Driving Around In A Fog

Sunday morning I had to drive through the thickest fog I think I have ever seen. I couldn't see more then about three car lengths in front of me. It was really kind of odd. I knew where i was just because i drive to church so much I could do it my sleep, but it felt like i was somewhere else. Many of house and buildings on the sides of the roads were missing . Shopping centers were out of sight. The water towers and office buildings had been swallowed in this thing fog as well. I imagined myself back in a time before cars, lost, but only a couple of hundred feet from shelter, but not knowing it. I really found it kind of cool. And I don't think I'll look at fog analogies in the same way again

Apostle to the Irish - The Real Saint Patrick

Lat year on St Patrick's Day this was Chuck Colson's Breakpoint. I thought I would share it with you all on the St Patrick's Day.

Oh - and Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

If you ask people who Saint Patrick was, you're likely to hear that he
was an Irishman who chased the snakes out of Ireland.

It may surprise you to learn that the real Saint Patrick was not
actually Irish-yet his robust faith changed the Emerald Isle forever.

Patrick was born in Roman Britain to a middle-class family in about A.D.
390. When Patrick was a teenager, marauding Irish raiders attacked his
home. Patrick was captured, taken to Ireland, and sold to an Irish king,
who put him to work as a shepherd.

In his excellent book, How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill
describes the life Patrick lived. Cahill writes, "The work of such
slave-shepherds was bitterly isolated, months at a time spent alone in
the hills."

Patrick had been raised in a Christian home, but he didn't really
believe in God. But now-hungry, lonely, frightened, and bitterly
cold-Patrick began seeking out a relationship with his Heavenly Father.
As he wrote in his Confessions, "I would pray constantly during the
daylight hours" and "the love of God . . . surrounded me more and more."

Six years after his capture, God spoke to Patrick in a dream, saying,
"Your hungers are rewarded. You are going home. Look-your ship is
ready."

What a startling command! If he obeyed, Patrick would become a fugitive
slave, constantly in danger of capture and punishment. But he did
obey-and God protected him. The young slave walked nearly two hundred
miles to the Irish coast. There he boarded a waiting ship and traveled
back to Britain and his family.

But, as you might expect, Patrick was a different person now, and the
restless young man could not settle back into his old life. Eventually,
Patrick recognized that God was calling him to enter a monastery. In
time, he was ordained as a priest, then as a bishop.

Finally-thirty years after God had led Patrick away from Ireland-he
called him back to the Emerald Isle as a missionary.

The Irish of the fifth century were a pagan, violent, and barbaric
people. Human sacrifice was commonplace. Patrick understood the danger
and wrote: "I am ready to be murdered, betrayed, enslaved-whatever may
come my way."

Cahill notes that Patrick's love for the Irish "shines through his
writings . . . He [worried] constantly for his people, not just for
their spiritual but for their physical welfare."

Through Patrick, God converted thousands. Cahill writes, "Only this
former slave had the right instincts to impart to the Irish a New Story,
one that made sense of all their old stories and brought them a peace
they had never known before." Because of Patrick, a warrior people "lay
down the swords of battle, flung away the knives of sacrifice, and cast
away the chains of slavery."

As it is with many Christian holidays, Saint Patrick's Day has lost much
of its original meaning. Instead of settling for parades, cardboard
leprechauns, and "the wearing of the green," we ought to recover our
Christian heritage, celebrate the great evangelist, and teach our kids
about this Christian hero.

Saint Patrick didn't chase the snakes out of Ireland, as many believe.
Instead, the Lord used him to bring into Ireland a sturdy faith in the
one true God-and to forever transform the Irish people.

Chuck Colson's Breakpoint: March 17, 2004

Tooting My Own Horn

I made it through 34 years in my life without ever being in the news. On January 16th an article ran in the Sunday Daily Herald in the Neighbor section that mostly interviewed my friend Rocio, but also featured a couple of quotes from me. I figured I would put it on here because it saves me from having to type out something longer on my own for a couple of days

Sidewalk salvation
Group finds field work the best way to spread Christian message
By Henry Stuttley Daily Herald Staff Writer

Armed with religious tracts, blankets and brown bags stuffed with
food, Rocia Rosas and other members of the Chicago Outreach Ministry
stroll through downtown Chicago.

As they pass the busy shoppers on State Street, they spot a homeless couple cuddling in the cold as they sleep on the corner.

A sign reading, "Just Plain Hungry," is propped up against them while several suitcases and a trash can sit behind.

Rosas, of Carol Stream, kneels and offers them sandwiches, potato chips, a thick blanket and socks.

Without hesitation, they accept.

After eating, Rosa prays with the couple.

"You don't have to stay out here," she says before calling several shelters to find refuge for them. "When you get back on your feet, always seek God first."

Rosas and other members of the Chicago Outreach Ministry believe they're called by God to travel outside of the church to spread their Christian message.

Members of the ministry, an evangelistic group, are parishioners of Harvest Bible Church in Rolling Meadows.

Once a month, Rosas, who is Chicago Outreach's discipleship coordinator, helps lead a group of volunteers that travels around the Chicago area.

The trips are as much a mission to spread Christianity as they are an attempt to help people.

Consisting of six to 20 people, the volunteers also pass out spiritual bracelets and questionnaires about religious beliefs.

They have set up prayer stations at O'Hare International Airport, Grant Park and Navy Pier, where they held their first outing in 2002.

Volunteer Patrick Gaffney of Naperville said it's a way of going outside the walls of the church rather than waiting for others to come to God.

"You can take it to people and not be offensive and in their face," he said. "If our faith is so important to us, it shouldn't be something hard to talk about."

Some reject their message.

But some have become Christians or renewed their faith in God, organizers say.

The one-on-one ministry is something many Christians embrace as the best way to spread the word.
Some talk about their faith at work, sporting events or even grocery stores.

Listening to people will make a difference, too, Gaffney said. But he doesn't believe God would want him to always be silent.

"If Christ is the most important person to you, you want to talk about him," he said.

Beware The Ides Of March

Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene ii

SOOTHSAYER: Beware the ides of March. CAESAR: What man is that? BRUTUS: A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. CAESAR: Set him before me; let me see his face. CASSIUS: Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar. CAESAR: What say’st thou to me now? speak once again. SOOTHSAYER: Beware the ides of March. CAESAR: He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass

Beyond the Gates of Splendor

A couple of years ago, I went to see Steven Curtis Chapman on his Live Out Loud Tour. It is a concert that stays in my mind two years later. And its not because of the great music or the friends I went with. The memories of that night that are the strongest for me is when Mr. Chapman performed his second set. Rather then doing the normal "concert thing" of just being up there on stage with his band singing his songs, he did something that was much more powerful.

Steven and his band still performed bunch of songs, but they thematically linked together his songs with scenes from a movie that was being made about the story of Waorani tribe from Ecuador, the missionaries who lost their lives trying to reach them, and how the love of God and of the families of the victims of those murders changed the Waorani from a group of murdering people with no rules, to a group that is now doing the same work the missionaries went there to do, reaching out to the surrounding tribes in the name of Christ. After he was done with the set, Steve Saint (the son of one of the missionaries that was killed in 1956) came out and spoke about how the people there has impacted his life. It was so amazing to hear how the grandson of Nick Saint considered one of the men who killed him his adopted grandfather. It was very powerful, and my copy of the Book "Through the Gates Of Splendor", in which the wife of one of the slain missionaries tells the story of the five that were killed and of her living with the tribe that killed them a couple of years later, was borrowed by about five of my friends. And I knew I would have to check out he movie when it came out.

The movie, "Beyond The Gates Of Splendor" did come out late last year, and had a very limited release (three cities no where near Chicago). But last night my church was luck enough to have a screening for our missions fest. so after a couple of years of waiting, I got my chance to see it. As I implied above, I have read the book "Through The Gates Of Splendor" in which Elizabeth Elliot tells her and her husbands story- and the story of the others to a lesser degree. And it's a great, powerful, classic.This movie does a great job of telling that story, with lots of photos and home movies from the families of the missionaries. But it goes beyond the story told in "Through Gates Of Splendor", and gives us a very detailed picture of what the Waorani were like in the years before anyone had contact with them, with interviews of the people of the tribe telling about there childhood, and how commonplace the spearings were.

The movie also tells us the story of the tribe from their conversion to today, and how it inter-winds with the families of those men murdered all those years ago. One of the most powerful moments of the film (which was also one of the most powerful images of the concert as well) is of Nick Saint's grandson talking about his adopted Waorani grandfather, who is one of the men who speared his grandfather to death. It's just amazing how these people embraced the people who killed their husbands, fathers, and grandfathers. It's the kind of miracle is only possible with God.

If you get the chance, please take the time to see this film. I do not think you will regret it.

It's a Bird...

I have a blurb for this on my sidebar, but I feel like getting a little deeper into it. And isn’t what blogs are for?

I spend a wonderful couple of hours this afternoon with the graphic novel “It’s A Bird…” written by Steven T. Seagle and art by Teddy Kristiansen. This is a book that I think deserves a place among the all time great graphic novels, such as Frank Muller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s “Watchmen” (for any of you out there that are not familiar with these books- they are widely considered among the best mainstream comic novels ever produced)

The book tells the story of Steve, a guy who has become a comic book author, a career path that surprises him since he spent much of his childhood not liking comics because he associates them with the death of his grandmother when he was five. When we meet the Steven of today, he is dealing with his father going missing, a long term relationship, and being offered by his editor the chance to write the character he most associates with the tragic events of his past, Superman.

It's amazing the way Seagle weaves his charactersers views of the man of steel with the events going on in his life. Not once does it feel forced. They help us to see what is going on in (the character) Steven's mind, and his emotions.

The art by Teddy Kristiansen is perfect for this volume as well. The style changes for the different aspects of Superman's world we look at, and there was not once where I thought he made the wrong choice.

This book works on so many different levels, and doesn't misfire on any of them. From human drama, to superhero deconstructionism, and even as an insight to the creative process of an author. It's one of the finest comics I've read in a long long time, and I really hope some others out will share in the experience of this book

Memories

More then once I have tried to write the story of my life. Not that I think its all that intresting, Its just something I’ve tried to do.

It’s harder to do then you would think. Memories don’t seem to flow from a point A to a point B. The memory of kissing a girl when I was 15 isn’t next to the Chrstmas of that year (which was only a few days later), It’s next to memories of the last girl I dated. Even the memory of the wake I visited this evening isn't next to the meeting at chuch I went to an hour later, it's next to the memories of my great-grandmothers wake when i was 8 or 9. and Greg Vinson's wake when I was 19 or 20 and had to face a friend dying for the first time in my life.

It’s hard to access memories in a way that it makes sense as a story. I can tell what happened at certain times and in certain places. But to make my whole life into a story, it’s harder then I thought.

One neat thing about writing. I have had this idea for some charaters and a setting for them bouncing around in my head for years, but I could never figure out a way to make it work. It was these bits and peaces of this story, and I knew they were the same story, but I couldn't figure out what the story was. I think I may have figured it out and I've actually started to do some research on things.

I just wish I could make the story of my life fit together in the same way.

Random Thought from a Geek

I've started to do a blog a couple of times before, and here's how it normally goes. I write a bunch of stuff for a week or two, and then I forget about it. I'm started blogs on Zanga (I think that's what it was called.) I started one here on Typepad not to long ago, and then quickly forgot it. And yet, here I am again. Leaving my footprints out here on the world wide web once again.

So I don’t know what I’ll be writing, but my goal is to leave something on here at least once a week. It may be my thoughts on something that happened in the world, a review of some comic book I have read or a TV show I have watched.

Depending on how this week goes- it may or may not count as my entry.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for reading. LEave a comment and let me know what you thought. And please come by again.