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revrendshafty
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Name: Chris
Country: United States
State: Illinois
Metro: Peoria
Birthday: 5/18/1972
Gender: Male
Interests: Emergence in the American culture, inside and outside of the church. Being a Spiritual Guide for students. Literature, Film, Psalms, Prose of any kind, and melodies. Stand-up comedy. I am also a big fan of wrestling.
Expertise: The art of cooking pizza rolls, saying the wrong thing at the right time, knowing I just did something stupid only moments after I did it, and pushing the envelope just a little bit too far.
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Nonprofit
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  eternal12003
MSN: eternal1_1@msn.com
Yahoo:  eternal1_1
Member Since:
10/5/2004
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| I have made my peace and settled on blogger. My social network has been Facebook for a while now so I never get back here. Check me out at A Casual Observer to keep up with my ramblings and know that i wish you all the best.
.Rev
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| I love taking walks with my three year old twins. It wasn't always that
way. They would fight hard to keep up with me, usually stumbling to the
ground and hurting themselves. After only few minutes of this they
would inevitably want to go back home. Intent on spending time with
them I would urge them on, sometimes with a firmness in my voice. The
three of us would end up miserable and the next time I build up enough
resolve to try again they would be less inclined to join me until
eventually the walks stopped altogether.
I soon learned that I
would need to walk at their pace if any of us were going to enjoy our
time together. To pace with a 3 year old requires patience and a
commitment to linger. We were going nowhere fast - physically speaking,
that is. Emotionally and spiritually we were moving into each other's
interior world. It was in these times that I fell more in love with my
girls and it was during these times that my girls were more teachable.
But that wasn't the best or most important part of our journey, it was
simply being fully in each other's presence that made the journey worth
while.
It's impossible to be on a walk together and walk at
separate paces. This is simply walking by yourself. I would never have
enjoyed the laughter, dialog, facial expression, etc. if I had been up
ahead of them the whole time. I would also not be able to protect them
from the ferocious dogs down the street or from cars driving too fast
down neighborhood roads. What kind of leader would I be if I walked so
far ahead of those I was leading if I couldn't even protect them or
enjoy them because I could only see the horizon up ahead? What if one
wandered off while I was surveying the landscape? How would I know
where they went? What if someone came and lured them with candy into a
strange van? How would I know? Is it possible to lead toward a the
horizon without loosing sight of the one's you're called to lead?
These
little one's are so important to me that if anything happened to them I
would just die. Life would not be the same without them. There would be
an emptiness that haunts me because I was so worried about what lies
ahead that I never took time to walk in step with the one's I've been
called to lead.
~the rev.
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| I know it's been a while and this is a lame post but I'm posted out from other blogs so this is a no brainer...sorry.
Songs I'm listening to:
1.) Rain King - Counting Crows
2.) Gracie - Ben Folds
3.) Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
4.) Fool In The Rain - Led Zeppelin
5.) Boston - Augustana
6.) September - Earth, Wind and Fire
7.) Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears For Fears
8.) Fire and Rain - James Taylor
9.) World Spins Madly On - The Weepies
10.) Maria (Shut Up and Kiss Me) - Willie Nelson
Television shows I'm addicted to:
1.) Scrubs
2.) Scrubs
3.) LOST
4.) Scrubs
5.) Mythbusters
6.) Suvivorman
7.) WWE Wrestling
8.) It Takes a Thief
9.) CSI:Miami
10.) Scrubs
Movies I will spend a lot of money on to see this summer:
1.) Spiderman 3 (VENOM! nuff said...)
2.) Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (Johnny Depp is hot. What can I say?)
3.) Harry Potter 5 (It's my favorite book so far)
4.) Shrek 3 (Kids are making me go)
5.) The Ex (I have serious guy love for Zach Braff)
6.) The Simpson's Movie (Doh!)
7.) Hot Fuzz (Hello...Shaun of the Dead!!!)
8.) Transformers (Robots in Disguise)
9.) Live Free or Die Hard (I can't help it. I love John McClane)
10.) Indiana Jones 4 (I know this is due out next year but I'm a total sucker for this movie)
Well, there you have it. Not much of substance but I'd love to hear what's on your playlist and summer agenda.
Peace,
The Rev.
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| I know it's been a while, but I've really been struggling with something recently. I have been wrestling with some things this week that were stirred up
by my pastor's sermon this last Sunday, December 17th. The sermon topic
was "Christmas is not about stuff". In it he suggested that there is a
point where we must all decide "how much is too much". He stated that
we must all decide, subjectively, where that tipping point is for us
and our family. I am really wrestling with that statement. It seems to
me, with all the extreme poverty that exists in the world that maybe we
need to ask some questions about whether on not this is true. As
members of the Kingdom first, do we have the freedom to decide how much
is too much or is there an absolute defined for us already? If so,
where and what is it? If not, shouldn't we, in light of our directive
to care for the poor of the world, start asking questions about where
we should draw the line on how much we collectively need to have to
live on?
Please consider these statistics before answering:
roughly 6 billion people in the world
1.2 billion people live on .23 a day
the wealthiest 1 billion people in the world, of which America is in the upper 100,000,000, lives on approximately $70.00 a day
1 billion people live on less than $1.00 a day
1 -2 billion people live on less that $2.00 a day
half of the world's population lives on less that $2.00 a day
the
3 wealthiest people in the world are American, their combined wealth
exceeds the GNP of all of the world's least developed countries (over
600,000,000 people)
12% of the world's population uses 85% of its water
40% of the world lacks basic sanitation services
1 billion people are without safe drinking water
America consumes 26 billion liters of bottled water annually
every 16 seconds someone in the world dies of hunger
2 out of 3 Americans are considered overweight
Americans spend more annually on trash bags than nearly what half the world does on all goods combined
wood consumption for the world daily is 4 lbs per individual, for Americans it's 14 lbs
80% of the world lives in sub-standard areas; too hot, too cold, flood zones, diseased areas
New home average size per square foot:
Ireland – 930
UK – 815
Japan – 1,000
US – 2,349
2 billion people in the world have no electricity
1 billion people in the world cannot sign their name
1% of people in the world own a computer
1% of people in the world have a college education
an estimated 22 million people died from preventable diseases 10 million were children
4 out of 5 American adults are high school graduates
1 out of 4 children world wide have to go to work every day instead of school
8% of people in the world own a car
1/3 of American families own 3 cars | | |
| If anyone is interested in attending or knows of anyone that is interested in attending, on Saturday October 21st @7:00pm, Jamie, from http://www.twloha.com will be visiting us to share a story of hope. The event is free and everyone is welcome. go to http://www.myspace.com/stopthebleedingpeoria for more information.
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