Practical Justice...

is the name of a book that I started reading a couple weeks ago.  It is written by a Christian who spends a lot of time ministering to the opressed and the poor.  Most recently I read the section of the book on "giving a man a fish" where he talks about direct handouts:  what it looks like to directly help someone, what it can cost, and what not to do.  In addition to that, I started reading Isaiah in my quiet times, which is a lot of God criticizing the rich for making money by oppressing those who are in need.  God promises to return and give both the righteous and the wicked what they deserve.

Anyway, I think I read the chapter in Practical Justice on Wednesday morning.  That day it was raining so I rode the bus to campus and was thinking about walking home that evening because I felt like it.  As I was walking down green street a man named Charles greeted me on the street.  I could tell immediately from his manner that he wanted something from me (or was selling something), and sure enough, he told me he was homeless and asked if I would help him out.  Due to some other circumstances that God brought about, I was relatively free for the evening and so I agreed to buy him dinner, where he told me that he was a Christian, has been all his life, and his favorite passage is the ten commandments.  Also during dinner he asked me for a few different things that boiled down to more money, which I did agree to take him to Goodwill and buy him a coat, while refusing to give him $40 in cash.  

So I drove Charles and a buddy of his, Marcus, to Goodwill and bought him a warm coat and a pair of pants.  Marcus had walked over to buy some food at a fast food place, so we drove over to pick him up there, and parked to wait.  As we sat in the parking lot, I looked over my left shoulder to see the restaurant, and then to my right and saw a liquour store, and then started to wonder which door Marcus would come out of.  Sure enough, he came out of the latter establishment.  Charles assured me that he was talking to somebody there, cuz he knows lots of people, but Marcus hadn't seen us right away, and I saw the bottle in his hand and the look in his eye when he spotted us.  His story was that Long John Silver's didn't have change for a $50, so he had to go over there to get change.

I'm really glad I had the whole experience.  I was exposed to the realities of the poor.  I can't say that I really got a taste of it or that it hit me full on.  But I met and talked to some guys who have to walk everywhere and sleep on the streets.  

I'm glad I put some food in Charles' stomach and I'm glad I put a warm coat on his back, and I'm glad I didn't give him any cash :).  I also figured that since he said he was a Christian (whether he is or not) and I was buying him dinner, that he wasn't going anywhere, so I talked as much as I could about Jesus.  I told him one of my favorite passages, I talked about what I've been learning about trusting God in grad school, and about what we studied in Bible study the night before.  When he thanked me I told him to thank God, because I wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't for what God has done for me.  This kind of thing is outside of my comfort zone and risks my belongings and takes my time, but I think it's what Jesus would have done. 

I apologize if it seems like I'm tooting my own horn here, I don't mean to be.  This is something that happened to me.  I've been praying for opportunities to share the gospel and to be a part of caring for the poor and the oppressed, and so I guess I shouldn't be surprised when God gives me a chance to do both.

Life without mah internetz?

Last Monday the internet at my apartment was down all day. This did result in a few minor emergencies-I had to frantically redo some homework on campus so that I could print out the proper graph. However, I have recently been thinking about how I spend my time and if I am actually as busy as I think. That day definitely illustrated to me how much I use the internet for AND how much time I waste online. I also realized that I really could do without the internet. I'd have to either stay on campus or go back to campus after dinner to do homework in the evening and check my email less frequently, but that really isn't that drastic. After I finished my homework on Monday evening I sat down and read a book instead of reading news or browsing the internet. So what if I fall behind on reading xkcd or miss a deal on something at Newegg, having a slower pace could be nice. As an inadvertent illustration to my point, I'm writing this on campus while I'm in between events, and thirty minutes just wasn't enough time for me to feel like getting some homework done (especially since it isn't due until next Monday).

I've also decided that I think that my blog is one of the most unattractive blogs on the net, so I may play around with the template and color scheme.

have a fabulous Thursday

Home-schooling strikes again!

I just read an article about a twelve-year-old girl who got bored with high school coursework and is now attending a community college.  She is applying to go to Yale for pre-med next year.  The thing that I liked best about the article is that her parents said that others asked them "Aren't you rushing things?"  Which is a pretty valid question, but their response was that it was their daughter who has these goals and dreams, and so they're just being supportive.  I though it was cool that they aren't pressuring her, she's making her own decisions with their help.  Sounds like home-schooling at it's best.

My Hero for today...

is Daniel Ellenson.  He is the author of one of my favorite techno songs ever, Inside of Me,  and I just discovered that I can download it for free on his website.  If you're a fan of techno/trance, you should check it out.

In other random news, yesterday I went swing dancing and had lots of fun.  Apparently they also have a big Halloween swing dance, so I need to come up with a costume.

My class today was cancelled, so I need to get lots of homework done so that I can go camping tonight and still have enough time to do 3 homework assignments, grade lab reports, and study for a test and a midterm, all of which are due by Thursday.  Smile!  God loves you.

Politics (gasp)

One of the worst accusations politicians receive is that of being a flip-flopper, or of changing their position.  So when new information or more experience causes them to change their position on an issue, they're required to quietly and carefully start saying something different, while hoping that no one will notice that they said something else six months ago.

Today I read an article on a recent interview of Senator Obama by ABC's George Stephanopoulos.  In this interview Sen. Obama made it as clear as a politician can that if he becomes President he will not raise taxes if the economy is still in a fragile state.  This is a far different plan than what he presented when he was still one of several contenders in the Democratic Primary (largest tax increase in near history), and a moderated plan that he presented this summer as the presumptive Democratic Nominee (moderate tax increase no matter what).

Critics of Mr. Obama might say that this was his plan all along.  First to court the liberal Democrats that he needed to make a strong showing in the Primary and then switch to a more moderate position when it's important to be able to court more conservative/moderate voters.  Personally, I think that if that's the case, he deserves the Presidency.  Anyone who can plan that far ahead to achieve success should be able to do at least a half-decent job of running the country.  Far more likely is that as time has gone on, Mr. Obama has been doing some thinking about what he'll really do if he gets to be in charge.  This thinking has led him to a position that, in my humble opinion, is much wiser than his original plan.  Which, if this is the case, simply means that Mr. Obama is willing to learn and adjust his position to what he believes is the correct one.  I consider this an admirable trait.  However, "change" would have to include a smaller government, a balanced budget, and a pro-life posiiton before such an admirable trait would cause me to consider voting for him.

Brightened up my day

This just in from the Wall Street Journal Best of the Web Today.  Fred Thompson spoke at the Republican National Convention and had this to say of Sarah Palin:  

Thompson describes Palin as "the only nominee in the history of either party who knows how to properly field dress a moose, with the possible exception of Teddy Roosevelt." It's not clear if he means TR might have been able to field dress a moose or Palin might not be able to field dress TR.

My work here is done.

Apple

Finally I have definitive proof that Apple has set out to make their products a status symbol so that people will pay more for Apple products that do less than what the competition is capable of.

I am Rich

Someone developed a screensaver for the iPhone and the iTouch that is priced at $1000. What does it do, you ask? Cure cancer? Solve world hunger? Give it's owner the ability to fly? No. It displays a glowing red gem, so that all your friends will know how rich you are. I'm just waiting for a rogue software developer to start selling the same thing for $3 a pop.

Has a sandcastle ever gotten the best of you?

One evening that I was in Oregon, I decided to go for a run along the beach. I headed down to the beach and started running along the edge of the water. It was high tide, so there was only a thin line of damp sand between the waves and the really dry sand. I ran right along the edge of the water, using the excuse that the sand is the most firm there, while it was really just because it was most fun. Within the first couple minutes I came to a huge sandcastle. Just as I approached it, a big wave came up and around it so that I had to either wait or run around to my right on the really dry sand. I decided to wait since I didn't want to get my shoes sandy. After a couple seconds it looked like the water was only a half inch or so deep in front of the sandcastle and so I went for it.

It was precisely at this moment that I discovered where all the sand for the sandcastle had come from: there was a hole about two feet deep right in front of it that I managed to skillfully locate by leaping directly into it. My right shoe/leg got soaked and I got sand and water all over me, but I wasn't really cold, and had just started my run, so I just decided to keep going, running through the shallows splooshing and splashing. As I went along the whole turn of events struck me as absolutely hilarious, so I started laughing at myself as I went along. I felt like I had been on the discovery channel, "Little did this jogger know that moments ago, local children had just completed a clever trap." So I continued along the beach, sometimes on wet sand, sometimes splashing through a foot of water. I started passing some people and got quite a bit of enjoyment out of the strange looks I got as I ran through the waves with a big silly grin on my face.

Camp, In Review,

Was wonderful. I was at Lake Ellen for three weeks. In contrast to two years ago, I was a counselor instead of an Area Director/Counselor. So much better! The first week I had 11-13 year olds, the second week I had 9-11 year olds, and the third week I had high schoolers. I had to adjust quite a bit, but each week brought its own challenges and joys. In those three weeks, two kids in my cabin recommitted themselves to Christ and two others prayed to receive Christ for the first time. It was thrilling to be working on the front lines encouraging kids to pursue God and righteousness and to be reconciled to Him. The staff were also amazing. If circumstances were different, I'd room with any of the guys that I worked with in a split second and whatever the non-creepy equivalent of close friendship is with girls would be the same. I'm really praying that God will make a way for me to be able to spare the time and money to be there for all summer next year.

Lake Ellen is probably my favorite place on earth. Nowhere else have I been so challenged to grow and seen God do such amazing things around me.

Sunset at Loon Lake


Derek Gladstone and Myself


Roughly the Trailblazers' team, from left, Derek,
Me, Joie, Rochelle, Andrew, and Sarah

Blogging Time!

I just caught up on reading all my friends' blogs. Okay, well, all of Megan's new posts. Apparently she's biking around doing sweet music stuff, which looks like fun. But you don't read my blog to hear about what my friends have blogged about. If you want to read Megan's blog go here. And you should. But anyways.

One of the things that I thought about in Zambia was about how many clothes I have, and that I should get rid of the ones that I don't wear, because someone else could probably use them. Over the last few days I went through my clothes and got rid of a bunch. I started with T-shirts. I discovered that when I hunted down every last one and counted them, I had over forty--Mildly disgusting to me. So I got ride of twenty of them or so, sweet! I also got rid of a bunch of other things, so now the only clothes that I have are ones that I'll actually wear, and I won't need a U-haul to get them down to Champaign in the fall.

One of the back speakers in my car blew out, which made me sad. I talked to Brian Spangler about it and he just happened to have speakers the right size and a receiver sitting in his basement that he wants to get rid of. Or did he just happen to have them? Hmmm. In any case, assuming that that works out, I will be one happy driver.

I read an article today on BBC talking about how the US needs to end its love affair with the car. Unfortunately, my love affair is just beginning :P.

That is the end of my random thoughts and a little bit about what I've been up to. Hope you enjoyed it.