November 25, 2012
Alzheimer’s is something that has been coming up a lot lately. This post is a lot of little stories and thoughts about the disease…
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Black friday will mark a year since my grandmother passed away. She had alzheimer’s and, by the time she passed away, had lost all ability to talk, adequately used the restroom, and feed herself.
Alzheimer’s is a bitch.
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November 14, 2012
A few weeks ago, as Halloween was approaching, my room mates at the Micah 6 House and I decided that we should do something for Halloween. The obvious conclusion was try to get some of our friends out here to hand out candy with us. A few days later, our friend Cole at Rochester College volunteered to bring about 40 students out for a trunk-or-treat. And that’s how it started.
Leading up to the event, the three of us printed out flyers and knocked on every door within three blocks of our house. We told anyone who was brave enough to open the door (we did get several people shouting, “I paid my electric bill!”) that we were going to be in front of our house handing out candy.
We stopped by the house of an old friend that I mentioned before. He answered the door, and asked what we were up to.
“We’re going to be handing out candy at our house tonight. We’ve also got some friends coming and handing out candy with us.”
He, in a moment of real honesty, said “You know, no one does that, right?”
I asked for some clarification, and he explained “no one trusts this neighborhood enough to let their kids out at night, and no one trusts their neighbors enough to open the door when someone knocks.”
“Well,” I said. “We’re going to do it!”
“I’ll bring my kids over, because I know and like you guys.”
We got the same kind of reaction from people all over our neighborhood. Many of them said, “We weren’t going to take our kids out, but we want to come. Is it okay if we don’t have costumes?”
“Totally!”
Our friends from Rochester college pulled up, opened their cars and started getting ready to hand out candy. Kids trickled in, most without costumes, but all excited for candy. Parents stopped off, said thanks and walked back home with their kids.
In the end, we probably had the same number of volunteers as we did kids–close to forty. We had a good turn out on both the volunteer and kid front. It was a good time had by all and hopefully an event that we can build on in the future as we continue to establish our house as a place of peace in this neighborhood.
November 5, 2012
Strung together are some thoughts and ideas. Some are mine, some belong to others and I hope to cite them accordingly. Some of them will surely contradict each other, but they’ve all been important to me as I have had to walk the line as:
I hope that some of the following thoughts echo to some of you as well who are always struggling to find the balance in your own lives.
“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” –Robert Kennedy
[Full Speech is worth a listen]
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“War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children. The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes – and we must.”
-Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech
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“As for poverty, no one needs to be ashamed of it: the real shame is not taking practical measures to escape it.”
-Pericles, 430 BCE
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“Christians should be committed to the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of America, and the church is to live an alternative existence of love and justice, offering a prophetic witness to politics. Elections are full of imperfect choices where we all seek to what is best for the “common good” by applying the values of our faith as best we can.” – Jim Wallace
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“But ‘Thou mayest’! Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win.” – John Steinbeck in East of Eden
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“Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king… He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
“We want a king over us!
1 Samuel 8
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“All the wars and strifes between tribes, races, nations, from the beginning until now, have been the result of man’s effort to govern himself and the world, rather than to submit to the government of God.”
“Every one who honors and serves the human government and relies upon it, for good, more than he does upon the Divine government, worships and serves the creature more than he does the Creator.”
David Lipscomb, On Civil Government
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“…Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.”
Micah 6:8
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“You have to bear witness to the God you know. Hate all injustice. Be enraged about it. Organize to fight it. Join movements of justice. That is the way you fight it.” — James Cone
October 30, 2012
We like organization, structure and lists. We like to be able to say, “this goes here and that goes there.” In movies and I think in life we like to know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.
Real life, as I am learning, isn’t that easy.
October 18, 2012
We have a neighbor that has taken a liking to us. By taking a liking to us I mean she calls, comes over or catches us on the street and asks us for help. Sometimes it is a ride to the grocery store, sometimes it is asking us to buy her a phone card, other days it is asking us for furniture, to buy food she is selling our of her kitchen, etc.
That “etc.” is a funny thing to add because from day to day we never know what it is going to be with her. Initially, we were open and glad to help. Driving her around town to fill our this paper, helping her find clothes at this place and helping her wasn’t a problem. We love Jesus and we’re glad to help.
September 19, 2012
We all have our Bible heroes. We think of Peter, Paul, David, Moses and have our mental favorites. But, some of my favorite characters are the ones who show up for a minute to do what they can, then disapear. There weren’t chapters devoted to them, you’ll never see Charles Swindoll write a book about them with a plum-colored cover and very european depiction of them on the cover. But they are extemely important.
They are folks like Pricilla and Aquilla. Or the ladies who were funding Jesus’ ministry, or John Mark’s mom who offered a room for Jesus and his disciples to meet. They are just good people who do their part so that the gospel can move forward and the church can grow.
September 17, 2012
We want to be a positive force in our community. I know that. Everyone in the house knows that. Many people in Rochester know that. But how do we let our neighbors know that?
This has been something that has been rolling around in my head for a little while. Now that we are all moved in to our home at 32 Newberry, how do we begin to get to know the neighbors and start plugging in to our community?
I will give you a few examples of things we are doing here at the Micah 6 house that may be insightful.
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