The Ragamuffin Team

I meet the visionary for this group. The things that young people will do for the love of God. Can we give them wisdom and support without stopping them from risking big things for God??? It is a joy to see such an upsidedown sense of the kingdom of God being expressed in this kind of dream. Check out the website for yourself...ragamuffinteam.com

It is Amazing to see.

20,000 Young people who are college age willingly listening to A challenge to not give into materialism and a self-centered life-style. I'll be In Urbana IL. until the new year.

I am getting to do public art as part of CRM / InnerChange. A lot of people are looking for a road map to get involved with changing the world we live in... the theme of this conference is "Your Kingdom Come" (from the Lord's prayer).

I Got to go to sleep have a great New Year... I do not know if I will get another chance at a computor until the new year.

Hospitality

I am in Anderson Indiana visiting with our friends Chris and Nita. Tommorrow we will travel together to take part in Intervarsity's 20th Student Mission Convention called Urbana.

We have two Kidneys... Only need one...

Mark Tiersma - Jude's Dad - was released from the hospital today. He has a growth on top of one of his kidneys. The doctors said they could try to remove it... or it would be easier to just remove the whole Kidney. Mark is happy to be home. The choices have yet to be made.

I would prefer the Miracle of God removing the tumor before the doctor cuts him with a knife.

I am impressed with Mark's gratitude for each day of life.

Do pray for us... We will accept Whatever is God's best for us.

just another thought...

It is possible not to know the words, symbols, or to have the experience necessary to understand something... or to hold onto insight... if and when it comes...

This is part of the struggle when we seek to say something of God.

(I am not of the school that says speach and words are meaningless...)

just a thought.

Freedom is wasted if it is not spent on learning to give and recieve love.

A Shout out From Boy1

LA Street Productions and friends had a Christmas gift exchange at Wil's house. We have hung tight together fro years and have grown a lot in the journey of life together. It is time to celebrate life and the gift of life. Merry Christmas!!!

audio post powered by audblog

Sandra & Rei Give a Shout out!!!

Sandra and Rei send their love out to everyone. I am blessed to have their friendship. Thank you Wil for allowing us to gather so often at your home.

audio post powered by audblog

The Lord of the Rings Return of the King Mystery Post

Chris and I enjoyed the last enstallment of the Lord of the Rings based on Tolkiens books. Reading provides so much more conversation and dialogue. If you really liked the movies... the books to me are still better.

Well I tried just for fun to post part of the this movie on my blog using Chris's cell phone. It didn't come out that well. Yet the idea was worth a try. I want to stay better connected with my friends. I can share my thoughts... and sounds and eventually sights as well...

The movie brings things to an end... it would have been better to make it into two movies instead of one. If you have read the books then you are more likely to be critical of this one. And so it goes...

This movie I think shows something of the bonds that are formed by going through struggles together. The comfortable life is not the good life.

And so it goes... Can you figure out what part of the movie I was adding to my blog???


audio post powered by audblog

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

audio post powered by audblog

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.

audio post powered by audblog

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 ; )

audio post powered by audblog

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.