Monthly Archives: August 2006

Blog

“It’s a Small World After All” and Stolen Scooters

1 Comment

Mindy never had a chance to see the cute, little red scooter I bought for her to use as her primary mode of transportation. A few nights before Mindy was to come back from Minnesota the little red scooter was stolen from next to the front steps of our new home.
I should have expected something like this would happen, mainly because for the last three years now my main mode of transportation was passed on unwillingly to someone else (my bike the last two years, Mindy’s scooter last week) sometime in the fall. I did not expect it to happen simply because the area that we live in happens to be a more low-income neighborhood.

I can easily see how having something stolen so quickly after having moved into a new neighborhood could strike some hestitation or discouragement in a new resident. It was fairly discouraging for me that this gift for Mindy was never going to be given, and discouraging because we need to reconsider how Mindy is going to get to school. Having something stolen is never a comfortable thing, it feels like a violation of ones personal space, it is often an inconvenience, and it further exhausts ones resources

But I think the over all feeling I get from the stolen scooter is best summed up in the lines of a famous song you might all know from a magical boat ride:

It’s a world of laughter
A world of tears
It’s a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There’s so much that we share
That it’s time we’re aware
It’s a small world after all

This might need some explanation. I think the problem often with our choice of location, is that we consistently choose to isolate ourselves from anything and anyone we might consider dangerous. We, regardless of our religious affiliation, choose the safest and most life prolonging routes. If it’s a small world, I’m sure is heck going to do my best to keep myself in the safest part of it. It’s a small world, but in looking out for number one I’m gonna maximize the hopes and laughter, and leave the tears and fears to somebody else. Stolen scooters break that way of thinking.

I can’t help but thinking that I had a part in shaping the life of that person that came by in the middle of the night to take that scooter. I’m convicted with the reality that I have some responsibility in the stealing of that scooter. I know that sounds weird and backwards and wrong, but there is some truth to it I think.

When students in my city aren’t receiving a quality education I have some responsiblity in that. We tend to worry only about our own children and their well being, but as Dr. King once said, “injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.”
A scooter was stolen the other night, someone is being abused, children aren’t receiving a fair education, men are being discriminated against, teens are being hooked on cigarettes, children are working in sweatshops, and the stories continue.

If we, who come from middle and upper class communities, selfishly worry about only the needs and issues that affect us and our surrounding commmunity, we are not doing what we should be doing.

Blog

Buying “Ethical” Shoes.

13 Comments

UPDATE: I’ve answered my own question in this post Fair Trade Footwear

As my title might hint at, I’m a follower. I’ve meant to get into that for sometime (today won’t be that day), but here is a part of this following thing.

If I’m really a follower of Christ. If I dare to label myself with that term, then I had best be ready to put it into practice. And, I don’t mean into practice every Sunday, or specifically by reading a Bible, saying a prayer or leaving a tract on a table. What I mean is the idea that everything I do should be considered in light of this belief system. It’s no different then someone who holds to any other belief system. If you are to be real and honest about what your beliefs are, and you truly believe them, then everything you do should be filtered through that.

I think that’s what made it so pressing to me to bring up the issue of Real Estate as we were looking at houses and trying to consider what that means and how we navigate that area as Christians. It’s sad, but I’ve never heard a Bible Study or Sunday sermon about the ethics of Real Estate, yet I know that even in my current church, tons of people are buying houses, or considering buying. I see conversations about these things as essential to our faith, much more then an abstract, feel-good verse reading.

This brings me to the topic at hand: Shoes. My current pair are on their way out. My sandals died about a month ago now, so I’m lacking in the “appropriate to wear to work” category of footwear. What I need is another pair of athletic shoes, just your basic cross-trainers or running shoes. But as with any purchase, I want to consider an ethical approach. It really is a WWJD situation (What Would Jesus Do?).

There is a fair trade running shoe shop, but they charge about $200 for a pair! I find it hard to keep within my values of good stewardship for a purchase like that. Then there is always buying slightly used from Goodwill or eBay, something my mom would highly frown upon. Mom wouldn’t like it because it conflicts with the value of taking care of my body (it’s not my own, it was bought with a price). Then there is always the New Balance route, the hip, cool, stylish, and the closest-big-business-but-still-supposedly-sweatshop-free-or-at-least-trying-to brand of shoe out there (I think Timberland is a close second). That doesn’t sit well with my avoid injustice or even the possibility of injustice if at all possible value.

So, what’s a guy to do?

Blog

More blogging to come. I promise. (and thoughts on “Stuff”)

1 Comment

My mom emailed me the other night thinking that something had gone wrong with her email feeds of my blogs since she hadn’t been getting them. That’s a surefire sign that I need to get with the program and start blogging a bit more. Things have been really busy for a number of reasons: no internet, lot’s of work, more people in our home, long bike ride to work, and Moving.
Let me tell you about moving for a minute. For three out of the last four weekends we have rented a U-Haul truck and moved a bunch of stuff. It’s not technically my stuff personally, but as a part of this new community we’ve been forming it is my “stuff.” This stuff is part of my life, and it resides in the same home as I do.
Every move I’ve made personally since high school (including since being married to mindy) has been with only the stuff that would fit in a car. This is not quite as impressive as those folks who show up to college or their new home on a plane with two pieces of luggage (head nod to Zach), but I still find it as an important thing for me to do.
All this is to point out that the last month has solidified in my mind my desire to avoid the accumulation of “stuff.” I wish there was a good way to articulate the feelings of being overwhelmed by stuff, but I think you just have to experience it. Maybe my thresh hold is a bit lower then most people’s (seeing as many folks are quite comfortable with houses full of things and U-Haul’s packed floor to ceiling).

I always think about the quote:
“There is enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed.” -Gandhi

The truth is there is a large conversation to be had about what we have that are a “need” and what truly is an element of our greed.

Blog

Reflections on Community, moving, painting and more.

3 Comments

As I write I’m sitting on my futon mattress fold in half with piles of stuff all around me, in a living room of a new apartment. In the bedroom Dawn, Avery and Roman are sleeping, and Bryan is at the coffee shop working. Our community has begun. It really started two weeks ago when we moved Bryan and Dawn and the kiddos from their apartment into my two bedroom apartment (minus Mindy who is chilling in Minnesota with her family).
Thursday night our community grew. Daniel, Josh and Chris all agreed to join our experiment. What does this whole thing truly mean? I couldn’t tell you. There will be nine people attempting to live together, to be intentional about how we live together and to share, challenge, encourage and grow with one another. We never sat down and wrote out a plan for what we are trying to accomplish, we didn’t have any specific discussions (yet) about goals, rules, visions. What we share is a conviction of living out this faith and trying to follow the ways of Jesus. It’s going to be interesting to see what that looks like.
Let me explain briefly the space that we will be living in (pictures to come soon). We will be renting two units of a tripleplex (like a duplex only bigger). In the larger one Bryan and Dawn and the kids will take two connected rooms. Mindy and I will have a section of the upstairs in that same unit. The living room, kitchen and a portion of the upstairs will be common space for all to use. The second unit is a small two bedroom unit where the three guys will share the available rooms. The living room and kitchen in that area will serve as some other function of the house. The goal will be for these two units to be shared freely and not to be disconnected in anyway.
One of my readers here mentioned that they are very interested in what we are doing and hoped that I would be open and honest about the experience. Let me acknowledge that I will make every effort to be open and honest in what I write. However, I will not use that honesty as an excuse to be in any way negative concerning others. If that means at times you do not get the full picture, then so be it. I will certainly share about the difficult experiences and the tensions that arise, but I will not do so at the expense of any community member. I hope I am clear about my intentions and I hope you find what I write about this experiment enjoyable.
I can’t speak for others, but I will share more soon about why I feel that this communal living is an important and worthwhile endeavor.

Blog

Salaries, income and the wage gap

6 Comments

I ran across this article about making salaries open rather then a secret and it reminded me I haven’t posted on the church addressing the wage gap.
The article was basically about the dangers and negative outcomes of companies keeping their salaries a secret.

There are three major reasons why salaries secret are silly:

1. It frustrates employees because any unfairness (real or perceived) can’t be addressed directly.
2. They’re not secret anyway. People talk, you know.
3. It perpetuates unfair salaries which is bad for people and for the organization

Making salaries public (inside the company of course) has some major advantages:

1. Salaries will become more fair. The system gets a chance to adjust itself.
2. It will be easier to retain the best employees because they’re more likely to feel they’re getting a fair salary.
3. The pressure is on the people with the high salaries to earn their keep. Everybody has to pull their weight – the higher the salary, the larger the weight.

I thought it was a pretty good case and figure not just companies but communities (like the church) could probably learn something from this.

As a church, we are a body of people who share some of the same beliefs. Some of these beliefs include this idea that we are “brothers and sisters,” that we should love one another, care for and meet the needs of one another. The idea of sharing all our possessions in common might be a little too radical for most, but maybe opening up our check registers and bank statements might be an honest way to start challenging ourselves and one another to live in a way we believe is Biblical.

I had a discussion the other night with a bunch of folks about stewardship, money, etc. and what the Bible says about it and what that means for our lives. I wanted the conversation to be very practical and relevant to our lives, specific to our lives even. I think some of what the conversation lacked though was the specifics. We talk about how we don’t really know how much someone might be giving, and I see the biblical justification for that (don’t make a show of your giving, etc), but I also think the reason we don’t challenge each other and a reason tithing is so stinking low in the church is that we our so secret and private with our money. Let’s be a little more open shall we?

Blog

Hobbies: How many is too many?

4 Comments

I think I have too many hobbies. When I was in high school I skied a couple of times and then I bought my own pair (big purchase) because I was so sure I was going to do it all winter. Then I only skied a couple more times ever. Summer rolled around and folks where playing roller hockey in the street, I picked myself up a pair of skates, certain I’d spend all summer out playing, and the skates sat on a shelf in the garage for nearly the rest of their lives. I did the same thing with multiple items, and I still find myself doing it. I buy a quality something because it’s something I really intend to take up, and I rarely do.
I think my skates are still sitting on a shelf in my parents garage. A guitar sits in my closet, I just sold a SLR camera that’s been sitting around, my Greek books were gathering dust on the shelf, multiple books I always intended to read stand unopened. None of these items are bad themselves, but I’m in need of a reality check.

I think we probably all need to assess our “hobbies” and relinquish most of them. If I ever want to pick up serious photograph again there’s cameras out there. For now I should probably just stick to playing soccer more with the new cleats I bought. I think one hobby is probably enough. You might be able to justify two, but only if you actually do them.
I always here people talk about being wise with your money doesn’t mean buying cheap it means buying quality, but I’d argue quality that sits gathering dust in the garage is probably not very wise either.

I’ve certainly got some more things I need to get rid of, reality check here we come.

Update: I totally forgot about my camping gear (tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, and a few doohickies)

Blog

Looking for a Job in Nashville: A List of Links

Leave a comment

I’m going through all my old bookmarks today (that’s what you do when your bored), and I came across a bunch I had when I was looking for a job around Nashville.
Since I’ve found a job I’m quite happy with I thought I should just delete these, but then I thought it might be good to post the links so others can find them.

(sorry for those who have no interest in this)

Belmont University
Metro Nashville Jobs
The YW
Center for Nonprofit Management (how I got my job!)
YMCA
Big Brother Big Sister
United Way

Hope this proves helpful to some.

Blog

Read and then write, or write and then read

2 Comments

It’s difficult, because there is a lot of reading I would like to do, and so I try to make it a priority by doing it first. But usually I get minutes into something before I want to write things down. Also, when I start by reading I forget all the things previously in my head that I wanted to think about.

But, if I start by writing, I tend to get distracted rather then sitting down and doing it and that can get pretty discouraging. I waste way too much time that way. I really need to sit down like I’m doing now, type things out and then post as quickly as possible.

I really too it takes about 25 minutes just to read all my friends personal blogs and reply. Not too long but a time frame to keep in mind.