Saturday Random Ten

1. Knox 5000...........Mustard
2. Throwing Stones.....Paula Cole
3. Responsibility......MXPX
4. To Make You Feel My Love (Live)....Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken
5. Sandy Land..........The Whites (O Brother Where Art Thou)
6. John Law Burned Down the Liquor Sto'.......Carole King
7. Blood.............. Mustard
8. I Make You Sick.... Mustard
9. I Don't Have a Gun...Kosmos Express
10. Uh...a sound file from a client...oops, wrong folder
11. Jesus Freak........DC Talk

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

An amazing thing happened at my church on Sunday. We talked about poverty. Our church is quite active in ministering to the poor, but it's not often that a church in the fourth "best" place to live in the country, surrounded by rich white people, actually talks about poverty. They showed parts of Hotel Rwanda. They showed our own missions in Rwanda. They called us to go that day and answer a certain need in our church community. Our praise band led the worship in Spanish, with our praise team that is opening a campus in Chicago's Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods. We get to meet refugee families at a picnic on the 14th, where we get are to supply one refugee child with their school supplies for the year.

Thank you, Lord. For answered prayers, for a community that seeks to follow you, to serve those in need, and that makes me uncomfortable. Thank you that our church leaders, have not forsaken you, but hold fast to your Truth, without becoming comfortable or safe.

It's the moments like this that you live for. It's moments like these that keep me going. It's in moments like these when the winding path God has prodded me along all these years, for a moment, seems to make some sense.

Blog Pictorial of Europe

What you've all be waiting for....a pictorial blog of our trip to Europe!

Statue of a Greek god in Wien, Austria.

A guard tower from the Communist days on the Austrian/Hungarian border in Sopron, Hungary.
Bratwurst, bread, mustard, fresh crisps. Wien, Austria
The Votive Church, Wien, Austria. (Excuse the finger.)
Gardens at the summer palace, Wien, Austria.
Wien, Austria, Opera House
Sculptor on the Danube Riverwalk, Wien, Austria
A canal near our hotel, Venezia, Italia.
The Rialto Bridge, Venezia, Italia
Scala Contarini del Bovolo, Venezia, Italia.
Doorway to a glass factory on the Island of Murano.
Bread store we visited nearly every day, Rialto Market, Venezia.
Butcher.
Produce Market, Rialto Square
An alley in Venezia, Italia.
Octopi at the Rialto Fish Market.
Spices on display, Venezia, Italia.
St. Mark's Square, Venezia.
Glockenspiel and town hall, Munchen, Germany.

A Swan in the English Garden, Munchen, Germany.

Neuschwanstein Castle, Fussen, Germany

Marionettes for sale in the market in Praha, Czech Republic.

In the cathedra, Castle Hill, Praha.

Castle Hill, Praha.

Astronomical Clock, Praha.

Wawel (Castle) Hill, Krakow, Poland.

Spare ribs in Prague. Yummy!

The gate "Work Shall Set You Free" at Auschwitz.

A demolished crematory at Auschwitz

St. Mary's Cathedral, On the square, Krakow, Poland.

That's a man, not a statue, Krakow, Poland.

Big Ben, London, England.

Big Ben, London, England.

Why I Must Always Fight....

So, I was on Yahoo News, just doing some random, time-wasting surfing of the news. I came across the pictures of the beach volleyball tournament that is underway. I found the following two pictures:





Now, the point that made me irate is that there are ZERO pictures out of nearly 300 of male players calling plays. There are zero up close pictures of the abs, buttocks, bodies, etc. of male players. Nope, male players get action shots and a lot more clothing. This is clearly degrading women. It doesn't matter if you're a kick ass volleyball player, just as long as your ass looks good up close in a picture, then chauvnists can use you to fuel their wetdreams, all thanks to the AP.

I had another run in with my own anger over the way I'm treated because I'm a woman. It happened yesterday at work. I am a student therapist, and I had to call the college of a client to check on the services offered at his or her conservative, Christian school. A man, the director,who has his master's degree, answered the phone. He was telling me about a service, and he said quote, "Yeah, we have lots of groups. An eating disorder group for the GALS, ya know. And I have a good GAL with her doctorate that runs that group. Her dissertation was on eating disorders."

WTF? Since when was a colleague with her doctorate a GAL to anyone? Since when does any supervisor "have a gal?" Who tolerates such...such...ignorance? GRRRRR.

Ten Random Songs

So, one of my favorite bloggers decided that putting all your MP3's on one playlist and putting it on random might be a fun experiment.

Here is what I came up with. Somewhat embarassing. A little too Christian and Southern Hick. Please forgive the Stephen Curtis Chapman. My mom is a youth minister that still hasn't overcome her obsession with CCM, and I sometimes do her favors by editing songs, etc. So, Stephen and I know one another. You can check out the now defunct band Mustard over here.

1. Isn't It Ironic.....Alanis Morissette
2. O Holy Night........Some Classical Version
3. A Litte More........Jennifer Knapp
4. Show Me The Way......Styx
5. The Tune.............Larry Norman
6. Dive.................Stephen Curtis Chapman
7. Cowboy Take Me Away..Dixie Chicks
8. Allstar..............Smashmouth
9. Rubber Duckie........Sesame Street Songs (ha ha ha...)
10. Who Cares, Split Hairs...Mustard

This sums up my feelings about news reporting in the States. I guess I got spoiled while I was in Europe. 

London blasts hit home...

Here is my warning that this post will sound incredibly naive and sophomoric. Stop reading if you can't handle my juvenile thoughts.

Having just returned from Europe, and only a few short days ago, having been in some of the very locations that were bombed in London this morning, I realize just how much my travels have changed me. At the exact time in the morning that the bomb blasts took place (~9am) on Friday, I was on the circle line, headed for Paddington station, to take the Heathrow Express.

So, unlike terrorists attacks in the past, even the attack in New York, I feel personally affected. It's not just because I've been there or due to my own mortality that deep emotions well up within me. It is because following my first trip out of the States, I have been transformed to see the rest of the world as real people. I know Germans, Londoners, Czechs, Poles, Romanians.

The world is broader to me, yet smaller all at the same time. I have seen the disgusting depths of human nature at Auschwitz-Birkneau, and I wonder if that's what it's like in the Darfur region of Sudan. I have seen the thriving and vibrant cities of London, Munich, Prague, Krakow, Vienna, and I know that they still have beggars and homeless persons. I just feel like I am still figuring out what God wants me to do with my Privelege. Does he want me to get rid of it? Does he want me to share it? To give it away? To keep it and use it? Is it really even my choice?

From the Knoxville News Sentinel