Live Salty - the tattoo experience

If you are a friend of Dustin Bryson and have his contact information you need to change your gmail status to reflect the launch of pcitylive.com! If for no other reason than below:

Click on the picture to read the small print - I want to see my name as a tattoo on his face! That is commitment!

Book Review: Jesus in the Margins

Like most people in their mid-30s I was first introduced to Rick McKinley by Donald Miller in his book Blue Like Jazz. It was here that I first read about Rick’s passion to re-imagine church – to change the image of church for people that feel beyond reach. Pastor Rick and his wife moved to to establish a community “for people to discover the love of Christ in the reality of life,” (taken from his book’s back cover).

In Rick’s book, Jesus in the Margins, he explains how the encompassing love of Jesus reaches down into the margins of society. That He came to Earth for those broken souls that usually go unnoticed by mainstream society. Throughout the book, Rick walks the readers into the margins of life, showing them that it is in the margins that we see the image of God (Imago Dei incidentally is the name of the community started by he and his wife).

How many of you have seen the figurine of Jesus playing soccer, baseball, or football with the kids? This is the culturally agreed upon image of Christ most of us have in our heads – right or wrong. Rick’s description would be a harder sell in the Christian bookstores. He describes Jesus as a misfit in his family, town, and culture He grew up in (Chapters 2 and 3). Jesus grew up in a small, rural town amidst whispers, behind the back accusations, and branded an illegitimate child. He didn’t fit the status quo – he was a “friend of sinners” (p. 51).

Jesus in the Margins opens and closes with chapters devoted to real life stories of people. They share their stories of life: neglect, sexual abuse, growing up fatherless, success-driven personalities, and homelessness. Each story is my story, not because I have gone through each of these circumstances, but because ‘margin dwellers’ feel that they are alone and have no real expectation to be welcomed if someone knew their ‘real story’.

We are not supposed to do life alone. We are supposed to live life in community with other Christ followers – we are “wired” for community. We need each other – without community we cannot become all we were designed to be (we were created on purpose and with a purpose). Just because we are meant to be in community, does not mean community is always neat. Rick says that “community is messy” (p. 162). It is messy because those that live in “community are required to fall at Jesus’ feet and beg him for the love it takes to obey the ‘one another’ commands” (p. 162). We exist for God and for those in our community.

Rick’s life is his book. He writes with an honest voice, accepting that he cannot do anything for God to love him more or less. He accepted many years ago that reality is a tough place to be with or without Jesus – life is not fair, but God is in control. Rick says that “sin is our desire to run our own lives any way we want” (p. 65), and that no matter how many times he fails, that “grace…keeps coming my way…” (p. 68). This is what resonated with me the most – no matter how many times I try to do things my way; I’m going to screw things up; just as much as I make a mess of my life, “You are accepted because of what Christ has done for you, not because of what you can do for Christ” (p. 144).

Sandwich: A Song For 10 year old boys

I was reading Shlog's post this afternoon and was reminded of a song that my step-father used to sing when I was a kid:

Scab sandwich with puss on top,
chicken vomit,
camel snot,
cat's eyeballs and chicken guts too,
a scab sandwich is the thing for you!

There really is nothing like grossing out your sisters and mother when you are 10 years old and this always did it!

There really is no reason for this post - it just fits the mood I am in tonight. Man, I am a little hungry though...

Who wants free movies?

Why am I always a day late and dollar short?


After seeing a number of people talking about Redbox on Twitter and now my wife asking me about it, it was time to look into this little gem of a company further.

What did I find?

How about free movies on Wednesdays, $1 a night rentals, and movie drop-off at any Redbox that is convenient? With gas prices increasing and day care costs increasing, I believe we will now be able to afford movie night! Sweet!

I can't imagine...

Life is not fair.

Most people have heard the news by now that tragedy took grasp of Steven Curtis Chapman and his family with the death of his daughter on Wednesday evening.


I can't imagine what his family is going through right now: the loss of his daughter, the guilt his son is feeling. It all just breaks my heart and puts me at a loss of words; actually, there are a few words that I have for this entire situation, but mostly I am just sick to my stomach.

Pray for the family and friends that are directly effected by this horrific accident!

I <3 a challenge

Most of you (remember, there are only about 6 of you that read this blog. I love my family!) know that I love to read and write. I read a lot and write on a inconsistent basis. Recently though I have begun to write more regularly (not on the blog obviously, but for work and for 'fun').

On my night stand there is usually no less than 5 books stacked in the corner under my lamp - which drives Jen crazy! She likes her night stand to be orderly, I like to be able to knock things unto the floor when I reach for my blackberry at 2 AM - different strokes for different folks. Right now there are a couple books that are kicking my arse - both in reading and writing.

Reading:

I am reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell and eventually will do a book review. Most people have read the book or have at least heard of Rob Bell. I have listened to his podcast for Mars Hill for a while and have seen most, if not all of his Nooma videos. But this was the first time that I have actually read any of his books.

Let me tell you he is breaking my bones. I'll explain more once I am finished with the book, but let me say that I am only on the third chapter and I am totally in inner monologue conversations with him challenging me on all levels. I love a good challenge - that is the only way we grow!

Writing:

I am writing a book review of Rick McKinley's book Jesus in the Margins. I am writing the review for a blog/twitter buddy - can't tell you about the project he is working on now, but should be able to link to it in the near future!

Jesus in the Margins was also a great challenge. In response to the challenge, my definition of neighbor, community, and love has expanded. I'll post the review when it is 'safe' to do so.

Growth is hard, but well worth it!

Refrigerator Test

I found this blog-stalking this afternoon and had to share. How well did you score?

You will be asked four questions and you must rely on your common sense to answer them correctly. It is said approximately 90% of the professionals tested get all of the questions wrong. But many pre-school children got several correct answers. This supposedly means most professionals have the brains of a four year old. What do 'they' know.

Q1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe and close the door. (This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.)

Q2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Wrong Answer: Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the door.

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. (This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.)

Q3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend, except one. Which animal does not attend?

Correct Answer: The elephant, since it is still in the refrigerator. (This tests your memory.) [I prefer to think it tests my patience.]

Even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your abilities.

Q4. There is a river you must cross, but it is inhabited by crocodiles. How do you manage it?

Correct Answer: You swim across. All of the crocodiles are attending the meeting! (This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes) [My common sense tells me that if you cross crocodile infested waters you don’t get to make any more mistakes.

HT: Larry (Ode 17)

Senator Kennedy

Please pray for Senator Kennedy and his family - he was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor this weekend. The tumor is a malignant glioma tumor - which means that the brain cancer is formed in the supportive tissue in the brain.

Here are a couple links from the American Brain Tumor Association explaining gliomas:

Gliomas (defined)

What patients and families need to know about gliomas.

Compassion Bloggers Trip #2 (Dominican Republic)

Man - I would love to go on this trip! Go and check out the new web site for Compassionbloggers.com, while you are there pick up a widget, put one on your site and select the child or children that will be ever changed because of your love!

Favorite T-shirt

I couldn't get a good picture of the shirt (besides my crappy cell phone), so I found something on Flickr that had the shirt's 'logo'.

Homes: Dwarf, Victorian, and Otherwise

This past weekend we took a family trip to Savannah (Jen's parents, sister, and our clan of Lemmings, plus the dog). We were looking forward to a great weekend and were not disappointed. Here is a 'brief' recap of the trip:

• New food places: original Chick-fil-a Dwarf House near the Atlanta airport (did you know this is the only Chick-fil-a that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?); Firefly Cafe' (food was fantastic);
  Churchill's Pub and Restaurant (food not so good); Spanky's (the original chicken finger place on Tybee Island - food was good; you really can't mess up chicken fingers); Paula Deen's place, Lady and Sons for Mother's Day (food was a disappointment).
• Savannah-time: horse-cart tour of Savannah - great history of the squares, the city, the homes, some ghost stories, etc (overall it was awesome); Tybee Island was great (imagine a non-commercialized Panama City minus the rednecks) - we'll be back for sure!; our accommodations were pretty cool - pretty much in walking distance of historic downtown Savannah - it was a 100+ year old Victorian house that pretty much looked like IKEA vomited within it;
• Entertainment: Lulu's Chocolate Bar was freakin' tasty and the art work was 'out-there' (very cool); Jen and I had a date afternoon and saw 'What happens in Vegas' (deserves 2 1/2 star - but what do you expect with Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz? it was cute, but should have just rented it in a couple weeks); the alone time with Jen was awesome- Thanks Mimi, Papa, and Mama for putting up with screaming kids (oops!); we also watched 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil', I had seen it a couple times before coming to Savannah - Brian (FIL) said that if they would have seen the movie before the reservations in Savannah, we would have been somewhere else for the weekend!

We had a great time in Savannah and can't wait to get back (maybe next time Jen and I will get to go without the kids and will be able to experience it without being 'mommy and daddy')!

Political Cycle

Growing up in the late 70s/early 80s my favorite toy was my Big Wheel.

I would spin out, slam on the brake, crash into anything moving or not moving, and generally raise havoc. The only problem with the Big Wheel was that after a week or two of racing my friends and crashing into the curb to stop, a portion of the front wheel would flatten out. From that point forward, the sound of wind blowing through my jacked up 1970's hair cut was replaced with the 'thwump, thwump, thwump' of the Big Wheel.

For the last 13 months the US has been bombarded with 'news' stories and commercials (radio, television, Internet, email, and phone), telling us how great or pitiful those running for the nomination to be President of the United States. Generally, I am a person with strong political views - I'm not going to bash you over the head for your beliefs, but will contribute to a 'discussion' if I am in the mood to rumble; especially if you are 'drinking the cool-aid' of a politician or political system and have done no research to understand 'your' belief. (Unfortunately, America is full of 'sheep-ole'.)

Rambling. Sorry.

All that being said. I am so sick and tired of this political cycle 'thwumping' through my head. The Democrat Party can't decide on who is going to best not be George Bush, and the Repuke-licans can't find someone to nominate that offers voters a voice for tomorrow. I still can't believe that we are going to have 7 months of this political unrest before the lesser of two evils is selected to lead our country.

BLAH...

It only took 3-4 weeks

We have finally decided on which child we are going to sponsor through Compassion! Everyone meet the newest addition to our family!

We can't wait to get to know Olupot Najin from Uganda! We will introduce Morgan to Olupot (well at least to his picture - maybe one day we'll actually all get to meet each other face to face!) and get her to color some pictures for him.

We are so excited to be able to share our blessings with Olupot, and expect to be blessed by his letters, pictures, stories, and prayers.

Please add him to your prayers. If you are looking for a way to add to your life, while helping a child receive the assistance to reach their full potential please consider sponsoring a child through Compassion!

Prayer

Seeing that today is the National Day of Prayer, I thought that I would share my new quote of the day.

Your prayer life is more important that you think, and is weaker than you think!

Prayer is our vertical connection with God and connects our souls. Stop and pray today. Say a short prayer in your cubicle; when you are stopped in traffic; as you walk to lunch or the bathroom. Pray for wisdom and strength; your community, city and state; world affairs and social justice (poverty, hunger, AIDS, malaria, and other conflicts)!

What sort of impact can you make with prayer?

If you have a prayer request, you can contact pinkhairedgirl.net via the button on the right side of the page.

Hometown Bandwagon

I'm not a huge fan of professional sports, but I will on occasion jump on a bandwagon of a team that is outside of Atlanta. Typically all sports in Atlanta are terrible - an exception to the rule are the Braves, Georgia Force, and the Thrashers. So I guess that only leaves the Hawks and the Falcons.

Well, as of last night I am on the Hawks bandwagon! I turned the Hawks-Celtics game on last night and the Hawks were losing 13-3 and could do nothing about it, but then when I wake up this morning I found out that they won?!?! How the....?

The series is tied at 2-2, with two games left. Could the Hawks pull it off? Probably not, but if they do you can hear me say with gumption - GO HAWKS!

World Malaria Day

According to the CDC,

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite. People with malaria often experience fever, chills, and
flu-like illness. Left untreated, they may develop severe complications
and die. Each year 350-500 million cases of malaria occur worldwide,
and over one million people die, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Each day 1 person dies of Malaria every 30 seconds. That is 565,000 deaths per year that can easily be prevented by giving out insecticide-treated bed nets for kids and families to sleep under, as well as by giving anti-malarial drugs.

The fastest thing we can do is to buy bed nets for the people living in the malaria rampant areas (see map above).

Follow the links below to buy a net and save lives ($10 will buy one, $20 will buy two, you get the picture) --

Book Review: Consuming Jesus

Totally challenging and rewarding!

It was an interesting read for me because of the timing of it - the
US in the midst of a political cycle that has two very similar groups of people (conservatives and liberals) vying for the seat of the
presidency telling us how different they are; at the same time, personally I am in the midst of some self
review. In the midst (I just like saying that word) of it all, this book was dropped at my front door.

This book has probably had more of an impact on how I look at my community than any other book on my bedside table. I struggled initially with the book because it slammed up against much of my previous notions (politically, culturally, and religiously). By the last chapter, my definition of community had changed from the limited view of community - the people in the area you live in that look like you, live like you, sound like you, and smell like you, to a new view of community that encompassed all people (no matter their social standings and their religious beliefs).

My favorite part of the book was the conclusion, A Nobler Vision of Patchwork Quilts and Church Potlucks. The chapter provided a vision for how the church the active part of the community, networking to serve and strengthen each piece.

Birthday Night 2008

Checklist for the evening:

1. Childcare (free for us - screaming for Grandparents watching Matthew, sorry! Morgan eating pizza and having a great time with cousin Jackson)
2. Dinner (free)
3. Entertainment (free)

How?

This evening the church provided childcare and food for the volunteers in appreciation for having a "servant's heart" over the last year or so.



We had a great time laughing at the Tim Hawkins this evening. I wish he would have performed this song.

Weekend Recap

1. No technology = happy family (I am enjoying not having my cell or crackberry turned on during the weekend - gives all of us peace)

2. Woke up on Saturday to Mickey Mouse pancakes (made by Jen and Morgan). Morgan sang 'Happy Birthday' to me which I loved! Although, I think we confused her; because we sang on Saturday then it MUST have been my birthday then (her thinking). This morning when Jen told her to tell me 'Happy Birthday' and give me my birthday card, she said 'No' it is Mimi's birthday today.

3. Took care of the Norris Clan's kiddos on Saturday to allow Christy and Brandon to have a 'date lunch' - it is our turn next!

4. Went to church on Sunday - Jen volunteered for the 2-3 year old class and it sounds like it is time to move on to the older kids; the sermon was on being a good 'steward'/tithing - the sermon was good and challenging.

5. Dinner and playtime at the Norris' house - Morgan woke up this morning asking if she could go back to their house to jump on the trampoline and ride the roller-coaster.

6. I decided that for my 33rd birthday that we would 'adopt' (this doesn't feel like the right word) a child through Compassion. I can't decide on either a child from Uganda or Haiti - still praying about it!

Awesome weekend!

Chinese poem

The following Chinese poem was attributed to John M. Perkins in "Consuming Jesus" by Paul Metzger.

Go to the people
Live among them
Learn from them
Love them
Start with what they know
Build on what they have:
But of the best leaders
When their task is done
The people will remark
"We have done it ourselves."

The book took more time to finish than I had expected. I will try to get a review/quotes out by Monday (April 21). Although, I am planning another technology free weekend. We'll see how everything goes!