Four Pins and Counting

My Starbucks hat pin count is up to four and more are on the way. Over the past two weeks I've gotten three more pins to stick in my hat. It doesn't mean that I get a raise, and I don't get anything special; all it means is that I'm doing a great and that's how we get recognized is by getting pins to put in our hats, and thats exciting for me.

Tonight Leo saved my life or he may have been trying to save his own, but I'd like to think he was saving mine. The four of us (Leo, Jesse, Pooh Bear [yes that's one of our friends here] and I) we sitting at the house playing Scattegories. We heard some noises outside that sounded like gunshots but we also thought they could have been fireworks. Leo and I peeked outside our window, but we didn't see anybody and we hadn't heard anything for a minute or two, so we opened the door and stepped outside we then heard a few more shots coming from the other side of a fence that divides our neighborhood from another one. Leo wanted to go over and have a look, because we know some of the kids that live over there and we wanted to make sure they were okay. All of a sudden we hear about six really loud bangs and a these screeching sounds coming form over the fence and they startled me but Leo grabbed hold of me and pulled me in the house and in front of him and him pulling me back scared me even more that the bangs. We really had nothing to worry about though because it was just a bunch of fireworks. Then after my nerves straightened up again I looked at Leo and said, “are you protecting yourself or saving me?” Jesse and Pooh Bear thought it was hilarious. I on the other hand am not up for becoming a human shield. Ephesians 6 talks about a Shield of Faith not a shield of Travis. Praise the Lord for fireworks, they were actually very nice.

A Christmas journey and then some more

I'm back in the blogosphere. Does anyone know where that term came from the blogosphere? It's a strange term. I realized a few days ago that the last blog that I posted was on a down note about the Christmas season and that's not fun to see over and over again. Here is a quick (I say “quick” now and it could be a lie) update on that things that have happened since I last blogged. I spent Christmas at the Adam's house with Mrs. Shirley Adams, Phil, Nicole, Daniel, Chris, and Baby D. We decided to open our gifts at twelve o'clock rather than wait till morning. That gave us more time to eat breakfast and relax until lunch/dinner. Rather than having a traditional Christmas meal with a turkey or ham and all the side dishes that go with it we went to a Chinese buffet so we made someone else do the cooking for us. I stuffed myself till there was no room left and was still (amazingly enough) full later that night. On Christmas night I began the rest of my journey and I hopped on a bus and headed south for the rest of Christmas. I never thought a bus would be full on Christmas day.

After eighteen hours of almost no sleep I got to open even more Christmas presents and see my parents and there new house and I'm starting to wonder if there is something to the fact that every time I have gone to see them for the past three Christmas' they have been in a different house. I watched a ton of football and ESPN, so I got my sports fix. I also go to see a bunch of friends from camp that I hadn't seen in a long time during the young adult retreat at Camp Keystone. I got my dad's old laptop which isn't set up for wireless Internet and for some reason I can't plug it up to our high-speed at the community house, and the screen freaks out every ten minutes that can get annoying. I spent the last few days of my break in Tampa with the Riefers I go to eat Cheez Its hang out with Gabe and Jaime and Mama Riefer and watch even more football. Then I got on a bus and headed north again. A twenty two hour trip this time (a five hour layover in Jacksonville). I'm still not a fan of the bus. Eventually I ended up back in Charlotte and back at my home Jesse and Leo came back home and we quickly got back to work, but not before seeing the Florida Gators dismantle the Ohio State Buckeyes in the BCS National Championship 41-14. That was a beautiful thing to see...for me.

Shortly after that we hit up ROOTS '07. We had the privileged of hearing Aaron White speak and Graham Kendrick and his band led worship and it was powerful. The theme was dance upon injustice and by the last night everyone was dancing and we tore down the injustice sign and danced on it as a sign of things that were happening in The Salvation Army. I was blessed to be able to stay with the officers in 614 Birmingham and it great hearing about there ministry and spending time with there family. After Roots we headed back home and went back to work again both in the neighborhood and at Starbucks. So here we are there is a lot of other things that are happening but that will come in a later blog. I knew this wouldn't be a short blog, but I did try.

It's beginning to look a lot like...something else

I think about this time last year my blogs included a phrase that I enjoyed using, but I can't here because it's not stupid cold in Charlotte. I'm enjoying it. The last time I blogged Christmas seemed so far away but now it's only...eleven days away. Anyway, I realized something about Christmas this year that I hadn't noticed in the past. I had heard people talk about it, but I either chose not to or wasn't in a situation where I saw it. It's the commercialization of Christmas that I hadn't seen before. I really started to notice it this year. At the mall that Starbucks is in they started playing Christmas music the day after Halloween, I thought that was a little strange then I saw all the people running around like crazy talking about getting gifts and how it's getting so frustrating getting gifts for everyone. Today however, I met someone and in just the few minutes between when I greeted her to when she got her coffee I saw the commercialization as clear as day. She walked up to me and said, “What can you give me that will give me the Christmas Spirit?” I told her what our Holiday drinks were and then her words really sunk into my mind as she decided what she wanted. She decided to try to find the meaning of Christmas in a Venti Nonfat Gingerbread Latte. So she goes around a mall from store to store trying to find “the Christmas Spirit” in the things they have to sell and samples and stuff. BALHHH!! Thats sickening. Has it always been this terrible and I've just missed it the past few years? Even if you aren't a Christian people usually are around family and have friends and that's what Christmas is about for them. It's not about what Starbucks or Macy's or Gap can offer you, but people live in that, and are okay with it. Is it just me or does that life seem to suck. What happens when Christmas is over? New Year is over? Valentine's Day is over? St. Patrick's Day is over? Are people really living from one Holiday to the next finding happiness in those few days and then just surviving until we can get another fix. There's a word to describe that it's called addiction. Have we really turned into a society with a Holiday addiction? Are people really that blind to what is happening to us. I don't like it at all. So I'm thinking we take back Christmas and let people know that finding happiness at Gap and Starbuck's is not okay and should not be normal for anyone.

They Call Me...

...Mr. Pig...Tater Salad. I have had a lot of nick names in my life, especially in the past two years: Travisay, Travisario, Travisty, Big T, T-scriggity, T-ro, and Sancho Gene Mc Spankycakes (ask Jaime about that one). All of the kids here in our neighborhood know my name and sometimes I want to be where everyone knows my name and people are always glad I came...ha ha ha ha did you catch the song (wow I'm funny)...uhh yeah. There are two little girls who don't know my name...well I think they know all our names but they want to call us something else. I used to be just friend. I would go to the community house to get stuff ready and I would here them yell out, “Hi friend” and I would look over and wave at them and they would smile and wave even more because I looked at them. All of our names have changed to these little girls and they're the only ones who have given us this new name (which I think is a good thing). For these two girls our name is Jesus. It doesn't matter whether there talking to Jesse Jaime Leo or I to them our name is Jesus. We've told them numerous times our real name sand said our name isn't Jesus but they seem to be stuck on that. I'm not going to complain that I am showing Jesus to a five and two year old I love it but I have never actually had anyone call me Jesus before, but I think I like it.

I'm not a fan of the bus

I just got back (about twenty hours ago) form my trip to Gainesville, Florida (GO GATORS!!). I spent eleven hours on my trip there and fifteen hours on my trip back, but that because I had a four hour layover in Jacksonville. I didn't know that bus layovers could be as bad as airport layovers. The bus depot wasn't even close to a movie theater or restaurant or anything slightly entertaining so I couldn't even go out and find anything to do unless I had a car...but if had a car I wouldn't have been waiting in Jacksonville for four hours. Throughout the entire four days I think the bus ride was definitely a low point, but thats the price to pay to save money...wow half a sentence that's an oxymoron; that's amazing.

I know I didn't tell anyone in the blogger-sphere about this trip so I will fill all of you in now.
About six weeks ago I got a call from my mom late at night (just so you know late night calls from people are usually never good) to tell me that my grandfather (her dad) has passed away. It was news that I had been expecting for the past few weeks but it still hurt to hear. He had been battling Alzheimer disease for the past four or five years and he really had no clue who I was the last time I saw him; which was rough to deal with, because I loved spending time with him, watching football games or listening to the things he had to say and from his lifetime of experience and all his wisdom and I can't do that anymore. So I went down to Gainesville on Friday for the memorial service and I got a chance to see most of my family; some people I hadn't seen since Christmas but other people I hadn't seen for six or seven years (a lot of stuff happens in that amount of time...babies are born and people move to different states). I was thrilled that we all came together, but I wish it could have been for a different reason. So we had his memorial service and honored him and his life that he dedicated to God. After that we spent time together to love and support each other and I wondered why someone had to die in order for all of us to see each other again. I think my grandfather loved to see that the last thing he did was that he got us to have a family reunion. We should have another one...except we'll keep everyone alive for next time.

PTB in Charlotte 614 style

So apparently noone likes me using another person's blog on my blog, or maybe it was just way too long, so here's my own stuff.

“Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.” Isaiah 58:12 (NLT)

“And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of buildings that have laid waste for many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.” Isaiah 58:12 (AMP)

Pray The Bible has taken on a much different look here at 614 Charlotte. Usually we have a list of scriptures to speak out and pray through and there's main focus to those scriptures. That can last anywhere from fifteen to forty-five minutes. That is the way I have usually seen PTB done. We walk around a room praying scriptures with one goal: to have break through by praying like Jesus prayed. The past few weeks though PTB has been anything but the usual. There is an abandoned house right next to Rob and Heather's house which is owned by a black fraternity group here in Charlotte called The Omegas. This house was once boarded up (not very well), forgotten about, and empty. Unfortunately, it didn't stay that way. Some of the drug users in our hood needed a place to use during the winter so they could keep warm and other people would conduct their own business in that house. The windows are all broken, it smells, there's mold growing on the wall, there's piles of nasty clothes and needles and trash everywhere, and this is where we had Pray The Bible. We got some gloves, rakes, brooms and eighty billion trash bags (that was just for the inside) and went to work. We cleaned up the clothes the glass the trash and properly disposed of the condoms and needles and took out the carpet. It actually almost looks like it could eventually be a house. It still doesn't smell so great, but that will change too...maybe. We let the owners know what we did and they were thrilled. They said they would get the trash taken away and fix it up and get it ready to be rented. Toady we finished it by picking up all that trash on the outside of the house as a prophetic act of getting rid of all the junk that the enemy has put here. We became restorers of a home, we repaired the breach, we stood in the gap for this house and changed it from the way it was to the way it should be. Praise the Lord.

Gabe's wisdom rather than mine today

Today I am using a blog from one of the greatest guys in the world, my best friend Gabe Riefer. It's an awesome example of mercy and compassion and love, proving once again that love never disappoints and never fails. (Don't ask me why he refers to Mick Jagger as a reverend)

As I make my way home, dejected and alone, contemplating how horribly I hit and how ghastly we played, a dry feeling in the back of my throat begins to grow. Then I feel it; the rumbling of my stomach reminding me how little I have eaten. Up ahead in the distance I see a glowing yellow light. As I grow closer the light begins to take shape, two arches coming together to form the shape of an "M".
Ah yes, McDonald's. Not only can I quench my hunger and thirst, I can also win large sums of money. Say, five million dollars.
I drive in to the parking ot and begin making my way to the drivethru, when out of the corner of my eye I see a man rise and begin walking toward me. I look at him and he stops. I begin to study him: thin, scraggly greasy beard and hair, worn leathery skin, dirty ripped jeans and t-shirt, and a jacket hanging over his fragile body. But it is his eyes that draw my me in. I see in his eyes, pain and hunger. I wave him over and with each step I see his growing hope.
I ask him if there is something I can do for him. All he wants, he tells me in a slurred Southern drawl, is a little spare change, maybe a dollar or two. My heart, now full of compassion for him, begins to speak for me. I tell him I can go through the drivethru and I will get him whatever he wants. Just a burger and some fries. A drink, maybe a Coke or a Sprite? No soda, he replies. He can't drink soda. Makes him sick. I tell him to give me a few moments and I will return to him as soon as I can.
"Go ahead with your order." Okay, a double quarter pounder with cheese, large fries, a Dr Pepper, two double cheese burgers, and two apple pies. "10. 84, drive around to the next window."
I collect the food and drive back over to where my newest dear friend is sitting, shivering in the cool October air. I remove a cheeseburger from the bag and hand him the rest. He looks at me, astounded that a person could even be so kind. I sit with him and eat my cheeseburger, and he begins to tell me his story.
He was born in a small town in Tennessee. His family was never wealthy, had never been wealthy, and, as he said, probably never would be wealthy. He lived there until graduation, when he joined the Army. Fifteen years he spent in the Army, before he was honorable discharged. He then met a woman, fell in love, and got married. They moved to Zephyrhills, Florida, and had lived there nearly seven years when she kicked him out. See, after he left the Army, he didn't know exactly what he was going to do. So while he thought about it, he would drink. The more he thought, the more he drank, until one day he had spent nearly all of the money they had on alcohol. Not knowing what else to do, he began walking until he ended up around Nebraska Avenue and Fowler. He would find places to sleep at night, most of the time behind restaurants or in alleys. He would eat whatever he could find that was edible from dumpsters or garbage cans, and he would ask for spare change. Any change he received went towards a bottle of beer or Jack Daniels. He was a drunk, an alcoholic, and he had no reservations in telling anybody this. Yes, he admitted, drinking had torn his life apart, but he had no idea how to quit or even what to do or how to go about quitting.
He was a man, helpless and hopelessly lost, ashamed of his past but willing to take responsibility for his actions. I told him to walk in the morning down Nebraska to The Salvation Army ARC. There he could have a warm bed to sleep in, a place to wash and shower, and a hot meal. And he could start turning his life around. He shook my hand and thanked me for my kindness. Then with a tear in his eye, which (being a man) he tried to hide, he said, "God bless you."
That hit me hardest of all. God had blessed me that night. He took my desire to win a meaningless prize (albeit five milion dollars), and replaced it with the desire to help a fellow human get his life back on track.
"You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need." -The good Reverend Mick Jagger with some words of wisdom.

614 Starbucks... I like the sound of that

Grande, Double, White Mocha, non-fat, extra hot with whip cream. Why anyone orders something non-fat and then puts whip cream is something that I probably won't understand anytime soon. Those are the types of orders I hear all day because I work at Starbucks. I love it too. It's definitely a step up (or five steps up) form working at McDonald's in Bangor, ME. I did have fun working at McDonald's (even though I told everyone I hated it) but I just needed a place where I have a little more interaction with customers and it's not a boring routine type job, I almost ended up going back there if I didn't get hired anywhere else. So, after applying at fifteen different places and doing only two interviews Starbucks became was my last hope. I turned in my application talked to the manager and prayed for the best. Two weeks later I'm doing an interview and loving every minute of it...well it wasn't that exciting but I did think about painting my toenails the day before so I would have this constant smile on my face during the interview. Even if I don't get hired I would still be laughing saying to myself I know something you don't know, but I didn't have any toenail polish. Anyway, one of the best things about working there is the girl I was hired with (Bonnie) said she just became a Christian a few months ago. So right there I've got the beginning of a Starbucks cell group. I made everyone here in Charlotte (by everyone I mean Jesse, Jaime, Rob, and Heather) very excited, because every week I get a pound of Coffee for free. So every week we get to experience a new flavor caffeine buzz. The only person that is not a fan of coffee is my room mate Leo. He doesn't even like the smell, ba ha ha ha. I'll get him conver...I mean addict... I mean acclimated to the taste soon enough. Then he'll be one of us, a true Salvationist. So God has definitely blessed me with one of the best jobs I could ever and it's perfect place for ministry. When I help open the store, when there is a slow point of the day, or even after work, I love it. By the way, for Christmas everyone gets a Starbucks gift card and a Frappacinnoin the mail (because that's all I know how to make right now) the ones going to Canada and Bangor should stay frozen, the ones I send to Florida...well, thats a different story. I'll just say I don't want to be there when you open it up.

I miss you Martyrs

I miss you Martyrs. The Revolution Session of TWC has started up here in Charlotte and when I'm hanging out with them and laughing hysterically (you remember that laugh?) I start to remember all the things we did the first few weeks in Vancouver...before we wanted to kill each other. Everything was gubmnt', we said “of course” after every sentence...some of us still do (Lucy Jane, Linsey). {sigh}The memories. With the new...first TWC session here in Charlotte new memories are being formed and new inside jokes are popping up almost all the time (HOT FORK HOT FORK!!). Leo is my room mate from Arkansas. He actually lived only half an hour away from where I lived when I was in Arkansas. His Junior High football team actually played mine on Thursday night (my team won). He usually carries a knife with him (not hear obviously) and wears sandals with the rebel flag on them which is probably not great attire for this area, but he's working on that. He's great with the kids and is a really active guy like me so I'm not the only one getting beat in basketball by these kids. He's like the little brother I never had and I love him. Jesse is the second TWC student (but she was actually the first one to apply and be accepted and confirm she was coming). She's from Australia and is really awesome to be around, but even more awesome when she opens up and we actually talk about real stuff rather than just trying to make each other laugh. She has no problem connecting with the kids and, she will do whatever she can to make sure they have something for their birthday. She has aheart to make a difference in theses kids lives and that is a beautiful thing. I think I might cry when these guys leave...if they do leave (dramatic music duh duh dun). Jaime Riefer is also here, but most of us know about her, and she's awesome. I love The War College.

We're going to win!!

How can one single event, that didn't go as well as we would have liked, overshadow all the victories we had in the past? (that's a question I can't answer and I don't attempt to in this post) I know I'm not the only one who has had this happen. Elijah had this problem. He had a huge victory against the Baal prophets and soon after that we was running scared from Jezebel and ready to die. He had his competition against them to see which if there god or his God would answer first by fire on an altar they had each built and he had so much confidence and faith that he had no problem mocking them as they called out to Baal. God showed up and put Baal to shame and then Elijah proceeded to kill all the servants of Baal. Jezebel heard about his and sent some people to kill him but Elijah got away, and then he went into this depression and wanted to die.
Some kids were trying to start a fight here as few days ago. I stayed outside and watched them the whole time trying to diffuse the situation and get them to go home and chill. I had a talk with the two that I thought were more mature and I thought they would go home like I had asked so there wouldn't be a fight. It didn't happen. I went home and ten minutes later I decided to go for a walk for a few minutes to see where they other group was. I found them in the other kids parking lot fighting. One adult was trying to break it up and the every one else was just watching these six kids as they would just at random times run up and hit each other. I jumped in and broke up the fights, out of instinct, and all I heard from some of the other adults was “let them fight; let them go; let them get there licks in; if they don't finish it today they just gonna to do it tomorrow”. When I heard those comments I wanted to take a swing at the person saying it (what a great example that would be). Finally, the one other adult trying to stop the fighting took one of the kids home to talk to his parents; the other people decide to go home or someone that knew them took them home,and it was all over. It ended that quickly, in just few seconds everybody was gone. I just looked like some crazy white man trying to be a hero but I felt like crap. I didn't know why it started or who it started with. I just know that it started at the Community House with two kids (and two instigators) and then it ended with six of them, all getting embarrassed, with nothing but tears streaked faces.
Right then it seemed like every other victory we had in the past just faded away and I couldn't see anything except a fight that I failed to prevent. I just felt like packing my bags and leaving. Where would I have gone? I don't know. Somewhere far away. That would just be another victory for the enemy. I'm going to persevere, look to the future, focus on battles I've won,dig in, and keep pressing on.

Eighty kids in one van...just kidding

Jaime had a cell group yesterday; tears were shed hearts were changed and four more girls have joined the ranks of Christ's army to fight against dark spiritual forces in this world. Pray that they are discipled effectively and raised up to replicate the Jesus they see in us.

Today we took thirty six kids to CiCi's pizza. I think CiCi's probably either hates or loves us. The funny thing is that we had two fifteen passenger vans and one mini van. Which means we only had one free seat out of the three vans. If all the kids we know here could have come we would have to be braking the law, I'm not saying we would...maybe...to get kids to church though I think there's got to be some grace for that...hopefully from both God and man. Two fifteen passenger vans is a lot of space to fill. That's like almost forty seats, but when all the kids are talking and singing and trying to get your attention all at the same time (they're multi-tasking and don't even know it) it seems like we have eighty kids in one van, which can be tons of fun especially when you're driving...but not the best idea in the world. Whether we have fourteen kids or thirty eight we have fun and I love every minute of it. The thing I love most about doing this is that kids are going to church and having fun, and the fun isn't just in the gym or at CiCi's. That's the Holy Spirit

Back to school back to school...

The kids are back in school and now we have gone from fun summer crazy cool stuff all day to calm down, lets get some homework done, and then go nuts!! WOO HOO!!!! (woo hoo?? does anyone use that term anymore??). Football season is starting up. That's very good news. Today the Gators posted its first of many wins this season and that makes me excited. This Thursday The Miami Dolphins start and Tampa and Jacksonville start next Sunday...which reminds me I need to go buy some more Chezz-its. Jaime and I are having a debate as to who is smarter. We took a few on-line tests and I scored higher on both of them proving that I am smarter then we took on-line IQ test and she scored slightly higher than me (her score 127 my score126) proving that she is smarter than me, but then again I don't really know how much an on-line IQ and/or intelligence test can prove. I d0 stel thenck i is samrtser then she ares cause me wents tu kolige and gots edumacted. I'm glad it's time to go back to school.

My summer

I was trying to think of something that has happened recently that's “bloggable”. Maybe something that has good shock effect or a deep spiritual insight that I've had, but then I realized I don't think I really ever told you guys what it is I've been doing this summer. Looking back at my past blogs I wouldn't be surprised if you guys thought that I just sit around the house, play Monopoly, go to the movie theater, listen for gun shots, and wait for the end of the world. Sounds like fun...maybe not. Has anyone ever known me to sit around my house for more than a day and do absolutely nothing (this question is not for my parents to answer)? I think I would go nuts if I started to do that. This summer has been interesting...to say the least. It started out with Rob Heather and I hanging out with kids and keeping them entertained by thinking up random games or playing the games that they know (that's basically basketball and man hunt). Then we had to aussies join us; Anthony and Andrea Castle all the way from Vancouver, BC on their summer assignment. So they joined in and a real summer in the USA South, but I imagine this probably isn't too different form a summer in Australia. Then we had a Summer Service Team join us. Three girls from the USA South signed up to do mission work and were sent here. Debbie is a registered nurse from Kentucky who just finished school, but she wanted to do some mission work before she started her job. Tempress is from Norfolk Virginia. I think she laughs more than I do (hard to believe, I know). Just because of how loud she is and how strange her laugh is it would make the rest of us start laughing. The third team member is Jamie Riefer, enough said. She was able to scam her way on a service team to come here, which is where she was planning on coming after it was over, and get paid for it. To use a quote from Stephen Court “good scam”. We all got together and started a day camp with the kids in the neighborhood (Rob and Heather's idea). So they loaded up on Macaroni and Cheese (aka Kraft Dinner), chicken nuggets, ravioli, hot dogs, Cheez-It's (that was more my idea and for my sanity), basketball's, soccer balls, volley ball's and enough craft supplies to choke a horse. We started at 10:30 in the morning and went until about 2:30 or 3:00 (depending on how long we could keep or minds going at 187mph).
As soon as the kids arrived we would try to split them up and send them to different stations we had setup. We had sports, games, computers, crafts and a few others and it started out well, but after July 4th things satrted slowing down. We kept going on with our normal daily routine but the kids didn't. Kids just started showing up half way through the day and others just stopped showing up. I would love to meet whatever genius thought that kids enjoy having structure. I know we were always told that when I worked at camp and at probably every YMCA and Boys and Girls club. I haven't met any kids that work better in a structured area with a set schedule. Kids don't do schedule's. Whoever came up with that theory was on drugs. I would love him to come here and prove that it works.
The times they did show up on time was when we went to the pool which is only a ten minute walk from here. God Bless the pool. It was ridiculously hot so when ever we had to go to the pool we were in heaven. The kids loved the pool and so did we. For Anthony and I our time in the pool was spent trying to get away from the kids who wanted to dunk us. There were two kids who would spend all there time trying to do it and the they recruited Deb and Tempress to help them. I always came out victorious. I was never dunked (never try to beat a Floridian in his own environment).
The six weeks came and went and the Service Team left back to there homes. So it's back to me Anthony, Andrea, Rob, and Heather doing stuff as it happens. Trying to keep the relationship going with the kids we know and make new relationships with the kids we meet. Jaime is coming back today, but Anthony and Andrea leave in a few days back to Vancouver (where there is no sun). So they will be much cooler ans everyone in Vancouver will probably notice that they have color back in their skin now. Hey, so do I!! Woo Hoo. We also taught the Summer Service Team a very important phrase HALLELUYHWH.

Duck and Run

It was a normal “Double Blessing Friday”. We went to the pool and had a blast. Anthony and I did fifty push-ups. We relaxed until Shabbat time. We invited Rob and Javi over to our house for a Shabbat meal and it was good. When we had all our ice cream set up and when we were just about to dig in we heard several gun shots just outside our house. I ran to the window (not a smart idea by the way) to see what was going on and I just saw five or six people ducking down and running away. The barbecue that our next door neighbor's were enjoying was done in a matter of seconds and everybody had bolted inside the house or were ducking behind a car. I heard six more shots and a pause then four more. Then I saw a man running away with a rifle in his hand. Once I saw him leave we opened the door to see what was going on a few people jumped in there cars and took off (understandable)and everybody else slowly came out out of their hiding spots. I thought it was a drug related thing because there has been a huge increase of drug trafficking going on here in the past few weeks and a few people were shot at a few days ago over some drug stuff. We talked to a few of the neighbors and found out that this guy was just shooting at random. No one knew him or knew why he was shooting or what he was shooting at, he just decide to shoot because he could. The only person that was injured was a 15 month old baby. She wasn't shot but something hit her on the back of the head and she started bleeding quite a bit. After the police, paramedics, and News crew came and went everything seemed to go back to normal. We ate our ice cream, the barbecue continued and kids went outside playing duck behind the car. THAT”S NOT NORMAL!!!!! Most kids during a barbecue play regular games like Frisbee or pretend school or tag or maybe even cops and robbers. That's not the case here. Kids here reenact what they see happening because that's life for them and they don't know anything different. They think this is normal but it shouldn't be. Kids should never feel like playing that game because it's what they see in any setting, but that's their reality. Reality needs a makeover.
We don't even really know why the guys started shooting. Was he angry, did he not like to see people enjoying themselves, did he hate barbecues, was he testing his new rifle, was the enemy just being a punk and wanting to stir something up while most people in the area we having fun? There doesn't seem to be any rational reason for someone to do that and I don't think many people in our neighborhood care. Someone if not most should care right??

Christians and Monopoly

A good idea or a recipe for disaster?
If anyone reading this is planning, at anytime in the near future, on playing a game of Monopoly with a group of friends. You may be in for a long long long long long game. I realized last night that when Christian's (or just good friends) play Monopoly unless they understand that the point is to not give someone a second chance that game could last a lot longer than it should. Andrea, Anthony and Javi (one of our friends here in Charlotte) and I all started to play and as the game progressed we were buying properties and making money and making deals and it was fun. Then we started building houses and hotels on those properties and people started to lose money and make money at the same time. Eventually some of us got to the point where we we couldn't pay the rent. That is the point of the game isn't it? to bankrupt the other players? We totally forgot about that and started to lend money and help each other out. We made deals and cut rent in half for each other and we said you can have immunity form rent this time, and it was good. We were enjoying it, until we looked at the clock and the time was 11:30 at nigh; we started playing at 7:00. We couldn't figure out why this game was taking so long, until I realized we were Christians playing a cut throat game in which you needed to be mean and deceiving and show no mercy. We weren't doing that. We were living out Acts 2:44-45 “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need”. I said we're living out scripture in this game. Jesus sad if we have two coats we're supposed to give one to a person that doesn't have a coat. Javi looked at all his money and said, “bro, I got eight coats here”. So at about 11:45 we said okay no more mercy. If you can't pay we can't be helping each other out by handing out $500 bills like they're candy. You have to deal with bankruptcy, and we played until 1:30am. The game still hadn't ended. Only one of us had gone bankrupt (Javi). So we finally we had a genius idea. No one in the history of the world had thought of it before; it was brilliant. I couldn't believe how great of idea this was I'm getting excited just thinking about it. We decided to end the game, count up our money and assets and whoever had the most was the winner. Ba ha ha ha ha. I came in third. I only had half the money Andrea had and about $3,000 less than Anthony. The only person I beat was Javi and he was bankrupt. So learn from our mistakes. If your playing Monopoly with friends they can't be your friends for the next four hours (give or take nine hours).

Hitting Rock Bottom

Rock Bottom, The end of you rope, taking a hard fall. Choose which term you like best to describe the situation.
I've seen what it is like to hit rock bottom (when there's no where to go but up) in the DTES and I've seen what it looks like here. I think here it is much worse and it effects so many more people. The first family I met when I got here was a family of six; four kids and two adults. I love the kids. They are awesome to hang out with and if they were the only four people that I saw a change in at all during the time here it will have been worth it (I am pushing for more though). There dad hits the youngest son some times and neither parents work and the only income they get is from the government. That money isn't enough to support a family with four kids. So they couldn't pay rent and were evicted. They went to stay at a hotel for a few weeks but that won't last long because it also costs money and after that is over they have to go live in a shelter which means the four kids will be put into foster care and we would never see them again. The boys would have to go to a shelter in Gastonia and the girls would go...well, I don't know; but it wouldn't be here, and their mom is okay with this. I'm sure she would have loved it if she hadn't been evicted, but she is okay with the kids being taken away for a while then she would have to try to get them back after a year or two. How is that an okay way for things to happen. Fortunately, Rob and Heather are a couple of genius' and have taken in the two boys to live with them, and they can live in a house and experience a family like it should be. Rob came by this morning and Juan and Javi were surprised when they were eating waffles for breakfast, because they usually didn't eat breakfast. I never thought anyone could be okay with living in such a terrible place both physically and spiritually. I drove them to the hotel that they are staying at and it was just like our neighborhood except it was just a little place off the side of the interstate. There were guys walking around wearing simple black shirts that said security and they asked everyone where they were going, but I don't know which would be scarier: not having or security guards or knowing that the place is a bad enough area that they need a security guard there all the time. What does it take to get someone to realize that they are not living a normal life?

The Last Stand...or is it????

I saw “X-men 3 The Last Stand”. I was a little disappointed when I saw reviews of the movie saying that it was terrible and it needed more depth to the characters and a better story, but I really enjoyed it. Before I saw it I knew what the story would be about (Jean Grey isn't really dead but she comes back as the Phoenix and almost destroys the world and people are racist and want to either kill all the humans or kill all the mutants) but there were knew characters introduced and stuff that I didn't expect so it was still very exciting.
After the movie I decided that I want to die like professor X did. I don't (for those of you that haven't seen it this won't really make a whole lot of sense) want to be torn to tiny pieces and have every molecule of my body torn apart little by little. He died in a fight. He died trying to stop something that had more evil inside than anything we could have imagined (although since it was a movie it wasn't more terrible than anything we could have imagined because someone did imagine it to put it in the movie...wow imagine that). He died trying to stop a force that he knew was more powerful than he was but he still rose to the challenge. He didn't back down, and when he saw that he would inevitably be destroyed he took his last moment and used it to pass on wisdom to the person he was trying to stop. He spoke to the actual person rather than her other personality. He spoke to Jean saying don't let it (her power) control you. Good wisdom, unfortunately she didn't have ears to hear. It was the same advice Spider-mans uncle gave him “with great power comes great responsibility”. It's true. If we can't control ourselves and our own abilities and use them for the work they were intended for than who is? Who will be controlling us if we aren't in control? Thats a scary thought. I would love to be able to spend my last dying moments passing on wisdom to people I know and people that are fighting alongside of me. I don't want o be in a hospitable bed doing it I want to be up and around I want to be in a fight. I want the last days of my life to be spent fighting ,as strong as ever, the dark forces of this world. I want to be taking down enemy strongholds till there's nothing left of them but a pile of dust. I want to be stabbing the enemy in the eye still when I'm ready to kick the bucket. And with my dying breath shout HALLELUYHWH!!!
Does anyone think it's strange that I'm twenty years old and already talking about dying??

I'm amazed...well...not really

"Everyone it's okay come out of your bomb shelter's the world is still here." Okay the world is not ending. I'm thrilled can't you hear the excitement in my voice...or in my typing...never mind. I'm glad the world didn't end today because Heather made this wonderful tuna melt dinner and banana bread for dessert and it was delectable. It would have been a shame if I had missed that just because the world was ending.

We all have twenty four hours...hurry

This made me laugh. I hope everyone enjoys it...or maybe not...

Enjoy your Monday. Because tomorrow, the world could end.

That's if you believe that June 6, 2006 -- or 06/06/06 -- has anything to do with the so-called
"Mark of the Beast." Religious scholars place the idea in the same category as "The Da Vinci Code." The Bible's "666" referred to a person, not a date, says Davidson College religion professor Greg Snyder. His best guess: The Antichrist was supposed to be Nero, a nasty Roman ruler who persecuted first-century Christians. Recently discovered fragments of Old Testament texts suggest the number's all wrong anyway, and should have been "616." Today's marketers can't resist the lure of the triple six. A remake of "The Omen" opens tomorrow, and the latest volume in the "Left Behind" series hits the shelves. So do albums by several heavy metal bands, and conservative commentator Ann Coulter's new book. (She calls the release date a "tribute to liberals.")

And folks of Hell, Mich., are throwing a big party. Not everybody is happy. "Here I am living in Hell, taking my kids to church and trying to teach them the right things," resident Jason LeTeff said, "and the town where we live is having a 6/6/6 party."

God's way is sometimes an unexpected hole

Does anyone recall a time in the Bible when God used a hole in a wall or in a gate or something like that as a plan or startegy or for anything? I know Ezekiel saw a hole in the wall and dug and found an entrance to a room(Ezekiel8:7), but Ezekiel saw things a little differently then we did. this is coming form a guy who ate bread baked over human feces. Do you really want to trust that guy? He always had weird things happening to him anyway. I don't think he knew when he was in the world and when he was in the spiritual realm most of his life. So that one doesn't count. The reason I ask is because when I first arrived here in Charlotte Rob took me around to see the neighborhood and after I saw all the housing areas he took me by the middle school that's in our neighborhood. Past the school there is the entrance to an over pass for the highway that separates this community from the other. It's not a vehicle over pass; it's an over pass for people to walk on. Namely for kids to cross the road safely and get to school without playing russian roulette with the cars or taking a bus; it's a genius idea I think. Unfortunately, it also provided a great connecting spot for suppliers and addicts. The gate has been closed, chanined and locked since we got here and we haven't been able to open it. A few days after that I was playing Man Hunt (Hide-and-seek) with the kids in the neighborhood. I had a difficult time figuring out how they were getting form one spot to another faster than I was. I was running as fast as I could and had a hard time keeping up until I was able to follow one of them when he was running to a gate and in that gate there was a huge hole. They don't know why it's there or how it got there. They just know that it's there and it is an easy fast was to move around from one area to another in this game. A few weeks later Anthony and Andrea Castle arrive. Rob and I are taking them on the same tour of the neighborhood that he took me on, and we went to the same closed Highway over pass and Rob is speaking in tounges and commanding that the gate be opened in Jesus name and I look at the sides and see a hole in the gate. I'm guessing it was cut it the gate by drug suppliers and/or desperate addicts. We slip though the hole and walk to the other side where we find the gate locked as well but this time the hole was in the top of the gate and no one else was up for climbing up and through it so we saved it for a differnt day, but we now have a way to get into another neighborhood without driving for twenty minutes to get there. It puts a whole new spin on incarnational ministry. Not only are we living with the people we're ministering to, but we are moving form one community to another the same way drug users and dealers are. I love the way God works. When he does something he's not always miraculous; sometimes he's practical, which is why I asked the previous question. Has God ever used a hole in a wall before? Bueller...anyone Bueller...