100 Million Missing Women

100 Million Missing Women

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My friends with YWAM St. Petersburg

Federalie’s, tacos and Evangecubes.

Last night Ingvar, Teresa and I went down to the Zona Norte in Tijuana, MX to visit some friends, share the gospel and eat tacos. Every Wednesday night (most Wednesday’s at least) a few of us go down to the red light district of TJ to hand out soup and hot chocolate to the homeless, drug addicts, average Joe’s and everyone in between who wants soup and hot chocolate.

Last night there were 3 of us who went down (picture coming soon). I was posting live on Twitter of the events that took place. There were two different times that we were stopped and searched by the Federalies, which was a little nerve racking at first to be honest. We were stopped, asked to put our hands on the hood of the car and empty our pockets.

This happens often in TJ when I am with Ingvar, 4 times in the last two visits actually. At some point last night while spread out over the car I looked at Ingvar and said “you enjoy this don’t you?” I was actually starting to see the humor of it as well. While I was collecting my things off the hood of the car I looked over and saw Ingvar going over the Evangecube with an officer who was holding an AK-47. I realized that these officers were not out to hurt us, but to do their jobs and protect us white dudes in the heart of their city. Most white dudes down there are looking for one of two things, Drugs and sex. We on the other hand were looking to give something, not take something.

There is much fear in going down to Mexico these days. In fact, we here working with YWAM have seen a significant drop in teams coming to Mexico to build houses because of fear and the good old American news channels. I want to go on record saying “come, come down here.” This place needs you, this place needs Jesus, this place has great tacos. What better time to come to Tj than in this time of vulnerability and fear?

One of the times down there Ingvar asked “how does Jesus see TJ? What will TJ look like in Heaven?” I believe it is supposed to be a park, a park in the middle of a city. A park where children play, people take naps, couples cuddle, cotton candy is sold and flowers grow. I will continue to go down to this city and ask God to show me His TJ.

Thanks.

Social Justice Handbook Book Review

A few weeks ago while at the NYWC in Atlanta I picked up the Social Justice Handbook by Mae Elise Cannon. This is and continues to be the most epic book I have read in a while on Justice Issues.

The book is separated in two parts. The first part, which is recommended that you read from beginning to end has to do with what Jesus and the Bible says about justice. It goes through verses, ideas and commands from Jesus on why we should do justice and how it is strongly on the heart of our Lord.

The second part of the book goes through different justice/injustice issues such as AIDS, Human Trafficking, Poverty, etc . The book, with a tag line of ’small steps for a better world’ is a broad overview and introduction to Justice. Mae gives practical applications on how to engage in these areas of justice.

The thing I love about this book is that it takes these massive overwhelming justice issues and breaks it down to show us that simple steps of justice and bring change and make a difference. If you have some extra dollars and are interested in building your library and knowledge of Justice please pick up a copy of this book. You can also read another review over on my friend Jamie’s site here.

Consume this…

Last night I did something that I have not done in a long, long time, I went caroling with my church. I didn’t want to do it as I think it is cheesy, but I was compelled to do it for two reasons. The first reason was that I want to get involved in this church, my new community. The second reason is that I wanted to do something this Christmas that was not about me, but about others.

I have been thinking about Christmas a lot lately, mostly because it is the Christmas season (it’s been the Christmas season in the stores here since November). My thought is “I don’t want to get caught up in consumerism, but I want this Christmas to be about Jesus and about others.” More people spend more money that they don’t have on thing they don’t need this time of year than any other time of year. How can I change that for me and my family, how can I change what Christmas is all about for me and my kids this year?

My suggestion to myself is to give and not consume. Now, I am not going to have my children and wife wake up on Christmas morning to a tree with nothing under it, I am just going to focus more with them on the Christ aspect and less on the consumption aspect of Christmas. I want my girls to get great gifts that they are totally psyched about and remember for a long time, but I also want them to know that they have done more than just receive, they have given.

This year our family is going to give to Father Joes Village, an organization that works with the homeless population in San Diego. We are going to bring toys down there that they can distribute to kids in our city that have none. I want my kids to be a part of something bigger than themselves. My question for all of us is this, what are you going to do this season that makes Christmas more about Jesus and less about us?

Here is a video that explains this better than I. Thanks.

hangin in TJ with Ingvar and the evangecube

On Wednesday evening I headed down to TJ, Mexico to be a part of the Zona Norte ministry. A bunch of us go there every Wednesday evening to feed the poor and pray through the red light district. This Wednesday I rode down with my Norwegian friend Ingvar.We got down there and as we were walking out of the parcade we prayed and asked Jesus to direct us to people who needed him.

No sooner were we done our prayer when this dude came up to us asking if we wanted some dope. I told him no and kept walking, but Ingvar, instead of walking away reached into his pocked and pulled out his Evangecube. Now I  love Jesus and want others to know Him, but I am not a huge fan, or even a partial fan of the Evangecube. I have mocked this thing to no end and here I was standing on the corner of the red light district of TJ watching Ingvar go through it with Raul, our new Mexican buddy.

When Ingvar was done going through the message Raul asked if we could pray for him. I asked what he wanted prayer for and he told us that he was addicted to heroin and wanted Jesus to help him. I asked him to pray and he, in his prayer asked Jesus to forgive his sins, which he took total responsibility for and help him get off dope. I was amazed. Here is was making fun of this gospel tract and then 5 minutes later this man was giving his life back to Jesus. Now I truly believe it wasn’t the evangecube that spoke to Raul, but it was Jesus speaking to him out of our obedience. If He wanted to, Jesus could have used the lyrics to Wham’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” song and the same results would have happened.

I guess what I am saying is that God rewards our obedience and answers our prayers. We prayed that God would use us and He did. He used us to see change in Raul’s life and used us to do it through a gospel rubix cube that I mocked even as Ingvar was taking it out of his pocket. What is Jesus asking from you? What are you praying that He will do in your life, or use you to do in the lives of others? Are you willing to be the answer to your own prayer? I wasn’t, but I am glad Ingvar was as it has encouraged me and given me faith and an excitement for next time.

The Girl Effect

Boobs and blog ratings

This is the second time in 2 weeks that I have blogged on boobs. The first time is here and now this one. Why am I blogging on this again? Well because of what happened to my blog stats after the last post.

Most of my posts get between 30-50 visits, but the boob post brought in 161 views, hmmm interesting. Ever since that post my views have been averaging 60+ per post. I wonder why this happened? Was it because I was talking about a girl that I hurt for or was it because I had the word boobs in the title? I would hope for the former, but I would have to believe that it is because of the title.

So, this is my little experiment. I will let this post be for a few day’s and see how my ratings go and post back the results. I am being a bit vulnerable revealing how many or little people view my blog, but then again who cares. I’m not doing it for ratings, I’m doing it for me and hopefully it blesses a few people along the way.

welcome to the concert hall part 9 (KISS)

Previous Concert Post Part 8

Last night I went to see KISS, for the 3rd time. I knew that they were coming to town, but I wasn’t sure when. To be honest, I wasn’t even thinking about seeing them as I had seen them 3 times before and it wasn’t the original line up this time, only Gene and Paul were left. On Thursday night I had this crazy dream that I was on stage with KISS and then on Friday (yesterday) morning I saw on-line that they were in town. So, I called up my friend Craig and he sounded real keen to go, so we decided to head down to the San Diego Sports Arena and scalp on in to the show.

As per usual at a rock show their was lots of hair, tight pants and fake boobs, but at a KISS show there is all of this and heavy make-up. We roamed around the arena asking for tics and eventually, after an hour or so we landed two tickets for $10 each. They were in the nose bleed section, but when you go to see a band that has been playing for 35 years you want bad seats to avoid the reality that you are rocking out to people who are as old as Grandma and Grandpa.

If I were to sum up the two hour rock/piro extravaganza in one word that word would be empty. The show was full of screaming guitars, fire, explosions, high pitched screaming and drum solos but it had no content, no depth and left me feeling that I should be home reading a good book or playing with my kids.

This makes me wonder if it was the show or was it just me? Am I getting older, do I want more than just pure entertainment now or am I just old and boring? I am gonna go with the first option that I want more. One of the things that Paul Stanley (singer) said last night is that “rock stars are not here to answer all your questions, they are here to help you take the night off and be entertained.” Now I agree with that statement, but take a stand for something for crying out loud. Use your rock star status to give something, support something, rally people behind something.

Now if you know me at all you expect me to say at least something good and of redemptive value about the show, so here it is. The encore was great. Lots of build, heavy fire and smoke and they played Detroit Rock City, which is one of the quintessential rock songs of all time. Those dudes are old, they need the make-up now to hold their faces on, so I will give them props for standing up for 2 straight hours and entertaining people, but if they ever put out another album and decide to tour again I will shoot them myself.

Peace.

no shave november

Previous Post Big Boobs and Broken Hearts

I haven’t shaved all of this month, being it’s no shave November. Amy, my wife is pretty much disgusted by my bushiness, even though I think it looks great. Only 5 more days and I will have no excuse to keep it any longer, so till then I will enjoy and post my wolverine pose here.