July 26 Uganda Journal

Watoto Church service. 4 services, movie theater. Packed house. Powerful word, music, video. Talked about vision, and without it, the people will perish. The church cannot be understood without a peroper understanding of two things: the Kingdom of God, and the convenant relationship with our Maker.

'I will build my church.' I've heard this twice in one week, both from African pastors. Our responsibility is to quip, and love one another through the building of community and relationships.

'The dead sea is dead because it does not receive.'

Finding it quite a challenge being the mediator between African/Western notions of time and detail. When I ask how long till we get there, I get 'soon.' When I ask if we can have water, I get 'yeath, we will get you water sometime.'

Tonight we had the cultural dinner. A little long, but still entertaining and a good experience for the team. We sang 'Amazing Grace', then turned it into dancing. That was a moment I knew would be remembered for a lifetime.

No net tonight. One less barrier for my mosquito with malaria.

July 25 Uganda Journal

L o n g flight. So embarrased to even admit it, but I couldn't find my passport this morning. I had it in the office, or so I thought. I arrived a few minutes early to Ebenezers where the team was congregating to leave for the airport. No passport.

Perspiration. Scary thoughts of not making the flight.

I raced home with only a few minutes to spare. I fantrically searched for it. At this point, that's the ball game. Over. Finished. But Kate suggested we look in the books on the shelves. Within a few books, she found it in 'Story'. Fitting.

Smooth flight travel from there. Exit row. Met a pastor from Baltimore doing great things with AIDS in the community. Need to connect with him.

Our place is nice. Pool and everything. Met tonight in the midst of a wedding party photography shoot. Shared about our remembering our 'calling' for the trip and the 'cost' it took to get here. Reminded them of Ebenzers and what it meant (hither to the Lord has helped us). It took calling, it took action, it took support from others.

Writing in a mosquito net. Silence. Now African music in the distance. Ocassional bug zapper. Probably my potential malaria.

I'm in Uganda. Kind of hard to grasp.

We out

25 NCCers have raised $17,000 to help build a classroom for an orphanage for an organization we're partnering with in Kampala, Uganda.

I've been with a lot of teams and gone on a number of trips. Feel like I say this every time, but this group is pretty phenomenal.

Our goal is to emulate Philippians 2:

"Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine rights;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross."

That passage haunts me: "gave up his divine rights". Tough to swallow in the midst of our title-driven, Bill-of-Rights empowered society. That's all good in the hood, but the Kingdom of God operates in paradox. Our team is full of leaders in the military, in Congress, in business, education, law, the arts and so on. I've asked the team to strip their titles, give up their "rights" and humbly serve and be available as Christ would choose to use us.

In order to truly lead, we must learn to serve. So excited to serve this team, and most importantly, excited to serve Watoto Ministries and the impact of their ministy.

Just called us to board.

We out!

baptism by the bay

I'm a sucker for baptisms. Stamp it, seal it, guarantee it: I cry everytime. Nothing like watching people take a public step of faith by acknolweding their belief in Christ. I think the pictures capture some of the feeling from everyone. Cool part is, we did it in the Bay.

Austinians

To backtrack a few days.......

Don't accumulate possessions, accumulate relationships. I recently asked my parents what they would grab before they ran out of their burning home.

The answer: nothing.

I love that. I feel about the same with the minor exception of my photographs. I know Christ didn't accumulate anything of material value when he was around. There is a weightlessness that comes with knowing you could take or leave anything you own. It keeps your heart and attitude focused more on giving than holding tightly to the stuff, the things of no eternal value. Try giving something of material importance to you. It'll set you free.

All this to say....wouldn't trade spending time with my close friends Jay and Jill Diloreti for the world. I met them both in Denmark back in '01/'02 and we immediately hit it off. Kate and I ended up moving to Florida where they were living for a few years, so our history goes back to some formative experiences.

They have since moved to a city just outside Austin, Texas. Got to see their baby Stella, the home they've completely remodeled, and remind ourselves of why we place so much value on relationships such as this.

Don't accumulate possessions.

Accumulate relationships.

My cubbies

It's those loveable losers that tear my heart out every October. I have a lot of scar tissue build-up.

Good to see them live at least once. And they won! Aw yeah.




-- Post From My iPhone

Public safety

Filming a small project on the importance of "mission critical" technology (using tech during natural disasters). Chose Galvistan because of Hurricane Ike that just came through.

Fun to be out and spending time with men and women passionate aboutpublic safety. They are the first ones in and the last people out during hurricanes.


-- Post From My iPhone

Video Shoot

This year, we sent 10 teams to 10 countries in 12 months. Thailand to work with former sex slaves. Malawi to serve an orphanage. Dominican Republic for construction. Northern Ireland for leadership training. Ethiopia to minister to those infected with HIV. Kenya for education. New Orleans for housing repair. Lebanon for interfaith dialogue and educational training, and Uganda to work with Orphans and former combatants.

Ready, set, go! The Christian paradigm is opposite: Go, set, ready! If you wait to be ready, you'll never go!

Our vision was simple this year. Go! Be the hands and feet of Christ to those in need.

It was the hope that we could tithe 10% of the church to short term missions. We did just that! 150 went on a trip this year.

Participating in God's Kingdom at around the world is my growing passion and calling, and so to witness so many come together in solidarity and celebrate wins and share stories was overwhelming last night.

We topped it off with a 10-hour film-shoot in the streets of DC. We rented some serious equipment too.

Jeremiah 22:16
"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me? Declares the Lord."

bike across america

Kate and I had a few hours during the day to kill, so we shot up to Great Falls, MD. Incredibly scenic and only 7.5 miles outside the District.

We ran into a few guys that clearly were serious about Cycling. They had the fashion and physique. Came to find out they had biked across America three years ago. They were on a "little jaunt", biking from Philadelphia to DC and back.

I've always felt like that was an endurance test beyond my limits because I'd never take the time to properly train. This guy seemed to think otherwise. "All you need is a good bike, some time and a craving for adventure. Anyone can do it." It took them 50 days to cross the US. That's about 70 miles/day.

I've definitely got an adventure streak in me. Felt some dopamine kick in when he told Kate about it.

Our family has camped across America. Think I need to bike across America too.

Good Reads

I had a 52 books in 52 weeks reading goal on my New Year's resolution. For what it's worth, my "library" is not a testament to knowledge. It's simply because I love to learn. My number 1 in my top five strengths is "learner." This evolved because I never read when I was young.

Can't get enough now.

Hole in Our Gospel - Richard Stearns
This will be in my top five reads this year. As President of World Vision, one of the largest Christian humanitarian organizations in the world, Stearn's phenomenal life adds weight to his words as he culturally and spiritually critiques what is missing in our view of the Gospel in light of the poor, brokenhearted and destitute.

Love is an Orientation - Andrew Marin
Another must read. Andrew Marin elevates the MUCH needed conversation between the gay and Christian community. It's honest. It's uncomfortable. "I must confess that I am not afraid of the word 'tension.' I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. The Christian community has been running from that constructive, nonviolent tension for too long when it comes to gays and lesbians." It has received high marks from both sides of the aisle. People need to read this book.

Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson
"A nation's success is not gross national product, but 'gross national happiness.' On their warm, dry roofs, among the fruits of their successful harvest, eating, smoking, and gossiping with the same sense of leisure as Parisians on the terrace of a sidewalk cafe. Mortenson felt sure that, despite all that they lacked, the Balti still held the key to a kind of uncomplicated happiness that was disappearing in the developing world as fast as old-growth forest."
This is an astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his remarkable humanitarian campaign in the Taliban's backyard.

The Black Swan
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Sort of a more philosophical "Freakonomics". Economic theory for lay people. Taleb rides this manifestation of the unpredicted event(disproving the theory that all swans are white) into a range of phenomena, such as why a book becomes a best-seller or how an entrepreneur becomes a billionaire, taking rest stops with philosophers who have addressed the meaning of the unexpected. Taleb projects a strong presence here that will tempt out-of-the-box thinkers into giving him a look.

Humility - Andrew Murray
This is a classic that one can glean new insight from after 20 re-reads. It's short, but phenomenally challenging.

The Blue Sweater - Jacqueline Novogratz
Three Cups of Tea meets Africa. Challenging our assumptions about economic empowerment, "the white savior", and social development in Africa. The book is most interesting when it touches on the difficult decisions that Novogratz and her team must make about financial empowerment—should they charge interest on loans to poor women? Can working women find acceptance in a patriarchal society? But these dilemmas are facilely glossed reminiscent of Thomas Friedman's style, keeping the book in an uncomfortable limbo between a personal narrative and a primer on globalization.

The Iliad and the Odyssey - Homer
I've been on a greek tragedy kick. A reminder about the timelessness of human nature: we're driven by fear and gain.

Less Than Two Dollars a Day - A Christian View of World Poverty and the Free Market - Ken A. Van Til
A FANTASTIC primer on the philosophical beginnings of Capitalism and how the biblical mandate to serve the poor.

Unfashionable - Tulian Tchividjian
Unfashionable challenges us to stop imitating the world and start working to renew her.

Some on the horizon:
The Stuff of Thought - Language as a window into Human Nature - Steven Pinker
Predictably Irrational - The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decision - Dan Ariely
Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin
Save the Cat Goes to the Movies - Blake Snyder
Story - Robert McGee
Dead Aid - Dambisa Moyo
The Fate of Africa - Martin Marideth
Global Shadows - Africa in a Neoliberal World - James Ferguson
Irresistible Revolution - How to be an Ordinary Radical - Shaine Claiborne

Happy Reading!

I'm in

I did it. I took the plunge. Reluctantly.



Follow me

family

It was typical.

Within 3 weeks, a beach-house was rented and the family invited. In the end, everyone but my brother-in-law ascended for a few days in Hilton Head, SC. Each shared the burden of sacrifice to make this happen. Outside of my marriage, this is the single most important group of people in my life.

What a gift to be with them.

Couple memories:
Driving all night
Die in Amsterdam
6 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, pool and hot tub
Hugging everyone for the first time
Sand dollars
Starfish
Sandcastles
Buzz word
Hearts
Water Wars
Rough housing
Bike riding on the beach
Bike accident
Book of Bunny Suicides
Pomegranate punch
Putting the kids to bed
Miniature golf
South of the border
Coffee addiction
Birthday cake
82 games of candyland

Hilton Head

Cycling on the beach with my nephews and niece.

Soaked up every minute with Jacob, Brett, Drew, Ethan and Elise.

who are you doing it with?

Met as a team on the first night and the sight of everyone brought a smile to my face.

Someone prayed a simple prayer of thanks:

"Thank you that we get to work with people that like each other. That's not necessarily a given. But, every one of us would work together if we had the choice. What a gift."

I love coming to work everyday, in part because it's not a job, it's a calling. But also because of the people I work with.

It's not about what you do as much as who you're doing it with.