Shock and Awe

Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness, and pride of power, and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear ... Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

On Holy Ground

A few things on my mind and my heart this morning and I would like to share them for prayer. Here is a summary:

1. Bob Fukumoto in hospital again with post surgery complications. (He donated a kidney to his nephew)
2. Gerry Fowler taking the funeral for his mother-in-law today (Sat.)
3. Thankful for a good meeting with Stephen Freed and some of my leadership team
4. Thankful for good board meeting and great board members at ITCA
5. Thinking/planning/praying ahead of ILT meetings this next week

It is a beautiful summer-like Saturday morning and Yvonne is away with an old and dear friend, so I have some quiet time to reflect and pray. Once again, we have come through a very productive and powerful week of life, work, ministry and relationships.

We had our ITCA Annual Meeting and Board meetings on Wed. and, the Annual Meeting is when the audit of the prior year's books is reviewed. Thanks to some great work by our team, we had a good and clean audit which, is never taken for granted. With a lot of growth and mobilization last year, we find ourselves in the tightest cash position we have experienced in years. Again, thanks to good people, good leadership decisions and great teamwork, we are making adjustments that should reduce this stress but, it will take us the balance of this year to address these issues.

Stephen Freed (International Director) joined me and some of my leadership team on Thurs for a broad ranging discussion on organizational, philosophical and historical matters relating to our mutual commitment excellence in mission and effective missionary mobilization and deployment. It was a good time and my team said they learned a few things. Stephen and I both commented that it felt a bit like old times. Thanks Stephen.

Friday our team of business and ITCA leaders gathered for an Africa reunion and debrief. What a great group! We laugh easily, share our lives and even the tears come as we look at pictures, see names in print and remember the people who impacted us. We gathered for an evening presentation at Pastor Bill Horne's church and that too was meaningful. I positioned myself so I could see Enoch (former refugee) during the presentation and his face would light up with joy as he saw pictures of his old friends and former home. I was touched by his spontaneous response to go stand by Pastor Bill and ask if he could say a word of thanks to his church. With sincerity and elegance, he thanked his new church of brothers, sister, mothers, fathers and grandparents. We stood on holy ground last evening as we witnessed the transforming power of Jesus in this man. And, Bill's church has been transformed by the presence of these African 'former' refugees.

As the Africa presentation was ending I got a call from Gary Sharpe who was at the home of Bob and Jan Fukumoto. He said, "Neil, its not good, Bob is in rough shape." Bob will have more tests in hospital today, but he is in a great deal of pain post the surgery two weeks ago when he donated a kidney to his nephew. There are complications with the blood flow to the bowel and it is quite serious. Please pray with us for Bob (and Jan and family).

Gerry Fowler joined us for much of this week although, he had to get back home Thurs night so he missed the Africa Team reunion and, we missed Gerry. I'm amazed at the time Gerry gives to IT and thankful for his deep commitment and experiential wisdom. Those of us on the ILT will see Gerry next week, as he makes his next investment into our lives and ministry. Today however, he is with Betsi and the extended family, being husband, dad, grand dad, friend and pastor. Betsi's mom 'graduated' to glory this week and the family asked Gerry, the eloquent and sometimes emotional speaker, to conduct the funeral. We will pray with you Gerry and "give 'em heaven!"

Thanks for reading, thanks for caring and thanks for praying. I'm reminded this morning ... "No one does this alone."

Blessings today,
Neil

Fighting Injustice

"And so the poor continue to hope, while injustice is bound and gagged." Job 5:16

We fought injustice wherever we found it, no matter how large, or how small, and we fought injustice to preserve our own humanity.

Nelson Mandela

My '2x4' weekend is half done

Its a long weekend and Tues morning I'm off to a Leadership Development course for the week. Yvonne is away in Regina with two of her girlfriends, and I am at home, alone with tons to do before I leave. Lately, I've hit a whole new level in my 'multitasking' and my mind and spirit are weary. You might say, 'mega multitasking'. But then again, who would say something like that? In any case, you get my drift!

It has been another long winter but for me, the spring always brings with it inspiration! These days, I don't feel like I have the same level of fitness I did say, this time last year. So, let's put the multitasking on hold, and for four days I'm doing two cardio workouts per day. That's my '2x4' weekend!

So, its the evening of day two and I'm half way. Now what?


I had a good run in the morning. The sun was bright and warm, but the wind had a damp bite to it. Thanks to some good gear I have (not new but good), I was able to be comfortable temperature wise, but my legs got heavy from the middle point onward. The last small but long hill was a killer. As I use this running as training for my participation in the annual Ride for Refugee (http://www.rideforrefugees.com), I pulled memory images of refugees I've met over the years. I called to mind the fact that they can't quit the journey, so, I am not going to quit either!

[Rest]

In the early evening, I hit the trails on my off-road bike and even though it was still sunny, the North wind had power and bite. The idea was to ride easy, get a little lactic acid out of the muscles, but the wind and the soft trails made the ride more challenging than I expected. Sections of the trail were still soft from the spring thaw and I saw some snow, hiding in gullies away from the suns rays.

It was neat to observe the wildlife going about their spring chores too. A beaver was startled as I approached, several ground hogs scurried for cover and lots of birds sang me along the track. Taking it all in, the trail, the wildlife, the setting sun, is half the pleasure for me!

At the end of the day I have that sense of satisfaction that comes with pushing myself and seeing how I respond physically and mentally. Today, I did okay.

Tonight I'll do a little stretching, a lot of resting and see what tomorrow brings.

Things don't change that much ...

God was executed by people painfully like us, in a society very similar to our own ... by a corrupt church, a timid politician, and a fickle proletariat led by professional agitators.

- Dorothy L. Sayers,
The Man Born to Be King (1943)


Note: The proletariat (from Latin prollees, "offspring") is a term used to identify a lower social class; a member of such a class is proletarian. Originally it was identified as those people who had no wealth other than their sons. The term was initially used in a derogatory sense, until Karl Marx used it as a sociological term to refer to the working class. From Wikipedia.

St. Augustine

Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.

St. Augustine

‘Regard others as better than yourselves’

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.

- Philippians 2:3-7

I read this verse today while scanning the sojourners blog and it 'hit me' again. You see, I have a lot of writing and corresponding to do today and, I realize the my attitude aint a whole like like Jesus'. Sometimes I feel like I've taken on the 'role of a slave' -- but can I really take on the 'attitude of a slave'?

I know I need to get my 'tude' adjusted before I start my writing.

Comments anyone?

Economic Recovery

I red this on the Sojourners Blog recently. Its a quote from my friend, Brian McLaren, taken from a larger article on "Mobilization", an initiative to end poverty. He's looking at the illness in the US economy. Take a read ...

So our economy is in the emergency room, and the doctors are doing triage but they still haven’t reached a full diagnosis of the disease — or better said, the complex of diseases — with which our economy is afflicted. We, as people of faith in the God who proclaims good news to the poor, have every reason to suspect that a key element in our as-yet undiagnosed economic disorder is a failure to properly care for the poor.

We, people who believe in the God who identifies with the least of these, have every reason to believe that if you want to check the health of the economy, you begin by checking the blood pressure of the poor. If you want to treat our economic illness, you begin with those most weakened by poverty. If you want to measure improving health, you check the vital signs of the poor.

I'm with Brian, and a host of people from our generation and those who have gone before us. That is, the way we respond to the "least of these" in our world, is an accurate barometer on the health of our economy and our culture.

What say ye?

Problems? What problems?

"Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them."

-Albert Einstein