Just came across a great Flickr plugin that creates a photo album and a way to imput recent pictures in a post. I’m using it for another project I’m developing but wanted to give Joe Tan a shout out for a great Wordpress plugin.

I fianlly went over to Starbucks and bought a pound of their “Fair Trade Certified” coffee, the Cafe Estima Blend. Its a bold coffee which I thought was kinda odd because you won’t reach a large crowd with a bold coffee, but hopefully they will soon release a medium or mild blend so more types of coffee lovers will be able to support fair trade coffee. Head over and pick up a pound for yourself today!

[tags]starbucks, fair trade coffee, fair trade certified[/tags]

I’m working on a editting a new theme, so excuss the dust and non-working aspects of the page.

Ben

I have been trying to read a chapter of “The Revolution” every day or two. I have really been taken by this flood of thoughts and action dealing with Christians and social justice. Ever since Bono challenged the faith communities to stand up and take action something clicked in me. I have started reading websites about it like One, Data, Make Trade Fair and Make Poverty History. I’m trying to find my role as a Christian and being a consumer, an advocate and making a real difference in peoples lives whether locally or globally. My wife makes fun of me because I wanted coffee and the store didn’t have any fair trade coffee and I told her that it hurt to have to buy it. I think this whole movement boils down to dying to self and thinking of others first. I keep you posted on how all this begins to work out in my daily life.

I just finished Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. I know that I had to come to a place where his words would make sense to me. I know conversations, podcasts, reading a blog posts and books has brought me to a place where this made sense. I was engulfed by his writings, I could put it down. His friendships and adventures where things I would have loved to experience. I would love to worship at a church like Imago Dei and be encouraged to live a life that finds fulfillment in giving it away. Wow! I want to pick up all of his other books soon. I paragraph in the 17th chapter on Worship really hit home for me because I know I have lost this felling.

He starts off saying, "I love how the Gospels start, with John the Baptist eating bugs and baptizing people. The religious people start getting baptized because it had become popular, and John yells at them and calls them snakes. He says the water won’t do anything for them, it will only get their snakeskins wet. But if the mean it, if they had faith that Jesus was coming and was real, then Jesus would ignite the kingdom of life within them. I love that because for so long religion was my false gospel. But there was no magic in it, no wonder, no awe, no kingdom life burning in my chest. And when I get tempted by that same stupid Christian religion, I go back to beginning of the Gospels and am comforted that there is something more than emptiness of ritual. God will ignite the kingdom life within me, the Bible says. That’s mysticism. Its isn’t a formula that I am figuring out. It is something God does."

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My friend Sean posted on his blog on myspace has an interesting conversation starter about religion in schools and the following is my response to him.

When we Chloe in to school this year I was having a discussion with the owner of the Montessori School about what I did and who I worked for (I’m a minister and work for a church that was started by another well known church in town). She asked why we didn’t want Chloe in a "Christian school" like the one offered by the well known church had? I told that its my responsibility to teach her about God not a schools and if we were providing her that education then we didn’t need to rely on her school whether public or private. In fact I almost rather her not be in a school that doesn’t hold to Christian belief the way we do.

I understand not having religion in school and don’t think its needed. We have rights like all other groups on campus do to hold meetings (like FCA) and we can pray whenever we want and don’t need a specific moment in the day to talk with God. Teaching religion in school is a crutch for the students and their parents. It all stems from the Constantine idea that religion needs to be a part of the government and since that dream Christianity has be hijacked and taken for a ride to prove points and agendas. The church flourishes as an underground movement focused on people and doctrine (which is what most class on religion end up being about) just look at Christianity in country’s where it is banned like China and Burma, North Korea and India. Its amazing the power of God moving in people to keep meeting to worship and praise Him despite knowing they could be taken away to prison and tortured. Compare that to America full of lazy Christians who sit on their butts and do nothing. Finally we have come to a generation of Christian today that have picked up the things that matter most to God, loving Him and loving people and are doing great things to help in social justice all over the US and the world. Sorry for the rant, just something I think about all the time.

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I am really digging Blue Like Jazz from Donald Miller.  The stories he tells about peoples encounters with Jesus and how they feel him chasing after them are amazing.  To see how non-believers really view "Christians" is heart breaking, but completely understandable.  We have allowed some to hijack the name and be a what some see as a mouthpiece for us all.  Any ways I working my way through it and recommend it to any one who really wants to hear what non-religious people think about being Christian and stories of how they can be brought to the feet Jesus and really encounter them.

Also, I was reading Dan Kimba’s blog and he was talking about a message series they just rapped up at Vintage Faith about being the church.  At the end he gave them all white postcards and had them answer the question, I dream of a church…?  The responses are great.  Check them out at his blog. It inspired me and I hope the be able to use that idea in teaching sometime.

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I received two short notes yesterday one from a great friend in Savannah and one from Corey Mann.  It is so interesting how a few little words can change your mood and demeanor.  Got me thinking that I probably haven’t sent enough short note of encouragement. 

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