Identity and Action.

My friend Willie is working hard at trying to make a new way of life a reality for himself. Working a temp. job Construction for $7.00 an hour. Currently renting weekly cause that is what was available to him... and trying to use ebay as a way to fill in the economic gaps.

He would love any donations of CD's to help with his efforts to start a business.

He says I am trying to turn him into a computer nerd... ; ) Would I do that to anyone??? Actually I am just trying to stay in touch with current culture.

I also am just trying with him to figure out new options other than what the streets have to offer... not just for Willie... but for others as well... and all the options I can find open to us require a lot of learning and hard work.

Check out Willie's auctions.

Say Hi to JRod

Well I have spent the last few days Kicking it with Jrod. He seems to be a real down to earth brother. A Joy to be with in the mix of LA land. Check out his blog...

A friend of ours needs prayer for her sister.

This is my response to Dry Bones JUNE 2 entry.

Sometimes when I pray I get the strangest of thoughts. So I choose to share them... you can take them as thoughts that came into jaw's head when he was praying.

My mind drifted to the power of music to inspire and lift the soul.

That somehow the hospital context needed something life giving.

We are called to fight for life.

The dangers and trials we are facing life are real every day. To not put asside our part... and to persue reconciliation whenever possible.

That even those in a comma can sometimes here what we say... or here music...

The soul needs nourishment to will to fight for life...

Hildegard Von Bingen Wrote some really strange but powerful music... I will keep it playing in the background to remind me to stay in prayer for you and your family today...

some music is truly spiritual... this is not about style... it is about what the soul is in touch with when the music is composed, sung, and heard...

Sometimes God will speak directly to us in our darkest hours...

I too will continue to pray...

Forgive any presumption in my words...

I could either share my thoughts or remain silent. There is also a place for silence... I am not as good at taking that path yet...

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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".

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

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.

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

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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At KR Spinning

I am spinning some Electronica today. Aptcore 2... and sharing some reflections on Proverbs 24.

A response to Dry Bones April 25, 2004

Watchout dear friend... you might be on the edge of a Hebrews 11 ride. Faith is a futurama full of hope in a twisted world... and you know me... I mean faith that doesn't run away or hide from these LA Streets... The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love --
Gal. 5:6b, II Peter 1:3-11.


Is that too much high context Bible thumping for you???

Than try this thought...

Quiet confidence is at the root of real inner strength.

And

Even a child can not learn to tie his or her shoes without the confidence that says I can do this...

I am more than the events arround me and the preasures of the world that try to shape me -- I can choose to love somebody today anyway... And this somebody includes loving myself.

Poem of the Month

Serving Love
must be patient at the roots

to Come
to Hear
to Care
to Serve
to Love

It all takes time.

It takes time to Come and follow Jesus
It takes time to Listen to a friend, a neighbor, or a stranger
It takes time to Care from the heart
It takes time to Serve with Love.

It all takes time.

Remember those who have loved and served you...
They gave
a part of their life
away to you.

Serving Love
must be patient at the roots

to Come
to Hear
to Care
to Serve
to be present.... enough to Love

It all takes time.

by JAW 4/04

It is amazing what a few days of real rest and reflection can do.

I spent a few days at my brother in-laws house.

Proverbs 24 became a very important text for reflection for me.

I have been challenged to pay attention to the flow of knowledge, Understanding, and wisdom...
Intergenerational thinking requires knowing clearly what you are passing on to other... where it is coming from and where it needs to go. This is all of our responsibility... but for me it is my life work. To continue in the tradition of the witness given for generations through those faithful to God -- I John 1.

There are particular truths. There are particular people who have shaped me. Their wisdom, understanding, and knowledge needs to be not just thought about but imbodied in a life -- my life. I am responsible to carry "my load" of life's work in my generation. Pray for me... I will write more about this another time.

Play List for Today! A KRS ONE Feature

Tuesday on my internet radio show I hope to spin a lot of KRS One and reflect on "Conscious HIPHOP". And make the Challenge that we need to go futher than that to a total redemption of culture / Sub-Culture... towards what I would call "Holy HIPHOP".



Tues. 4/20/04 Hyperesthesia Show JAW1

1. Tears 5:46 KRS ONE Spiritual Minded
2. Track 01 0:14 KRS ONE Kristyles
3. Track 10 4:13 KRS ONE Kristyles
4. Good Bye 3:31 KRS ONE Spiritual Minded
5. Believe It 3:59 KRS ONE Prophets Vs. Profits
6. Track 20 5:39 KRS ONE
7. Never Give Up 3:17 KRS ONE Spiritual Minded
8. T-Bone Speaks 0:32 KRS ONE Spiritual Minded
9. The Struggle Continues 5:47 KRS ONE Spiritual Minded
10. The Conscious Rapper 4:12 KRS ONE Spiritual Minded
11. You Really Don't Want It 3:29 KRS ONE Prophets Vs. Profits
12. Track 03 3:44 KRS ONE Kristyles
13. Womanology 2:01 KRS ONE Prophets Vs. Profits
14. Track 08 1:31 KRS ONE Kristyles
15. Take Your Tyme 3:15 KRS ONE Spiritual Minded
16. Track 07 2:28 KRS ONE Kristyles
17. Trust 2:57 KRS ONE Spiritual Minded
18. Know Thy Self 5:07 KRS ONE Spiritual Minded

What Today has been about.

I had a great mentoring time with Rikkell. We both find II Peter 1:3-11 nourishing to the soul.

Willie is working on trying to get a job through Chrysalis. Anyone have some job leads here in LA let me know. I have friends who are looking for work.

It is a hard reality to see... but Willie and I have been witness to the fact that 5 years of street living here in LA has been harder on many people that we know than 5 years of Prison in a State Prison.

My friend Joe is on a mission to relocate to Las Vegas Nevada and he asks for prayer in this big jump... "That God will help him settle and stay on 'Channel Real'"

I will be doing some toutoring latter today.

I also hope to hang out with some of the next crop of jr. high guys in my neighborhood tonight.

Tuesday on my internet radio show I hope to spin a lot of KRS One and reflect on conscious HIPHOP. And make the Challenge that we need to go futher than that to a total redemption of culture... towards what I would call "Holy HIPHOP".

Friday LA Street Productions had a very important meeting. It was a landmark in my mind about our journey together. We recommitted ourselves to both encouraging each other to grow and acknowledged that God has been a significant part of the journey for all of us. It also looks like we will be doing a new mural this summer.

And so it goes...

Musings from the bottom floor.

Today I went with a friend to check out Chrysalis. An agency that is all about seeking to connect folks with a job and the dignity of work. We all need to contribute to life somehow... and deserve respect for doing so...

In my short walk from their office 4 blocks to our subway I witnessed:

A crack addict craddling in his hands a few pieces of crack.
3 people with items that could be used as weapons in their hands.
Over 15 people limping, using a walker, crutches, or a wheel Chair.
Cigerettes by the box for sale.

...Plenty expressions of struggle and too few people smiling.

This past Friday the LA Mission had their Bi-annual foot washing and foot-care for the homeless. I am glad that it continues without me. I had my hands full with other responsibilities. Foot care is a great basis to meet and connect with those out on the streets and struggling. I have friends on the streets who remember me for doing something as simple as providing them with a pair of clean socks... (not as a hand out, but as a friend).

This is what's Up with me. What's Up with You?

LA California is a hard place to return to when you have been down for time in a state prison. I just brought a friend home from Avanol State prison. We have found a spot to rent weekly while he looks for work. The job market is competitive. So it is hard to feel like one is not scraping the bottom of the barrell... Courage for some starts with just trying again and again and not giving up.

I have a young friend that has just transfered to Virgil middle School. In 7th grade he was a straight A student. He called me and expressed very articulately why he found the school depressing and unmotivating in every way imaginable. He wants to learn and says that he feels that the way things are set up at the school creates failure. "My teachers -- unlike the other school -- are not teaching me anything John". How does someone get to the place where he can learn... in a bad learning environment??? And what is my role in this journey???

I am on a new growth curve that is pushing me to pray and journal or more. I have to plow for more depth. There is no putting this off until latter without consequences. Keep me in your prayers.

Where I am at...

Besides being Crazy busy.

I get the privelege of bringing a friend home from prison tommorrow. I roll out today with a lot on my mind. I have more than one friend who needs a job. Looking for housing has also become a challenge these days... In this process grace seems to be thin and the room for new chances for new beginnings in our current society feels thin. Any help with networking is greatly appreciated.

The cat for me is out of the bag. A friend a long time ago noticed that I never appear angry. I learned a long time ago to wall out such powerful emotional feelings. Every once and a while I would withdraw with some depression -- I have learned now to call that frozen anger. Even more rarely I would explode in my own unique way... Just recently hurt a friend in this kind of explosion only to withdraw into depression. Here is the secrete root of some of my own compulsiveness... now exposed to the light. It is time to grow time. Time to look and revisit life. Time to learn a wider range of healthy emotions. Mel Gipson's film helped crack the shell. Jesus shows an amazing capacity to stay present and to love in the midst of the pain. I see the same truth in scripture... and his death is equally for me as for any of us...

"Be angry and Sin not"... Comfort at this point and escapism is a threat to personal depth of character. To move from being reactive to being proactive. Fatih functions with eyes to lean into the future (Hebrews 11). If much of my life is reactive... some of that part of my life is yet to be brought under the "Way of Peace" that is found in Christ. What I know in my heart needs time to be worked through in my heart. Like Paul said... "I do not want to have preached to others and find myself disqualified."

Some who know me may say I am being too hard on myself. Thank you for your concern. I know that I have tasted the fruit of faith and I am hungry and thirsty for more. It takes a time of shaking and getting rid of every hinderance...(Hebrews 12) sometimes in a radical way to progress in faith. Love is the goal and the reward... to find in one's heart a genuine love for every neighbor... and this kind of love also is free enough from attatchments not to "keep any records of wrongs" -- I Corinthians 13.

I am not saying that we should not confront or challenge. It is the motive and the method that I am looking to grow in... we work to help love grow... this means working for justice for example... to work for justice being motivated by the wrong doing leads to burn out. To work for justcie being motivated out of love and compassion leads to freedom. I have smelt the fire burning up the twists in my motives... the sifting has just arrived on a public stage of life. "God is determined that if anyone is going to do 'God's work' that it will be done in 'God's Way'".

Leasons in humility are waiting and are in line for me... and maybe some of you as well.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdome of God".

Play List for Tommorrow Pluss...

I had a lot of fun with this show. If you aren't hearing my shows on the net... I could at the requst of some who emial me send out a copy CD of one of my shows just to give you a flavor of what's up. It is one way I get space to reflect and then share some of my reflections with others. And so it goes... email me ; )

1. Track 03 2:26 Blackalicious Arrow 2.8 MB
2. Track 01 3:52 Stained 4.5 MB
3. Track 13 3:51 Matthew 6 4.5 MB
4. Light 3:12 Apt Core #2 3.7 MB
5. Track 20 5:39 KRS ONE 6.5 MB
6. peacemaker 4:28 Marie Brennan Whisper to the Wild Water 5.2 MB
7. Zombie 5:07 Cranberries Best Of
8. Intro a 3:25 Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities Excerpts Books & Spoken
9. intro b 2:37 Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities Excerpts Books & Spoken
10. I'm Gonna Live the Life 2:37 Mahalia Jackson The Greatest Gospel singer In the World
11. Track 11 3:00 Daniel Amos
12. Resplendent 5:02 Bill Mallonee & Vigilantes of Love Audible Sigh
13. Track 03 3:24 5 Blind Boys of Alabama
14. Mercy Rains 5:31 Barry Taylor Love Songs for Underdogs
15. Cantan Los Ninos 5:55 Giovani Aniversaio
16. Track 02 0:46 Scratch

Working through it All

Today I am reading and reflecting on the life of Oscar Romero. He is a very significant man of Peace and Faith from El Salvador -- Killed for his witness... I find much of what he has to say compelling and worth reflecting on inour times.

Sunday I had the responsibility of pulling together some quotes for an evening of reflection with LA InnerChange. We were all enriched and challenged by it.

I choose to read some of these quotes on KR.
And played Ruth Naomi Floyd's Album Fan into Flame & Walk and Not Be Faint

I am also Reading The Holy Longing. The author starts from the world of "Sprituality" and works towards his own world view. (He belongs to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate who feel called to serve the poor as their main charism.) I do not land where he does... but it is so far a good read. Good enough to encourage others to take a look... Insight into the times we are living in.

I am a little sick today. A little feverish. I had a cold just last week. Back to prayer, Robitussin & Niquill.

Yesterday like most Mondays recently... I spent 2 hours toutoring a neighbor. A couple of youth came by interested in learning how to play chess. My experience is that we are all healthier when we are growing and learning something. Chess is a game that hinges on the power and permanence of choice. A great game to help at risk youth who have the patience to learn the realities of choice and consequence -- Oh...and it's only a game.

Jenga is the most inclusive game that I have found out there... great for all ages together.

And so it Goes...

Wrestle Mix Again on KR

Wrestle Mix


1. This Present Darkness 2:40 Deliverance Live in the Studio
2. When I Flow 4:18 Cross Movement
3. The Hurricane 8:34 Bob Dylan
4. Track 06 3:14 KRS ONE Kristyles
5. The Trouble with Normal 3:37 Bruce Cockburn
6. Track 01 3:52 Stained
7. They All Fall Down 5:23 Grits
8. Thank You For the Cross 4:48
9. Never Give Up 3:17 KRS ONE Spiritual Minded
10. Track 03 2:26 Blackalicious Arrow
11. Track 08 2:36 Larea Raine Garretson
12. Burn Hollywood Burn 2:47 Public Enemy Fear of a Black Planet
13. Resplendent 5:02 Bill Mallonee & Vigilantes of Love Audible Sigh
14. Track 03 3:24 5 Blind Boys of Alabama
15. peacemaker 4:28 Marie Brennan Whisper to the Wild Water
16. Alienated 2:17 Rez XX
17. Mommentum 3:23 Tobby Mac
18. I'm Gonna Live the Life 2:37 Mahalia Jackson The Greatest Gospel singer In the World
19. Track 02 0:46 Scratch

The Poison Tree by William Blake sent to me by Boy1

Boy I agree with you. Blake is often an insightful and powerful artist. Thanks for sending this out to me.

A Poison Tree

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunnèd it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Til it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole,
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.


William Blake
From “Songs of Experience”

Some of my reflections conected to this poem:
* Anger is a result of knowing good and evil... by being responsible to make and keep the boundries of "fairness", "justice", etc.... The symbol of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is borrowed here. I wonder what life would have been like if like sex we ate of the tree of the knowledge of "Good and Evil" at a more age appropriate time. I don't think God created the "Tree" to tempt us. Yet Blakes tree is rather a diffferent kind of tree. It's fruit tempted one's enemy into becoming a victim. It is grown as our creation and not God's.

*Scripture (book chapter:verses) has a lot to say about anger: Matthew 5:21-26, Eph. 4:25-32, James 1:19-20 are just a few examples. We are to be real with our negative emotions and yet not necessarily be guided by them.

Streaming on KR

Today I am playing some:

Cross Movement
The Blind Boys of Alabama
and excerpts from The Online Prayer Guide (See Link)

I am also going to be reading some quotes by Dr. Richard Peace's book Meditative Prayer: Entering God's Presence.

It is interesting where and how streams of ideas flow. The phrase of "Each One Teach One" is Frank Laubach. He wasn't rocking the MIC ... He was determined to walk day in and out with God. He sought to promote literacy and succeeded a big way at this... with much respect!!!

Had a lot of fun today on KR.

Other goings on today.

Worked through Dr. Richard Peace's book Meditative Prayer: Entering God's Presence. today as part of my homework for his class. I liked it alot. Good practical wisdom.

Had lunch with Mariam and took her picture with her school books to promote our Multi-level mentoring community project.

Spent time in the office with small stuff... but it all has to get done sometime.

Yesterday I had a blast from 4-6:30pm toutoring a Danny and Becky in our neighborhood. I love those two kids and their family.

InnerChange leadership meetings have occupied Jude and I over the last 8 days and they are finally done for now. Got some complements for my cooking. I like to cook it is one of my hobbies.

Last Friday I got to share my love for II Peter 1:3-11 with 4 of our neighborhood mentors. Got some good positive feedback on the talk and some very good advice about improving it. It is sooo good to serve and work as a community!!!

I started this morning in prayer at the chapel in Good Samaritan Hospital. I really was moved in a special way today. Still on the grow because of it... Mostly praying in response to Isaiah 53.

A Prayer for Every Day Life

A Prayer While Paying Bills

May I extend Blessing and Life
to all who receive these resources

Resources entrusted to me
Resources entrusted through me
Resources entrusted to serve

May God Bless those who serve us
at the phone companies...
Please cause us to cherish our communication.
May these resources be used wisely.

May God bless my land lord who serves us...
Please cause us to cherish our homes.
May these resources be used wisely.

May God bless our Power & Water Company...
Please cause us to care for and cherish the Earth.
May these resources be used wisely.

May God bless the use of these taxes paid grudgingly
to the state and federal government.
Please cause us to care and cherish the impact on the content and qualities of our lives.
May these resources be used wisely.

May wisdom be the mark of my choices.
May wisdom be the mark of my home.
May wisdom be the mark of my neighborhood.
May wisdom be the mark of my city, state, and nation.

Increase our wisdom O 'Lord
May our resources be used wisely.
Deepen the meaning in our use of all things.

jaw1