Not to just say but we must do!

I read this in an article today. The article was written by a friend named Shane Claiborne. He talked about how he was confronted with a situation were he and another boy were being assaulted by a group of eight boys. The account went like this, it started with them being verbally abused by this mob and here is the actions they took,

"It's always hard on the spot like that to know exactly what Jesus would do. I told Cassim, "Let's go say hi." He looked at me skeptically. We turned back and walked towards them (knowing full well that if we had run we may have made it to the post office). "Hey, I'm Shane. And this is my friend Cassim. We live around the corner," I said with my hand out. They weren't really sure what to do with that. A couple of them shook my hand and introduced themselves. Others snickered. One or two refused the handshake. We said, "Nice to meet you guys," and headed on our walk.

With the wind taken out of their sail a bit, they regrouped, and then continued to build momentum towards a violent brawl. They ran after us, throwing some rocks and bottles, and I noticed two of them now carried a couple of broomsticks from the trash. We picked up the pace a bit, and then I looked at Cassim and said, "No, don't run." We turned back, and before we knew it, one of them clocked Cassim on the side of the head with a stick. I said firmly, "Why would you do that? We haven't done anything to hurt you." They laughed. Then they started hitting me with the broomstick until it broke over my back. At this point I decided to bust out a can of holy anger. I looked them in the eyes and said as forcefully as I could, "You are created in the image of God ... every single one of you. And you were made for something better than this. and I are followers of Jesus and we do not fight, but we will love you no matter what you do to us." That wasn't exactly what they expected or hoped for. They looked at each other, startled a bit ... for the first time, they were completely quiet. And then they scurried off in every direction."


I look at this and it makes me think "what if we put into action what we know God wants us to do?" This is something I know would make huge differences in all of us as well as those around us. So maybe we need to look at doing what we know. I know if you are like me, when you read what shane did you think, man that is a fairy tale ending and that would not happen to me if that is what I did. Which then begs this question that hit me as I sat there and thought this, "are we not then saying God can't do it for me?" Are we not then ultimately questioning what God can do for us? WOW! Not a nice way to look at that thought huh?
So then the only answer I can come up with right now is to just do what I know God wants me to do and leave what happens up to who ultimately has the control anyway.





GOD!!!



I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. But they asked, and rightly so, what about Vietnam? They asked if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today – my own government.

- Martin Luther King Jr., in " A Time to Break the Silence," delivered April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church, New York City.

Idol is back baby!

So, after all the hype and wait it is finally here. As I sat there and watched the show I started to get this creeping feeling that the show was not living up to what I expected (does anything ever do). I watched and continued to see bad contestant after bad contestant and got the feeling that the show was far more interested in displaying these bad characters, Now don't get me wrong I enjoy the bad characters , but I just got the feeling while watching that they were trying to milk it a little. I mean I enjoyed the opera singing Apollo Creed and the girl who said she was the biggest fan but could not sing anything in tune, then for her to get upset when the judges proceeded to tell her this, she was surprised and upset. Following it up with "I have a degree in singing". WOW! But to me they were just not as good (what I really mean is BAD) as I was expecting. I mean this is the show that birthed William Hung.
As I sat there and started to think that this would be just a drawn out version of bad singers and wanting to see more of the good ones, they did it! They should promos for tonight. Now I am sitting here thinking, "bring on the freaks!" I mean really, did you see who they were showing was actually going to get up there and sing. Can't wait.
The real disturbing thing to me is how disillusioned these people are. I mean you would think they had loved ones who would be truthful to them and just say in love "YOU SUCK AT SINGING". But NOOOOOOO.... they walk out of the doors after rejection and ridicule and their loved ones are there with them. Patting them on the back saying "don't worry you will make it some day we know you can sing." AHHHHHH news flash they just came out of a room with a couple of people who actually know about singing (and yes this excludes Paula, who I must say looks like she got a pump hose stuck on her lips the whole time idol has been off and they took it off just before she came on TV ) and they say that they suck. At-least they showed them some love.
So what life lesson can we learn from american idol?






Who cares! It is just really entertaining to see.

Big Bang!

Scientists in Switzerland are assembling the worlds largest machine-a super collider which they say will be capable of recreating the conditions of the "Big Bang". The researchers are hoping to create and observe what they have dubbed "The God particle," a theoretical particle that factors heavily into the Big Bang theory. To do this, the scientists will collide more then 800 million protons a second to try to understand what conditions were like at the birth of the universe.
What is amazing to me is the size of this machine!

The collider is contained in a 27 km (roughly 16.7 miles) circumference tunnel located underground at a depth ranging from 50 to 150 meters ( 164-492 feet). The tunnel was formerly used to house the LEP, an electron-positron collider. The 3 meter diameter, concrete-lined tunnel actually crosses the border between Switzerland and France at four points, although the majority of its length is inside France. The collider itself is located underground, with many surface buildings holding ancillary equipment such as compressors, ventilation equipment, control electronics and refrigeration plants.

The other thing that amazes me even more is the cost of this machine. The estimated final price tag is expected to be about US$ 8 billion, of which approximately US$ 0.5 billion is being provided by the United States as an "official observer". WOW!

You think we could find something better to do with this money. I mean come on, 8 billion so I could say "see I told ya so." So Scientists can say the big bang theory is true? So my question to you and myself is, "does this make a difference to us and our faith?" Will this (if proven could have happened) really hurt or strengthen what we believe? If in the end it does not make a difference they why do it? It is something that would not hurt what I believe no matter what. You see for me when science proves something that happened in the bible as fact and they give all this explanation as to why it just strengthens what I believe. Ok, so it may be something that can be explained but all they are doing is proving with science that what the bible tells us is true! So what does this mean to you? Think about it, what if they reproduce the "Big Bang"?

The last thing that disturbs me a lot is that calculations show there is about a 30 percent chance that this experiment WON'T cause the universe to implode!!!!!! YEAH great let's go ahead with this! Let's spend 8 billion and role the dice! "I CALL SEVENS"

Back at it!

Wow!

A new year has begun, and what have we said to ourselves that we need to do this year different then we did last year? You know what I am talking about, Those new year resolutions and I am not talking about the "I must lose weight" type of resolutions or the " I will stop smoking this year" ones (HMMMMM I guess I should stop smoking :). No! we make those resolutions every year. Now whether we keep them or not is a different story.

What I am sitting here thinking, are those resolutions that we know we need to make and yet we have such a hard time making them. Which leads into a whole different topic of if we know we need to do these things in our lives why do we need a new year to role around for us to first off start to think about making the change and then why do we need the new year to actually go about making that change? The thing is we all fall into this. Do we just say well that is the way society has made us and leave it at that? Then to which I have to ask, do we always have to let what society thinks dictate what we do? HMMMM....... I guess maybe we do not have a choice, or do we?

Well as I sit here and think about all this I can't help but wonder what is it that I need to examine in my life and make a change in? I think as my wife and I have talked about it in the months leading up to the holidays, are we really doing what we should be doing. What I mean by this is that I came to the conclusion that we as a family need to start doing "what we are suppose to be doing rather then what we think we should be doing." I think there is a big difference between the two. I say it starts off first with relationship. With my spiritual life and family life first. Am I doing all that I should in those two areas first before I look into doing other things first? The honest answer to that is probably "NO", now I need to re-examine this and see what I need to do different. I would like to think this through and then maybe if the answer is given to me then I will keep you informed.

I would love to get comments from others (the three that read this) on this and what you think. Like starting a little message board deal. If you do not want to post directly to this and would rather do it in private, please send me an email and I would be more then happy to raise the topic while keeping your name out of it.(my name has no problem being looked at funny)

My email addresses are

christhefather@gamil.com

chrispinder1@mac.com

Three People

It is official I now have three people reading the blog. I got an email today stating that there was one more to the cult MMM.... sorry I meant fold.
I feel as though I need to start making up shirts and what not. I do not know if I will be able to keep up with all this influx of people. I do not have anything else right now. But I thought it was such a big moment in our little blogging family that you all had to know. ("you all" like it is all that many) HAHAHAHa!
I have recovered from the lack of sleep on new years. Yes, i did stay up pretty much the whole night. I went down around 6:30am and rose to give the kids trouble at 6:45 am. But all in all i think it was a great time.

Till next time!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year

Hi to all and Happy new year.

I am sitting here in my house with about ten of my kids from my small group. We are doing are annual ring in the new year here at my house. We have been having some fun, we have done some chicken tipping, if you do not know what that is you will have to see one of them and ask them what it is. I tried to get them to do some early egg hunting, but none of them were to interested in that.

Well I hope all others had a good year and are having fun ringing in the new one. I do not have a whole lot right now. Seeing as though it is one in the morning and I have just started my first cup of coffee. Things have been really good for me. It has been a lot of change going on in my life this year. As most of you that know me already have some insight as to what has been going on. It is real exciting what has happened this year.

Well I won't bore you any more. I am sure I will not be coherent tomorrow, seeing as the plan is to stay up all night. So please kep me in your prayers for my recuperation.



Thanks

DaDa

Yes, My sons word last night was dada!

Finally I am the one who has been acknowledged first. I am the one he called out to, like I was what he thought of and nothing else. No, it was not moma or papa or nana. It was my name you heard in our house. Like sweet angels singing out, he did this over and over again. I then picked him up like a person would pick up a trophy they had just won. My son then proceeded to say dada again and as he did he patted my back as to say to me "yes you I have called first and here I pat you to acknowledge that it is indeed you that I am talking about". So you see I have that dominance in the house at that one moment and yes it felt great!!!!





Now, for how it really was. We sat for diner like normal and as my son sat there he just decided to look at me and blurt it out "DADA". He would then turn his head and laugh then a moment later he would do the same thing, as if to tease me in what he could do. Needless to say I could not stop grinning, like I was stuck in this constant grinning state. I did pick him up after he finished eating and he continued as he patted my back. He called me on and off like that until he went to sleep that night. So you think I was a proud "Dada"? Now today it is like it never happened. I say to him "say dada" and he just looks at me and smiles. As if to say you got enough last night so just leave it at that. Well I guess that is how it is for a parent, on cloud nine one day (or night to be specific) and the next back to the norm.

Back at it!

I know that the two people that did read my blog have stopped looking a long time ago. As it has been a really long time since I have done any posting. Sorry for that but it has been a real hectic couple of months.
I wanted to start off this post by wishing all a merry Christmas (yes i know it is late) and a good new year. I hope that all goes well for everyone.

As I sat this christmas day and experienced all that is what we have come to know as Christmas and what it is I was a little taken back. I sat a watched as my kids opened their gifts (well really only one opened all) and could not help but feel overwhelmed at just how much they got. Now please do not misunderstand me, I am very grateful for all that was given and felt very blessed for what we have. But something in me was unsettled as I sat and witnessed my kids happiness in it all and realized that there are some that are not having this experience this year and some that will never have the chance to feel this. I came to work today and talked to some of my friends who have kids as well and they echoed my exact thoughts and no I did not promt them in that direction either. So it was made clear to me that this is not something that I just felt.
So I would ask what do I do, what do we do as a family, tell peaple not give us as much? What do we do as a community? These have become questions that I am constantly thinking about right now and no I do not have the answers.
But yet as the day went on we spent time with family relaxing and just enjoying each others company which felt so right to me. Like this is what it as about. We did the same thing with my wifes family the night before and I had the same felling of satisfaction. I could feel the love of Christmas on those occasions. This was such a fulfilling thing for me as I feel it was the same for my wife. So is that the answer, concentrate on family and not so much the materialistic side of things. But the day of Christmas eve was spent that morning in church thinking about what Jesus did for us on this day. How he came to this earth to show his love for us. How he became human and the conditions in which this happened and I felt that same sort of fulfillment as I thought on this and had my worship time. So is this the answer as to what we need to concentrate on this time of year? Or was I just having these feelings out of guilt?

Long Time

Wow, it has been a while since my last post.(sorry to the two people that have been keeping up)
The last time I posted I was getting ready to go get my party on and yes we did do just that. It was a really good time. The bad thing was the Saturday we were there we got a little rained out, but it was still good. My daughter(Jewel) really was overwhelmed by all fish and other things she saw and can't wait to go back.
There has been a lot going on here at the church. The extension on the back has really been keeping me busy along with all the other stuff I am doing for the youth. But it is all worth it as you see it all starting to come together. Seeing also the kids walk in the back and get so excited about it is just awesome.
I have also been keeping busy with all the coarse work I am doing online for my college classes that I am taking. It has been really a stretch for me. I have been out of school for over ten years and getting back into the study and all that has been hard.(besides the fact I was never that good at it either) So you kids I am able to relate a little to you now.
Well I think that is all for now. I will try to keep things a little more up to date for the two of you.

Lata!

I am not going to........

Those were the words that came from my mouth as we sat in a meeting about the finishing of the extension going on the back of our church. They were said pertaining to the fact that I was not going to do any sanding of the walls!
I started the next afternoon holding strong to my conviction. I painted and no one was going to change that (it helped that no one was there when I decided this). Well more people started to show up, and the need for more things to paint arose. The next thing I knew I was standing in a room with a sanding block in my hand, a mask and goggles on my face and surrounded by DUST! (I mean a lot of it too).
As I looked around in disbelief at my situation I could not figure out how I got here? What went wrong? I still can't figure that out, even as I sit here now and write this to you. Were did all that conviction I had the day before go? (it was there up until I was actually sanding as well)
But as I looked around and realized that others were there and lending a hand, how could I not do what I was doing. I recently read about how we should do everything for the honour of God. That when we do this with the right heart we are actually worshiping him. It even went on to say we must even do this sometimes in things we don't like or want to do. I looked around and saw all these other people doing something because they wanted too and having a heart that it was for something bigger then them, who was I not to do the same? Even if it was something that I did not want to do( which is why I had a hard time getting it).
So as I reflect on last night and when people ask "how it went" I have to reply "it was a great night of worship." Because really that is what it was.
So yeah I did not do what I said and yes I did something that I really dislike doing, but in the end I realized I got something out of it that I never expected and something that was so worth it.
Now please do not think that I went into last night thinking all this or even that I got right then. But the thing I can be thankful for, is that I see it now. Isn't that how it usually works. We are blind to these things , that is until God helps us see!

Lata

P.S Going away tomorrow to Atlantis with the whole family. Really looking forward to having some time with my family. It is My grandmothers 80Th B-day, so we going to get are party on!!!!!!!!

Death

So I was watching House last night (i know more TV, if it makes you feel better it was really the only thing I watched seeing as I fell asleep after it). The episode was really on death and how this guy wanted to die. Because he wanted to know "what was on the other side".
So, this got me thinking (i know big deal). Should we live life, even at its worst, to be eager to leave it? I mean no matter what is going on should there ever be a point were we should only be focused on the here after? Should we want to control how we die or when, or should we be more worried about what I am doing when I am alive.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that we should not think about life after death at all. What I am asking is should this be the driving force, Living life to get to death.
In religions the one (mostly anyway) thing they have in common is they believe that there is life after death.
My thing is though, when talking to others there is this longing to belong to something. Something that is here and now, something that is going to touch someone or have some sort of impact now. Not when they die. So should we not be putting are efforts toward that?
I know as Christian's we make this a big part of our "religion". Even so much as to do things just for the reward we may get when we die. But lets think about what rewards are there in the here an now in just doing something good now. The smile on a face the life that could be touched and better yet changed because of it and not that this is why it was done either. But because we did it because we just plain old wanted to help in LOVE! To me that is the key.
Now I write all this and not even pretending that I know what all the answers are. I write it just to maybe get a conversation started on it so that maybe we could find the answers and maybe we won't find the answers. Cause that is what a community does. They work together. How great would it be that we as "Christian's" or better yet people in religion can just converse and openly talk about things and just maybe we could learn something from each other.
I saw this quote which I think is so good "God expects unity, not uniformity." We often confuse the two. We think in order to have fellowship we all have to be fellows in the same ship. Fellowship does not mean we think alike on everything.

So lets just take this and think about it and maybe just maybe start a converstion on it.

Lata

Must see TV!

Well the big news today! Survivor started last night for the new season (I know this after that last one on time and TV, hey told you I had issues). What a good season I think it is going to be.
I mean come on they split the teams (or tribes) into there different races. Is this not a season that could just be full of confrontation and disaster? I know things will be all good right now, but wait until they are then put together. You know they are still going to stay in the separation by race. Then what!!!!!
As last night goes it was not that eventful. Only the fact that I have already picked out the one who I think is just cooler then cool. I mean come on with a name like Cao Bui what is not to like. He is a nail salon manager who is from "the old country" and he can get rid of headaches by removing your bad wind,in his words "What I'm gonna do is pull this `bad wind' out of you," Cao Boi said, as he plucked at Brad's face. I am going into the face plucking business
I did not even know that is where a headache cam form( I always thought bad wind came from other places not your face). I mean in a place were they all seem to be afraid of stereotypes, he just simple states "the facts are the facts" wow what a concept. I mean come on, he is the one you can't stand to watch but can't help but watching cause you are afraid of what you may miss.
As far as the first voted out. What did you expect when you gather all around to "focus on getting the fire going" and you rub the twigs together twice and then give up. That deserves being voted off in itself( were was the conviction).
well this is my take on the first night. I know not all agree and you know what if you want to tell your side start your own blog. There is one thing I am sorry about. Now that I have chosen Cao Boi as my favorite he has now received the kiss of death. I would not be surprised if he even is done next week. But hey his saving grace is he seems to have a good team so that may keep him there a few weeks at least. Crap! I did it again now the team will lose next week. A well I am just going to stop there before I write anything else.

Later

Time!

I read something a day ago that has had me thinking since I read it. It said, " If you want to know a persons priorities, just look at how they spend there time." It went on to talk about were you spend the most time is where you have the most love and how time is one of the greatest gifts you could give someone. Because it is so precious.
WOW! So this started this thing in me to examine my time and where it is spent. I went a day and kinda kept this track of my time and was floored at where it was mostly spent(and no I am not telling you). We always talk about how we have so little time for people, friends ,family and all these other things. The reason is because we fill our time with so many other useless things(myself included).
As parents we fall so short of this as well. We get home and our kids beg for our attention and we blow them off because we are tired, or we don't have THE TIME. I want you to really look at your life and see where all this time goes. How much do you use it to sit and do nothing or watch TV or whatever(not saying TV is bad I love TV, savivour here I come).
But are there times we say well I have to watch this or do this or be here. When in reality we really don't. We could be spending that time some where were it is needed.
One of those areas is in building relationships by loving on others with our time. We were created for this. I would like you to try and think about what your life would be like if you had no relationships in it. It would really suck! I mean as we go through life we long to have a relationship with others.
So lets keep this in mind, what are we doing with our time, and are we really building meaningful relationships with others?

Good Day

Well today was good.

I helped along with about 35-40 others from my church, in cleaning up the yard of some one in our community who needed it. I was very happy that I had about 12-15 of my kids from church join us in this activity. This really impressed me(way to go guys). I am glad they came out and even better they were glad they did as well(or so they said).
We carried away about 6 large dump trucks full of garbage away. I mean there was a huge amount of garbage there and it was still some left when we left. But we got a lot done. So it was good. All this happened this morning.
Got back home and hung out with my kids. My daughter in particular. She got me in her room to play house and other such activities that entailed wearing a crown (princess that is too). After some play time got to do some reading ,which I love to do. Brian McClaren Rocks!
Well that was my day. I know it was not much but it was very fulfilling. I do not just mean because I did something for our community but because I got to spend some time with my daughter as well. Because as we all know, doing things with family is where it should all start. If we do all this other great stuff but forsake our family's, what good is it? So let us not forget where it should all start. No matter what goes on lets all remember were it should start, which is

THE FAMILY

later

One Week

Wow!

I have finished a week at my new job and it just seemed to fly by. I have told a number of people when they asked me, "how things were going", that I can not get over how quick this week has gone.
It seems like the days are getting shorter. Or is it just me? What has really gotten me is that I have not even had like a little time in between stuff to sit back and reflect on what has been going on. Now don't get me wrong I am really liking the fact that I have been busy. It has just been a surprise.
It has been really great though to just concentrate on the one thing for work then having to split my efforts into two. I really did not realize how much more I could have been putting into this work until I started to do it full time(well I did just not as much as I do now). I am hoping that others will benefit from this free time.
I will say this, I am more prepared for tonight then I ever was before. I have also changed some stuff around. I hope the kids enjoy what we are going to do.
Well got to go and finish a couple odds and ends. I will have to let you all know how things go tonight (all two of you).
Oh and by the way. I could not write this post without mentioning that football season is finally here. YEAH!!!What better way to kick it off then with a loss to the dolphins. Ya got ta love it!

Good looking boy!

Here I was, I had just got home from a long day. I had a meeting to attend and other things and walked into the door of my house just feeling this longing to just shut it down.
I walked in to the bathroom were my son(Maddox) had just taken a bath and was just hanging out in his bouncy seat. I leaned over him and looked at him thinking I am just going to say "Hi" and then go out and be lazy on the couch.
Then is when it happened. I looked at him and said those words "Good Looking Boy" and with them I opened something I thought would never come from them. As the words finished coming from my mouth he (Maddox) broke into this huge smile, his eyes lighting up, his face beaming with delight and then he laughed. I mean a whole hearted can't contain it laugh. For him this was the first time and for those that do have children you can relate to hearing your child laugh for the first time. I then stood there repeating that phrase over and over again, getting the same reaction from him every time(and me laughing whole heartily as well at his laughter). At first I did it for personal enjoyment. Then it hit me he was just so happy from this one simple phrase, that in then switched to me doing it so I could see him happy.
After all the laughter, all that weariness I felt and desire to just crash had completely disappeared. From this simple act of laughter all my thoughts were changed.
This morning as I sat and thought about it and replayed it in my mind I couldn't help but think how amazing all that was. Also How we need others sometimes to get us past what only we may be seeing and it does not have to be this great big act, it can be as simple as little laugh at some simple phrase by a simple person.
It has made me examine what I let define who I am and how I act. That sometimes we just need the simple thing to get us to change.

My First day

Well here I am.....
The first day in this new story in my life. So far it does not seem real. I am still thinking that I am suppose to go to my other job. I guess when you have done something for so long it takes a while to get rid of that habit?
I have just kinda of spent the day so far just settling in. Getting myself in a little bit of a comfort zone. I am sure that it will take a little while to get myself into a schedule. WAIT! Is that what i really want? For my life to become this endless schedule that just keeps going in the same pattern?
NO! I see now that as people we get caught in this act of life as something that must always be structured and the same and if we don't then something must be wrong. Well it is not going to happen here (I hope).
I know you are thinking that there is nothing wrong with having structure in our lives. Yes I agree, I think the problem is when we let that structure dictate how we run our lives (and I am probably the worst at this most of the times).
So were do we draw that line? Where do we define ( I so dislike this, definition is something we need far to much) Where that line should be?
You know what? I don't know! I think it is something we will always struggle with, I think that this is something that in life will always be there. Because we let culture change were that line is for us constantly. So we are always in a state of confusion.
So please think about this as the days go by and maybe we all can come up with an answer to this(if you do please share with the rest of the unintelligent folk like myself).

HMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

WOW! A new Story to start

So here I am. My first time to blog. HMMMM what do I say. Well I thought this would be just as good a time as any to start this. You see this is not the only new thing in my life. I have just made a career change.
I am finally going into ministry full time. I have been a youth pastor for 11 monhts part time and now I take the big plunge. It is a big deal for me as I have been in a family owned and run business for over 13 years and was a big part of it. My family has been great about it. They have kinda seen it coming to so they were a little prepared.
I think that this will be a great place to share as I go through all this stuff which I am sure will be new to me. Things I think that will have to be written out. Right now I am so excited about it.
I can give a little info on me, I am 30 years old, happily married and have two kids, a girl 4 and a boy 3 months. I live in the Bahamas on an Island called Abaco. I know tuff life, but hey someone has got to do it. The work I did before my career change, I was jeweller and designer of hand made jewelry. I loved the work but not as much as I love working were God is calling me and building relationships with the kids in my ministry.
So I am not going to just ramble on I will leave more for the next post. But I will be posting alot, so keep checking in, to see what will happen next.