• Someone in the past year recommend this book, Unclutter Your Life in One Week. It was at the library the other day so I picked it up and I’m gonna give it a whirl. I’ve always tried to keep a minimal amount of stuff around, and until now we’ve moved nearly every year (and big moves with only what fit in our car). But, having a house and being in the same place (that and having kids) for more then a year has definitely allowed me to accumulate more then I need, mostly of randomness. Anyone have tips on how and what they keep and what they purge? Throw them my way.
• Yesterday we celebrated my son’s one year homecoming anniversary. It’s amazing to think he’s been with us one year already, and we look forward to many many more. Adoption is a beautiful thing. Ask me about it if you want to know more.
• Spring is here (I hope) quite early for Minnesota. We’ve been out on the bikes (with the kids in tow), walking the neighborhood and more. With two toddlers it’s nice to be able to play and wander the neighborhood. And it’s great to see neighbors out and about.
• I’ve been plugging away on InsideNorthside.org still. Not sure yet if it’s a good idea or not, but still spreading the word. The benefits (connections I’ve made, the site itself) of it have definitely outweighed the cost (time mostly), but sometimes I wonder if it will ever get more buy-in and function the way it really could. Sorry rambling.
• Semi-related, I entered a grant contest in hopes to win $50k for northside community projects. It’s a social voting contest, so if you want to help me by voting, you can sign-up for a daily (starting April 1st) reminder email here. Another random tangential endeavor (seems like I have a lot of those lately).
• I’m writing for a collaborative of non-profits in my neighborhood. The stories and videos are going up here: TheNorthsider.org
• We went to The Wedge, a local co-op, last week. Sort of scoped it out (I wrote down prices), in another step toward some sort of intentional considerations in our eating habits.
• And that’s the word.

Oh, and if you already have or know of something like this that exist, do let me know, I’d love to have it.

I have become, over the years, increasingly passionate about the issues and injustices that face women in our society and world. Both my amazing wife’s continual reminders and the past three years of raising our daughter have given me a greater passion and desire to speak out and act in solidarity with women against injustice. I know I probably won’t be the most eloquent or even accurate, but I encourage you, men and women, to step up and make your voices heard. I’m going to keep this from turning into a rambling rant and simply post some links to some random blogposts I’ve written on topics I think you should be concerned about:

• Killing Us Softly (A Must watch Video)
• The Wage Gap, and how the church can step up and address this injustice.
• Gender and the Attributes of God
• A Modest Proposal (article by Katha Pollitt)
• Encouraging women in leadership (link)

Carrie Bloom was used to being a star, it came with the territory. Like others in her profession, her stardom hadn’t diminished over time, if anything, it actually had increased. The truth was, she had always appreciated the perks, it was a reminder to her that what she did was important. It had been her husband, many years ago at the beginning of her career, that had taken a while to come around.

“I’m not saying what you do isn’t important, honestly.” He had said that evening twenty years ago, “I just think I deserve a little more credit that’s all.” And he’d had good reason. Starting his career too, he’d been voted rookie of the year for the New York Yankees. A million dollar signing bonus, thousands of fans coming to games every day hoping to see him hit a homerun, pining for his autograph. A guy of his prestige isn’t used to being out shined by his wife, but without fail, every time they went out together, he felt like chopped liver.

“I love your work Mrs. Bloom!” The people would say. “Thank you so much for what you’ve given to the city, there’s no way we could ever repay you.” But that didn’t stop them from trying. Her husband rarely had the chance to pay for a meal, the chef or manager always coming to their table declaring the meal was “on the house” and spending a few minutes praising Carrie for her work.

It was odd to imagine a time, just a few years before Carrie had started her career, when men and women in her profession weren’t treated with the respect and reverence she’d come to take for granted. They pay had certainly increased, but it was the honor and accolades for the work that she did that she really valued and appreciated. You can only give yourself so many peptalks before you start to question the real value you have to society when your work is rarely acknowledge and, more often then not, blamed instead for societal problems.

“I want to teach third grade.” Carrie had told her parents at Thanksgiving her first year of college. Her father, an extremely successful lawyer, had been unimpressed. It had been her mother that encouraged her to follow her heart. And her mother was right. Even if the pay and respect hadn’t suddenly and amazingly increased, she knew in her heart that what she and the thousands of other teachers she worked with was important. Educating the next generation is by far and away the most important task of any society and teachers are commissioned to do just that. They are not and should not be alone in that task, parents, family, neighbors and community members need to heed the call as well, as it is said, “It takes a village to raise a child.”

(This was simply a fun writing exercise I did this morning that I wanted to share. First draft, welcome to critiques, but thought some might enjoy)

Dedicated and inspired by all the teachers I know, thank you for your selfless commitment to our children.

Want to honor a teacher? Or get involved? Leave a comment and ask me how.

(By http://www.notimeleft.org)

This is about what we are going to do between those moments. How we are going to live when the images fade away from the public attention and the relief effort coffers are full. What will our generosity look like when the need isn’t for a one-time “act of god” disaster, but for the daily un-natural disasters of poverty, contaminated water and disease. How will we respond when our interaction with these realities is an occasional commercial of a desolate child needing sponsorship? Just one of the millions of children across our globe struggling to survive, one of 30,000 dying every day of diseases we can treat, lack of clean water we could fix, or economic disparities our nations helped create.

It almost feels good responding to a natural disaster. There was nothing you could do beforehand to stop what happened, but now you can open your wallet, with no guilt, and only pity and charity, and help these unfortunate people in their time of need. It’s a one time thing, you can even sacrifice a little bit, and then you can move on and go on about your life.

What if the equivalent of the Haiti earthquake happened every week? And what if you knew it was going to happen the following week and the week after that and the week after that. What if it was an un-natural disaster that you could actually do something to prevent? What if God had given you and many others who believe “love your neighbor as yourself” the resources to stop this disaster, to turn the tide? What if you could stop an earthquake?

Today you have an opportunity to stop an disaster, tomorrow you’ll have the chance too. Will you stand in the way of the disaster of Malaria? Contaminated drinking water? Education? Will you make sacrifices, live differently, alter your decisions in the same way you did when the earthquake struck? Will you appeal to friends and rise up a community response to the desperate needs in your community or around the globe?

Q: What thing or area of your life have people told you that you can’t? Has that crippled you from venturing out and making it happen, or have you successfully said, “watch me”?

[photo credit, via]

My wife and I went to the concert Thursday evening, ran into a couple from our church there, and then (thanks to the wives smooth talking) wound up eating chips & salsa and onions rings at the Kitty Kat Club with Derek Webb after the show. We talked about life, kids, and our ironically red, white and blue chips. All in all, it was just a great time getting to know some new friends.

It reminded me of a brief visit I took to The Simple Way several years back. Many people know of Shane Claiborne and The Simple Way nowadays, since Irresistible Revolution came out. Before that, I’d read about Claiborne and the wall street money drop and had connected with him when he visited our college. And I wanted to go see what this magical community they had going on out there in Philly.

My brother and I went for a quick visit and Shane showed us around the place, took us on the roof where they were growing plants in old appliances, in the basement where they gathered clothes to give away and the modest bedrooms where 5 people where living. What quickly set in though, was that it was not magical at all. It was a handful of people, normal people, just trying to live out their faith. I came home from the trip eager to build that sort of sharing and community into our own lives. And we did.

It took only a few minutes of conversation to realize Derek is just a normal person with a normal life too. Not every line that comes out of his mouth is “I’m trading comfort for human life and that’s not just murder it’s suicide.” He tweets, hangs out with his kids, plays music, and says controversial things sometimes. And a couple hours hanging out moved him out of the celebrity category (which is a good thing).

I was reminded of two things. One, I don’t need to try and say something controversial or brilliant all the time. As the audience on this blog grows, I feel a growing pressure to impress, but I don’t need to. It’s okay to be normal. Two, celebrity or not, we’re all on a journey. I don’t have any fantasies of becoming BFF with Derek Webb, but I am reminded that we daily have the opportunity to enter into others lives and I’m inspired to find others nearby to walk along that journey with.

“My friend did you know you are my brother”

Here are the specifics:

• I will take five participants (the pockets are only so deep). In the event that we have more then five interested, my wife will decide whose in and whose out. This is intended for people I know personally, but anyone is welcome to inquire.
• I will pay for the difference between what you would normally purchase in conventional chocolate and the cost of switching to a fair trade option (up to $20 a month). For example, let’s say you typically by 3 chocolate bars a week at $1 a piece (total $12 a month). Instead you commit to buying fair trade chocolate bars at $2 a piece (total $24 a month). I will give you the difference, $12, to make that switch.
• This will mean doing less impulse buying (vending machines or checkout lines) and planning ahead a little (ordering online or visiting a local co-op to stock up).
• I’ll check in each month to discuss how much you spent. I will ask for you to track it. The goal isn’t to abuse my generosity, but to provide an incentive for others to make the switch to Fair-trade.
• I plan on continuing the experiment for 6 months.
• If you participate you will need to commit to purchasing and eating/drinking only fair-trade chocolate during the 6 months.

So, how does that sound? Interested in joining me in this little experiment?

Fill out the form.

Need more info on the Chocolate industry?

• I enjoyed this creative kid friendly book called:
  Chaga and the Chocolate Factory
• Global Exchange, Valentines Day Action
• A Children’s sermon on the topic of chocolate.
• Everyday Justice is a great book and has a wonderful section on Chocolate which you can read most of online at Google books (and then buy a copy, right Julie ;).

Felt like keeping it light hearted today.

Q: When’s the last time you had a snowball fight?

“It offers people something to pay attention to, that’s of no importance. That keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about.”

Now, I’ll be the first to say, I’m not immune to the draw, the entertainment and excitement involved in watching, or playing, a good game. I just finished reading a biography about Major Taylor, a black cyclist in 1900, and the most interesting thing about it was this competitive drive and spectacle of the race. I say all that to say, I don’t make this statement from the other side pointing my finger, rather I’m asking you to think through this with me.

Q: Does the media, professional sports and entertainment news, distract us from the important issues?

In all my time of attending church and listening to sermons (about 1997 till today), I’ve rarely heard a sermon that really lays out practical thoughts or ideas about money. It always boils down to being a “heart issue”, that is, it’s basically between you and God and that your heart is in the right place. Even if there is mention of the “tithe 10%” scriptures, it’s never issued as a command or standard in the church. Pastors rarely say “if your a Christian you should be giving away ten percent or more of your income,” and if they do it’s balanced or padded with “heart” talk

What I’m getting at is that it just doesn’t seem like there is much straight talk about finances in the church at all. I would love for a pastor to get up and say, even with qualifiers that it’s a “heart issue”, exactly how much their family’s cost of living is, and why they chose that amount and what financial stewardship looks like in their life. I’m wondering if others have heard sermons at all like that, or even close to that. (The close example I can think of is Ron Sider discussing the graduated tithe his family does at the end of Rich Christian’s in an Age of Hunger).

It reminds me of part of one of the finance sermons I heard last March. It was really good, I love the kind of stuff the pastor says. He went off about how big corporations have ripped off the grassroots origins of Hip Hop and used it just to make money. He’s tearing into how gangsta rap has affected both the urban centers and suburbs and a lot of “wickedness” is going down as those big corporations make money off the rap and the blame is placed on the artist and the urban culture. And then he says this:

“Nobody saying to Sony, “I’m not buying a PS3 because thae same company that makes PS3 is also pimping these kids and having them sign these contracts and making money off the stereotypes of black people. Now, I have a PS2 at home, which makes this kind of a complex statement. Just cause I failed at it don’t mean it’s not right!

Somebody has to set a standard, somebody has to set an example of what this righteousness with resources looks like.”

Now I missed the other sermons after that, and I don’t know him personally, so I’m not sure what he’s decided to do with his PS2. But, I do appreciate him being honest about it. And the point isn’t really to call out the pastor on this, but to say I really wish I’d see two things: 1) That kind of honesty and practical application of faith as it relates to finances/resources and 2) pastors, churches and communities that were going a step further and making collective decisions (or at least discussing them) regarding resources and choices in supporting brands, etc.

Q: Have you heard sermon’s or had mentors that laid out practical thoughts and application of faith regarding finances and resources?

[photo credit]

(P.S. Take the one minute survey to help me pick topics for 2010!)