The Methodists Are Coming!

We met a couple of young men who are attending the United Methodist Church's general conference, which is held in Tampa this year. Rather than staying in a hotel downtown, Brandon and Luke are staying with us. There's no accounting for taste, I guess. The United Methodist Reporter did a story on their and another woman's choices to find alternative accommodations. Now where did that story go? Here it is!

They're nice guys, and have a lot of patience with dumb questions. For example, it turns out that Methodists don't eat their young, after all. Who knew?

Mama's Greens

I just thank God for our yard that produces greens and what Mama can do to them with a few ham hocks. Mmmm...

"Mama knows love like the back roads." -Anthony Hamilton

'What the hell are all these people doing in the same room with each other?'

"So an old black man, an old white man, and an old Jewish man are sitting around talking..." Sounds like the beginning of a really great joke but it actually was the beginning of a really great house church meeting last night. I could also have started by saying "So an asian girl, a black girl and a white girl were..." or even "So a high school student, a college student and teacher were..." or "So two Puerto Ricans and a Colombian are looking for Jesus..." You get the picture and it is the picture of the Kingdom of God.

Revelation 7:9

"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count,

from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb."

Make Kony Famous!

We will be participating in this campaign in a big way. Stay tuned or let us know that you want to be involved. Tampa is gonna have a lot of potential for international attention this year and it just seems righteous for us to deflect that attention to the cries of the poor in Africa.

Tuning Our Lives to the Love of God

I had the opportunity to sit down for lunch with a missionary from Africa today. This man moved into the Zambian bush with his wife where they lived among a tribe in an area with no water or electricity. The area had many orphans who could not be supported by their extended families, so this couple began an orphanage and a small school, which they built. They now have 17 children living with them, plus 2 of their own that they have had since living there. They are also providing the necessary supports for the extended families of another 130 orphans. In these cases, the extended family members have mostly been able to feed and shelter the children since losing their parents. Also, this missionary couple has began employing the community widows to help in the orphanage and school. As he told me his story I just kept thinking of James saying faith that is real it the faith that takes care of the widows and orphans.

An Ironic Dialogue between Generosity & Simplicity

The picture above is of duck tape shoes made by one of our Lake House church girls. She has been embracing the idea of simplicity in creative ways and I gotta say I really loved her idea. At our meeting tonight on of the guys that lives in a nearby boarding house was sitting next to her. I noticed him staring at her feet throughout the evening. When the meeting ended he went over and asked her if she was in need of shoes. This man who has very little felt bad for this girl who he felt pity for because of her shoes. He asked her about five times throughout the evening if she wanted him to help buy her some shoes. She has a place to live, works, goes to school, has a car and in comparison with him is quite well off.
I am proud of both of them. I am proud of her for breaking herself out of compulsive buying so that she may do more meaningful things with the resources that God has given her. I am proud of him for being so generous with the very little that he has. The Kingdom of God is a funny place.

Conscious Party Performance by Sekajipo & The Jungle

http://www.sekajipoandthejungle.com/

An Enchanted Weekend with Sekajipo & The Jungle

This weekend was rich. It began Friday night as almost all of our community went rock climbing with some friends. We just played and laughed and destroyed our bodies. Then Saturday we hosted an incredible Conscious Party with Sekajipo & The Jungle. It was also a blast to have him staying at the house all weekend with us. We really miss him so much!
Then Sunday morning I spoke at Underground's Crucible. I spoke on Mark 5:1-20 and the audio recording is below. Then on Sunday afternoon we had a few couch surfers come over to stay for a few days. Their names are Taylor and Steve and they are riding their bikes across the USA raising money for KIDS. Here is a link to their blog called Trailing The Sun. Sunday we had Sekajipo, Taylor, Steve and another Steve staying at the house. We were supposed to also have our friend Russ spending the night but after showing up and seeing how many people were over he decided to seek shelter elsewhere. We understand but we were also bummed that he didn't stay. It is such a joy to have a house full of people to love on.

Tampa Epoch Kickstarter Campaign

Our Community has been proud of the work being done by Bill Sharpe and the rest of the folks with the South Tampa News. The Tampa Epoch has been providing many in our community that have lost the right to make their needs known an opportunity to sell street papers. The paper is a high quality publication, a great resource in our city and also a huge chance for our neighbors in need to make ends meet. They started a Kickstarter campaign to help with the start up costs associated with this paper and we have decided to give and make the need know to you. Please consider visiting Kickstarter and pledging to support the paper and their vendors.

The Serenity Prayer

God, Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can and the Wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.

Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.

Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

Amen.

- Reinhold Niebuhr