A day without laughter is a wasted day

"To bathe a cat takes brute force, perseverance, courage of conviction - and a cat. The last ingredient is usually hardest to come by." Stephen Baker

Witch Hunting Book Burner

Look what I started.



Ref: Nice Rack and Double Take

I am in the process of writing my own article about this issue which I will submit to the school newspaper.

Small ideas lead to even bigger ones

Question: How can I raise others awareness in the hope that it will then lead to change? Idea: make a stencil for a tshirt. Another idea: Use images from the Congo for the stencils. Another idea: make a bunch of tshirts and sell them to raise money for MMHH.



This is a stencil I have been working on. (weapons exchange program)

Yesterday I shared the idea with someone at FPU. Not only did he like the idea, he also wants to help fund and promote it through the school. Today I spoke with the Director of the MMHH, Dr. Pakisa K. Tshimika about putting his ministry's website on the shirt. That way people will be able to contribute to the ministry. He likes the idea. He wants to get together with me for lunch or coffee. %) More details to follow as the develop...

Wanna trade?

I posted about the child soldiers yesterday. Today I am letting you know about a way to help the child soldiers of Congo through Mama Makeka House of Hope.



Isaiah 2:4
... They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

Read about the Walungu Weapon Exchange and Transformation Project. "Swords Into Plowshares"

Also read about the Walungu Trauma Healing and Empowerment Project. "Beauty from Ashes"

Dark realities

My eyes were opened this week to the existence of child soldiers. There are estimates of 300,000 children world wide that are "recruited"; kidnapped, threatened, and tortured until the participate. 100,000 of these children are in Africa and 30,000 of them are in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo).


http://maps.maplecroft.com/loadmap?template=map&issueID=80


http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/childrensrights/childrenofconflict/soldier.shtml

Due to the popularity and the light weight design of the AK-47, boys as young as 8 years old are being recruited. A new trend developing is the recruiting of young girls. The advantage of using children to fight is that they are easier to cloth, feed, and manage than adults. Children are also easier to manipulate.

Routines

I've been trying to break up my routines by studying the places I go in order to see if I will notice when something there has changed. This all started when I noticed paper origami that was hanging over the counter in the library. I asked how long it had been there and the staff said, "Since the beginning of the school year." %) I cannot tell you how often I've passed that area and yet I never noticed them.

I've been noticing a surge of tagging all down Maple Avenue. Fatso for example is a very energetic tagger that likes to see his/her name everywhere. An instructor at FPU wrote a nice little something on how tagging is like a dog that pees on a tree to mark its territory. Tagging really gets to her because it is an ugly element in a potentially beautiful space.

Maybe it is because its the wanna be rebel inside of me but I like graffiti art. I'd like to see more things like this piece.

Righteous Living vs Christian Bubble

Where is the line between jokes that are appropriate and not? If I am offended by a joke about homosexuality or races does that mean that I simply have no sense of humor? What is the difference between telling these types of jokes in front of kids or in front of adults? Are we not supposed to be consistent in our lives and what we say we belief in our faith?

People are people. We are all flawed and when it comes down to us working together to address our failures it gets messy. Pride comes in and points out the differences between planks and specks. Or is it really a form of legalism to point out something that doesn’t quite seem to jive with our faith?

I have been accused of being hyper-sensitive to what I’d call sin or grey things that I would say are not in line with being Christ-like. The purposed reason as to why I am hyper-sensitive is because of my own personal struggles. Am I, in trying to find out how to live authentically in the world yet foremost for the glory of God being set apart from what’s perceived as normal, actually becoming Pharisaical?

Clovis + Fresno

Blooming trees near our house.


Grapevines at Fresno State.

Spring is coming

Yellows

Reds

These flowers are adding some great color to our patio area! Our next door neighbor has a green thumb, she just moved here from Oregon so she's going to be starting a vegetable garden when it gets a bit warmer.

Our Kid Newts

When we first got the newts, I was having trouble with the tank. I've been able to keep it mold free for over 2 months now. I was needing to be redone though. Here's the new layout.

Here is Cleo trying to reach the ground without climbing down. She actually fell off the knarled wood after I took this shot.

Cleo: "Maybe this time we can find a way to get out."

Sir Issac: "Relax, this ain't jail. Think of it as an oasis."