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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

]]> http://philcunningham.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/welcome-to-the-concert-hall-part-9-kiss/feed/ 2 philnamy kiss http://philcunningham.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/no-shave-november/ http://philcunningham.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/no-shave-november/#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:03:54 +0000 philnamy http://philcunningham.wordpress.com/?p=921 ]]>

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.

I am writing this on my phone in an Atlanta hotel bar at 12:57am so it may be a bit shady. I am going to write about the girl that I met on the plane yesterday as I flew to Atlanta. I forget her name, buy I will never forget her.

She was one of the last passengers on the plane and I noticed her instantly. She had the largest boobs I have ever seen and she sat right next to me. As soon as she sat down she started telling me about her boob job and how she was scared about internal bleeding. If your reading this and wondering where I’m going from here I will warn you that it only gets worse, haha.

She proceded to tell me that people had been rude to her all day saying that her boobs were not proportional to the rest of her frame. She asked me what I thought, so I politely told her they looked fine (I’m laughing at the whole thing just writing this).

For the next 2 hours she talked to me about how other girls were jealous of her and were mean to her because of her boobs. She bragged on how her boobs were her best feature and told me that her goal was to be in Playboy.

She also asked me what she should tell her parents. I told her that they would probably notice right away, there was no hiding these things. She also talked about and asked me about getting fake id to get into bars (she was 18). She talked about her dissfunctional family, her half sister who is a stripper and her sisters 3 kids.

When we landed she asked me to help carry her bag as she didn’t want to rupture her new boobs, so I walked it with her to an airport travel car. She told them she was disabled, got on the car and went to her gate. Now I am sitting here at 1:14am writing about her.

I’m writing cause I am sad. Most guys love looking at big boobs, but we never think of the person that they are attached too. This girl was so lost, so insecure, so desperate. What happened in her life to bring her to this? Where will she go from here? It seems like a road to self destruction, pain and lonelyness. I have been praying for her and thinking of her all day. I hurt for her and wanted to write the story down so as not to forget.

I thnk about all the things I could of said, but feel like I said none of it. I just tried to look forward and be nice. I pray that God puts some good people I’m her life. People that will walk with her and not use her, like she thinks she deserves.

It’s been a crazy last 24 hours. I’m thankfully for my life and the people in it. I want to be used of God every day. I hope I’m ready, I hope I’m prepaired.

Thanks.

Today, Nov. 15 is the 1st day of Celtic Advent. Celtic Advent comes from Ireland and is a time of reflection and looking to Christ. Celtic Advent goes from Nov. 15- Dec. 24, lasting 40 day’s. The first time I heard of this season was 3 years ago while reading Celtic Daily Prayer.

What do I do during Celtic Advent? Well every night, before going to bed I light a white candle  and say the following prayer:

God of the watching ones,
give us your benediction.

God of the waiting ones,
Your good word for our souls.

God of the watching ones,
the waiting ones
the slow and suffering ones,
give us Your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest.

and of the angels in heaven, and of the child in the womb,

give us your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest and rise
in the kindness of Your company.

Then I blow my candle out and go to sleep. My prayer for this years advent is to grow closer to Jesus and to hear his voice and feel his peace so that I can grow and be a shining example of Jesus to all whom I meet. I would encourage you to practice this simple tradition over the next 40 days and see God do great things in your life as you get ready for Christmas.

Today is Friday the 13th. I remember as a kid being psyched about Friday the 13th and sitting down watching the movies with Jason the hockey mask wearing axe murderer. Good times, but I am glad I have moved on.

This weekend some people from “Freedom Project International“are coming down to TJ, Mexico. They are planning a documentary project that will trace human trafficking up the west coast, starting in Mexico and ending up in Vancouver, Canada. At the moment they are trying to find key contacts in government, law enforcement and at NGO’s that could help them get a feel for what’s really happening on the west coast.
The purpose of the documentary is ultimately to produce a tool that can bring the reality of trafficking home for people living on the west coast. Not only do they want to use the documentary to raise awareness but they also want to give people tangible ways that they can be involved *here* in the US, in their back yards and in their communities. I’m not entirely sure what this all looks like yet, but that’s why it’s a documentary. They are going to discover and interview as they go.

I am excited to be able to hang with these peeps over the next few days to learn, become aware and figure out how to act. It goes great with what we have been discovering down in TJ with the issue of prostitution and child prostitution. I pray that this weekend God gives us some key way’s to be involved and act on His behalf in this area. I’ll keep this updated as to how things are going.