Under Bridges

'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' - Jesus Christ

I've heard a lot of people try to explain this statement by Jesus. But, the best presentation of this concept comes from the song Under Bridges. This guy in Mexico reminded me of why this really matters (you can click on the picture for a larger view).

Brave St. Saturn – Under Bridges

Yesterday while walking,
Beneath an overpass,
I saw the figure of Jesus,
Standing barefoot on broken glass.
His beard was graying,
The smell of urine filled the air,
Asking if I had some change,
Anything that I could spare.

Emaciated,
His shaking fists balled up,
Influenza and pneumonia,
Begging God to take his cup.
So different from his pictures,
Breathing air through yellowed tubes,
Jesus Christ, dying of AIDS,
Can look right through you.

And all have hated,
Crucified and walked away,
The Savior of the prostitutes,
Drunkards, rapists,
and the gays.

Under bridges,
With hands raised,
From the ghettos they praise his name.
Broke and crippled in the dark of night,
Raise your voices to Jesus Christ,
Hallelujah.

In a world where we have more and more difficulty loving those whom God would have us love these words cry out…it’s time to treat our Savior the way he deserves to be treated.

A Mental Vacation

Click on image for larger view.

The Last "Top Five" List (at least for a while)

Ok, I don’t want to go overboard on the whole “top five” list thing, but I was recently compelled to enumerate my favorite “Reality” television shows. So, I thought I would share them with the world. Not so much the world. Let me try again…so I thought I would share them with the half-a-dozen or so that actually read this drivel.

Anyway, The Top Five Reality Shows

#5 Super Nanny – This stuff doesn’t get old. Poor parenting is the curse of my generation. We should all have her on speed-dial.

#4 Trading Spaces – There is nothing better than someone coming home and hating their room. I don’t know what’s more compelling, when the couple tries to play it off like they don’t hate it or when there’s that awkward friendship ending stare-down at the end of the show.

#3 Real World v. Road Rules – I hate the drama. I hate the typical post-teen hedonism. But, the games are cool.

#2 Rock Star – It was like American Idol with attitude. I’ve never been a fan of INXS but it was fun watching the contestants play some songs I really love. Of course they chose the wrong guy. I think the second place guy could make an album with the house band and exceed a rapidly aging second-rate 80’s band.

#1 Breaking Bonaduce – No doubt about this one. There is nothing like seeing an alcoholic, steroid using, psychopath destroy his career and his family all in the name of entertainment. It’s like baseball season without the trouble of playing 162 games. I loved the Partridge Family. Who didn’t? I’m not saying I don’t feel for the guy, and most of the time it’s not easy to watch. I guess in the end I’m rooting for him to pull it together, but I’m not very confident.

Go Bucs

Meanderings of an ADD Mind

Well, the Gators got slapped around the field this weekend by Alabama. After such a depressing loss there’s only one thing I can say. Go Tampa Bay Bucs. At least one of my teams is still undefeated.

It makes a fellow think. I haven’t heard one thing about the Black Action Network or the Rainbow Coalition giving aid to New Orleans. All of the claims of racism by their leaders, but where are they – it’s all just talk. And who is left to pick up the pieces – the churches.

If the next presidential nomination to the Supreme Court is going to be filibustered no matter what, why not throw someone up there just right of Attila the Hun. That way the next guy or gal doesn’t look quite as bad.

I don’t know why youth ministers get the rap for being disorganized. We typically organize more events and trips that anyone else in the…er… has anyone seen my cell phone?

I have this reoccurring dream that I get to heaven and ask God what my purpose in life was. He quickly responds, “There was this boy at the carnival who was about to run over by the guy driving the kiddy train. If you wouldn’t have yelled ‘watch out’ he would have never gone on to be this great man of God.” In the dream I reply, “that was it?’ “Yup, everything else was just icing.”

I don’t believe most polls.

I wonder how much you should worry about your reputation. Last week I heard that I guy I really respected didn’t care much for me. It bothered me at first, then I realized I can’t think of one thing I’ve done to the guy. I don’t know, but I’m glad God shows more grace than many of his followers are willing to show.

There are times that I am reminded of why I chose ministry. I love being a youth minister. It’s working for a church that gets on my nerves.

Brendan told me this weekend that he wanted to go to New Orleans to help with the storm victims. Last week he gave up part of his allowance (unsolicited) to send it down there. Every parent thinks their kid is great, at least until they hit sixth grade. But, I am very proud of my kid.

Speaking of children – Matt McDowell is a father. The kid weighs four pounds and already knows three chords.

A Little Tuesday Poetry

Christ is the pledge that I shall one day see;
That one day, still with him, I shall awake,
And know my God, at one with him and free.
O lordly essence, come to life in me;
The will-throb let me feel that doth me make;
Now have I many a mighty hope in thee,
Then shall I rest although the universe should quake.

- George MacDonald "Diary of an Old Soul" May 10

If I were in New Orleans

If I were there in the middle of that mess I would have a couple requests of the media.

"Put down the camera and the microphone and hand me a glass of water. While your at it, take the camera equipment out of that helocopter for a sec and give me a lift to somewhere that doesn't stink like dead people."

"No? Oh well, sorry for bothering you. I guess you can go back to blaming it all on the President."

Top Five List on Steroids

Ok, so me and several of my closest friends have been playing the “top five list” game for a couple of years now. It started out as a way to discuss music. Then it became a way to argue about music. It spread out to many other categories. The longer we did it, the more specialized or obscure the topics became (example: top five bands you would want to play at the memorial concert in honor of your death, or top five eighties movies that played on your Cold War fears [by the way, I hate to do a parenthetical reference inside of a parenthetical reference, but anyone who doesn’t pick Red Dawn as number one in that last category either wasn’t alive during the eighties or was snorting cocaine the entire decade]). Back in the Live Journal days the top five list spread to the blogsphere. Now that Toney Stowers has started posting them to his site I can foresee the top five list spreading even further. I think is should be a show on VH1. Oh, wait a minute, it used to be a show on VH1. I guess it got cancelled because Nick Taylor, Cory Jackson, RobWill, Toney Stowers and I were never invited to appear on the show.

Tonight I feel the need to elevate the top five list to a entirely new therapeutic level. Doing the lists always make me feel a little better, but never quite so much as this one. It is time for me use this honored institution as a vehicle to vent some frustrations.

So without further unnecessary explanation – The Top Five Things that are currently Getting on My Nerves.

#5 Hurricane Coverage – specifically these guys that go out and get right in the middle of the wind and rain so you can see just how bad a hurricane really is. I’m sure the first person who did this won some kind of journalistic award. Now they just come across as morons. Am I the only person that secretly hopes one of these guys gets hit in the head with a street sign? There are people who have no choice whether or not to ride out the storm, occasionally with tragic consequences. We don’t need these guys going out there pretending to be heroic.

#4 Overzealous Sport Fans – I have to careful here, because everyone knows I’m a huge Florida Gator fan. The difference between me and those of whom I speak is simply, I will occasionally acknowledge that are teams that are better than the Gators. I will admit that they occasionally deserve to lose a game or two. I know a guy who believes the Tennessee Volunteers have never lost a game that they didn’t deserve to win. After losing three games last year he was trying to figure out a scenario in which the Vols could still get a piece of the National Championship. I know another guy, who at the slightest mention that a team might have been better than the Steelers, writes a dissertation on why that can’t be true (see “comments” on the last post). As it turns out he’s probably correct, but geez. If he had worked that hard on anything in college he would now be a Nuclear Physicist. And don’t even get me started on fantasy teams. Sports are meant to be fun. If you’ve ever been kicked out of a little league game for yelling at your kid’s coach you might be a little too serious.

#3 Territorial Drivers – The other day I was trying to change lanes on Rt. 60 and three cars sped up so as to NOT let me over. One of them was a member of my church (I don’t know if it is worse if they did or didn’t recognize me). Huntington has more churches than any place I have ever lived. I guess that whole WWJD thing doesn’t apply when you’re behind the wheel.

#2 So called Religious Leaders that call for the assignation of heads of state. Have you heard about this? Every time I see ‘ole Pat on television I want to take out an advertisement with his picture on it saying on behalf of all Christendom, “THIS MAN DOES’T REPRESENT US, he has lost it. Please don’t judge the local church in your neighborhood by what this lunatic says.” Then the next day he said he didn’t mean what it was clear that he had said. I’m not a pacifist. As a matter of fact the modern peace movement in this country drives me almost as batty. I know that war is occasionally necessary but advocating assignation seems to go against one of the Ten Commandments, mainly, Do Not Murder.

And the #1 thing that is currently getting on my nerves – Cats.

It's Almost Football Season

Master in the Mountains

(I asked Cory Jackson, one of our graduates, to write about Master in the Mountains - an "end of summer" hiking trip we take every year to honor our graduates. Here are his thoughts)

I stood, rather infirmly, teetering between life and death on a rock that has most likely watched more than one person plunge to their death and hadn’t seemed to take a particular interest or liking to me. I cautiously leaned out over the valley separating Charlie’s Bunion (our particular death wish) and the next potential Fear Factor stunt. I stared at the ground and the distance between us and realized why “The Wizzled One” needed a new transmission and perhaps a tire rotation.

However, I knew that I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else, especially back on the old reliable, sweltering bus with Joe Crash recounting his exploits in his appealing, singsong voice. I’ll even go so far as to say, I’d have picked that particular foot abnormality over Galaga or Mrs. Pac-man back at the cabin. There’s something about being surrounded by God’s creation that is very conducive to the thought process.

First, I thought about Luke because hearing him announce his bunion was probably the funniest series of events this side of the Mason Dixon Line. Then I wondered why I like to pepper my writing with Civil War era references. I thought about how much I bawled when I had to do Luke’s put-ups and then, remembered that I was to be put through that same ceremony in a few hours.

Even when I opened my eyes to observe the amazing worship experience going on around me that night in the cabin, I couldn’t see Cousin John for all the raised hands and sobs could be heard in the pauses between songs. Praise echoed off the walls loud and sincere, as close to the supreme and absolute surrender God deserves, as I have ever been involved in. There is no doubt the Holy Spirit was among us.

There was an energy left in the room as our worship time ended and put-ups were about to begin. Put-ups were a mix of remembering laughs we’d had together, life-impacting moments and wishes for the future. I could tell you exactly what everyone said about each other, I could tell you how many people cried, how much I didn’t want it to end, but it was truly something you had to be there for.

The next morning we packed up and loaded onto the bus like any other trip, but we knew it wasn’t just another return trip home. This was the last one, in a lot of ways, for a lot of people and one that all of us will remember.

CoJack

Tri-State Bible Camp - Teen Week

There are several things different about the way we do camp. We stay up a little too late, we sleep in a little too long, we play a little too hard, and we are a little louder than we are supposed to be. We concentrate on kids not rules, relationships not schedules. There have been some criticisms over the years, but those of us who have been in it for the long haul have seen God do some amazing, AMAZING things.

I’ve said that with the sixteen baptisms we had last year that it was as close to Pentecost as I have ever been. Well, if that true then this year is as close to heaven as I’ve ever been. On Wednesday night at the (flashlight) campfire I sat and watched 100 campers and adults worship as I have never seen. I saw young and old lift their hearts before God not caring who was around them or what anyone else thought. I listened to several kids and adults tell the story of God working in their lives. It was a great night to be at camp.

There are other thoughts I’ve had since camp that are worth sharing.
- I don’t know how I would get through the week without Toney, Paul, and Jake.
- I thought Craig did a wonderful job of leading our hearts to God all week.
- No one broke up with Cory, which made camp a lot better.
- Caitlin is an artist; she made a couple of the lessons come alive.
- I think Russ may have had to buy a new air mattress,
- Rob Durst took our camp to a whole new technological level.
- Ross got a homecoming date.
- Steve Fox didn’t almost die, that’s a plus.
- Sergeant Travis and Private RonJon made me laugh all week.
- I love my Aunt Layna, and so does everyone else.
- We have an incredible camp staff.
- No doubt about it. God lives at camp.

Truth is, I love camp. It makes me happy just being there. It makes me happy that my wife and my child love it as much as I do. No matter what my job is, if I can still walk, you will be able to find me at a camp somewhere during the summer.

Finally, a vacation

After an amazing summer, in which we have traveled thousands of miles with teenagers, it is now time for a much needed vacation with just my family. When I return next week I will post about camp (which was amazing) and Master in the Mountains
(whic was also, er, amazing). Until then...

Mission Team 2005

Mission Trips in General

(for a month since the trip I have been trying to put on paper my feelings about our mission trips over the past few years. So here goes...)

I wish that I could easily sum up my experience on mission trips the past few years. It would be a ridiculous task to try to explain all of the little ways that I have been touched, and it would be almost impossible to relate to you the warmth I hold for the Native American and Mexican people. However, for a little while I am going to try to explain from within my heart how a few weeks each summer can come to mean so much.

Partly, I think it’s because each destination provides real opportunities to work for the Lord’s renown.

Even though God has brought them together in my heart, the work with the Native American children at AICM, and the Medical Missions in Mexico are compelling for completely different reasons. In Mexico there is a physical poverty that exceeds anything I have experienced before. But the people are not altogether unhappy. There is a warmth and a continent that I have rarely experienced in the US. When I see the gratitude and the smiles shown to us by the Mexican people I am compelled to do anything I can to help them.

The Apache and Navajo children we work with at the American Indian Christian Mission are much more economically fit. Our government, in its inexplicable policy toward Native Americans, has at least held up the standard of living to minimal levels. But there is an emotional bankruptcy that is even more disturbing than what we see in Mexico. It is seen in the alcoholism rates that in some areas rise to 60%. It is seen in the teen suicide rate that is more than five times the national average. When I hear the stories of abuse, and when I when I catch a glimpse of a child with the haunted gaze of hopelessness, I am compelled to shine any light I have into their lives.

The people we have come in contact with over the past few years also provide a significant reason these trips get inside of me.

People like Wade and Dara who gave up lucrative careers to teach Native American kids, and who have let God lead them more than any couple I know. People like Antonio who suffers from a hip defect that caused him to pull himself around on his hands until he was 13 years old. Now, after several procedures in the states, he is a powerful influence for God in Guaymas, Mexico. People like Gene who is a big gruff guy, but when he honks the horn in the big blue bus you can see the size of his heart as the Apache kids come running. People like Nathan, a young missionary we met in Mexico this summer, whose strength and maturity reach far beyond his age. People like Carlos who was homeless and an alcoholic until God changed his life. Now he is a light to the community and a hard worker for God in the church at Guaymas. And there are so many more I could mention. These people are putting it on the line for God every day. They have come to mean so much to our group, so much to me. I am inspired by their courage and their dedication to God, and I hope to be more like them when I grow up.

While on these trips there is a feeling, a sense of urgency that comes over the participants that is difficult to describe. It’s like nothing else matters. You feel as if there is nothing more important going on in the world that what is happening that particular day in that particular place. Few people make any attempt to keep up with news, stock quotes, or sports – it’s just not as important. Would that all of God’s people feel that kind of urgency, that kind of clarity of purpose. Would that we all could experience more often what it is like to totally live in the moment. It is emancipating.

Of this there is no doubt. God works in these trips. He always has. And we have seen amazing signs of his presence.

He has given us a light show at the top of a mountain. He has put together a mission trip in less that twenty-four hours in the most stressful of situations. He has held his hand over his buildings, as there was fire all around. He has built an organization in two countries out of a chance meeting between his people from Huntington and Memphis. He has displayed his glory to us in fireworks and in a sunset over the Grand Canyon.

Truth is, I love these trips. God has filled my life with far more than I have ever given. I can’t wait until next summer.

This Week's Top Five List

Top Five Bands or Artists that I secretly enjoy but am afraid to admit:

5. Dashboard Confessional
4. Journey
3. Kelly Clarkson
2. Iron Maiden
1. Prince

HMCA in morning light

I'm Still Alive

Yea, yea. I haven't posted in a while.

The reason is simple. Mission Trip for ten days, a week and a half for camp preperations, two weeks at camp and Friday we leave for Master in the Mountains. I'm not complaining. It has been one of the coolest months of my life. But, it has been chaos.

I will post about the mission trip, and about camp when I have more time. Also, I took a really cool picture yesterday that I'll try to get up.

For now let me say that God is good. Mission Trips and Bible Camps are where he lives. And I am doing great.

ttfn - george

Blogger Voice Mail (AHHH MEXICO)

Hello, you reached George's weblog. He is currently in Mexico and cannot be reached. Please leave a message and he will return in ten days.

If you need immediate assistance, you can reach him at:

Mexico Mission 2005

At this site you will be informed of the current progress of the mission in Guaymas.

Again, thank you for logging on. Hope to hear from you again soon.

The following are blogs that really crack me up. The first two are friends, the other one is a guy I met through the blogsphere. Happy reading.

Rob Williamson

Matt Elliott

Gustavo Keener

Site 40