A note on the links

I have found once again the "online Prayer Guide" a real helpful tool to nurture my soul towards the love of God.

Kate Hammette and her art work is deeper than it first appears.

Seed Graphics is my MoM and she is making some incredible cards that she has for sale...

Emaus Ministries is working in a real tough context...

Hands of Hope functions on the flip side of similar struggles...

In each link for me is a face to face friendship. I do not always agree with everything represented... I do however value the friendship and how that friendship has influenced me. Let me know if any of the links are helpful or inspiring.

Also let me know if you have a web page or blog...

Yesterday... Turkey and Stuff

Last night I tried to call my mom cause I needed some advice on cooking a turkey. Well her phone was busy so on an inspiration I called my friend Dora. She knew all the important facts that I was missing about cooking this large bird. More than that We are witnesses to each other's journey. She had some things I needed to hear.

My heart burns with a call not to be silent -- I want to see the church vibrant and alive in my day...
Isaiah 58, Ecclesiates 4, Matthew 25.

I can be available to preach on these texts in the LA area if there is a pulpit that needs to be filled...

Back at the Station

I am tired today. An end of the year kind of tired. A I can't hang with Jr. high youth forever kind of tired. I cooked a turkey yesterday and finished putting it in the fridge at 1:00am in the morning and still got up for morning prayer at 8:00am.

Today I am playing Bruce Cockburn Christmas Albumn

And Reflecting on parts Luke 1... my favorite Christmas Text.

Well it is not working... when I finally found the earphones... It became clear that what I was streaming did not have the sound quality that I wanted. This is the last time I try to stream music on tape at the station.

Now streaming part of last year's Christmas show.


The best of it being part of
Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol". to encourage further exploration of this insightful author.

Trip to look for more team members for CRM / InnerChange

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During the Urbana Conference I'll be Kicking it in the Armory and spending the time doing collage with whoever is interested.

Continuity and Discontinuity

The links and blogs and expressions on this blog are first and foremost because of relationships that matter to me. I hope that is an act of love to share my worlds of relationships with you... however big or small it seems to you.

I have been mildly depressed for the last couple of days because I have a young friend who seems to have joined the local gang. He is a young leader and my influence is only one of the voices in his life. I am angry inside because I know too many people that have died from the violence, or the drugs, or are locked up in prison. What many of my friends lacked was a world large enough for their dreams. Street level friendship was their only comfort. Please pray for us...

I had a friend who helped save me from a lifetime of self destructiveness. He allowed me into his life. Showed me a world I never knew before and got me to desire to learn. He provided a model for part of what I do now.

What does it mean for the church to carve out paths of hope for people? Lost and disconnected is a human condition that I run into both in and out of the church... and sometimes it is me too.
Reconciliation to God without reconciliation to one another creates a distortion in the Christian message that kills the soul. (I John1)

Some kids are not "safe" but need to belong somewhere. The gang says yes you can belong to us... The Church isn't quite sure what to do about embracing the "sinner"... And that in some way is all of us...

Mercy... I have a gift of Mercy and it gets in the way of church planting because I often want to bring into groups people who do not know how to conform to those groups...

There is a reason that Jesus and our neighborhood gangs take public space seriously. Jesus showed up and demonstrated the truths he was talking about...

show and tell...

The Gangs do the same thing when they mentor others... What is at stake is not just how we think, but how we live... And Public space is where the you and I becomes Us.

There are limits to understanding certain Biblical truths... if we avoid the context they are meant to be understood in... Private Prayer... and Public actions.

An Acts 2 quality of life had a whole lot of people talking about life... Are we going to wake up in our generation??? "When the Son of Man returns will he find faith on the earth???"

Like I said I am feeling somewhat blue and angry today... I hope my rumblings are redemptive...

It is sad when the next thing one is waiting for and longing for is a Fictional movie... "The Return of The King"... at least we will get a fictional taste of heroic sacrifice for the sake of the good of all. Then we will go on and...??? Wake Up Neo the Matrix has you... Follow the???

Soren Kierkagaard warned us about a time and a future society in which the greatest desire of most men would be to have more money. Many will live and die thinking if only I had enough money I could have really lived the "good life" or a life of significance.

Mother Theresa Just sought to love one person at a time... at least she loved!!!

Do not underestimate the value of love burning in your heart.

Be angry and don't sin because of your anger. Don't let the sun go down and stay stuck in your anger... it helps me to bleed a little on this page... thanks for listening.

A thought on how words and symbols shape us.

There are thoughts we can not hold on to because we have not learned the words to comprehend them. John 1:1-14. Knowing is rooted in being... words are tools of indication... nothing is sweeter than revelation. WAkE Up !!! Maybe you lack an experience of God because there are a lack of revelatory words in your life. Maybe you have already been touched by God but lack the language to understand.

We are shaped by what we persue and study. Focuss is our responsibility and our side of choice in matters of perception. I John 1.

Strange LA Land Fragments

Today

I saw an Elderly Man sifting through some trash. He came accross a Mcdonalds bag and proceded to with some eagerness pull out some condiments.

A friend of mine asked me for some advice after having had a negative experience with astral projection.

A Homeless friend informs me that another mutaul friend who has been missing for a while is in a Rehab. A simple gift of a pen helps him smile a bit after telling me how depressed he has been.

Our mini-subway system was shut down right when I was about to get on it.

Today we looked at Matthew chapter 2

Matthew Chapter 2 is one of the most uncomfortable parts of the Christmas story. It show how tyranny and power is challenged ultimately by God the infant child Jesus Christ. It shows that religious leaders can be coopted by evil men. God works out our salvation from the inside out. First by sharing our condition of exsistence. Some I think are offended that God gives so much free expression to violent evil men. Inspite of evil people salvation will come.

Revolution that does not transform the heart will ultimately die of the human brokeness that we call sin. The Kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and Christ. We can say this with confidence not because we have to make it happen... but because God will make it happen in the most unlikely of ways... Not by power nor by might... yet we too can represent such intrusions of the coming kingdom with all the realities behind it... we pray "thy Kindom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". Let the revolution start in our own hearts. Embrace God's vulnerable love for you... that came first as a baby... to be God with us "emmanuel".

This is what i talked about on my internet radio show today.

Sunday

Boy and Laura stoped by . It is a joy to see the love that they have for each other.

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Melanie and I took a group of young people to play basketball at Belmont High School. Melani has a killer jump shot... and I had the height advantage...

We played winners took the ball out, and that every time a team scored a basket they had to have every memeber of their team touch the ball before they shot again. This created a lot of team work and passing. No one felt left out.

Since then they have been asking about when we could go play basketball again.

What this day was about.

We learned today that an appartment that we hope to rent come February for the beginnings of youth center may be ours. We will at least one of the top applicants for this appartment. Pray... and we will need to raise some funds for thsi as well. It does seem that God is in this opportunity.

Prayer and Breakfast for with those who could join us in the AM.

In the PM a lot of the Jr. high gals joined Mel and Rikkie for making Chistmas cookies to share with various families.

Jude and I just provided an extra oven because Jude is feeling a little under the weather.

One young friend from the neighborhood joined us for dinner.

A Big Shout Out to Maria Barajas... Her Birthday was yesterday

All we and our neighbors have is Street Parking

This is a common experience for us and our neighbors.

I woke up this morning to move our car. The only space left when I got back from visiting Chris was a space with a meter. (we call this the morning car shuffle.)

when I got into our car I at first didn't realize that something was missing... until I looked up and saw that our left mirror was completely gone. Sheared off by some car that side swiped us... or so I imagine. Fortunately we only lost the mirror and that our door seems to work just fine. From past experience of replacing these parts... these parts are expensive... but I don't like to drive in LA trafic without a Mirror either...

We and many of our neighbors are feeling financially tight this Christmas. What is going to be a lean Christmas just got a little slimmer.

It does not change the real hope of Christmas itself...

And so it goes...

How did I get things done without an office???

Today we celebrated Randa's birthday.

Happy Birthday Randa!!!

She is Sue's assistant who is one of the leaders of InnerChange. InnerChange has moved it's main office to LA 7th and Alvarado. This has allowed us to afford to sublet a small room from them for an office for LA InnerChange. This has been a huge gift to us in slowly getting more organized.

There is a reason why the poor are disorganized. Hardly any space and too much people and stuff in these very small appartments... Kids want to come to my appartment so they can concentrate do their homework... or read a book... or just get a break from their brothers and sisters..

We are dreaming of what it wqould be like to have a youth center in our neighborhood. Space is expensive... We need to raise an additional $300.00 a month to run our office in LA... We need space at times to work without interuptions... Some of our neighborhood youth could use the same gift of space... Sometimes what we can share with them is enough, but many times it is not...

Greetings now you can hear my voice ; )

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The best news for me is news of redemption at any level. We all need another chance at life... Every day if we are honest... It is grace to learn how to receive this kind of Love and be transformed by it. The best of life is free.

Thanks Giving.

On Thanks Giving I set out with the intent of saying thank you as often as I had oportunity. I also sought not to take anyone or anything for granted. Found that I am out of habbit with this and that it lead to a much better attitude towards life.

Jude and I joined her family at Peter and Thea's house in Goleta. Dinner was great and the company a gift to be with... sad that Chris and Roxy couldn't join us this year like they have in the past...

Peter showed me some coins he collected.
Carlo shared his musings on his work world.
Thea had such a great time teaching at UCSB that she was sad to have her class end.
All is well on the farm. We got treated to som citrus fresh picked from the farm.
Ben, Jeanine, and their three kids are all doing the growing up in the family thing and the littlest one of their children, Sara, has no natural fear for trying anything... and quite a handful.

and so it goes...

Also had a great walk by the sea and saw an amazing sight at a butterfly grove...

Saturday we too a hike...

Last Saturday the LAIC team, George Sr. and 9 jr high youth to a 3 mile hike to a visita looking out over some of the mountain ranges... it was a good perspective thing to get a different look at Los Angeles... it was good to get out of the city together... hiking provided a context to just be together and talk without doing anything else... by the time we got back most of the youth were asking when are we going to do this again.

Spinng on www.Kill Radio.org today.

I found a LP of "Great Scenes From Gershin's Porgy and Bess" ... which I will spin and then I will spin some Mahalia Jackson's Christmas and close with a little KRS One if time allows.

I am finding it a lot of fun to have followed some of the youth from my nieghborhood into this context. A big shout out to Adrian and Snapoe1.

For the Christians that ask why are you hanging out with this context... Jesus would hang here with the "sinners" too... I won't live in a "Christian Bubble World"... I would rather be with those that know that there is something wrong with the world the way it is... them is who I hang with... even if we disagree about the reasons why etc.

For the KR Dj's that are sometimes confused by my hanging with you all and being a "Christian" ... I am cool with it I hope you are too. If you read Tom Sine's book "Mustard Seed vs. McWorld" you get a good view of where I am coming from... Or better yet, Isaiah 58 and Matthew 25.

C & R and the car

Pray for my friends Chris & Roxy. Chris just had his car stolen this afternoon. Every time they seem to be financially just about stable another reality kicks in and this just kind of sucks like evil always does.

On the Show today

Today I am spinnig two old favorites of mine.

U2, War

Kerry Livgren, Seeds of Change.

I am caught as a person between the questions of a need for a cry for Justice and the need for personal Transformation. My favorite Old Testament book is Amos, and my Favorite New Testament book is I John. Don't sit there and think Oh the Bible... or yeah I've heard of them... Read them. I guess I am frustrated with people who want me to keep an open mind but refuse to look outside their comfort zone. Dialogue and sharing is a two way street.

A poem I wrot e for Wil's 5th grade Class

I find it interesting that we live in a time where there is soooo much knowledge available and soooo much boredom. This I believe is the natural result of what happens when knowledge is disconnected from personhood and purpose. Children need an expanding answer to the question

"Why"

I go into Wil's 5th grade class to help them understand why we are asking them to work so hard at learning. To get them to own it. Helping people make sense and make meaning out of their lives is part of ministry. Part of the journey of people connecting with God's call on their lives.

I saw a parent wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "DON'T JUST DO IT".

Recover for your heart's sake the wonder in the question why that ultimately is only satisfied in God.

A poem for Wil's 5th Grade class:

Learning is for me
I am going to learn
Everything I need to learn...
So I can be free
Free to be me.

jaw1

Up late and sending a quick note out.

Well... Friday i had the privelege of teaching at Wil's fifth grade class. I have developed a motivational piece for kids to encourage them to own the learning process.

Saturday Valerie and Raymond got married. They are both committed to Victory outreach and are a witness to their families. It is a privelege to witness this.

Friday Pm some of the members of LA St. prod had a last minute carne assada.

Thursday we got help from John stokes about a lot of our Technicle computor questions.

There are many details I have missed these last few days... i hope to say more...

from a song that I love that haunts me in a good way.

"No one gets a second chance to be the friend they meant to be."
(Mark Heard)

Gratitude

I wrote this while reflecting on Luke 4 with our InnerChange community.

It is a gift to taste of heaven
It is a gift to taste of hell
It is a gift to taste
of life -- to exist.

It is a gift to taste and witness
--- Our time
--- Our place

It is a gift to give thanks
and not take what is, for granted.

(by Jaw1)

"Some taste of heaven
Some taste of hell
some lose their taste and cannot tell"

(Mark Heard)

The MTA is Back

At least for now the MTA is back. This has hampered the life of soo many in LA including myself. Here is a cry from the little people of LA... Work it out and help us survive... Be reliable so we can keep in touch with our families, our schools, and our jobs. We do not handle desparation very well in LA land.

Streaming Mo Leverett Today.

My wife went to the CCDA conference this Nov. in New Orleans. Mo was a speaker there and shared a talk on redemptive suffing that I had to share and discuss. Good fodder for the fire. He is also a good singer. So between the heat sweat tears and stories of Desire street ministies we are going to rock this show. Take up the cross... for the joy of it... and if you can't for the joy of it... then go learn more of what it is about. Learn what it really means to give and recieve love. Ther is no way to do this without sharing in suffering and resurection life.

Staind Concert and other Ramblings

Well I went last night to the Hollywood Palladium to see Staind with a young friend in the neighborhood who invited me to go with him. I will be reflecting on the over all experience for some time.

Some came to the concert in every day dress... quite plainly in fact... normal Joe's and JoAnna's out to see a show...

Others were dressed in the Black attire uniform of non-conformity...
Others were dressed to impress...

There were a few T-shirt Quotes worth sharing:

Do Not Hate the Player
HATE THE GAME!!!!"

Everyone Has Issues

I was struck by the range of ages at this concert... mid-teens to late forties...

I did not like the opening bands much at all...

Stained on the other hand ... their music is about the human condition and the pain in simply trying to live life. Authentically shared and artistically delivered (if you like melodic metal/thrash as a style of music). There are moments when I felt like this was the closest some of these folks have ever experienced something like church in a good sense. A kind of confession to each other about life... missing the prayer for healing part though... maybe missing the hope for healing part.

There was also a deep sadness in the air. Many people seemed to have come to the concert hoping to feel alive for a few hours before retreating back into their various forms and levels of depression. Staind does not sing "happy fun or silly playful kind of music". It is all about looking hard at the condition of the soul.

I think some of their material could be used to stimulate deeper dialogue if we would take the time to listen and then talk to each other. If you have a friend who is already a fan... try it out... ask them to play their favorite tune for you and then to talk... honestly about it...

My Friend Freddy Loved the concert and the Mosh Pit dancing. He worked hard to get as close to the front as possible. I enjoyed watching the crowd as much as the show.

Freddy reminded me that I said I would help him learn to write poetry. We had a great time of sharing after the concert at Denny's.

Two souls were brought a lot closer together as friends through this concert and I woke up wanting to pray more, reflect on life more, and to do more of my own art... I also woke up more determined than ever to share the hope and joy I have been gifted with in this life... and to share it's source...

God Bless,
JTW

Sharing the journey...

There is an emerging housing crisis for the poor in LA. i have witnessed the seperation of families, the eviction of other families, and the overwhelmed state of those trying to serve those who might become homeless.

I know people who are now homeless.

I have a friends about to come out of jail in a few months who will need work and a place to live.

I have another friend who needs help moving her stuff into storage.

We will be getting new neighbors... The new Rampart Police Station is going to be built accross the street from where Jude and I live.

I wish I was more gifted at working with and through systems. My gifts are more creative and interpersonal.

I do not pretend to have the answers.

I will share the journey... and what we need is a lot more affordable housing and those with the vision and the skills to make this kind of thing happen.

This is a cry and a prayer in the LA Urban Jungle...
Mercy, Lord have Mercy on us..
peace out,
John TW

This Past Weekend

This weekend feels like a blur because so many realities happened. Most significant for me was a prayer meeting for the persecuted church around the world. I lead the prayer time for Latin America.

We prayed for those who have paid the price for being peace makers when so many divisions have been sown among the people.

We prayed for those who have paid the price for not compromising the truth as part of exercising their faith.

We prayed for those who have found the strength to forgive. And for others who wish they had the strength to forgive.

In prayer we found common ground in the midst of our differences of political views... this too was grace.

Sunday eve. I took a friend to pick up his car. My life is often filled with a lot of little helpful tasks and trying to share the love of God all along the way.

Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning was about helping my friends Tonya and Walter move. A Job promotion and the lack of safe parking in our neighborhood is what made the move inevitable for them. They need a palce of rest to come home to when the day is done. I think they have found a better home for themselves.

We lose more potential leaders in our neighborhood to a better quality of life and opportunities elsewhere far too often. We have a friend who wants to plant a church in this neighborhood in part to work on healthy Christian Leadership of the Community for the Community. He was hoping that Tonya and Walter would be part of this... Yet they really do need to do what they need to do to survive and grow. Pray for us as we seek to partner with Alberto's efforts in this reguard.

Friday evening I got to hang with Boy, Laura and boy's two brothers. We went to the new matrix movie... and then Boy, Luara, and I hung out at I Hop on 6th St. and talked about Life. This is what friendship is about... growing together.

Went to the new Matrix Movie

Chris and I went opening night to the new Matrix movie. Brave ending in my opinion. I liked it and will see it again.

What is more important is the conversation that Chris and I had before and after the movie. We talked about values and truth and life. We are determined in and through our lives to love God and People while learning the appropriate place for things. Friends help each other in keeping their priorities right. We agreed that we would support each other in being faithful to our wives... This is the real stuff of life.

2 hours at the movies... this dream landscape provided a reference point for conversation to unfold. Now if we could only have the same level of open conversation over the scriptures... we might find not just inspiration, but God given guidance.

I am greatful for a movie that makes it clear that winning isn't everything. Do we need a common enemy before we can make peace???

I am not a big fan of Hegel... and the series is true to Hegel's categories of...

Matrix 1: Thesis
Matrix 2: Anti-thesis
Matrix 3: Synthesis

What is concerning to me is the lack of prayer and reflection that is going on when people consume media. Everything we witness, real and unreal impacts us at some level. To be aware of what is going on in our souls takes intentional time and space. See my link to "Space for God", and try the "Online Prayer Guide".

Media is a given in our current culture. What I find young people want from adults is not so much rules about what is good and bad in it. But the tools to understand it and the means to understand how it is effecting them. Often if they can get beyound the addictive elements of our own culture... they will begin to self select a healthy diet. Model this... Don't just consume media... reflect on it... deconstruct it... and build tools for insight... Don't just tell the kids... show them!!!!

Both Chris and I have cut down our TV consumption a lot. I watch less than 4 hours of TV a month now including the news. Take a fast from some of these things and let your soul breathe... maybe even pray a little bit more.

Chris and I went early to the theator and we felt abused by the manipulative advertisements before the movie started. I will have to figure out a strategy of skipping the hype before movies... find my own exit out of "the Matrix" "To see it for what it really is".

(Their is a little book by Soren Kierkagaard that I really like... called "This Present Age" where he explores the necessity of a religious stance that is necessary for us to become fully ourselves... I have heard that C.S. Lewis explored a similar theme in his novel "Till We Have Faces".)

Be the fingerprint in this world and history that God intended you to be.

Ramblings about today and other stuff

Well you probably noticed that my feedback link is out of commission. I found a statement that my feedback service is supposed to be moving to another server. so we will see if it comes back in a little bit. If you have something you really want up with my stuff... email it to me and I will consider it.

Well after the war with Iraq started... my Financial support for what I do here in LA has gone down a lot. I will either need to raise more funds or will need to become tri-vocational... One of my mentors from CRM, Steve Hoke, thinks that my time with people is worth investing in. I think so too. I have never done the asking for money thing very well. I guess I will have to start learning. Questions about this are welcome...

On my 2 hour internet radio show I played Stained and Barry Taylor. Stained is interesting because they are a group that is quite honest about their own emotional pain... something very important to understanding youth these days. I have started borrowing a CD a week to listen to from my neighbors. Music resonates deep within the soul and often gives insight to realities that we might otherwise miss. Have you ever thought about sharing CD's as a way of sharing with a friend some special part of your life story??? Have you ever thought of it as another kind of listening to others???

I met with steve Hoke today and we are working on learning to pace myself for the long haul. I have already cut out all TV after 10 PM. Now the computor is to be shut down after 10:30 on week days. For a stimulation addict... these are big adjustments. You can hold me to them.

Peace Out,
John TW

Dear John,
I have to reply to this.

See Tues. Oct. 28th Post

You sound so much better. I'm appreciating
what you have to say much more because you sound healthier, your
spelling and grammar and contextualization are so much more readable
and your light side is shining through. (example- kind of shuts up your
mouth) I love the part about being "thrust into a history of God's
making". (That's where you and Sunday came from, a history of God's
making.)

And AMBER Too!!! (see below)

I was thinking I needed to send you a book called "Margins"
about avoiding overload but now I don't think it's necessary. Love, Mom

Mom I think I could still use that book on Margins ; ) I still got to learn about not over packing my life... there is soo much to do and sooo much wonder in it alllll !!!

I find myself speachless today. Today I held a little newborn baby in my arms. It gave me pause for thought and more perspective about life than a book with a thousand words. Her name is Amber and she is the child of Joe (Cisco) and Daniela. Life goes on... Are we ready for the generations to come?

I can only imagine the joy that our friends the Rundles are also feeling... They wrote:

Dear friends,

We wanted to send you the announcement that our daughter, Zoe Galloway Rundle, arrived into our expectant arms on Friday October 17th at 12:56pm. She weighed 8lbs.7oz. and was 21 3/4" long.

The birth was a beautiful experience, very hard work for Catherine but she did amazingly well - tribute in a large part to the birthing method we chose which allowed Alastair to take a very large role in the labor, encouraging and supporting her. Zoe came out alert and happy, long enough for us to say "Hi" then promptly went to sleep and gave us chance to eat a big meal to recharge ourselves.

Her Apgar results were 9 after 1min and 10 after 5min!

Our birthing team was amazing, Melanie, our mid-wife and Diana our nurse were just wonderful.

A thumbs up all around.

Well done Catherine, well done Zoe.

Life is Huge!!!