Madsen Cycles

Hi Folks.  See that button over there ——->

Yeah, the one that says Madsen.  Click it for me and check out their site.  You see, they are having a contest and by linking to their site I entering a contest to win a bike!  So, help me out.

Thanks

Scenes of A Revolution

No Words.

Stand With Iran

I have temporarly changed the header of my blog to green to stand in support of the reformers in Iran.  It is my prayer that our brothers and sisters in Iran will reap the rewards of a free and fair election.

السلام عليكم Assalau alaikum my frineds.  Peace be with you.

More info on how to help the reformers: (direct copy and paste from the link)

POSTED BY CORY DOCTOROW, JUNE 16, 2009 3:25 AM | PERMALINK

Yishay sez, “The road to hell is paved with the best intentions (including mine). Learn how to actually help the protesters and not the gov’t in Iran.”

The purpose of this guide is to help you participate constructively in the Iranian election protests through Twitter.

1. Do NOT publicise proxy IP’s over twitter, and especially not using the #iranelection hashtag. Security forces are monitoring this hashtag, and the moment they identify a proxy IP they will block it in Iran. If you are creating new proxies for the Iranian bloggers, DM them to @stopAhmadi or @iran09 and they will distributed them discretely to bloggers in Iran.

2. Hashtags, the only two legitimate hashtags being used by bloggers in Iran are #iranelection and #gr88, other hashtag ideas run the risk of diluting the conversation.

3. Keep you bull$hit filter up! Security forces are now setting up twitter accounts to spread disinformation by posing as Iranian protesters. Please don’t retweet impetuosly, try to confirm information with reliable sources before retweeting. The legitimate sources are not hard to find and follow.

4. Help cover the bloggers: change your twitter settings so that your location is TEHRAN and your time zone is GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location and timezone searches. If we all become ‘Iranians’ it becomes much harder to find them.

5. Don’t blow their cover! If you discover a genuine source, please don’t publicise their name or location on a website. These bloggers are in REAL danger. Spread the word discretely through your own networks but don’t signpost them to the security forces. People are dying there, for real, please keep that in mind…

#iranelection cyberwar guide for beginners (Thanks, Yishay!)

Are They Really That Angry?

I am at a loss for words as to why republicans and their talk radio puppet masters are so angry at the president.  Why are they actively hoping for his failure?  Why do they shoot down everything he proposes?  Why are they doing everything they can to try to cause him to fail?

They holler when he proposes an economic stimulus package.  They call him a free spending irresponsible dope.  They chastise him when he proposes a way to pay for the stimulus by raising the rich peoples taxes to a rate that was lower than it was under their hero, Ronald Reagan.   They say we need heal care reform, but refuse to look at any option that does not boost their shares in the insurance industry.

They propose to boycott GM because the government has stepped in to SAVE THOUSANDS OF JOBS.  They call GM a socialist enterprise.  They will not by AMERICAN because somehow their fragile little bubble has been burst.

Ed Schultz went on a tear last night about this:

Ed: We are talking about hundreds of thousands of Americans.  And this is what they have?  They openly say, if you‘re angry.  No, I think the word is “if you hate Obama.”  If you hate Obama. If you can‘t stand the fact that he‘s having success as a president.  If you just hate the fact that this guy has got a 60-plus percent approval rating.  He‘s trying to save American industry.

If you hate him that much, don‘t buy a GM and don‘t buy a Chrysler.  Now the thing that bothers me, this is the crowd that was on the president because they didn‘t—he didn‘t wear a lapel pin. This is the crowd that wrap themselves in the flag and said that the liberals weren‘t American.

His tirade was against Hugh Hewitt who called for a GM boycott as a way to resist socialism.

To all those who wish to fight socialism please do the following:

Stay of the Interstate Highways;

Do not call the fire department when your house is burning;

When your house is robbed do not call the police;

When your grandmother is sick do not allow her to use medicare;

When your kid needs education do not use the public schools;

When you are sick do not take medicine becasue it has been tested by the socialist FDA;

Do not leave your house because our streets are owned by the people, those socialists;

When you need a book don’t you dare step foot in the library;

When you want to deposit your paycheck it better not be in a bank since they have been bailed out;

When your bank fails you better not ask for your federally insure money.

Seriously, Is this the end of the world?  Do you care more about power than being a citizen?  These are bad times.  Sacrifice is needed and maybe we should stop thinking about just ourselves for the moment and think about our neighbors.  We take care of each other.  Friends, that is what it means to be a citizen of this country.  We look out for our neighbor when she is down.  We pay more to the commons when the commons are most needed.

Before you get all hot and bothered about the government helping to bailout workers, the manufacturers, the base of our economy (without whom we would have no economy) think about how your neighbor, friend, family member will be effected if they do not.

First Attempt at Video

This past weekend I accompanied some kids from Hyde Park Union Church to the Mississippi Palisades State Park for an overnight camping trip.  One of the girls, Becca, took a bunch of amazing photos of insects while we went on our hike.  I decided it was time to play with my new MacBook and make a video of the pictures.  Let me know what you think.  The music I used is my favorite piece of music, Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber.  It is performed by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

National Infertility Awareness Week

There are only a few days left, but Mae came across this.  

The below is from her blog.  I hope with the health care reform will address those of us who have insurance, but do not have fertility treatment as part of our plans.  You can read our story at her linked blog above.

“So…RESOLVE.org is where I got the info about NIAW 2009.  “RESOLVE.org is a community for women and men with infertility and provides information, support and opportunities to take action.”  Like I said – I’m new to all this, so I can’t give you much more info.  I’ve just discovered the website and I’m really hoping it’s helpful.  Check it out.   Also, spread the word on NIAW.  I’ve just recently come to the realization that I need to let people know what I’ve been struggling with the past 2 years.  Up until my miscarriage, there were a very select few who knew 1) that we were even trying to have a baby and 2) that because of PCOS, it was not going well.  After I lost my child, I felt that one way of coping with the loss and infertility was to finally share with the world the struggle I’ve been living with.  It was hard.  I cried as I was sharing the news with those I love the most, let alone with complete strangers!  I still feel shame about my infertility, and it’s difficult to have this blog and put it all out there for the world to see, but I also know it’s something I need to do or I will go insane.  Please – if you you feel comfortable, pass on the news about this awareness week, and share something of your own struggle!

Also, from Stirrup Queens, I’ve discovered the pomegranate thread that those of us living with infertility are to wear to identify one another.  I’ve recently gotten the correct thread and tied it on my wrist.  Here is the write up direct from Stirrup Queens explaining all of this:

“For anyone who has ever had a miscarriage, struggled with pregnancy, and all things infertile…there is a movement upon us that you might want to join. It’s rather simple actually: a discreet ribbon on your right wrist to signal to others that they are not alone in their struggles.

“As someone who has had 5 m/c but am currently 5 months pregnant (YEAH), I wonder who looks at my big belly with sadness because they are in the month-to-month struggle. I mentioned to a friend that I wished there was some secret nod or international sign as if to say, this belly was hardwon. Well, she posted this quandary on her blog (http://www.stirrup-queens.blogspot.com/) and the response has been quite overwhelming…and a movement has been born!

“The pomegranate-colored thread holds a two-fold purpose: to identify and create community between those experiencing infertility as well as create a starting point for a conversation. Women pregnant through any means, natural or A.R.T., families created through adoption or surrogacy, or couples trying to conceive during infertility or secondary infertility can wear the thread, identifying themselves to others in this silent community. At the same time, the string serves as a gateway to conversations about infertility when people inquire about its purpose. These conversations are imperative if we are ever to remove the social stigma attached to infertility.Tie on the thread because you’re not alone. Wear to make aware. Join us in starting this conversation about infertility by purchasingthis pomegranate-coloured thread (#814 by DMC) at any craft, knitting, or variety store such as Walmart or Target. Tie it on your right wrist. Notice it on others. Just thought I would pass the word along!”

Our Farmers Our Friends

Check it out!

Our farmers were featured on 190 North, a local news show.  Click here for the link of the video podcast.  The story is little less than a quarter of the way in.

We get our meat from Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm.  Beth and Jody are great people with a great product.  We get beef, pork, poultry and eggs in our monthly share.  This is a great deal.  Our meat is sustainable raised and because of that the animals do not need antibiotics no do they need growth hormones.  The are taken to the processors when they natrually get to proper processing size, not artifically inflated.

Check it out.  They are great.

Gotta Serve Someone

Here is the sermon I am preaching at Reconciler tonight.  Thoughts are welcome:

Sermon 5th Sunday of Lent — 3/29/09
Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm119:9-16
Hebrews 5:5-10
John 12:20-33

Gotta Serve Someone

Hear these words from the Psalms.  This comes from the alternate choice for this Sunday.  Hear now Psalm 119:9-16 (read from Bible).

Let us pray:  May the words of my mouth and meditations of our hearts be acceptable to your purposes of grace.  Amen.

Sisters and Brothers I bring you greetings from your friends at North Shore Baptist Church.  It is really strange me being up here today.  For those of you who do not know me or my history with Reconciler, although I haven’t been around a lot recently I have been with this church since before she had a name.  Reconciler has been a formative milestone on my spiritual journey, and my love for her will remain as long as I do.

*****
The year was 1933 and a young single mother named Dorothy Day started a newspaper that helped to make people aware of the Catholic Church’s role in social justice an led to the formation of “houses of hospitality” that were there to provide shelter and food for those in need.

The year was 1942 and Clarence and Florence Jordan and Martin and Mabel England founded a place called Koinonia Farms as a “demonstration plot to the Kingdom of God.”  A place where anyone regardless of their race can come and live in peace.  Living according to the following precepts:

1. Treat all human beings with dignity and justice

2. Choose love over violence

3. Share all possessions and live simply

4. Be stewards of the land and its natural resources

The year was 1960 and a 22 year old young woman named Diane J. Nash helped found an organization called the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.  Ms. Nash helped lead sit-ins that lead to the desegregation of lunch counters in Nashville, TN.

It is the late 1990’s and a man clad in a cassock made from tattered blue jeans — jeans taken symbolically from the dead — the man in the cassock walks into the middle of gunfire in the killing fields of Cabrini Green.  Brother Bill Tomes has made this journey countless times.  Brother Bill only knows how to handle the gang bangers one way.  Through the love of Christ.

It is 2005, not too long after Hurricane Katrina devastated Bay St. Louis, LA, and a preacher known as the Screaming Frenchman has returned home.  Tugged like Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem the Frenchman returns home.  He seeks to see after the spiritual needs of those in his hometown.  Seeks to rebuild a place of worship that ends up being the spiritual epicenter of Bay St. Louis

****

The Lord God of Israel, through Jeremiah, promises the people of Israel a new covenant.  “I will put my laws within them, and I will write it on their hearts,” says the Lord.  “No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.”  The Torah, the law will be written in their hearts.  Their God will no longer be an impersonal, distant deity; No their God will be within them and always present.  They will know the voice of their God.

Earlier in Chapter 31 of Jeremiah we are told of the promised return of the exiles.  After years and years away from their land there are promised that they will be returned home and it will be a joyous time.

They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
and they shall never languish again.
13Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
14I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the Lord.

It is after this joyous return that the Most High promises them even more.  This is when the new covenant is promised to them.  Not only are they being returned to their land but they will KNOW the LORD.  They will have the Word written on their hearts.  The word that was in the beginning with God and the word that was God.  There are to be given their voices.  There are people of God.  They are the voice of God.

The Greeks come to Jesus and Jesus proclaims, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”  In the section just previous to today’s reading the Pharisees have just said, “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!”  Jesus is being glorified here as the savior of the world not just the Messiah of Israel.  This is points to the fulfillment of the promise of universal salvation.

He then explains what one must to in order to truly follow.  It is one of those passages that make it seem impossible.  “Those who love their life must loose it.”  Here, again, Jesus is asking the near impossible.  When he spoke to the rich young man he told him to sell everything and leave his family.  These things are hard, and I think indications that we are to rid ourselves of the things that inhibit us from doing what is really required, “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am there my servant will be also.  Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.”  Whoever serves me the Father will honor.

The author of Hebrews describes Jesus as a great high priest.  A high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.  Meaning that Jesus was of the highest order of priest.  Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High, and the patriarch, Abraham, paid him a tithe.  But unlike a normal high priest who is chosen from among the people Jesus was appointed by the Most High to that position.

These passages contain the building blocks for how we are to serve the LORD.  If Christ is the great high priest who was sacrificed for everyone and the new covenant promised to the Israelites was to have the word written in them then when the great high priest was glorified as savior of the world we were included into that covenant, and because we are part of the living body of Christ we are to serve as priests to one another and to the stranger.  We are called to be the voice for those who have no voice.  We are to serve as Christ would serve.  That is not just our calling but our duty as followers of Christ.  We are the priesthood of all believers.

The folks I mentioned at the beginning were just a few of the people serving as priests.  Serving and honored by the Creator.

These people did extraordinary things.  Some of us are called to be such voices.  Be it through writing or activism or art.  Others are called to priestly service in other ways.  By giving hospitality to those who need a place to sit and rest.  By holding the hand of a child as they are crying over a scrapped knee.  By fixing a meal to nourish our family and friends.

Many folks, Christian or not, serve as priests to one another.  I can think of many of my good friends who are not Christian who serve and show God’s grace whether they intend to or not.  That is the miracle of Grace.

As followers of Christ, though, it is our duty to serve.  We do not have a choice.  This is what Christ means when he says we must loose our life.  This is leaving our family and selling our possessions.  We must open ourselves up to truly be servants of the LORD.  We must give over all of the things that burden us.  The things that inhibit us from showing others the grace of God.  We must accept and live within that grace.  For to live in the grace of God is to share that grace with everyone around.  Once again, the miracle of Grace.

The prayer in the Psalm we prayed at the beginning of the sermon can be our guide.  Here these words again:  (read from Bible).

In everything we do we should exercise our priestly authority and gifts.  These gifts we have have been given to us to glorify God and to share God’s never ending never fading love.

If we sew:  may it lift someone’s spirit so that they experience God’s Grace.

If we write a song:  may it be a psalm unto the LORD.  A song that tells a story beyond words.

If we teach:  may each moment be a grace filled chance to open a pupil’s eyes to the wonder that is creation.

If we draw:  may the images be those that reveal the glory of God.

If we cook:  may we feed.

If we sing:  may our voice rise with the angels.

Even in this dark time of Lent as we make our way to the shadow of the cross; may we through our duty as priests of the Most High always reveal to those in need the hope that is coming on the third day.  The hope that was promised to the Israelites in exile.  The hope that is the new covenant.  The hope that is the being drawn into the the loving arms of the the one who is glorified.  The hope that is Jesus the Christ.

Amen

Goodbye, my sweet baby. Rest now my angel.

Family and friends. Please follow this link to a beautiful post written by my wife.

Zippy, We love you.

Tis The Week!

Of the St. Patty’s Day onslaught of One Of The Girls!  Make Plans now.