Pastor Jim Wallis

This is Pastor Jim Wallis. I don't know much about Pastor Wallis so I went to wikipedia and copied some info for you to figure out who he is along with me me.

The Reverend Jim Wallis is an evangelical Christian writer and political activist, best known as the founder and editor of Sojourners Magazine and of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian community of the same name. Wallis actively eschews political labels, but his advocacy tends to focus on issues of peace and social justice.

Now that is out of the way I want you all to go to this link to view this wonderful perspective on our economy from Pastor Wallis' perspective...click here

Read This Letter...

This is a letter from our Southern Hemisphere bothers and sisters in Christ to the Church in the United States...click here to read the letter

Random Fixings

- Why is Heros such an amazing show? I still hate Dr. Suresh...horrible actor and his character sucks! I seriously can't stand how over zealous of a doc the show has made him. I really think it's the over zealousness that makes the actor a bad actor. They actor for Dr. Suresh can't seem to be over-zealous without it feeling like stage acting...I get mad every time he comes on. I hope what he injected himself with kills him off the show!
- Audrey is doing just great now. Thanks for the prayers...if you weren't praying, then I will pray that God makes you a better christian...just kidding!
- On the flip side of health...I am having ridiculous headaches because my wisdom teeth are finally giving me issues. Called Doc Mohn and I am going to have surgery soon.
- I have ICU clinical rotations this semester at Kaiser...I'm going to love it.
- Last but never least...Sunday night I, along with millions of other people said good bye to an old friend. Yankee Stadium had it's last game. Yankees won 7-3. Being that Audrey was still a bit contagious with Roseola, we stayed home and I watch ESPN coverage of the day from 10am till around 9pm of nothing but Yankee history. What an amazing day!!! I can't wait to watch a game in the New Yankee Stadium. I will do that as soon as I own a house, then re-Fi on the house so I can buy 2 tickets in the nose bleeds...geezz have you seen the price tag on the tickets for this stadium. Who does George think he is...The Boss!!

Fever!!!

My little Audrey has a fever ;-( She got some shots yesterday at Loma Linda and because her body was fighting the fake bacteria and viruses she spiked a little temp. It toped out at about 100.something (I don't remember) and now it is down to 99.0

She didn't sleep at all last night (neither did we) but she has been so much more cuddly. The fever knocked out some of her ridiculous energy. Cuddle Audrey is fun and cute and cuddly. Not that she is not all of those things when she is not febrile (fever).
Here are some pics of Audrey I don't think I have posted...

Ok...I Have Processed What I Think

So my first reaction to the documentary is WOW...is this for real...I had NOOoooo idea that it was this serious. Then I got mad at our media for not keeping us informed to the extent of this type of Islam. Then I felt sad and upset at how this could have gone this far; teaching and educating kids in this destructive worldview. After feeling these emotions I immediately started asking question after question.

How do I reconcile with a worldview such as this? How do I show love that will break through and connect to someone of this reality? How does one educate the public in a way that does not breed hatred and fear but awareness and non-hatred (I couldn't think of another word)?

I wish you could see the rest of the video. The documentaries' argument stated that this is not just happening in the US but in other parts of the world. It isn't just against Christianity but against Buddhism, Hindus, Jews, and Atheist.

Now I was struggling with, "well...what action is necessary to take," almost retaliatory but not. Then today I read Brian McLearn's blog and he talked about why he is voting for Obama vs. McCain (I high recommend that you read this blog. It is a great perspective that I haven't heard articulated before). The article landed squarely on the ministry we all have to each other, whether Christian or not...Reconciliation. We as simple human beings all have a need for each other, known or not. We are connected via God's grace for allowing us the ability to live...we and all the cosmos are His domain, are his Kingdom, are His creation and get the privilege of being the keepers of this domain. We GET the PRIVILEGE of loving each other!! So then my final question I asked myself was, "Does my love stop, to save my life?" I mean, in order to preserve my life from the apparent danger presented by this particular reality, do I stop loving in the name of Jesus the Christ?

You know...I can't help but think about Jesus asking Peter to love His sheep. If you love Me you will love My sheep. Peter LOVED "sheep" until he hung on a cross, upside down, in the face of a worldview that could not conquer what could not be conquered...The overwhelming, subversive, awkward, unrelenting, LOVE of Jesus Christ!!

This Is What I Learned Today

I am going to love my Transcultural Health class. Think of it as an Anthropology class on steroids with a health slant. Today we were talking about worldviews and how they effect you and how they effect me. My worldview is different then your worldview. NT Wright would say that your story and the stories that shaped your stories have helped to shape your worldview. I agree. Most of reality, or one could say that all reality is are stories strewn together to form a reality. This is philosophy that I won't get into (but I love. SIDENOTE: I have come to love philosophy as of late).

Well today, at 8:00am, our teacher decided to show us a documentary called Obsession. I will tell you what I thought in my next post when I have had time to process my thoughts...I have placed an eleven minute clip for you to watch. the full movie is one and a half hours long or something like that.

***DISCLAIMER***
Some of this might be disturbing for some people and as for comments on this video, please keep it respectful and intelligent but I would love to see what you have to say!!!

Copy Cats...

Look who jacked the title of my last blog post...Check It!!

Sex, Drugs, and Oil

Well it took almost 5.3 Million dollars to put all three together but they did it. Congress that is...read this interesting and not so surprising story about what sex, drugs, and oil have in common. All the conspiry theorists need now is more fuel for their fodder about our government...although it's easy to see why "they" have conspires...read the story

I'm Going To Need Therapy

Loving the Yankees is going to give me gray hair before my time for the next few rebuilding years...

Please Welcome To The Blog Family...

...one of my favorite graduates from The Overflow Emma Pidgeon. This is a girl that knows who she is and is willing to find out more about herself in a real way. Please go to her blog and welcome her to the real internet...give her some love yo!!!

Go To Emma's Blog

Big Props To Mo Val Police!!!

So...I went to bed early this evening around 10:00pm only to be woken up by our upstairs neighbors at around 12;30am. A little background about our upstairs neighbors: They are typical bros not living typical lives. They have a typical bachelor pad...kind of. Not many bachelor pads have a 124 inch projection screen with a projector in their little apartment for playing the Wii and Playstation 3 (One day they were playing Guitar Hero: My Name Is Jonas over and over again to get a perfect score...on 5.1 dolby digital surround sound...coming through the walls). Anyways...they were nice guys...a little too nice.

Very respectful and they tried to be mindful of the fact that Audrey needs to sleep and that we appreciate quiet. But always a bit to respectful. They had people over all the time...at weird hours...but the thing that tipped me off...was the vacuuming at 2 am or 4:30am. They vacuumed around the clock...now...i'm not a smart man but they stopped fooling holly and I when we heard the random vacuuming consistently. We said to ourselves, each other, and some friends of ours...DRUG DEALERS!!! Living in downtown Riverside our first 2 years of marriage gave us some street smarts...being that we lived across from a Meth Lab. Yeah that eventually blew up!

It turns out that at 12:30am this morning, the Mo Val Police thought the same thing. All 3 guys are now in state prison. It is a sad thing to because one of the guys...the main guy, has a beautiful little girl that just turned 4. In fact, they made banana splits the other day for her birthday.

Just when I was trying to get to know them...well now we wait for new neighbors.

Didn't Think I'd Learn From a Baby

That's right folks...Audrey has taught me something. Through trial by fire she has taught me something my own mother could never...the art of being organized. These last four months I have been Mr. Mom, and they have been some of the most rewarding 4 months of my life. It is the most amazing thing to not understand how Marriage works and it is just as amazing to witness something you have created, with a little miracle from God, grow up right before your eyes. Not to diminish all of the other life lessons I have learned about being a father (those post will come later), to me, leaning to be organized was something I knew I might need to work on, but I didn't think I would ever be good at it. Being that I was organizationally challenged, I had to learn to be organized in a hurry with a little crying child that wants food...NOW!!! Now it has seeped into my school life for the first time...which will seep into my nursing career which is where I need it the most...so i don't kill anyone!! I figure that might be important. You know...to be organized

Thanks Audrey!

School's For Fools...

I don't live by that at all...that is just homage to my friend Josh.

My friends, after a long 4 months of summer vacation, after a long 5 years of being shaped and molded by God into making this rash decision to not become a pastor and become a nurse, I am now staring at the finish line. I can see my goal in sight. Starting tomorrow (or today, whenever you are reading this) I will be in my last year of my BSN program at California Baptist University. You have no idea how overwhelmed I am by the perspective of my graduating.

To me this ranks up there with the whole, "will I ever get married" thinking. I was on one road in my life to be a licensed pastor, going to school at CBU for a Christian Theology degree with complete financial help from my home church The Grove. Then God changed my heart and pointed me towards nursing. I never thought I would get to where I am at right now because of money, time, and not being able to get into a college...the odds were against me.

I had no money to go to college...God provided in so many ways. One major way was through the O'Neils and my wife. I made the time. Here is the kicker...most nursing prospectives apply to multiple colleges and university to hopefully get in...CBU was the only place I applied...I put all of my eggs in one basket praying that if this is what God wants me to do then I will do it but He would have to get me in to CBU. Here I am 4 years later at the end of this journey...God is amazing!

To all of those people that have prayed for me and understood why I was doing this instead of becoming a licensed pastor; and to all of those same people who have supported me through prayer and encouragement; to the O'Neils for taking care of a new couple with no money to chase after what God has set in motion; to my wife that has stood by me and drudged through the unbelievable amount of hours I put into studying and not spending time with her; to those who don't quite understand how I could leave the gift that God has given me and turn to what God has called me to be...this year is for you!!!

Be The Manure

As a person that has been used to leading people I can really, truly appreciate this cartoon from my favorite cartoonist on faith issues, ASBO. I can think of so many times that I have gotten in the way as a leader when I should have removed myself from the lesson or teaching point. But now that I have been removed from tangible leadership for sometime now, it really has allowed me time to reflect on leadership and possibly grasp at new perspectives on what true leadership can look like. It would be interesting to compare and contrast the western-business model of leadership versus and eastern-biblical model of leadership.

Tell me what you think of this cartoon...