Saturday, May 29, 2004

Do you want to help fund the education of a future leader??? Contact us!!!

This is a “shout out” to my friend Boy. He has gotten accepted into all the schools to which he sent applications. He has a love for language and the art of poetry. He recently shared with me a possible dream of becoming an English teacher at Belmont High School. Blessing on whatever path God would lead you to take. Keep growing in Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom.

this is an audio post - click to play

Congrats Jamie!!!

Jamie Dykstra, Jude’s cousin’s daughter, graduated from Biola University with honors and received a degree in Arts and Mass Communication with an emphasis in 3-D Computer Animation.

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Thursday, May 27, 2004

Happy B-day Steve and Congrats on your engagement!!!

Some celebrations mark by their substance something of what we pray for: “The Kingdom of God”. The range of people and backgrounds, diverse histories and cultures that came to our home to celebrate Steve Scharf’s birthday and his engagement to be married to Sandy was a wonder in itself to behold. What was more important was the quality of love shared among us all – I John 1 fleshed out. Love this deep (Ephesians 3:14-21) is the tangible reward of pursuing God’s reign in our lives.

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Tuesday, May 25, 2004

What I plan to spin today at KR

Solar System 3:39 Bill Mallonee & Vigilantes of Love Audible Sigh
Track 03 3:46 Wayne Lytle Animusic
Power of Love 5:08 Barry Taylor Love Songs for Underdogs
Salvation 2:24 Cranberries Best Of
Track 07 9:27 Martin Luther King
Praises In the Old Tonge 1:21 Ark Angel Ark Angel
Track 03 4:51 Apt Core #2
Morning's Anthem 5:46 Ark Angel Ark Angel
Track 06 3:35 Apt Core #2
peacemaker 4:28 Marie Brennan Whisper to the Wild Water
Say a Little Prayer For You 3:36 Aretha Franklin Best of Aretha Franklin
So Beautiful 4:54 Barry Taylor Love Songs for Underdogs
Track 08 2:55 5 Blind Boys of Alabama Spirit of the Century
Track 07 3:20
Nothing But the Wind 3:31 Mark Heard Satelite Sky
Treasure of the Broken Land 6:23 Mark Heard Satelite Sky
I'm Gonna Live the Life 2:37 Mahalia Jackson The Greatest Gospel singer In the World
Track 12 2:29 Mahalia Jackson The Greatest Gospel singer In the World
Track 01 2:15 John Micheal Talbot Come to The Quiet

Monday, May 24, 2004

A response to some musings...

Confussion is not an end point... rather part of a real process of searching and asking questions. We act on our limited understanding at any given point in time. We must act on our convictions even though we "see through a glass dimly"...and our actions have consequences.

All roads do not lead to Rome...

Nor are all paths equally good...

"The Content and Quality of Our lives are built on the Content and Quality of Our Relationships with God, Ourselves, One Another, and the Environment".

Our collective human condition desperately needs re-examination. I too take out the trash knowing that it will go to a landfill... I need a better wisdom to do better than this...

Good religion allows us to probe our lives with depth and honesty... and wrestle with our true condition... without flattery...

There are many voices... but each one of us will choose a voice and will walk a path...

I hope I can send you a smile at least when our paths cross.

What does trust look like?

Trust is evident when people are willing to share with you secrets and know that those secrets will be kept sacred.

Sometimes it means that those who are addicted to something will show you what they are addicted to... and will test your reaction to the facts.

Sometimes it means that memories from the past come out that no one else can know.

It is easy to say "Love the sinner and hate the sin". It is harder to do.

Here are a few things that I have learned to do that has gone a long way in helping to really learn how to get to the love part:

1. Bless the good that you see in every person.

2. Learn to ask simple but basic questions that can let you demonstrate that you have a capacity to listen. Then really listen. (Still working hard on this one...)

3. Food and drink in scripture is connected to loving our enemies and hospitality. Generosity goes a long way in establishing new lines of trust. You can bring the coffee and the Hot wings to the next sports party.

4. "Where your treasure is ... there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6)... you cannot fake this... people want and need love... Learn to love people and use things rather than loving things and using people.

Once we have earned people's trust... Than we can with humility help people get in touch with the consequences of sin... exposing it for what it really is... A form of slavery that leads ultimately to many different proximates of death and death itself. Remeber that Conviction is the work of the Holy Spirit and God tends to be inclusive in this process of conviction and transformation. There is a reason that the best person to reach an addict is an x-addict. Do not distance yourself from being part of the human condition. And don't forget that people need to here about Jesus multiple times and in different ways. They need to see demonstrations of Christ's life at work within you. Most people hear about Jesus over 7 times from 3 or more people before they make a decision for or against following God.

The level of trust and love we really have for each other and others will often guide others response to our message of "Good News". I John 1!

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Pay attention and don't turn our heads away from our own flesh and blood. Isaiah 58, Matthew 25

Crisis on the Street Summit
May 4, 2000
Sponsored by:
Union Rescue Mission, Center for Religion and Civic Culture
Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness
California Council of Churches

Willie and I had the privelege of going to this conference together. He captures the core thoughts and info presented very concisely in his blog.

We now have a large number of homeless women and children on the streets. This is not the way for any child to grow up. These are the ones who for whatever reason are not making it from welfare to work. These are the ones that are being priced out of the housing market. We can do something about it or let ourselves develop another group of "untouchables" that Jesus would identify with... "The quality of our government and it's practices will be judged and measured by how we treat the weakest and most vulnerable in our society".

Monday, May 17, 2004

MAY Update -- Greetings from Los Angeles.

For this update we will focus on two items — our mentoring initiative and the relocation of our friend Willie.

Mentoring Update:

These past months, during spring semester, we have been working with a small group of young adults who are in community college. Our plan was to mentor them while they in turn mentored and tutored younger children in the neighborhood. In exchange, they receive scholarship money to help buy college books. We believe that the hope of neighborhoods is when the youth become leaders in their own neighborhoods, passing on to the next generation what they are learning.

Once a week (sometimes twice) the young adult mentors attend one of our tutoring sites to help the younger ones with school. Last week, one mentor was delighted to see how much progress Danny had made since they have started working together. Just as important, these young adults are role models for the younger ones, modeling good choices for their future.

Once a month we (InnerCHANGE staff) meet with them as a group for capacity building — training for tutoring and also spiritual input. We have had wonderful times together. The scheduled time is two hours, but they usually stay late into the night to talk with us, often with questions about spiritual things, trying to understand what it means to follow God. One young woman has made a decision to follow Christ, and two are very close to that. As we finish the semester, we will give each of them a copy of Don Postema’s “Space for God” to help them keep growing. Two of them will be moving into a discipleship house run by our friends at the local Evangelical Free Church. All of them hope to keep tutoring.

Willie’s Relocation:

Relocation is costly, as anyone who has moved knows. But relocation from prison to life on the outside is not only costly but presents unique challenges. On March 31, our friend Willie was released from Avenal State Prison. He was given $200.00. If John had not picked him up, he would have been put on a Greyhound bus and sent to LA. The Greyhound station is next to skid row, so this is where he would have landed.

We have known Willie for 10 years, since John’s first summer in LA when Willie was living on the streets and John did Bible studies with him at the local bus stop. A lot has happened in 10 years, too long to go into here, but Willie has grown a lot in the past years. He has demonstrated a commitment to sobriety, is looking for a church home, and is sharing his faith with others.

But where do you live and how do you find work if you have no references for housing or jobs??
With the help of faith partners and family, were able to help Will find a room. At $182.00 a week, it is no bargain, but the best that is available without references. He is grateful for a temporary job for two months that pays $7.00 an hour, cleaning up after a construction crew. John has supported his desire to try to start a small business selling things on ebay to supplement his low pay. Will is especially interested in selling Christian CDs, so if you have any you would like to donate, please send them to our P.O. Box.

Thank you for all the ways you have provided for us. We are enjoying the privilege of extending demonstrations of love and words of faith without immediate financial burdens. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Peace and Grace,
John and Jude Tiersma Watson

InnerCHANGE LA
Box 17367
Los Angeles, CA 90017

jtiersmawatson@crmnet.org

Thursday, May 13, 2004

A Poem attributed to Mother Teresa

"This poem was written by Mother Teresa and is engraved on the wall of
her home for children in Calcutta."
------------------------------------------

Mother Teresa's Poem


People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive them anyway..

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies; Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the world the best you've got anyway..

You see, in the final analysis,
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Check Out Crazy for JC, May 10th.

Crazy for JC is on a good track towards Following Jesus. Check out her May 10th entry.

Humility at the roots exposese the imperfections in our own motivations. We call out to others to be transformed... and continue to embrace the need for our own transformation.

We see this in the Spiritual life. Can we see this in public policy...

We need the honesty of the book of Judges, Kings, and Chronicles...

We need to speak and face the truth about ourselves... at all levels...

We all need to look to a bloody cross; we fail as "hero's".

What I plan to spin on KR

5/11/04 JAW KR The Hyperesthesia Show

1. Track 01 0:49 Martin Luther King
2. Track 03 2:26 Blackalicious Arrow
3. Everything is Broken 3:15 Bob Dylan Oh Mercy
4. Zombie 5:07 Cranberries Best Of
5. Track 07 9:27 Martin Luther King
6. Track 03 3:24 5 Blind Boys of Alabama Spirit of the Century
7. Track 01 3:52 Stained
8. Track 02 5:10 Lauryn Hill Un Plugged
9. They All Fall Down 5:23 Grits
10. Track 05 0:35 Martin Luther King
11. The Trouble with Normal 3:37 Bruce Cockburn
12. Track 03 5:20 Azreil the Activist Axiomatic
13. Track 21 5:43 Cross Movement
14. Never Give Up 3:17 KRS ONE Spiritual Minded
15. Track 01 3:09
16. Track 02 0:56 Martin Luther King
17. Track 06 2:55 Julie Miller Orphans and Angels

Saturday, May 01, 2004

A B-day Shout out from Christy and Norma

I am learning that every friendship can have it's God given purpose. That God invests all of life with meaning and that it is up to us to learn to pay attention to this... Open our eyes more God!!!

Thanks for your Friendship!!!

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Thanks for the Birthday Blessings

First I want to thank all that came out to Maggee's Donut Shop. It was a big Surprise. I am learning to pay closer attention to the gift of every life and the gift of every day.

Thanks for the card that said "Birthday Blessings" & "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace." Romans 15:13 This is the point of life. To Actually be filled with the source of life... which comes from God and is manifested in Joy, Peace, and Love.

Thank you for coming...

Roxy & Salvador
Boy & Laura
Norma, Norman, Miriam, & Jessika
Sal
Willie
Nate
Natalia
Magda & Nolan
David & Andy
Guia & Damon
Barbie & Yoshi
Christy
Scott (God bless your expecting wife)
Ida
Reina
Ciby
Paul
Melanie
Rikkell
& the Love of my life!!! Jude!!!

Thank you to those who couldn't come but remebered my birthday!!!
I am Thankfull to God for this gift we call life that we get to share with one another.


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