Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving is an important holiday that often gets overlooked. Giving thanks for the blessings we enjoy as individuals and as a nation seems so 19th century, non-commercial, and irrelevant in the post-modern world. Many mock the idea of a divine power, and those who don't are too busy overeating, going to the movies, watching football, and shopping. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy most of these activities (except the shopping). It's just that I/we have so much to be thankful for. Setting one day aside to reflect on the blessings doesn't seem too much to ask.

So, here's my Top 5 things I am thankful for this season:

- Amazing Grace (how sweet the sound)

- Family (a wonderful wife, two healthy kids, a rich spiritual heritage...)

- The Church (the Bride of Christ in all her "glorious dregs" - and in particular my local church body)

- Good friends (both local and abroad)

- Being born in America (Even with all its imperfections, this country is still a great place to live and be citizen of)

Underdogs: weeks 11 & 12

Week 11:
MISSOURI 8 Baylor
usc (Southern California) 19 CALIFORNIA
Florida 4.5 SOUTH CAROLINA

Steve Spurrier proved that he is still a winner with Florida ;-)
Point total: 73.5

Week 12 picks:
TEXAS TECH 7 Oklahoma
AUBURN 7 Alabama
Penn State 7.5 MICHIGAN STATE

Dwight Ozard 1963-2005

Writer, editor, culture critic, social activist, and self-proclaimed "worldly" Christian, Dwight Ozard, passed away this week after a 4-year battle with multiple myeloma.

I was first exposed to his work through the organization Evangelicals for Social Action (ESA). At Cornerstone 1997, they sponsored a series of seminars on music and culture and released a compilation cd to promote their magazine Prism.

I can't say that I knew Dwight personally, but for the last 4 years I've followed his battle with cancer through his writing (Mike Roe of the 77s would forward those e-mails to the listserve). His writing always educated me to the struggles cancer brings and stirred in me a compassion for those who have that horrendous disease. But he didn't want his readers to just feel sorry for him - he consistently prodded us to take that compassion and spread it around to the sick, the poor, the hurting all around us. In one of his earliest updates he says

And even as I've felt so at home, I've wondered about those who get news like this and have no support base, who don't feel at home in the church. I've thought, especially, about how people with HIV-AIDS must feel--and if they get the same sense of embrace that I received. No need to preach here--I just invite you to think about that with me, and when you pray for me, remember too to pray for those on the margins of our society, those who have no family, no support, and no love.

You can read about his battle along with his other writings at his website.

To many, Dwight was a bit of a "evangelical" rebel in the vein of Tony Campolo. I know,I didn't always agree with his points of view or his politics, but I'm convinced that he was good for the church. Sometimes calling us to greater levels of compassion and at other times holding up a mirror so that we could see just how silly and irrelevant we can be. I for one am grateful for the small impact his life has had on mine.

Now he is home with his maker - free to rest after an arduous battle and enjoy a grand reunion with all the saints that preceded him.

Spiritually Significant Films

Filmchat draws attention to the annual(?) The Arts & Faith Top 100 spiritually significant films. Of the 100 films listed I've only seen 17 (a handful of others are on my need to rent/view list). Here is my ranking of the 17 I have seen (with the AF100 ranking in parentheses).

1 The Mission (13) - a great soundtrack as well
2 Schindler's List (49)
3 A Man for All Seasons (19)
4 It's A Wonderful Life (52)
5 Shadowlands (40)
6 In America (99) - I highly recommend this one
7 Life is Beautiful (80)
8 The Hiding Place (51)
9 The Apostle (11)
10 The Passion Of The Christ (35)- Gibson got carried away with the gore, but otherwise the most artful "Jesus" film I've seen.
11 The Lord of the Rings trilogy (74) - Jackson's films diminished the spiritual elements of Tolkein's classic work
12 Babette's Feast (8)
13 Chariots of Fire (21)
14 Jesus of Nazareth (37)
15 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (98)
16 Amadeus (97)
17 Les Miserables (88) - I prefer 1978 version over the 1998 version on this list

Here are a 10 films on the list that I want to see:
27 Magnolia
48 To End All Wars
60 Luther
62 The Gospel of John
65 To Kill a Mockingbird
66 Hotel Rwanda
72 Millions
90 2001: A Space Odyssey
92 The Shawshank Redemption
100 Unforgiven

Here are a few films that should have made the list (in no particular order):
Philadelphia - Compassion overjudgmentt
The Matrix * - What is reality?
The Original Star Wars Trilogy * - Redemption, faith, good over evil...
Forrest Gump - destiny versus chance
Ben Hur
Pulp Fiction - not recommended for everyone
Blade Runner *
Life of Brian *
Signs *
The Truman Show *

* denotes inclusion on the 2004 list

Underdogs Weeks 9 & 10

Last week I had my best results, so far, with wins by Cincinnati and Akron for 20 points. My total is now 58 for the season.

SYRACUSE 5 Cincinnati
FLORIDA 5 Georgia
BOWLING GREEN 15 Akron

So here are my silly picks for week 10. No I didn't pick my hapless Vols - I just hope they score against Notre Dame....

Boston College 4.5 NORTH CAROLINA
VIRGINIA TECH 6.5 Miami
USC (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) 32.5 Stanford

While I picked against two unbeatons this week, wouldn't it be great if we had four undefeated football teams at the end of the season: USC, Texas, Bama, and VT - that would really throw a wrench in the BCS. Alas, there is a lot of football yet to be played - Go Tar Heels, Cardinals and Canes!

Closing Thoughts

On Friday while traveling home, we made a stop in Picayune, MS, where we surprised the pastor of a small pentecostal church (Good Works Fellowship) with some much needed assistance moving distributed goods out of their sanctuary and into some tents. After spending about 2 hours there, we hit the road and made it home safely, just before 8pm.

Some reflections:

* What I/we did in terms of addressing the needs and lending a hand was just a drop in the bucket compared with what has been done by others and still needs to be done.

* The residents of the Gulf Coast will still need our prayers, our contributions and our assistance long after Katrina fades from the headlines.

* Our team got to experience a little bit of several key components of disaster relief: Food Service, Distribution of Goods, Cleanup, and Reconstruction. It was almost like a 101 course in disaster recovery.

* The amount of goods and services being donated to the recovery effort (including the numbers of volunteers) is an amazing sight. It is indicative of two things: the great prosperity of this nation and the even greater generosity that the Church is capable of.

* I wish I could go back and stay longer.

Waveland 10/27/05

Today started off like yesterday with our team opening the distribution tent. Matt, Rick and Patrick were then assigned to install electrical wire/conduit for a small FEMA trailer park in the church's front lawn. I joined up with the Indiana team once again to hang sheetrock.



After lunch, we drove down to the beach area once again. These pictures speak for themselves.




This evening the team from Washington state returned from a stint in New Orleans. Rick and Matt helped lead a time of worship. Manda and I talked with Syd and Angie who are living in a trailer behind the church. Their home in Pass Christian is better than many but still uninhabitable for a while. Pray that they get a fair settlement from State Farm (the company has not been the "good neighbor" of their advertisements). This trip, for me, has helped me connect real faces, people and stories to this mass catastrophe. I encourage everyone to pray for these remarkably resilient people as they piece back their lives.

Waveland 10/26/05

The church that we are staying at is actually on the line between Waveland and Bay St. Louis.

This morning after breakfast our team hit the clothes tent again. There was a steady stream of folks coming through all day - some were repeat customers looking through the newest "merchandise".

Here is a picture of the Waveland Elementary School - notice all the desks, chairs and other supplies outside.

I spent most of the day at the home of another church member. Billy's home had sustained 5-7 ft. of flooding during Katrina and a leaky roof during Rita. I worked alongside a group from West Terre Haute, IN hanging sheetrock on the kitchen ceiling and on the lower 7 ft. of wall space.

Both Billy and his wife shared some of their post-Katrina experiences and frustrations. Many in this rural area feel that the media has overlooked their experience. They both joked that the news media gave the impression that Katrina hit New Orleans and Mobile,AL and nothing in between. FEMA came in for some criticism - mainly for the slow and confusing communication - it took Billy over six weeks to get his trailer. And we heard more stories of trouble with the insurance companys. A member of the Indiana team asked Billy's wife about coping with the loss of material posessions and with the stress of the recovery. She replied, "You choose your own attitude." She and many other locals have shown remarkable inner strength. Their grateful for their health, their families and for the assistance they have received.

Being here and hearing the stories, makes you wonder how I would respond if this happened to me. How would I respond to the loss of most or all of my material treasures? What kind of attitude would I have? Where would my hope and faith be placed? How would I begin to rebuild without insurance? Would I be angry? depressed? distraught? Or would I be thankful? hopeful? faithfull? joyful? Back home, our pastor has been taking us through a series on the book of Hebrews - with the theme "Jesus Is Better". We've been exploring where we put our treasure (for there is where our heart is). Is my stuff my treasure or is my treasure found in my relationship with my Lord? Very tough questions that are made more clear through my experiences here.

Tonight, we went to the beach where we saw what was left of the luxury beachfront homes. The owner of this home was a collector of John Deere tractors - if you look closely, you can also see the remains of a classic corvette that was flipped upside down.

Our team went to Sicely's Italian Restaurant in Bay St. Louis where we enjoyed the Italian Buffet. This is one of three or four eating establishments that are open in this area (Waveland's Sonic drive-in is constantly slammed).

Waveland 10/25/05

This morning we traveled across the 24 mile causeway across Lake Pontchartrain and then onto Waveland, MS. We are headquartered at the Word of Faith Church along with teams from Washington, Indiana, North Carolina and California.

Our first assignment was to help organize the distribution tent. People can pickup food, toiletries, cleaning supplies and clothes. The clothes are particularly challenging - imagine organizing your local thrift store and you'll get an idea of what they have here. It is amazing to see firsthand the generosity this nation is capable of.

After a lunch supplied by the Salvation Army, Matt and I were assigned to assist a church member pressure wash the interior of his home. The ruined furnishings, carpet, cabinets, appliances, and drywall had been removed this morning and piled up at the street. It is stunning to see the possessions people have spent their entire lives acquiring in a heap....

All the drywall and insulation that was below four feet had been stripped off. We then applied a bleach solution to all of the wood studs and pressure washed any visible mold off of the wood and the concrete and ceramic flooring. Then the homeowner, Brandon, applied a second coat of bleach solution to all of the exposed wood.

Conversations with the locals reveal trouble with insurance companies. Many folks lost everything, but because they didn't have flood insurance they won't receive compensation. And even when they have flood insurance, the adjusters are playing games (depreciating paint!!!). One couple had flood insurance for their home but discovered that it did not cover the contents of their home.

This evening we ate dinner with our new friends and had a beautiful time of worship.

P.S. Here is a satellite image of the Word of Faith Church (pre-Katrina)

New Orleans 10/24/05

We left at 6am this morning and had a pretty uneventful roadtrip through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Interstate 10 just reopened recently with one lane in each direction on the eastbound lanes. This picture shows the westbound lanes which are still missing massive sections. As we drove into the city, we saw many cars that had been submerged and evidence of the waterline on the buildings. The scale of the devastation is greater than the tv is capable of conveying.

Tonight, we are in the River Ridge neighborhood on the west side of New Orleans. We arrived around 4pm and after a quick orientation, we jumped in to help serve dinner to around one hundred people.



Tonight's meal was red beans and rice with corn bread. Apparently it is the traditional Monday evening meal here in N.O.

We are headed to the Gulfport, MS area on Tuesday. Internet access is questionable, but hopefully I'll be able to check in again soon.