Crisis Commons--Very Cool

One of Skip's buddies from college is working as a volunteer on this project called Crisis Commons that is bringing together information technology people to work on projects to help bring relief to the people of Haiti. They gather at Crisis Camps and develop programs and applications that facilitate better communication, distribution and medical resources to the people of Haiti.

Crisis Commons

Our friend is working on this Pict-O-Speak app that will use Droids and I-Phones to share pictures for people who speak different languages to communicate with one another. Dave has logged hours coding (something he doesn't do much of anymore) to get this up and running for aid workers and others to use in Haiti. Very cool.

Wiki Pict-O-Speak

Getting Ready for Lent

If you're trying to decide what do for Lent--whether it's giving up something or taking up a discipline--check out this blog post from my friend John Arnold.

27 Days

Great ideas for a transformative Lenten season

Praying for Haiti

Sometimes we are forced into prayer. In those times when we feel helpless, when there aren't any immediate actions we can take, we are forced into prayer, simply because we can't do anything else.

The crisis in Haiti is so beyond our reach.

We text our donations to the Red Cross or send our money to Presbyterian Disaster assistance or other agencies, but it seems like a drop in the bucket.

We can't get in our cars or vans and drive to Haiti like so many did after 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina so that we can help.

We can't even begin to gather clothing and blankets and other supplies because there is not way to get them to the people who need them right now.

We are simply forced into prayer because we cannot think of anything else to do for the people of Haiti today. So often we act first and pray later. Perhaps Haiti will be our opportunity to reverse that order in future situations.

But while we pray, we can acknowledge that the disaster in Haiti is a disaster of such incredible proportions because of the extreme poverty that exists there. And poverty is something we can take action against every day in our own towns and communities. It exists in our own backyards.

Super Bowl Sunday is coming up. It's a great time to collect cans of soup (for Souper Bowl Sunday) and donate them to a local food pantry. All of them are running low on supplies these days

Go ahead and collect those clothes and blankets and get them to your local shelter or half-way house.

Think about how we all might spend less and share more.

Perhaps we can "pray globally" and act locally. And through that combination begin to carve our a more peaceful and just world.


We pray for Haiti

God of compassion
please watch over the people of Haiti,
and weave out of these terrible happenings
wonders of goodness and grace.
Surround those who have been affected by tragedy
with a sense of your present love,
and hold them in faith.
Though they are lost in grief,
may they find you and be comforted.
Guide us as a church
to find ways of providing assistance
that heal wounds and provide hope.
Help us to remember that when one of your children suffers
we all suffer;
through Jesus Christ who was dead, but lives
and rules this world with you. Amen.

— Bruce Reyes-Chow, Gradye Parsons and Linda Valentin

Two Great Articles

One is from Christianity Today on the Myth of the Perfect Parent. It particularly addresses the notion (a false one) that there is a formula for raising a Christian child. It's really interesting and I think comforting for parents whose children have not embraced the faith as much as the parents had hoped.

Myth of the Perfect Parent

The other one is from the Utne Reader and is about how creating things with our hands improves critical thinking skills and our sense of self-worth.

Crafting a New World


Now I'm waiting on the article on how learning to create things with our hands can help us to connect with our Creator.

Woke up this morning craving an egg sandwich. When I was in college, Murrell's (somehow I don't thing that's the right spelling) was a 24-hour diner. It closed at the end of July of this year. Back in the day, you could get a fried egg sandwich at Murrell's for one dollar. An egg between two slices of toasted white bread with mayo and sliced pickles. Today's version was made on wheat toast and with light mayo, but it still tasted great. I offered one to my daughter, but she couldn't seem to grasp the wonder of it.

Perhaps I was longing for the days when I just lived in a trashed dorm room and didn't have a house to maintain. A house that I can't update or decorate because my husband and I can't agree on colors to paint or what should go where. So nothing is happening. I think I will just focus on painting and putting together my office at church where I can do whatever I want and am armed with a gift certificate from Paint Depot.

Maddie is all geared up to start selling Girl Scout cookies. Dieters beware. Maddie is coming to sell you some Thin Mints and Samoas. The good news is that the won't actually be here until later in February, so you still have time to meet those New Year's resolutions.

Great article in the DemGaz on our church today. I even liked the picture of me--which is a miracle in itself. Here is the link, but you may need an account with the paper in order to view it. We have had amazingly good fortune in the last few weeks. Makes me think that perhaps God is up to something and hope that I am up for whatever it is God is up to!

Art of Renewal

"Faith is what you do between the last time you experienced God and the next time you experience God." -- Renita J. Weems, writer, minister, and professor of Old Testament studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School.

I've been looking at the story of Jacob this week and realizing how that first powerful encounter with God at Bethel really didn't do much to change Jacob. He acknowledges a holy encounter and even marks the spot with a stone, but he continues a life a self-service and trickery. It's not until the man/angel/God wrestles with him all night and physically injures him that he is changed.

Most of us don't get those vivid, in-your-face, up-close-and-personal kind of experiences with God. We experience God in worship, in nature, through helping others, through allowing ourselves to be helped. But I really like the idea of faith being what you do in between those experiences. That our faith is about how we live in light of our experience and encounters with God.

I wonder if anyone will ever figure out a formula for God-encounters and spiritual growth. You know, like the average person has to quit smoking seven times before they quit for good. Does the average person need at least seven experiences with God before they move to the next level in their spiritual growth? Who are the people who grow faster, and who are the ones who, despite encounter after encounter, simply stay where they are? And how many of us are like Jacob and have to be injured before we can move on to a better place?

Here's hoping we all have an encounter with the Holy today that will sustain us and feed us until the next one.

I want to be like this guy

When a bunch of people were stuck in the Newark airport because of a security issue that shut down a whole terminal for about 5 hours, a traveling guitar player led everyone in a sing-a-long. Cool.