Pillow Fight

Benjamin and I had a great day yesterday, going to Homeboy Industries and visiting a church called the Dream Center. After we got home we both had a bit of energy left so we engaged in a little pillow fight.

I think I won........or lost........

Brian

Benjamin and I are in LA learning about urban ministry. This trip was encouraged when Benjamin read G-Dog and the Home Boys by Father Greg Boyle.

It is his story of working with kids in gangs in LA. Benjamin was so inspired by the book he insisted I read it. I did. It was inspiring and convicting at the same time.

I told him we could visit Father Boyle's ministry someday. It is called Homeboy Industries.

We visited this ministry on Thursday. We met a guy named Brian who took us on a tour of their facility - they have a restaurant, a bakery, a tattoo removal service and a few others ministries in their three year old facility. It was very impressive and inspiring. Most of the employees are former gang members. There was hope in the air as we walked from room to room.

Brian agreed to have lunch with us. Brian's story is somewhat typical of what you might find at Homeboy. Brian became a gang member at the age of 14. He never graduated from high school. He was arrested and spent several years in jail. He was released from jail a year ago at the age of 21. He was pretty desperate and hopeless. He has a little girl to support. With no job, no degree, a long record of arrests and tattoo's on his arms, neck and face, he has little hope of employment.

In jail someone told him about Homeboy Industries. With no where else to go, Brian went to Homeboy and met with Father Boyle. Much to his surprise Father Boyle or G-Dog, as he is affectionately called, hired him!

Brian says God is at work in his life. When he started his first college class and started the long and painful process of tatoo removal his Dad threw him a party! Brian is now working 40 hours a week, is taking anger management classes, he works out every morning at 5:30 am, is an aspiring hip hop artist and is filled with a warm and humble spirit.

What an inspiring lunch for Benjamin and me!

"May God continue to bless Homeboy Industries, G-Dog, the staff at Homeboy and every person that finds hope in this place of restoration and renewal."

Biking and Camping

Hi all!!!

I made it home safe and sound from Israel!! Thank-you all so much for your prayers and I look forward to sharing with you in the fall.

This past week our family went with our dear friends on our summer adventure. In the past we have been hiking in Yosemite, exploring the San Juan Islands, mountain biking in Colorado, enjoying Lake Tahoe, surfing around San Diego and experiencing Mazatlan, Mexico.

This year, our 18th straight year, we went cycling along the coast and camping. It was a wonderful time of exercise, sleep, fun, food and experiencing the beauty and majesty of the California coast.

Tomorrow, Benjamin and I go to Long Beach for 5 days connecting with Fountain of Life Covenant Church (http://www.folcov.org/) and hopefully Homeboy Industires (http://www.homeboy-industries.org/contactus.php).

Here are some pictures from this past week:

Leaving

Leaving.

I hate leaving.

When I was a child leaving family - grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends - after a visit or vacation, quite often brought tears to my eyes and a heavy heart. I hate leaving.

As I leave Jerusalem after three weeks of study and travel, I have that same feeling.

In many ways this three week experience in Israel has been very moving. Being at Caesarea Philippi where Jesus asked, "Who do you say that I am," to taste and feel the dirt and dust of the wilderness where God's people wandered and died for 40 years, to be in the garden of Gethsemane, to swim in the Sea of Galilee, to be on the spot where Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, to stand on the floor where the apostle Paul made his defense in front of the governor Felix at Caesarea before he was sent off to Rome, was really, really convincing!

I know this is an odd thing to say but, this story is true! ("Ah, didn't you believe that before?" "Yes, but....") Somehow seeing and feeling the geography, walking "in his steps," walking through Jerusalem almost every night we weren't on the road traveling, brings home the reality that this story, this Gospel, this good news, is really true.

When the apostle Paul was being questioned about his faith in Jesus, the Roman procurator Festus interrupted, "Your are out of your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane." To which Paul replied, "I am not insane, most excellent Festus. What I am saying is true and reasonable."

Very moving.

But there is another aspect of Israel that was....very earthy. I found myself in some of the spots previously mentioned and others which didn't stir me as deeply as I had hoped. I had expected and anticipated more. I even began to feel a bit guilty - "This is where Jesus healed a boy with an evil spirit." "This is where Peter lived." "This is where Jesus was flogged." Why am I not feeling this more than I do?

And yet I think that lack of deep moving emotion was part of the point - Jesus came to us in the ordinary ebb and flow of life. He grew up in a small village, he walked, he worked, he interacted with all kinds of people. The area is actually alot like where we live! Similar weather, vegetation and geography.

Jesus came to us in the spectacular, but also in the unspectacular, in routine of life. I am thankful for the many moments of stirring emotion which evoked prayer, praise and song, but I am also thankful for the "ordinariness" of this place.

As the disciple John put it "He came to that which was his own...."(John 1:11a) Jesus came to us on our turf. He came to us on our terms, with our language, on our geography, eating our food and living the life we live. Profound.

The rest of the verse also spoke to me almost everyday - "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him."(John 1:11b)

Shalom!













Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

My Classmates

I have been in Jerusalem almost 3 weeks. The class I am taking ends tomorrow with our final exam on Friday. Part of what has been so much fun and meaningful has been the 42 other people in the class. The group is represented by a variety of people at various stages of life. Most of the students are here taking the class for credit, while some of us, myself included, are just auditing the class.

Here are a few of my classmates:

This is Cam and Sandra. They are from Hong Kong. They are both from an Assembly of God church. Their pastor recommended that they take this course.


This is Nick. He lives in Natomas and is a graduate of UC Davis!!! He is currently working as a civil engineer. He is taking seminary classes at Western Seminary's campus in Sacramento.


This is Keane and Milena. The are from Greshem, just outside of Portland. They have two children, ages 12 and 10. He just finished seminary.



This is Sol. Sol graduated from Oregon and is currently attending Western Seminary. He has a twin brother and together they sing and talk to youth groups around the Pacific Northwest.


Here is Ron and Carolyn. They have been missionaries in Latin America. Ron taught missiology at George Fox University. They have three grown daughters.



Here is Elizabeth, Krissy and Mayon. Elizabeth is in her third year of grad school in clinical counseling. She is from Mobile, Alabama. Krissy is a graduate of Columbia International University and is looking for work as a teacher. Mayon is from Guyana and is in her second year of seminary also at Columbia International University.



John Mark is a father of two and helps lead a booming church in Portland called Solid Rock. Steve is an elder in that church.

This is Joshua. He is a pastor near Toyko and is finishing his seminary degree from Western Seminary in Portland. He is married and they have two girls.



Gary and Marie are both "retired" from government service. They currently live in Virginia, but will be moving to Kentucky next year so Marie can finish her seminary degree from Asbury Seminary. They have three grown children.

Here are a few pictures from today:


The Jordan River:

Who Do You Say I Am?

The Question

In Matthew 16:15 Jesus asks us THE QUESTION. The most important question you will ever answer. He asks, "What about you? Who do you say that I am?"

He asks this question at a place called Caesarea Philippi.

I was very excited to be there today! I have taught on this text many times and to be in the area and maybe the exact spot was very cool and insightful.

For example, when Jesus says, "and on this rock I will build my church," (V. 18) it is very interesting that the place where we were today has a huge face of solid rock.

When Jesus says "and the gates of death or Hades will not overcome it" (V. 18), it is interesting that this place today had a huge spring coming right out of the rock. It was believed in that day that the spring was the entrance to the "netherworld" or "the place of the dead" from which no one can return.

The water was seemingly coming right out of the rock. It was coming from a spring which flows at a rate of 29 gallons per second! That is a lot of water...from the side of the rock!!


We also went to the head of the Jordan river which is also a spring. Very cool figuratively and literately. Today was in the mid- 90's but the water was refreshingly cool!


Reporting live from Israel,

Jamie