible...? I'm constantly starving myself, not of physical food, but instead of the essential nutrients I need in my spiritual life. In other words, I'm getting fat.
So, I sat down and read a few of my most treasured passages from the Word like Colossians 1, 1 John (the whole book), and Matthew 7. I was reminded of a Jesus who never leaves, never betrays and never fails.
I was reminded of the deep and intense desire I have to be in spiritual shape too. I sat down to write and thought about Jesus. Who is he...?
He is the first born over all Creation. He was sent to the Earth by his Father, the Father and Holy of Holies, in order to redeem humanity from sin. He himself was sinless and walked a path of righteousness his entire life. He was born to the Virgin Mary and became flesh such that he might live among us and with us. He was an ordinary man, a carpenter. Ironically, it was us who put him to death by using hammers to nail him to a cross. But death could not hold him. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. He conquered death on behalf of our sin, so we might live. Though we are not worthy, we have life. He ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of the Father. Before being nailed to the wood, he performed miraculous signs and miracles. He healed blind men and lepers and the sick. He forgave sins. He taught in parables about marriage and money and greed and patience and forgiveness and virtue and character and most commonly love. He preached love and knowledge of the Father more than anything else, in fact, he is the essence of love. He believed love, walked love, breathed love and lived a life of love, even until his death when after being arrested, tried and sentenced , he still forgave those who actually nailed him to the cross. He was and is God, has been from the beginning and will be to the new beginning. He is the Redeemer, the Son of the Most High, the Alpha and Omega, the Sacrificial Lamb, the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the glory of things yet to come and there is no other like him.
It's not much. But it is and was in my own words. Now I must not prepare for the 100m dash, but for the marathon of faith, the Ironman of spiritual growth.
I had a realization today though that knocked me off my feet a bit. It's this. As much as I love to push my body to new limits, I can't say the same for my body and spirit. That is, why won't I push my mind to exhaustion...? and more importantly, why won't I seek the ultimate thrill of knowing Jesus to the full extent possible...? I'm constantly starving myself, not of physical food, but instead of the essential nutrients I need in my spiritual life. In other words, I'm getting fat.
So, I sat down and read a few of my most treasured passages from the Word like Colossians 1, 1 John (the whole book), and Matthew 7. I was reminded of a Jesus who never leaves, never betrays and never fails.
I was reminded of the deep and intense desire I have to be in spiritual shape too. I sat down to write and thought about Jesus. Who is he...? He is the first born over all Creation. He was sent to the Earth by his Father, the Father and Holy of Holies, in order to redeem humanity from sin. He himself was sinless and walked a path of righteousness his entire life. He was born to the Virgin Mary and became flesh such that he might live among us and with us. He was an ordinary man, a carpenter. Ironically, it was us who put him to death by using hammers to nail him to a cross. But death could not hold him. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. He conquered death on behalf of our sin, so we might live. Though we are not worthy, we have life. He ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of the Father. Before being nailed to the wood, he performed miraculous signs and miracles. He healed blind men and lepers and the sick. He forgave sins. He taught in parables about marriage and money and greed and patience and forgiveness and virtue and character and most commonly love. He preached love and knowledge of the Father more than anything else, in fact, he is the essence of love. He believed love, walked love, breathed love and lived a life of love, even until his death when after being arrested, tried and sentenced , he still forgave those who actually nailed him to the cross. He was and is God, has been from the beginning and will be to the new beginning. He is the Redeemer, the Son of the Most High, the Alpha and Omega, the Sacrificial Lamb, the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the glory of things yet to come and there is no other like him.
It's not much. But it is and was in my own words. Now I must not prepare for the 100m dash, but for the marathon of faith, the Ironman of spiritual growth.
5.31.2006
a brutal world...
I was reading in Jeremiah 22 yesterday, which tells of God's punishment to those who do not follow his commands, about those who use injustice for personal greatness, about those who oppress in order for gain. It's a compelling and convicting section of the Holy Scripture, a warning to be heeded. I realize that in my own ways, I am so full of oppression and injustice and unfairness. I'm certainly not perfect.
However, then I read about some of things happening in our world, and it makes me sick. Read this article I found on CNN about the horrible atrocities being committed in Congo at present. It's nearly unbelievable...talk about injustice and oppression. This is sick.
Rapes, brutality ignored to aid Congo Peace
What I find nearly as challenging and heartbreaking is that the Congolese President didn't even know it was happening, or at least claims he didn't. If the President of a country is not informed, how can the rest of the world understand...? Here is the link that article: Congo president on military rapes - "unforgiveable"
I suppose I only find solace knowing God has it covered. He reigns over all things and one day will judge all of us. I hope I can give account for all I've done under His watchful eyes. Some won't.
However, then I read about some of things happening in our world, and it makes me sick. Read this article I found on CNN about the horrible atrocities being committed in Congo at present. It's nearly unbelievable...talk about injustice and oppression. This is sick.Rapes, brutality ignored to aid Congo Peace
What I find nearly as challenging and heartbreaking is that the Congolese President didn't even know it was happening, or at least claims he didn't. If the President of a country is not informed, how can the rest of the world understand...? Here is the link that article: Congo president on military rapes - "unforgiveable"
I suppose I only find solace knowing God has it covered. He reigns over all things and one day will judge all of us. I hope I can give account for all I've done under His watchful eyes. Some won't.
5.30.2006
Kick the Oil Habit
here is a great editorial by the famous actor, Robert Redford, promoting Kick the Oil Habit...
SUNDANCE, Utah (CNN) -- Today the American people are way out in front of our leaders. We're ready to face our toughest national challenges, and we deserve new and forward-looking solutions and leadership.
The recent surge in gas prices has touched a raw nerve for many around the country, reminding us of an economy that is increasingly uncertain for the middle-class, a growing addiction to oil that draws us ever closer to dictators and despots, and a fragile global position with a climate that is increasingly out of balance. I believe America is ready to kick the oil habit and launch a new movement for real solutions and a better future.
Something is happening all across the country. People are coming together and demanding new answers. A grassroots movement is gathering today to promote solutions, like renewable fuels, clean electricity, more efficient cars, and green buildings that use less energy -- all of which are exciting alternatives that rebuild our communities even as they cut pollution and create good jobs. And, when people come together to invest themselves in building a better future, we are not only helping to solve our energy crisis, but we are taking back our democracy itself.
You can see this change in many places.
In California this November, voters will be offered an initiative that cuts the use of oil by 25 percent and creates new funding to support innovation and cutting edge technology.
Austin, Texas, is leading a growing number of cities in calling for car companies to produce plug-in hybrid vehicles that can go hundreds of miles on a gallon of gas.
New Mexico has joined the Chicago Climate Exchange, pledging to reduce its carbon emissions, and at the same time becoming a national leader in creating a state-of-the-art clean energy economy.
In Minnesota they have jump-started a new biofuels industry driven by farmer-owned co-ops that are putting more money back into rural communities and lifting up people's lives.
Cities like Seattle are joining with others around the world and taking on goals for green development, while states like Colorado are passing bond initiatives for transit and new requirements for clean energy.
Recently, a dynamic new campaign launched to seize and grow these opportunities and break our energy dependence. It's called KickTheOilHabit.org, and it has the backing of a diverse coalition of organizations. Its first action was to challenge oil companies to double the number of renewable fuel pumps at their stations within the year and pledge to offer E85 ethanol fuel at half of all gas stations within the decade.
This is a simple clear action that the oil companies can do today. But it is only a first step. Many others are ready to be put in action despite industry claims to the contrary.
In coming months, this campaign, which is based at the Center for American Progress and works with partners from the Natural Resources Defense Council to Consumers Union, MoveOn.org to the Apollo Alliance, will launch new challenges to our elected leaders, but it will also point to good work that is already going on all around the country. It will illuminate efforts on Capitol Hill by those who are concerned about the public good as well as the work of a myriad of grassroots groups effectively pushing innovative technological and public policy solutions alike.
Kick the Oil Habit will bring forth the dynamic narrative of American innovation and inspired thinking. It will give everyone who believes we can free ourselves of our dependence on oil, real solutions which embody real opportunity.
There is so much we can do right now. And there is a new groundswell of good organizing and real world actions that we can take today to make this change a reality. The Campaign to Kick the Oil Habit is one way to connect to this growing movement. I hope you will join in transforming the face of America and in working to leave a better world for all of our children. I hope you will join me in signing on to this growing campaign at KickTheOilHabit.org.
SUNDANCE, Utah (CNN) -- Today the American people are way out in front of our leaders. We're ready to face our toughest national challenges, and we deserve new and forward-looking solutions and leadership.
The recent surge in gas prices has touched a raw nerve for many around the country, reminding us of an economy that is increasingly uncertain for the middle-class, a growing addiction to oil that draws us ever closer to dictators and despots, and a fragile global position with a climate that is increasingly out of balance. I believe America is ready to kick the oil habit and launch a new movement for real solutions and a better future.
Something is happening all across the country. People are coming together and demanding new answers. A grassroots movement is gathering today to promote solutions, like renewable fuels, clean electricity, more efficient cars, and green buildings that use less energy -- all of which are exciting alternatives that rebuild our communities even as they cut pollution and create good jobs. And, when people come together to invest themselves in building a better future, we are not only helping to solve our energy crisis, but we are taking back our democracy itself.You can see this change in many places.
In California this November, voters will be offered an initiative that cuts the use of oil by 25 percent and creates new funding to support innovation and cutting edge technology.
Austin, Texas, is leading a growing number of cities in calling for car companies to produce plug-in hybrid vehicles that can go hundreds of miles on a gallon of gas.
New Mexico has joined the Chicago Climate Exchange, pledging to reduce its carbon emissions, and at the same time becoming a national leader in creating a state-of-the-art clean energy economy.
In Minnesota they have jump-started a new biofuels industry driven by farmer-owned co-ops that are putting more money back into rural communities and lifting up people's lives.
Cities like Seattle are joining with others around the world and taking on goals for green development, while states like Colorado are passing bond initiatives for transit and new requirements for clean energy.
Recently, a dynamic new campaign launched to seize and grow these opportunities and break our energy dependence. It's called KickTheOilHabit.org, and it has the backing of a diverse coalition of organizations. Its first action was to challenge oil companies to double the number of renewable fuel pumps at their stations within the year and pledge to offer E85 ethanol fuel at half of all gas stations within the decade.
This is a simple clear action that the oil companies can do today. But it is only a first step. Many others are ready to be put in action despite industry claims to the contrary.
In coming months, this campaign, which is based at the Center for American Progress and works with partners from the Natural Resources Defense Council to Consumers Union, MoveOn.org to the Apollo Alliance, will launch new challenges to our elected leaders, but it will also point to good work that is already going on all around the country. It will illuminate efforts on Capitol Hill by those who are concerned about the public good as well as the work of a myriad of grassroots groups effectively pushing innovative technological and public policy solutions alike.
Kick the Oil Habit will bring forth the dynamic narrative of American innovation and inspired thinking. It will give everyone who believes we can free ourselves of our dependence on oil, real solutions which embody real opportunity.
There is so much we can do right now. And there is a new groundswell of good organizing and real world actions that we can take today to make this change a reality. The Campaign to Kick the Oil Habit is one way to connect to this growing movement. I hope you will join in transforming the face of America and in working to leave a better world for all of our children. I hope you will join me in signing on to this growing campaign at KickTheOilHabit.org.
nothing...
i haven't posted in a week now. haven't had any good thoughts i suppose. nothing good to write about. nothing to say really. haven't had the desire or the creativity or even the skills to write anything worth note. it's sad, but not totally.
hopefully, i'll think of something soon.
hopefully, i'll think of something soon.
5.23.2006
5.19.2006
what is influential mean...?
I found this link (more like stole this link) from my friend Dave's blog. Dave is the pastor at a great church in Naperville called CCC, or better described as the big yellow box. Better yet, Dave is helping to lead a revolution in organic multi site churches - check it out here. Still, I wonder about what it means to be influential...?
The 50 Most Influential Churches in America
Merriam Webster defines influential as to exert influence. And influence is desribed as 1 : to affect or alter by indirect or intangible means : SWAY
2 : to have an effect on the condition or development of : MODIFY.
Anyway, I suppose I'm just thinking about what it means to influence people. Is it about a particular church or particular pastor influencing it's congregation...? Or rather, shouldn't be the church/ pastors job to act as a gateway or impetus to allow Christ's influence...? It's a subtle difference but a significant one nonetheless.
What do you think about the churches of influence...? and what about the subtle difference between being the agent of change or being something that directs a congration to THE agent of change...?
The 50 Most Influential Churches in America
Merriam Webster defines influential as to exert influence. And influence is desribed as 1 : to affect or alter by indirect or intangible means : SWAY
2 : to have an effect on the condition or development of : MODIFY.
Anyway, I suppose I'm just thinking about what it means to influence people. Is it about a particular church or particular pastor influencing it's congregation...? Or rather, shouldn't be the church/ pastors job to act as a gateway or impetus to allow Christ's influence...? It's a subtle difference but a significant one nonetheless.
What do you think about the churches of influence...? and what about the subtle difference between being the agent of change or being something that directs a congration to THE agent of change...?
5.18.2006
time
time keeps slipping away
a rare entity
it's all we have in common
can't have more
can't take less
everyone has the same
what will you do with yours?
make a boat
sail the seas
make a friend
walk through trees
what will you see
through the sands of time
it's slipping away you know
you can't have it back
time holds for no one
captured in a bunch of moments
memories lapsing
time waits for nothing
goes quickly in good time
slowly in bad
what a weird aspect of time
what will you do with your time
some use it for evil
and others for good
it will make you happy
sadness though is a greater friend
lonliness the best
a final word
a last tear
an empty word
all find solace
moments of silence
tick tick tick
no friend sees your time
like you see it
no time like your friend
an enemy sucking life
from your world
what time is it anyway?
make the most of it
three years
so many miracles
crowds, followers, kings
time held still
then it swooped and killed
but time could not stop
what was meant to be
what will you do with your time...?
***coincidentally, these pictures above are of my friend Steve taken in the fall of 2002 in Amsterdam. Sometimes I wonder what time has done to Steve. Steve, what do you think of time...?
a rare entity
it's all we have in common
can't have more
can't take less
everyone has the same
what will you do with yours?
make a boat
sail the seas
make a friend
walk through trees
what will you see
through the sands of time
it's slipping away you know
you can't have it back
time holds for no one
captured in a bunch of moments
memories lapsing
time waits for nothing
goes quickly in good time
slowly in bad
what a weird aspect of time
what will you do with your time
some use it for evil
and others for good
it will make you happy
sadness though is a greater friend
lonliness the best
a final word
a last tear
an empty word
all find solace
moments of silence
tick tick tick
no friend sees your time
like you see it
no time like your friend
an enemy sucking life
from your world
what time is it anyway?
make the most of it
three years
so many miracles
crowds, followers, kings
time held still
then it swooped and killed
but time could not stop
what was meant to be
what will you do with your time...?
***coincidentally, these pictures above are of my friend Steve taken in the fall of 2002 in Amsterdam. Sometimes I wonder what time has done to Steve. Steve, what do you think of time...?
5.11.2006
land of the empty plate...
Today I met Maxwell. He works for a catering company and is often in the building I work refilling sodas and drinks. I don't like making people feel like they are inferior. We are in our nice clothes, our suits, our "white-collar" wardrobes. We are for the most part white. They are in their uniforms. They are blue collar. It always feels like "us and them" in the business world. I don't like that. So, I talk to the janitors, the drink refillers, the security guards. Their names are Tim and James and Maxwell.
Maxwell is from Zimbabwe. He was born and raised there and has lived in the States for about three years now. He is married and watches the BBC. Maxwell is black. He is different than me and yet so much the same. I asked him about Zimbabwe and if the things I hear and read are true...is Mugabe that bad...? Was Britain at fault for what has become of the country...? who is who there...? It was great talking with Maxwell. Enlightening. We aren't too different. He didn't know about who was to blame. He did know that there is a problem in Zimbabwe - no food - of course there is food for the rich, but no food for the poor.
Before the civil war in 1980, Britain controlled Zimbabwe and thus, white men controlled Zimbabwe. White men had big farms. White men had big food. Civil War takes place, dictators happen, power happens, Mugabe happens. Food is scarce. Farmers are killed. Less food. People die. Maxwell knows change must happen or his country will continue downhill. He is leaving in two weeks for a two week trip to his come country. I wished him well.
Then I found this article on the food problem in Zimbabwe. Check it out...
Famine plagues Zimbabwe
Up to seven million Zimbabweans face starvation
By Fergal Keane
BBC correspondent in Zimbabwe
Posing as tourists, we evaded President Robert Mugabe's police and his army of spies and found, hidden from the world, a nation's tragedy.
Hungry people queue for the meagre rations offered by church workers - their children's hair already changing colour from malnutrition. The elderly too are beginning to suffer terribly - not much food and not much hope of it either. Misrule, corruption and drought are combining to make a catastrophe.
Scavenging
Among the poorest of the poor, some compete with wild animals for what they can scavenge. Many people have abandoned their homes in search of food and work.
"For three days I haven't eaten, because of this I have no energy, that is why you see me here," explained one man that we met.
Yet the commercial farms that could have provided much of the food needed are lying abandoned, their owners forced out. Jenny Parsons, one such farmer, and her children, tried to visit their family farm and were attacked by government supporters.
"Every time I tried to get back to the truck to protect the kids more of them came and started punching me and kicking me into a hallway," she recounted.
Even the children were not spared. "They were trying to treat me like a dog, as if I were dirt," explained one of her sons, tears streaming down his face. "It was really scary."
Torture chambers
Fear now rules Zimbabwe. Harare, the capital, now has secret torture chambers. Being caught filming could mean up to two years in jail. As the economic crisis gets worse so does the level of government repression. Nobody who opposes the government now is safe from torture, from arbitrary imprisonment.
We met a group of people, many of them high profile, who have just been released from police custody. In this country even members of parliament and human rights lawyers can end up in torture chambers. All of those we met said they had been subjected to electric shock torture.
"They electrified me on my genitals, on my toes, in my mouth, and they said 'this is the mouth you use to defend human rights,'" said Gabriel Shumba, a human rights lawyer.
"The world must know of the kind of life that the people of Zimbabwe are living under. It is terrible," Job Sikhala, an opposition member of parliament, said from his hospital bed, where he is recovering.
'Land of empty plate'
Petrol queues throughout the city are a symptom of the crisis.
The England cricket squad will see them when they visit, but the government will crack down hard on any demonstrators. That is just one reason why the mayor of Harare, Elias Mudzuri, wants the England cricketers to stay at home.
"How many more people are likely to be dragged into the cells because they think they are perceived to be disturbing the cricket and the cricket people must be seen to be seeing that Zimbabwe is a good destination?" he asked.
Back in the rural areas the people gather wild plants, a traditional meal in times of hardship. The United Nations warns that seven million people now face starvation.
This is my third undercover trip into Zimbabwe in the last 12 months and the situation has deteriorated drastically. Yet nobody here seems to doubt that change is coming. The only question is whether it will be peaceful or violent.
This land of the empty plate attracts little attention from the powerful nations of the world, but they could soon find themselves facing a dramatic crisis here.
Maxwell is from Zimbabwe. He was born and raised there and has lived in the States for about three years now. He is married and watches the BBC. Maxwell is black. He is different than me and yet so much the same. I asked him about Zimbabwe and if the things I hear and read are true...is Mugabe that bad...? Was Britain at fault for what has become of the country...? who is who there...? It was great talking with Maxwell. Enlightening. We aren't too different. He didn't know about who was to blame. He did know that there is a problem in Zimbabwe - no food - of course there is food for the rich, but no food for the poor.
Before the civil war in 1980, Britain controlled Zimbabwe and thus, white men controlled Zimbabwe. White men had big farms. White men had big food. Civil War takes place, dictators happen, power happens, Mugabe happens. Food is scarce. Farmers are killed. Less food. People die. Maxwell knows change must happen or his country will continue downhill. He is leaving in two weeks for a two week trip to his come country. I wished him well.
Then I found this article on the food problem in Zimbabwe. Check it out...
Famine plagues Zimbabwe
Up to seven million Zimbabweans face starvation
By Fergal Keane
BBC correspondent in Zimbabwe
Posing as tourists, we evaded President Robert Mugabe's police and his army of spies and found, hidden from the world, a nation's tragedy.
Hungry people queue for the meagre rations offered by church workers - their children's hair already changing colour from malnutrition. The elderly too are beginning to suffer terribly - not much food and not much hope of it either. Misrule, corruption and drought are combining to make a catastrophe.
Scavenging
Among the poorest of the poor, some compete with wild animals for what they can scavenge. Many people have abandoned their homes in search of food and work.
"For three days I haven't eaten, because of this I have no energy, that is why you see me here," explained one man that we met.
Yet the commercial farms that could have provided much of the food needed are lying abandoned, their owners forced out. Jenny Parsons, one such farmer, and her children, tried to visit their family farm and were attacked by government supporters.
"Every time I tried to get back to the truck to protect the kids more of them came and started punching me and kicking me into a hallway," she recounted.
Even the children were not spared. "They were trying to treat me like a dog, as if I were dirt," explained one of her sons, tears streaming down his face. "It was really scary."
Torture chambers
Fear now rules Zimbabwe. Harare, the capital, now has secret torture chambers. Being caught filming could mean up to two years in jail. As the economic crisis gets worse so does the level of government repression. Nobody who opposes the government now is safe from torture, from arbitrary imprisonment.
We met a group of people, many of them high profile, who have just been released from police custody. In this country even members of parliament and human rights lawyers can end up in torture chambers. All of those we met said they had been subjected to electric shock torture.
"They electrified me on my genitals, on my toes, in my mouth, and they said 'this is the mouth you use to defend human rights,'" said Gabriel Shumba, a human rights lawyer.
"The world must know of the kind of life that the people of Zimbabwe are living under. It is terrible," Job Sikhala, an opposition member of parliament, said from his hospital bed, where he is recovering.
'Land of empty plate'
Petrol queues throughout the city are a symptom of the crisis.
The England cricket squad will see them when they visit, but the government will crack down hard on any demonstrators. That is just one reason why the mayor of Harare, Elias Mudzuri, wants the England cricketers to stay at home.
"How many more people are likely to be dragged into the cells because they think they are perceived to be disturbing the cricket and the cricket people must be seen to be seeing that Zimbabwe is a good destination?" he asked.
Back in the rural areas the people gather wild plants, a traditional meal in times of hardship. The United Nations warns that seven million people now face starvation.
This is my third undercover trip into Zimbabwe in the last 12 months and the situation has deteriorated drastically. Yet nobody here seems to doubt that change is coming. The only question is whether it will be peaceful or violent.
This land of the empty plate attracts little attention from the powerful nations of the world, but they could soon find themselves facing a dramatic crisis here.
5.09.2006
things i learned from the divinci code
The following in a wonderful interview with Brian Mclaren (author of a New Kind of Christian, among other books) regarding the Davinci Code which will be released worldwide on May 19th.
I love this article because McLaren takes such a fresh approach to the whole "Davinci Dilemma." While every Christian and their mother argues over and over about the fiction in the story and why its blasphomous, McLaren talks about trying to understand what our culture is saying to us. Why is our culture so intrigued by the Jesus of the Davinci Code...? What are the factors playing into it's popularity and the story that's told...? Maybe we can learn something from this... check out the interview and judge for yourself...
Brian McLaren on The Da Vinci Code
An interview by Lisa Ann Cockrel
With The Da Vinci Code poised to go from bestseller list to the big screen on May 19, pastor and writer (and Sojourners board member) Brian McLaren talks about why he thinks there's truth in the controversial book's fiction.
What do you think the popularity of The Da Vinci Code reveals about pop culture attitudes toward Christianity and the church?
Brian McLaren: I think a lot of people have read the book, not just as a popular page-turner but also as an experience in shared frustration with status-quo, male-dominated, power-oriented, cover-up-prone organized Christian religion. We need to ask ourselves why the vision of Jesus hinted at in Dan Brown's book is more interesting, attractive, and intriguing to these people than the standard vision of Jesus they hear about in church. Why would so many people be disappointed to find that Brown's version of Jesus has been largely discredited as fanciful and inaccurate, leaving only the church's conventional version? Is it possible that, even though Brown's fictional version misleads in many ways, it at least serves to open up the possibility that the church's conventional version of Jesus may not do him justice?
So you think The Da Vinci Code taps into dissatisfaction with Jesus as we know him?
McLaren: For all the flaws of Brown's book, I think what he's doing is suggesting that the dominant religious institutions have created their own caricature of Jesus. And I think people have a sense that that's true. It's my honest feeling that anyone trying to share their faith in America today has to realize that the Religious Right has polluted the air. The name "Jesus" and the word "Christianity" are associated with something judgmental, hostile, hypocritical, angry, negative, defensive, anti-homosexual, etc. Many of our churches, even though they feel they represent the truth, actually are upholding something that's distorted and false.
I also think that the whole issue of male domination is huge and that Brown's suggestion that the real Jesus was not as misogynist or anti-woman as the Christian religion often has been is very attractive. Brown's book is about exposing hypocrisy and cover-up in organized religion, and it is exposing organized religion's grasping for power. Again, there's something in that that people resonate with in the age of pedophilia scandals, televangelists, and religious political alliances. As a follower of Jesus I resonate with their concerns as well.
Do you think the book contains any significantly detrimental distortions of the Christian faith?
McLaren: The book is fiction and it's filled with a lot of fiction about a lot of things that a lot of people have already debunked. But frankly, I don't think it has more harmful ideas in it than the Left Behind novels. And in a certain way, what the Left Behind novels do, the way they twist scripture toward a certain theological and political end, I think Brown is twisting scripture, just to other political ends. But at the end of the day, the difference is I don't think Brown really cares that much about theology. He just wanted to write a page-turner and he was very successful at that.
Many Christians are also reading this book and it's rocking their preconceived notions - or lack of preconceived notions - about Christ's life and the early years of the church. So many people don't know how we got the canon, for example. Should this book be a clarion call to the church to say, "Hey, we need to have a body of believers who are much more literate in church history." Is that something the church needs to be thinking about more strategically?
McLaren: Yes! You're exactly right. One of the problems is that the average Christian in the average church who listens to the average Christian broadcasting has such an oversimplified understanding of both the Bible and of church history - it would be deeply disturbing for them to really learn about church history. I think the disturbing would do them good. But a lot of times education is disturbing for people. And so if The Da Vinci Code causes people to ask questions and Christians have to dig deeper, that's a great thing, a great opportunity for growth. And it does show a weakness in the church giving either no understanding of church history or a very stilted, one-sided, sugarcoated version.
On the other hand, it's important for me to say I don't think anyone can learn good church history from Brown. There's been a lot of debunking of what he calls facts. But again, the guy's writing fiction so nobody should be surprised about that. The sad thing is there's an awful lot of us who claim to be telling objective truth and we actually have our own propaganda and our own versions of history as well.
Let me mention one other thing about Brown's book that I think is appealing to people. The church goes through a pendulum swing at times from overemphasizing the deity of Christ to overemphasizing the humanity of Christ. So a book like Brown's that overemphasizes the humanity of Christ can be a mirror to us saying that we might be underemphasizing the humanity of Christ.
In light of The Da Vinci Code movie that is soon to be released, how do you hope churches will engage this story?
McLaren: I would like to see churches teach their people how to have intelligent dialogue that doesn't degenerate into argument. We have to teach people that the Holy Spirit works in the middle of conversation. We see it time and time again - Jesus enters into dialogue with people; Paul and Peter and the apostles enter into dialogue with people. We tend to think that the Holy Spirit can only work in the middle of a monologue where we are doing the speaking.
So if our churches can encourage people to, if you see someone reading the book or you know someone who's gone to the movie, say, "What do you think about Jesus and what do you think about this or that," and to ask questions instead of getting into arguments, that would be wonderful. The more we can keep conversations open and going the more chances we give the Holy Spirit to work. But too often people want to get into an argument right away. And, you know, Jesus has handled 2,000 years of questions, skepticism, and attacks, and he's gonna come through just fine. So we don't have to be worried.
Ultimately, The Da Vinci Code is telling us important things about the image of Jesus that is being portrayed by the dominant Christian voices. [Readers] don't find that satisfactory, genuine, or authentic, so they're looking for something that seems more real and authentic.
I love this article because McLaren takes such a fresh approach to the whole "Davinci Dilemma." While every Christian and their mother argues over and over about the fiction in the story and why its blasphomous, McLaren talks about trying to understand what our culture is saying to us. Why is our culture so intrigued by the Jesus of the Davinci Code...? What are the factors playing into it's popularity and the story that's told...? Maybe we can learn something from this... check out the interview and judge for yourself...
Brian McLaren on The Da Vinci Code
An interview by Lisa Ann Cockrel
With The Da Vinci Code poised to go from bestseller list to the big screen on May 19, pastor and writer (and Sojourners board member) Brian McLaren talks about why he thinks there's truth in the controversial book's fiction.
What do you think the popularity of The Da Vinci Code reveals about pop culture attitudes toward Christianity and the church?
Brian McLaren: I think a lot of people have read the book, not just as a popular page-turner but also as an experience in shared frustration with status-quo, male-dominated, power-oriented, cover-up-prone organized Christian religion. We need to ask ourselves why the vision of Jesus hinted at in Dan Brown's book is more interesting, attractive, and intriguing to these people than the standard vision of Jesus they hear about in church. Why would so many people be disappointed to find that Brown's version of Jesus has been largely discredited as fanciful and inaccurate, leaving only the church's conventional version? Is it possible that, even though Brown's fictional version misleads in many ways, it at least serves to open up the possibility that the church's conventional version of Jesus may not do him justice?
So you think The Da Vinci Code taps into dissatisfaction with Jesus as we know him?
McLaren: For all the flaws of Brown's book, I think what he's doing is suggesting that the dominant religious institutions have created their own caricature of Jesus. And I think people have a sense that that's true. It's my honest feeling that anyone trying to share their faith in America today has to realize that the Religious Right has polluted the air. The name "Jesus" and the word "Christianity" are associated with something judgmental, hostile, hypocritical, angry, negative, defensive, anti-homosexual, etc. Many of our churches, even though they feel they represent the truth, actually are upholding something that's distorted and false.
I also think that the whole issue of male domination is huge and that Brown's suggestion that the real Jesus was not as misogynist or anti-woman as the Christian religion often has been is very attractive. Brown's book is about exposing hypocrisy and cover-up in organized religion, and it is exposing organized religion's grasping for power. Again, there's something in that that people resonate with in the age of pedophilia scandals, televangelists, and religious political alliances. As a follower of Jesus I resonate with their concerns as well.
Do you think the book contains any significantly detrimental distortions of the Christian faith?
McLaren: The book is fiction and it's filled with a lot of fiction about a lot of things that a lot of people have already debunked. But frankly, I don't think it has more harmful ideas in it than the Left Behind novels. And in a certain way, what the Left Behind novels do, the way they twist scripture toward a certain theological and political end, I think Brown is twisting scripture, just to other political ends. But at the end of the day, the difference is I don't think Brown really cares that much about theology. He just wanted to write a page-turner and he was very successful at that.
Many Christians are also reading this book and it's rocking their preconceived notions - or lack of preconceived notions - about Christ's life and the early years of the church. So many people don't know how we got the canon, for example. Should this book be a clarion call to the church to say, "Hey, we need to have a body of believers who are much more literate in church history." Is that something the church needs to be thinking about more strategically?
McLaren: Yes! You're exactly right. One of the problems is that the average Christian in the average church who listens to the average Christian broadcasting has such an oversimplified understanding of both the Bible and of church history - it would be deeply disturbing for them to really learn about church history. I think the disturbing would do them good. But a lot of times education is disturbing for people. And so if The Da Vinci Code causes people to ask questions and Christians have to dig deeper, that's a great thing, a great opportunity for growth. And it does show a weakness in the church giving either no understanding of church history or a very stilted, one-sided, sugarcoated version.
On the other hand, it's important for me to say I don't think anyone can learn good church history from Brown. There's been a lot of debunking of what he calls facts. But again, the guy's writing fiction so nobody should be surprised about that. The sad thing is there's an awful lot of us who claim to be telling objective truth and we actually have our own propaganda and our own versions of history as well.
Let me mention one other thing about Brown's book that I think is appealing to people. The church goes through a pendulum swing at times from overemphasizing the deity of Christ to overemphasizing the humanity of Christ. So a book like Brown's that overemphasizes the humanity of Christ can be a mirror to us saying that we might be underemphasizing the humanity of Christ.
In light of The Da Vinci Code movie that is soon to be released, how do you hope churches will engage this story?
McLaren: I would like to see churches teach their people how to have intelligent dialogue that doesn't degenerate into argument. We have to teach people that the Holy Spirit works in the middle of conversation. We see it time and time again - Jesus enters into dialogue with people; Paul and Peter and the apostles enter into dialogue with people. We tend to think that the Holy Spirit can only work in the middle of a monologue where we are doing the speaking.
So if our churches can encourage people to, if you see someone reading the book or you know someone who's gone to the movie, say, "What do you think about Jesus and what do you think about this or that," and to ask questions instead of getting into arguments, that would be wonderful. The more we can keep conversations open and going the more chances we give the Holy Spirit to work. But too often people want to get into an argument right away. And, you know, Jesus has handled 2,000 years of questions, skepticism, and attacks, and he's gonna come through just fine. So we don't have to be worried.
Ultimately, The Da Vinci Code is telling us important things about the image of Jesus that is being portrayed by the dominant Christian voices. [Readers] don't find that satisfactory, genuine, or authentic, so they're looking for something that seems more real and authentic.
5.08.2006
its definitely about the stats... and the love
in my friend Todd's blog, he recently made a post called It's All About the Stats, in which he shows some alarming stats about the world from a photo exhibit called 365 Days: The Earth from Above, by Yann Arthus Bertrand. Check it out to see such amazing stats about our world, our global culture and humanity itself. It's amazing.
When I saw this exhibit a few years ago, I too was moved not only by this man's wonderful photographs, but by the statistics behind each photo. With the help of OXFAM and various other organizations, Yann was able to put real stories behind each photo. Stories that don't just show the beauty of the land but also what humanity has done to destroy it. I think his work is magnificent not only because of the art, but because of the message.
I too wonder how I can impact people through a message way beyond myself, my art, my thoughts or my action. But instead, to iimpact people with broad strokes of the brush - to get them thinking and moving and caring and loving. How can I do it...?
When I saw this exhibit a few years ago, I too was moved not only by this man's wonderful photographs, but by the statistics behind each photo. With the help of OXFAM and various other organizations, Yann was able to put real stories behind each photo. Stories that don't just show the beauty of the land but also what humanity has done to destroy it. I think his work is magnificent not only because of the art, but because of the message.
I too wonder how I can impact people through a message way beyond myself, my art, my thoughts or my action. But instead, to iimpact people with broad strokes of the brush - to get them thinking and moving and caring and loving. How can I do it...?
5.04.2006
not a good place to be...
Right or wrong...? It doesn't seem right. Still, it's the system as it stands now, and I sure wouldn't want to be there. Here is a description of the maximum security prison where Zacarias Moussaoui, the convicted 9/11 terrorist, was just sentenced. As the judge in the case said so eloquently, "you will die with a whimper." This place is messed up and though, the people in this prison are alledgedly the worst of the worst, this is no place for a human...dang. Plus, this place is only about two and half hours from where I live.ADX Florence
The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence is a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. It is the only federal supermax prison in the United States. Also known unofficially as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or the Alcatraz of the Rockies, it is a supermax prison operated by the federal government. A part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) in Florence, Colorado, it houses only the most dangerous prisoners in need of the tightest control.
History
Opened in November of 1994, ADX Florence was constructed as a response to the October 22, 1983, prison guard killings in Marion, Illinois. United States Penitentiary (USP) Marion was, at the time, the holding place for the Federal Bureau of Prisons' most dangerous prisoners. However, in two separate incidents, an inmate managed to kill his accompanying guard. Relatively lax security procedures allowed the prisoner, while walking down a hall, to turn to the side and approach a particular cell. An accomplice would subsequently unlock his handcuffs with a stolen key and provide him with a knife.
As a result, the prison in Marion went into "permanent lockdown," and entirely transformed itself into a "control unit" prison. This penal construction and operation theory calls for the keeping of inmates in solitary confinement between twenty-two and twenty-three hours each day. They do not allow congregate dining, exercising, or religious services. These practices are used as administrative measures to keep prisoners under control.
Following the killings, Norman Carlson, then director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, successfully persuaded the federal government that a more secure type of prison needed to be designed. There was a need to isolate uncontrollable prisoners from both guards and each other for the sake of security and personal safety. Marion became a model for the subsequent construction of ADX Florence, a facility built specifically and entirely as a control unit prison.
The residents in the surrounding area, Fremont County, gladly welcomed the prison in a time of economic hardship. At the time, the county was already home to nine existing prisons. However, the lure of between 750 to 900 permanent jobs, in addition to another 1000 temporary jobs during the prison's construction, led residents in the area to raise $160,000 to purchase 600 acres for the new prison. Hundreds attended the groundbreaking, and ADX Florence opened in November of 1994 with a price tag of $60 million.
ADX Florence is now a 37 acre complex located at 5880 Highway 67, Florence, Colorado. It is part of four separate correctional facilities, representing four different security levels. More than half the jobs in surrounding Fremont County are related in some way to the corrections industry.The Prison
ADX Florence is generally home to between 400 and 500 male prisoners. About 22 percent of inmates have killed fellow prisoners in other correctional facilities; 35 percent have attempted to attack other prisoners or guards. As a result, most individuals are kept for at least 23 hours each day in solitary confinement. They are housed in a 7-by-12 foot (3.5-by-2 meter) soundproofed room, built behind a steel door and grate. The remaining free hour is spent exercising alone in a separate concrete chamber. Prisoners rarely see each other, and inmates' only human interaction is limited to that of the prison guards. Religious services are broadcasted in from a small chapel.
The cells are 60 feet below ground.
Most cells' furniture is made almost entirely out of poured concrete, including a desk, stool, and bed covered by a thin mattress. Each chamber contains a toilet that shuts off if plugged, a shower that runs on a timer to prevent flooding, and a sink missing a potentially dangerous tap. Rooms may also be fitted with polished steel mirrors bolted to the wall, an electric light, and a 13-inch black and white television, and a cigarette lighter. Windows in rooms are small, set high up in the wall, and point towards the sky, confusing the prisoner as to his specific location within the complex.
The prison as a whole contains countless motion detectors and cameras, 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors, and 12 foot high razor wire fences. Laser beams, pressure pads, and attack dogs guard the area between the prison walls and razor wire. Built into the side of a mountain, visitors and prisoners enter through a heavily-guarded tunnel.
Controversy
Psychological Effects
Many have argued that the psychological effects of long-term solitary confinement can be devastating. Prisoners may suffer from hallucinations, anxiety, problems with impulse control, and self-mutilation. In addition, confinement may encourage anger and rage, resulting in further violence. Depression may set in, with prisoners becoming extremely lethargic, losing memory, and refusing to exercise.
Psychologists testifying in cases regarding solitary confinement have suggested that prisons could more reliably manage inmate behaviour were they to concentrate on fulfilling prisoner needs, rather than building oppressive controls.
Human Rights
Prisoners have complained about excessive steps taken by guards and officials in these types of facilities to control inmates. Constant surveillance and random searches at the whim of prison staff can be humiliating, and their frequency may be used as methods of intimidation and sleep deprivation.
The maximum security facility at Marion, Illinois, which is the model ADX Florence is based on, has been denounced by Amnesty International, a human rights organization, for violating the United Nations' Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
Some of the prisoners currently held at Colorado Supermax:
Matthew F. Hale (White Supremacist convicted of soliciting murder of a federal judge)
Theodore Kaczynski ("Unabomber" terrorist)
Terry Nichols (Oklahoma City Bombing conspirator)
Omar Abdel-Rahman (Islamist terrorist, nicknamed "The Blind Sheik", involved in World Trade Center bombing planning in 1993.
Larry Hoover (Leader of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation, based in Chicago)
Richard Reid ("Shoe bomber" terrorist)
Ramzi Yousef (Islamist terrorist, 1993 World Trade Center bombing)
Eric Robert Rudolph (Terrorist bomber)
5.03.2006
the darfur imperative...
Written by Jim Wallis
Beyond all the important things that we are doing, there is one thing that we all must now do: stop the genocide in Darfur. For some time now, the world has known the facts of Darfur: up to 450,000 people dead and nearly 3 million displaced - black citizens (mostly Muslims) of the western region of Sudan are being daily attacked, raped, and massacred by marauding militias armed and supported by the country's Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. But knowing the facts hasn't changed them on the ground. Thousands more die each week of murder, hunger, and disease and the death toll could reach to the millions if the pillage of Darfur is not stopped soon.
In Washington, D.C., this weekend, and in 17 other cities, tens of thousands of people rallied to say "enough." It was the largest, clearest, and strongest public witness thus far against the horrible events that have been unfolding since 2003. The make-up of the crowd was the beginning of the answer to Darfur. Many commented on how this human crime and tragedy is bridging all our divisions, and bringing people together from across all our boundaries. Jewish families with their children gathered together with evangelical Christians, African-American church people with leaders from the Religious Right, Republicans with Democrats, Hollywood actors with conservative activists, and many students (for whom Darfur is becoming a rallying cry) with human rights advocates who see this as the paramount challenge of the moment. Speakers invoked the Holocaust, Cambodia, and Rwanda, repeatedly reminding us that we have often said "never again" only to let it happen again � and again. They told us that Darfur was the first genocide of the 21st century.
While the situation is complex, the crisis is rooted in longstanding grievances against African farmers who point to government neglect and ongoing conflict with primarily Arab herdsmen over land, water, and safety. That is why rebel groups are demanding formal representation in the Sudanese government to redress these grievances. The Sudanese government already has the land; it just wants to "cleanse" the land of its people. President Bush and Congress have named it genocide and the administration has tried to pressure the Sudanese government. But the world has been too slow and all the efforts thus far have failed to stop the daily death and atrocities. The Sudanese government has continued to resist international pressure. The U.S. has often been reluctant to put real teeth behind its rhetoric because of its strategic interest to keep the Sudanese government as an ally in the fight against terror.
Nothing less than a strong multinational peacekeeping force is needed now to stop the raping and killing by the Janjaweed militias; to assure the delivery of critical food, medical, and humanitarian aid; and to provide the security necessary to make a political solution possible. The U.S. must push the U.N. Security Council to authorize a multinational peacekeeping force - over the objections of China and Russia who do business with Khartoum - to reinforce the existing African Union force. Additionally, the U.S. should push the UN to aggressively enforce the current sanctions against the Sudanese government. The Bush administration has called for many of the right things, but has not applied the necessary pressure to accomplish them. Only a massive outpouring of public opinion could change that and force the U.S. to do whatever it takes. As long as that does not happen, many more people will be savagely attacked and cruelly displaced.
5.02.2006
the worst i've even seen...
I saw this article on CNN today and am again saddened by the world in which we live. The headlines these days are smeared with the Divinci Code and the NFL Draft, but half a world away, none of this matters. People are dying. Here I am, no better. I live in a nice house. We own a nice car. I ride a $1200 bike to work every day. I just ate a banana with peanut butter on it and am still hungry. Now I'm drinking coffee from Starbucks. What have I done to help...? Nothing.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- A senior U.N. humanitarian official said Tuesday he saw Somali refugees living in "the worst conditions I have ever seen" during a tour of the Horn of Africa.
Kjell Magne Bondevik, the U.N. special humanitarian envoy for the Horn of Africa, said that governments must do more to ensure drought and hunger are eradicated in the long-term.
At least 7.5 million people are suffering from the worst drought in a decade in parts of Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Djibouti. Cattle are dying and food supplies to 18 million people are in jeopardy.
"It was especially moving to visit the country where several thousand ... displaced were living under the worst conditions I have ever seen," Bondevik said of his visit to lawless Somalia. He added, however, that Somalis want to "reconcile and rebuild their economy."
Somalia has had no effective government since 1991, when warlords ousted a dictatorship and then turned on each other, carving the nation of an estimated 8.2 million people into a patchwork of fiefdoms. A transitional federal government that was formed following peace talks in neighboring Kenya is struggling to assert its authority.
Bondevik also said he could not confirm reports that 90,000 tons of food aid were being left to rot in Eritrean warehouses. The Eritrean government, he said, made it clear that "the discussion about this was closed. The warehouses were closed, that the government has the keys."
But he said he has asked Eritrea to issue a report on the matter.
In the past year Eritrea has rejected or suspended the operations of several aid agencies. The government previously has accused some foreign agencies of sympathizing with Eritrea's hostile neighbor, Ethiopia, where aid workers also are trying to combat the effects of the region's five-year drought.
Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. The two fought a 1998-2000 border war that ended with a fragile peace agreement. Efforts to demarcate their border under the terms of their 2000 peace deal have stalled after Ethiopia objected to the awarding the town of Badme and other territories to Eritrea.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- A senior U.N. humanitarian official said Tuesday he saw Somali refugees living in "the worst conditions I have ever seen" during a tour of the Horn of Africa.
Kjell Magne Bondevik, the U.N. special humanitarian envoy for the Horn of Africa, said that governments must do more to ensure drought and hunger are eradicated in the long-term.
At least 7.5 million people are suffering from the worst drought in a decade in parts of Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Djibouti. Cattle are dying and food supplies to 18 million people are in jeopardy.
"It was especially moving to visit the country where several thousand ... displaced were living under the worst conditions I have ever seen," Bondevik said of his visit to lawless Somalia. He added, however, that Somalis want to "reconcile and rebuild their economy."
Somalia has had no effective government since 1991, when warlords ousted a dictatorship and then turned on each other, carving the nation of an estimated 8.2 million people into a patchwork of fiefdoms. A transitional federal government that was formed following peace talks in neighboring Kenya is struggling to assert its authority.
Bondevik also said he could not confirm reports that 90,000 tons of food aid were being left to rot in Eritrean warehouses. The Eritrean government, he said, made it clear that "the discussion about this was closed. The warehouses were closed, that the government has the keys."
But he said he has asked Eritrea to issue a report on the matter.
In the past year Eritrea has rejected or suspended the operations of several aid agencies. The government previously has accused some foreign agencies of sympathizing with Eritrea's hostile neighbor, Ethiopia, where aid workers also are trying to combat the effects of the region's five-year drought.
Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. The two fought a 1998-2000 border war that ended with a fragile peace agreement. Efforts to demarcate their border under the terms of their 2000 peace deal have stalled after Ethiopia objected to the awarding the town of Badme and other territories to Eritrea.
4.26.2006
Jesus - a true story
I found this article through a friends blog. It was written by the #1 columnist at the Chicago Tribune and what a breath of fresh air it is...
No doubt about Easter's true meaning
Published April 16, 2006
It is Easter Sunday for millions of Western Christians. Those of us on the Eastern Orthodox side of Christianity will celebrate next week.
And somehow, whether this week or next, writing about colored eggs and butter lambs and avoiding the Jesus Christ part of it just won't do.
Obviously, I work in the secular media, and we're usually skittish about spiritual matters. But we're quite dogmatic when it comes to some other things. For example, we're almost severe in our collective belief in scientific progress, in the ability of government officials and technology and reason to solve the problems of the modern world. The mention of Christianity, except in an anthropological context, is often avoided. It carries certain risks.
One problem is that you might insult or infuriate those of other faiths, or those who are firm in having no faith, or those who are ambivalent and want to keep it that way. Please, no offense is intended here. I'm no theologian. My sins haunt me, and what they've left behind reminds me that I'm nobody to tell others about what should be in their hearts.
Still this is Easter Sunday for so many of you and the beginning of Holy Week for others like me, and millions upon millions of people are being driven to their knees.
Just think about that. All across the world on Sunday, and again next Sunday, millions of folks will confirm their belief in something that can't be proven by scientific means. That yearning is news, isn't it? Even though it takes place year after year, it's still news.
What drives us to our knees has little to do with cute bunny rabbits and tiny marshmallow chicks. It has little to do with Easter bonnets, or Earth Day. So while reading the papers on Friday, considering this, I glanced at the front page of USA Today.
"Hollywood turns to divine inspiration," said the headline, and above it was a photo of actor Tom Hanks and a French beauty in the new movie "The Da Vinci Code."
I hope the headline about divine inspiration was a pun, since the Hanks film appears to be a response to Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." But Hollywood wants inspiration to produce movies that make almost $400 million, as Gibson's did, especially since Hollywood refused to help Gibson with his movie.
Most of you know that the Hanks movie was taken from a badly written book, informed perhaps not by the Holy Sprit, but as conservative writer Tom Roeser said the other day, by feminist politics. Also, that the new Hanks movie involves one of those Jesus conspiracies. In this one, Jesus has a child with Mary Magdalene, the first in a line of French nobles, and conservative Roman Catholics dispatch a crazed albino monk to assassinate anyone who may reveal the big secret.
Recently, there was news that trumpeted the discovery of the so-called Judas gospel. This gospel apparently expiates Judas' guilt. He can't be a betrayer if he and Jesus were allegedly in the conspiracy together. Although early Christian bishops ignored that book, it is being offered, again during the Easter season, as an archeological find, as a goad.
I usually skip such news. The incredible lengths to which the anti-Catholic "Da Vinci Code" has been marketed and the coverage of the Judas gospel as if it were a missing companion to the other four prove me right. It's always so relentless and familiar. It always revolves around the same basic premise:
Doubt.
And doubt sells.
A few months ago, a newsweekly ran a portrait of Jesus on the cover. Such magazines give prominent play to Christian themes in winter and spring, and the portrait was from the Renaissance, and he wore a crown of thorns, and there was this headline:
"How Jesus became the Christ"--as if what happened after the Crucifixion was merely a matter of good public relations.
A friend who worked at one of those magazines had a theory about all of the new Jesus news.
"Jesus saves--circulation," he said.
Surely their numbers don't lie. Casting nagging doubts must drive newsstand sales, or they wouldn't do it.
Some hands that reach for such stuff are thrilled, their own positions validated. Others who don't reach are wounded, wondering why there is so much constant effort made to whittle at belief.
This year is no different. Next year there will be something else. That much is certain. It's been that way for almost 2,000 years. It's always the same, and it goes like this:
A group of strong men rolled the rock away from the tomb, the Resurrection didn't happen, and it defies scientific reason, which is the new church to many.
But in countless other churches, in storefronts and cathedrals, there is a response to such doubt. It comes from the Last Supper, when Christ speaks to his disciples and says: "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
For those of you who celebrate today, happy Easter.
----------
jskass@tribune.com
No doubt about Easter's true meaning
Published April 16, 2006
It is Easter Sunday for millions of Western Christians. Those of us on the Eastern Orthodox side of Christianity will celebrate next week.
And somehow, whether this week or next, writing about colored eggs and butter lambs and avoiding the Jesus Christ part of it just won't do.
Obviously, I work in the secular media, and we're usually skittish about spiritual matters. But we're quite dogmatic when it comes to some other things. For example, we're almost severe in our collective belief in scientific progress, in the ability of government officials and technology and reason to solve the problems of the modern world. The mention of Christianity, except in an anthropological context, is often avoided. It carries certain risks.
One problem is that you might insult or infuriate those of other faiths, or those who are firm in having no faith, or those who are ambivalent and want to keep it that way. Please, no offense is intended here. I'm no theologian. My sins haunt me, and what they've left behind reminds me that I'm nobody to tell others about what should be in their hearts.
Still this is Easter Sunday for so many of you and the beginning of Holy Week for others like me, and millions upon millions of people are being driven to their knees.
Just think about that. All across the world on Sunday, and again next Sunday, millions of folks will confirm their belief in something that can't be proven by scientific means. That yearning is news, isn't it? Even though it takes place year after year, it's still news.
What drives us to our knees has little to do with cute bunny rabbits and tiny marshmallow chicks. It has little to do with Easter bonnets, or Earth Day. So while reading the papers on Friday, considering this, I glanced at the front page of USA Today.
"Hollywood turns to divine inspiration," said the headline, and above it was a photo of actor Tom Hanks and a French beauty in the new movie "The Da Vinci Code."
I hope the headline about divine inspiration was a pun, since the Hanks film appears to be a response to Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." But Hollywood wants inspiration to produce movies that make almost $400 million, as Gibson's did, especially since Hollywood refused to help Gibson with his movie.
Most of you know that the Hanks movie was taken from a badly written book, informed perhaps not by the Holy Sprit, but as conservative writer Tom Roeser said the other day, by feminist politics. Also, that the new Hanks movie involves one of those Jesus conspiracies. In this one, Jesus has a child with Mary Magdalene, the first in a line of French nobles, and conservative Roman Catholics dispatch a crazed albino monk to assassinate anyone who may reveal the big secret.
Recently, there was news that trumpeted the discovery of the so-called Judas gospel. This gospel apparently expiates Judas' guilt. He can't be a betrayer if he and Jesus were allegedly in the conspiracy together. Although early Christian bishops ignored that book, it is being offered, again during the Easter season, as an archeological find, as a goad.
I usually skip such news. The incredible lengths to which the anti-Catholic "Da Vinci Code" has been marketed and the coverage of the Judas gospel as if it were a missing companion to the other four prove me right. It's always so relentless and familiar. It always revolves around the same basic premise:
Doubt.
And doubt sells.
A few months ago, a newsweekly ran a portrait of Jesus on the cover. Such magazines give prominent play to Christian themes in winter and spring, and the portrait was from the Renaissance, and he wore a crown of thorns, and there was this headline:
"How Jesus became the Christ"--as if what happened after the Crucifixion was merely a matter of good public relations.
A friend who worked at one of those magazines had a theory about all of the new Jesus news.
"Jesus saves--circulation," he said.
Surely their numbers don't lie. Casting nagging doubts must drive newsstand sales, or they wouldn't do it.
Some hands that reach for such stuff are thrilled, their own positions validated. Others who don't reach are wounded, wondering why there is so much constant effort made to whittle at belief.
This year is no different. Next year there will be something else. That much is certain. It's been that way for almost 2,000 years. It's always the same, and it goes like this:
A group of strong men rolled the rock away from the tomb, the Resurrection didn't happen, and it defies scientific reason, which is the new church to many.
But in countless other churches, in storefronts and cathedrals, there is a response to such doubt. It comes from the Last Supper, when Christ speaks to his disciples and says: "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
For those of you who celebrate today, happy Easter.
----------
jskass@tribune.com
4.25.2006
moving...
i've been moving. houses that is. i haven't been on the internet. no blogging. no reading blogs. i've been moving. life that is. no tv. no bike. no friends. no nothing. i've been moving. to a new house. we painted. we transported boxes unopened since days in amsterdam. i've moved. a messy house. but it's moved. now i'm back in the real world. i mean i've moved into the matrix. but not really. i just thought it sounded nice. we are in our own house now. our own. but not really. the bank owns it more than we do. we pay interest. and lots of it. one day we won't. we've moved into a new house. we own the deed. one year ago we made the decision. the decision to move. now we've moved.
pictures to come.
pictures to come.
4.16.2006
whose image...
I was reading the book Holiness, by Henry Blackaby the other day and something struck me. hit me. nailed me. the book itself is good, small but good. nothing spectacular.
But anyway, the idea of image is so powerful. God made man in his own image. not the other way around. the image is His. i am His image. you are His image. we are His image. not the other way around.
so often i make it the other way around. I fit Him into my image. I make Him in my own image. He should be like this. He should act like that. But my image is faulty. My image is imperfect. My image doesn't work. It's funny. Sometimes I wonder why my image fails. The answer is clear. Because it's mine.
The more I try to fit him into my idea of what he should be the worse it gets. I fail. I get turned around. I lose sight of what's important. I fall. I forget. I am lame and incapable of love, slow and lacking grace. I am not such a great image after all. I'm sure glad God is not made in my image, but the other way around.
4.12.2006
B...E...A...utiful
It's been awhile since I last posted as I took a break, but I'm back with a few images from my weekend trip to Estes Park. I was thoroughly reminded of why I love this land, this earth, this Creation. It is inspiring and awesome.
1. A view looking east across Sprague Lake towards a dock in Rocky Mountain National Park.
2. A view looking west across Sprague Lake towards Hallett Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.
3. I was fishing in the Big Thompson River near Estes Park, Colorado, when I looked up to see about 40 Wapiti (or Elk) around me. It was a bit intimidating to say the least, but I would later find out that I posed no threat to them as they are only aggressive in the autumn. Nonetheless, it created opportunity for a magnificent picture. I was fishing. The sun shone bright. Elk in the river. It was cool.
4. Lastly, this is the hotel where Jayla and I were married nearly four years ago now. Nostalgic. Beautiful. Magical. That about sums it up.
1. A view looking east across Sprague Lake towards a dock in Rocky Mountain National Park.
2. A view looking west across Sprague Lake towards Hallett Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.
3. I was fishing in the Big Thompson River near Estes Park, Colorado, when I looked up to see about 40 Wapiti (or Elk) around me. It was a bit intimidating to say the least, but I would later find out that I posed no threat to them as they are only aggressive in the autumn. Nonetheless, it created opportunity for a magnificent picture. I was fishing. The sun shone bright. Elk in the river. It was cool.
4. Lastly, this is the hotel where Jayla and I were married nearly four years ago now. Nostalgic. Beautiful. Magical. That about sums it up.
4.05.2006
sunshine on a cloudy day
each morning i wake to the sweet sounds of my baby's voice. it is a soothing and wonderful symphony of coos and oos and awes and squeaks and gaggles. i love it. i love walking into the sunshine and lifting him above my head and kissing his belly. even on the cloudiest day, he is a sunshine in my life.
i wonder if that's what the Creator thinks when a new life is changed, a new life is given to him. am i sunshine to him...? i wonder. i'd like to think so, though i'm not always sure.
still, there are time when i remember his love and could not have been more real last saturday afternoon when an thuderstorm rolled through the plains of colorado, as they so often do. two beautiful rainbows presented themselves in their glorious spendor right before my eyes. astounded, i practically had to pinch myself at how the colors popped against the gray sky behind.
then i remembered the covenant, God's covenant with man. he will never forsake us or leave us. he will lift us up in the morning with sunshine sparkling in his eyes.
thank goodness.
4.02.2006
a big purchase....
that's the house we just signed a contract on... it's in Stapleton, a new urban development in denver, colorado. it will be ours on April 27th. finally, it feels like Jayla and i are beginning to settle. we have a job, a family and house. things couldn't be more beautiful. it only took almost 8 months for it to fall into place but i finally feel like it has. thank you. thank you. thank YOU.
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