Life Update

Hiya fellas,

I wanted to share some fun stuff and some needs for prayer, as we only had a handful of guys able to meet this last time.

First, I've been doing a lot more painting and drawing over the last month, especially in the last two weeks. I've also recently started a blog, which for the moment focuses largely on the small bits of artwork I've been doing, which are in the form of postcards. It's called A Man Of Interest and the idea is for it to be a way for me to share a little about all the things I appreciate and am doing, with the hope that it'll inspire/spur others on to do a little exploring and creating of their own.

On that note, I picked up a couple nice chair frames yesterday, and did the initial step of sanding one of them, I need to sand the other, and then I want to stain them and build good seats for them. I have no knowledge/experience in any legitimate wood work, and while I'm sure I could figure it out, if you have some experience or knowledge in general about this sorta thing I'd love some pointers.

So that's the praise, as it were. I've been able to spend a lot more time doing some art and having fun exploring things that I recently lacked the time/energy/motivation to do. The prayer request that comes with that is that I was laid off a little over two weeks ago. Not exactly the best time to be cut free from your job, no matter how little it paid or sparked your interest. Unemployment checks will eventually begin arriving, but they're not going to be enough to cover all my required expenses each month, not to mention anything interesting like, you know, eating, or traveling around LA should job interviews come up. So a new job, and quickly, is a big prayer need for me right now.

I have one other prayer request, for my girlfriend Lindsay. She's been gone for a couple months now as a staff person at a Christian camp up in northern Washington, and it's been a great and challenging time of teaching and counseling and leading a group of high school "volunteer staff" who help with the cleaning and set up and essentially all the manual labor that goes into making this camp happen for the kids. Over the last week or two she's started to get sick, because when you're working and running around from 6 am till 11 pm, 6 days a week, for 10 straight weeks, well, your body tends to get worn out. She sent me a text message last night saying that she had to go to the doctor for antibiotics, that she's been really sick this week, and that she really needs good time alone with Jesus and the Word, but there simply isn't ever a moment to rest and recover. So be in prayer for her, when you have a moment, that she'd be physically, emotionally, and spiritually restored and refreshed so that she can continue her work for the remaining 4 weeks of camp.

Thank you guys for taking the time to read my ramblings, thank you for your prayers and support and encouragement. I'm already looking forward to our next gathering.

Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglass Wilson

Thanks Tavis.

http://www.archive.org/details/Collision-ChristopherHitchensVsDouglassWilson

Mountains and Music

Some of the guys making it happen:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Trey.Wales/MtBaldyMay2010#
http://picasaweb.google.com/Trey.Wales/CactusToCloudsMay2010#

Some ex-bandmates making it happen:
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Protomen/28269789
http://www.myspace.com/thegloriousunseen

May 24th Meeting Minutes

Mark, Dan, Rory, David, me.

Prayed to start. Prayed to finish. Don't have the requests on me at the moment, but will post soon. Discussed bible translations, some political stuff... just hung out. Was a good meeting.

Next meeting we may shoot for Westside (Mark's place) and maybe a Thursday...?

April 27th Meeting Minutes

4 dudes and pictures from Israel. Brian shared his experience with Jews, "non-religious", foreigners of all types, relics, holy sites, wolves, etc.

We also discussed the mewithoutYou lyrics momentarily and glanced on Acts. Kept it informal again as attendance was low and don't want to "move on" without the group. Let's get some attendees on this next one (May 23-24 or 30-31?)!

Prayer requests:
David - The spiritual path of an ex-girlfriend, and how to remain a positive influence/friend in her life.
Rory - Following God's vision for the micro-lending opportunity, or whatever the opportunity might be (did i remember correctly?)
Brian - Writing and the future. School accommodations, a church home in NYC, etc. (did i remember correctly?)
Trey - Being more active in the community and finding a church fellowship that matters (am signed up for a "small group" sort of thing at Reality for the time being...)

April Items for Discussion

Gents,

Picked up a few items for discussion in a couple weeks:

(1) "The King Beetle on a Coconut Estate"
mewithoutYou song that I've really enjoyed, but sincerely puzzles me. Kinda want to toss around interpretation. Lyrics are here.

(2) "Seven Chapters in the Life of Paul"
Written by a friend's seminary professor at Duke University. Thought it would offer an interesting perspective to Acts. If you want the Word doc, which is a bit prettier and can be printed in booklet format, email me.

Mar. 28th Meeting Minutes

Casual event this week. Many conflicting schedules, but had a decent group. Sundays are kind of weird for this meeting to me. It's in many ways the opposite day of Monday, which is why I'm firmly a "Sunday is the last day of the week" guy. AND I say "whitey tighties", not the reverse.

Went to Malo's in Silver Lake for food and drinks. Applause for the KCRW discount. Discussion around what we've been creating and the difficulties in fully forming those creations (limiting factors such as the "technical learning" process, lack of available resources to flesh out the concepts, etc.) Also, passion for living: several doing training, diving, crazy stuff...

One of those, Brian, is in Israel hiking for 3 weeks. If you think of it, keep him in your prayers. He was there over Easter. Will be interesting to hear his account.

For the April event, definitely want to recap and spend some time focusing on Acts 1-12, which means read Acts 9-12. I'm pushing for April 26th or 27th.

the unchanging character of God

God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, through the sea, and no sooner do they go back to disbelieving God. God wants to destroy them. Moses prays to God and asks him to remember how far he's brought the Israelites thus far and that it would really be a shame to have to start all over. God agrees with Moses and answers Moses prayer to to spare the Israelites, that 'I will be your God and you will be my people."

Many folks have pointed to this story with the question, how can an unchanging God change his mind? I believe the answer is in his character. God wants us to ask of him. God asks us into communication and dialogue with him. It's God's character that desires rich relationship with rich communication to cultivate a compelling trust, especially when life takes you by the neck and puts you on the mat. Our creator's unchanging character is in his calling for us to engage with him. We do this through prayer and meditation on the gospel to gain a better understanding of how God is redeeming all things unto himself beginning with himself, Jesus of Nazareth.

All things are being made brand new, into a new creation. He's invited us to join him now in his fulfilling and rewarding work in our lives today. Let us today answer the call to bring joy and peace the entire world, and be filled with passion and power to proclaim radical salvation in Jesus' name.

Feb. 22, 2010 Meeting Minutes

Met at Trey's (aka "The Ripper's") apartment. Yuca's, Bison Chocolate Stout, Anchor Steam, chocolates, Book of Eli soundtrack...

Shared:
- Rory's story of coming to faith, embracing music, all the way up to current convictions and the movement to new pastures.
- A story by Mark worth hearing if you've not heard it. I linked in to that with a story of my own, then we got to discussing "miracles", the extraordinary in the ordinary, and so on.
- Josh's renewed musical inspiration.
- Dan explained how he's every car-related reality show's casting dream guy. Also just moved.
- Brian's in a very transitional place, writing a lot as usual, pursuing formal writing education.
- Shelvy was kind of the meeting sage, and not just because of his brazen facial hair.

Only 6 of us, which was quite nice. Maintained a single conversation for the majority of the meeting.

And finally we prayed for each other, or rather Shelvy prayed for the group right from the notepad he scribbled prayer requests on. Those requests are posted below.

Good meeting. We didn't directly hammer through Acts 4-6, but it was referenced as usual. Little discussion on current projects; more on that next time, per Mark's request below.

March 22nd for the next one? Someone's place? My place?

Sharing is Caring

I would love to see, read or hear some of the work you all are doing. Would anyone like to volunteer to bring some of their work to share at the next meeting? It could be works-in-progress or the final product... whatevs.

Mark

Pray Without Ceasing

We ended the evening tonight with a bit of sharing of prayer requests, and I prayed for the group, but I really want to encourage everyone to take some time to pray for the needs of our brothers, and if you weren't able to add your prayer needs during the time of discussion, please add them here now so we can pray for you too.

And prayer isn't just requests. Praising God for what He's doing is equally important, so share those things that we may rejoice with you as well.

*Please add/correct as needed, as these are taken from quick notes while people were speaking.

It seems as though many in the group are dealing with big life transitions right now. With financial hardship, a desire to change careers, or find a career instead of "just a job", with wanting to hear clearly from God in a number of areas. So praying for these things for any/all of us is great too.

Dan: Financial provision, career direction, creative motivation/inspiration.

Brian: Applications to Columbia, New School, coming out of the military and dealing with the huge transitions that will come with entering civilian life, including possible job opportunities, perhaps moving to New York. Struggling recently with a spiritual funk and seeking break it, currently fasting.

Trey: Seeking a place where he and Erin feel they can be used, where there is a church community they can connect with and contribute to. Endurance and energy during a difficult time at work, being emotionally and mentally drained. Pray that intelligent and appropriately critical judgement wouldn't give way to cynicism and being judgmental.

Mark: Guidance and direction, specifically in his career and the path he should take, but also in his marriage, that he and his wife can continue to be a team that works together and honors God in what they do.

Rory: Applications to business schools, life transition into new career/entrepreneurial dreams, possibly exploring the world of corporate life rather than being accountable for every aspect of a new business venture.

Shelvy: Desiring to know the difference between contentment and complacency in his life. Wanting to follow God's leading, but needing to know if that leading is to take action or to remain still. Financial provision and/or guidance towards changes so that he can be more responsible and a better steward of the money and the financial obligations he has.

That's all for now, but I want this to just be the start of the ball rolling. I'm going to try to be much more intentional about my prayer life over this next month, and specifically in praying for you guys. I hope you'll join me.

Haiti and the Church's response

I gave this talk at Grace Harbor church on Sunday. I believe you all know, but I spent a month there in the last year and had planned (and still plan) on spending a couple months there this Summer. I am finishing a video today showing what the organization I've worked with - El Shaddai - is doing in Haiti for earthquake relief as well as raising orphan youths to be the future leaders of the country.

Donate directly at www.esmihome.org

For those of you that may have joined the Grace Harbor community during the last season, or maybe visiting with us today, you should be aware that we have had the opportunity to be a part of two missions trips in 2009 to Haiti providing medical care and relief for a network of orphanages.

The pictures and video that has streamed in this week of the horrific tragedy in Port-au-Prince are difficult to comprehend, and move even the strongest of us to tears. Estimates are now over one hundred thousand dead, many more still unaccounted for, and at least 3 million homeless.

Not only was one-third of Port-au-Prince completely leveled, but also many of the surrounding villages were also destroyed. PaP’s port , which is the countries main source of food, has been completely destroyed. The 5 Story United Nations main head quarters has collapsed, most likely killing everyone inside. The Presidential palace and government buildings have also collapsed, killing countless number of government personnel and members of parliament. Rather than allow Haiti to sink into anarchy, which is certainly is on the brink of doing, The U.S. has sent in 10,000 military personnel and taken over the airport.

Fortunately , all the orphans we’ve worked with are safe. The only orphanage that is near PaP, called Carrefour in the town of Brouchette., suffered only minor damage with one wall collapsing and the children unscathed. At Cambry, the main orphanage, some of the children were traumatized enough to jump out of the building they were in and broke their arms and legs.

I’ve been receiving daily updates from our friends in Haiti. Brothers Dony & Louis operate El Shaddai Ministries, the Church we support along with the network of orphanages they operate. Louis has been sharing his stories from the ground:

" WE RESCUED A YOUNG GIRL AT DELMAS 40. BROTHERS, IT IS UNBELIEVABLE AND HORRIBLE, MORE THAN ANYONE COULD IMAGINE. One school has 350 children buried under it. Another nursing school, 100 students. No food. Day 4 without food and water in PAP. Interviewed a family that lost 12 people. PAP not a city that can be rebuilt easily. Hundreds of thousands of people sleeping on the streets. Some are sleeping in tents but there are not enough. Visit to the hospitals-no antibiotics, no medication, not enough personnel to minister to the people. No gas in PAP. People are moving back to the provinces so ministry cannot only be in PAP but need to go to the villages to them too. Still a lot of areas without help. A lot of people still in need of help. May God continue to guide us and have mercy on His people.”

Louis has taken control of a clinic 15 minutes outside of PaP to use as headquarters for the relief effort with a guesthouse that can hold 200 people. They’re bringing in a couple doctors and 5 nurses. The banks aren’t working in Haiti either. They’re accepting funds through esmihome.org – 100% will go towards relief.

When disaster strikes an impoverished and oppressed people, the world asks why? I have already received the question from my own family and associates in semantics that mimic the question where is your God? The falsity of the logic of the world is that it plagiarizes the Christian worldview to undermine it. No one denies there is an ethical dimension to suffering, yet we actually have reason to explain and defend it. For we believe that there is value in every human being, that everyone is of worth and deserves dignity. The Christian story says this. It confirms this. That while we were still repugnant, Christ bled for a broken world. The pain of Christ’ suffering if what draws us to Him. The suffering of Haiti is what draws us to Haiti. Let us open our hearts and bear their burden with them, let us put our faith in our wonderful God who invites beggars into the banquet and who makes saints out of sinners. It is with this ultimate love and complete faith that we are to respond.

I know we quote this gentlemen almost as often as Saint Paul, but at times like these I am reminded of Anthony Hopkins role as C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands: “Where was God on that day? … Isn’t he supposed to be good? Isn’t he supposed to love us? Does God want us to suffer? …. God wants us to be able to love and be loved. He wants us to grow up. … Suffering. or To put it another way. Pain. Is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world. We are like blocks of stone. Out of which the sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of his chisel. Which hurts us so much. Are what makes us perfect. “

Kings 8 : 37 whatever disaster may come, 38 when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel—…. 39 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all men)

We thought now would be a good time in our service to break off into groups of 2 and 3 to give each of us a moment to pray for the people of Haiti and the entire situation. Let us be praying for a clear role for Grace Harbor and how as a community we can play an effective role. In the midst of Hollywood and the rest of the world’s response, we need to be patient and wait, understanding that God may have us playing the 2^nd half or even the fourth quarter.

Prayer for Haiti

- ask God to raise up moral and effective leadership in the relief effort and the country

- Pray for an abundance of food & clean water to fill Haiti

- For heavy machinery and engineers necessary for clean up

- For safety of women, children, the elderly and others who suffer under lawlessness

- For the role of the Church in response to suffering

01.11.2010 Meeting Minutes

Ridiculous tacos and burritos courtesy of Yuca's restaurant.

Were on topic (Acts 1-3) for a bit. Big attendance. Discussions on the early church, the Holy Spirit, the disciples, how the church should work. Also (almost) discussed what creative projects all are involved in, which (Mark brings up) might be a good idea going forward. Here are the minor structural items I think that should fit onto weekly agendas (and typically do):

(1) Bible-story-based discussion (Acts 4-6 next month)
(2) Updates on creative projects, thoughts, etc. - to be accountable to and inspire the process
(3) Testimonies - I'd still like to know what drives everyone. Haven't gotten to this yet.
(4) Prayer requests

The last two items probably don't take long. I also appreciate that Rory came with handwritten notes on what impacted him from Acts 1-3. Would help in general if we had these sorts of conversation directors.

Thanks for coming out. Next month maybe... Feb. 8th?