!nsomn!a.

"A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow." — Charlotte Brontë.

To Live

My prayer:

- That God would help me to see true beauty. True beauty that is seen in character, honesty, passion, love, and forgiveness.
- That I would enjoy each day that the Lord has blessed me with and not waste my life away in anxious nervousness.
- That I would trust fully in God and allow him to guide my life.
- To live freely in him, observing his wonderous creation and loving him wholeheartedly.

"Life cannot be understood flat on a page. It has to be lived; a person has to get out of his head, has to fall in love, has to memorize poems, has to jump off bridges into rivers, has to stand in an empty desert and whisper sonnets under his breadth."
-Donald Miller

TAKE ACTION!

Have you heard of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group wreaking havoc on northern Uganda? How about Joseph Kony? Better yet, have you heard that Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, commonly referred to as the LRA, and that he is in charge of heading up a massive troop of abducted, child soldiers? It’s not surprising if you haven’t heard of these terms. The U.S. barely ever reports on what is going on with the LRA because honestly, why should they? Reporting on the topic would mean they would have to take some kind of responsibility or action against it, and Uganda doesn’t have any oil or anything of value to the United States, so why would they need to put any effort towards the situation? They would virtually be gaining nothing. Unfortunately, the issue is still present, despite efforts by the U.S. to sweep it under the rug. The debacle is now left to passionate college students and young people to urge our government to use their power and influence to stop the horrific crimes being inflicted upon the innocent people of Uganda, Congo, and southern Sudan.

Tonight, a friend of mine introduced me to the new Invisible Children video called “The Rescue of Joseph Kony’s Child Soldiers.” Although many people have seen the “Invisible Children: Rough Cut” film that was introduced in 2003, this second video explains Kony’s horrific war crimes and his unwillingness to end the violence and make peace with the United Nations. According to Invisible Children, it is estimated that the LRA is made up by more than 90% of abducted children. These boys and girls, some as young as five years old, have been kidnapped from their homes and forced to kill innocent people, burn entire households and villages, mutilate and torture other children, and are even used as sex slaves for LRA commanders.

Commentator Leroy Sievers of NPR explained the issue in a simple yet truthful way by saying that “ending the war in Uganda may not be strategically important, but it is morally imperative.” Yes, by fighting for these children we gain nothing — no rich land, no extra resources, and no fancy power; but in doing nothing, we lose everything. We lose our reputation as a country that is powerful in every situation and an advocate towards keeping the peace and fair treatment of all humanity.

The question now lies on you. What will you do to help put an end to the 23-year war that has been taking place in Uganda? It all starts with baby steps. By visiting the Invisible Children website, you can buy t-shirts, films, bracelets, and other merchandise to help spread awareness in your local community and help the organization in their efforts of rescuing the children. Invisible Children takes 50% of their proceeds and puts it towards creating more merchandise used to educate people, and the other 50% goes towards providing food and resources for displaced families of the war. On April 25th, 2009, join me, and thousands of others across the country, as we abduct ourselves in order to help free the abducted. To learn more, visit www.invisiblechildren.com.

6 Weeks

As my Christmas break is beginning to come to a close, I can't help but feel extremely anxious and unreasonably bored. It is officially Tuesday and I am heading back to school in 4 days, but it seems like the time for me to start heading back just can't come fast enough.
I have read all four books in the Twilight series, Blue Like Jazz, The Secret Life of Bees, and various magazines, pamphlets, and road signs.
I have watched a countless amount of movies. A number probably close to around 100.
I have painted, although nothing I paint can truly be considered as "art." It is just swiggles on canvas, a complete waste of resources.
I have written poetry.
I have acquired practically a new wardrobe.
I have enjoyed the rays of sunshine.
I have gone sledding and ate my way through Big Bear.
I have barely watched any TV, which I am actually quite proud of. The only TV I did watch consisted of cooking shows on the Food Network.
I have read my Bible.
I have collaged.
I have spent amazing time with the people I love, which is really all that matters of course.

But (yes, I do have a complaint), I am so sick and tired of doing nothing. I am itching to get back to the fast pace of college life — the deadlines, the meetings, the events, the chapels, the overwhelming amount of people and things all appealing to every sense at once.
I miss the smell of coffee all times, all kinds, all ways.
I miss Family Dinners.
I miss shnapples, shnoranges, and shnartichokes. And shnonquering the shnave.
I miss being in a stinky dorm with furniture that God only knows how many people have sat in, slept on, drooled on, sweated on, spilled food on, farted on, and done any other gross human function on.
I miss pillow talk.
I miss Compton/Lynwood.
I miss my friends, the people who in only a short 4 months, I have come to respect and love.

When Christmas break started, I couldn't wait to get off that campus. I was ready for some real home-cookin and my own room. It's funny to think that now all I want to do is go back. Ain't life grand?

Loving the Unlovable

Driving up to my house, I noticed it looked
Vulnerable.
Exposed for everyone to see
How we live behind closed doors.
I’ve got nothing to hide.
No, that’s not why I’m mad.
I just have a sense of paranoia and I like to have my shelter.
But HE
Has no concept of that.
All liquored up and smoking like a chimney,
He stumbles through the door, mumbling to himself about the bitter winter air.
Heaving and snorting, I hear his lungs breaking inside his swollen chest.
Am I supposed to love this — this monster, this creature, this pathetic excuse for a human being?
But how can I?
I fear that finding a smidgen of love in my heart for this poor man is pretty much impossible.
And what baffles me even more
Is that God loves him.
How can God love such a lost and troubled human?
Why can’t I?
I know I’m not perfect.
Not even close.
In fact, I’m probably a far cry away from mediocre.
But at least I try to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
He doesn’t even…
It’s no use comparing.
I will always lose.
God loves him regardless.
Why can’t I?

BLOG 4: Evangelization via Jesus Products

Today, classmates Bre Tosti and Emilee Sutherland gave a presentation on “Merchandising Jesus Products,” a topic introduced by Diane M. Badzinski in Understanding Evangelical Media. In their presentation, they asked the question of whether or not Jesus products were effective in evangelizing and what we think of such Jesus products.

Honestly, I am not sure where exactly I stand on the issue of supporting this so-called “Jesus Junk.” I think that wearing t-shirts expressing your faith can sometimes be a good thing by opening up conversation with non-believers and seizing the opportunity to share the gospel with them. On the other hand, I feel that Jesus action figures (which I have seen being sold in stores such as Wal-Mart) and Jesus soap that “washes away your sins” are just blasphemous.
What I found really interesting from the text was how Badzinski explains that Evangelicals are simply just “imitating market trends as a means of making the gospel culturally relevant for those outside the tribe” (183). That is such a true statement, and furthermore, why aren’t Christians the leaders for market trends? If our goal is to share the gospel with as many people as possible, why are we settling for boring, “been there, done that” copycats of popular merchandise, that in reality, probably isn’t even reaching the secular world in an effective manner. I hate to admit it, but my reaction to some of the “Jesus Junk” out there is probably very similar to that of a nonbeliever — looking at it as some kind of sick joke.

Emilee and Bre opened their presentation with a very interesting Youtube video, showing two men: one, displaying his religion literally on his sleeve; the other, just plainly expressing his faith without all of the showy “holy paraphernalia”. I really liked how that video pointed out the extremes that some people go to just to express what they believe, when sometimes; subtlety can make a bigger statement.

Hearing about all this Jesus merchandise, I had to check it out myself. After seeing many t-shirts and other various products on www.misspoppy.com and www.zazzle.com, I was disturbed to realize that I found most of them incredibly corny (my personal favorite were the “Nunchucks” on Miss Poppy) and also somewhat blasphemous. It makes me sad to know that there are people out there who try to merchandise Jesus and sell him like they’re selling cooking utensils on QVC. What’s worse is that there are actually people out there buying the stuff.

I don’t think we need to manufacture a “Christian” everything. I think what makes Christianity so different and special from other religions is the fact that we don’t need all of those tangible things, such as holy water and rosaries, to prove we are religious. For me, Christianity is about a relationship, and like any relationship in my life, it is personal. Of course I share my faith with people, but sometimes I feel that the advertisement of what I believe can often take away from the intimacy of the relationship.

Savers: A Topic Worthy of Discussion

The old adage “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” is never so true as when one walks into Savers, a second-hand store off Imperial Highway. The surplus of donated items that overwhelm racks and shelves are mini goldmines that, with an abundance of patience and time, can yield amazing treasures. Savers houses thousands of products, everything from cooking supplies and appliances, to clothing, to furniture and decorations. In short, it is a shopping mecca for those who, as the store is properly named, want to be “savers.”

In a way, Savers is like a museum, many items are frosted with grey dust and show the wear and tear of a previous life; the Tupperware, which looks so clean and new on the outside, only to be opened and release a stench of garlic and rot, the clothes that have a less than mediocre color palet after years of abuse in laundry machines, the furniture that shows cracks and scratches in leather, or small holes and stains in fabric. Aside from the items that seem a little rough around the edges, a true shopper at Savers learns to look past those things and sees them merely as hints of detail that add character to each unique artifact. Not only is Savers a popular place for large families looking to get great deals on back-to-school clothes for the kids, it also serves as a graveyard for every indie hipster to find neat retro clothes and accessories.

More than just a retail thrift store, Savers foundation is based on a good cause. According to the Savers website, their “recycling program prevented 262 million pounds of unsold merchandise from ending up in landfills last year by reselling domestically and internationally where the goods could benefit people in need.” Not only do consumers benefit from finding cool stuff, but our environment is saved from the clutter of material things. Mike Smith, a current employee at the Savers off Imperial, added that, “whatever doesn’t get sold in the store, after being marked down numerous times, gets donated to 3rd world countries.” According Kelly Kearsley, a reporter for the News Tribune Online, wrote an article two years ago entitled “Where the Used Shoe Fits” in which she talks about various thrift stores in the country and their ways of recycling. Savers is mentioned as shipping “bales of compressed clothes to…50 countries, including India, Pakistan and United Arab Emirates.” Places like Savers are definitely doing their part in the fight for a more environmentally friendly planet. What are you doing to help?