Jonathan Stephens - Aspiring Novelist

I'm a Daddy

2008-07-19T06:36:12Z

Meet my daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Stephens -- 8 lbs, 11 oz, 20 in. I think we'll keep her. Both Lisa and Sarah are doing great. Praise God.

Baby Stuff

2008-07-15T01:13:55Z

Our family and friends came over to paint with us. So much fun!

No baby yet. She's just too comfortable where she is.

In the End

2008-07-12T19:14:32Z

It starts with one thing.
I don't know why.
It doesn't even matter how hard you try.
To keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme to explain in due time all I know.
Time is a valuable thing.
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings.
Watch it count down to the end of the day.
The clock ticks life away.
It's so unreal.
I didn't look out below.
Watch the time go right out the window.
Trying to hold on, I didn't even know I wasted it all just to watch you go.

from "In the End" by Linkin Park

My brother almost died this week.
How much longer do you have with your family?
With your spouse?
With that friend?
With your soul?

Update

2008-07-11T14:51:17Z

After 13 hours holding onto rocks, my brother was rescued and is completely safe, except for a bit of dehydration and bruising. Praise God! Thank you for your prayers.

Please Pray

2008-07-11T06:39:34Z

We just got a phone call that my brother, Caleb, is stranded on a ledge in Colorado. He and a bunch of family members were trailclimbing alongside a waterfall, and the trail gave way beneath my brother. Like a flying squirrel, he lept from the falling rocks to a ledge, where he has spent the last 10 hours awaiting rescue.

He will likely be stuck there until morning when rescue teams can get to him. He is not injured or in immediate danger, besides the fact that he is stuck high on a ledge by a waterfall.

If you're the praying type, please get down and pray. Thanks.

Update ASAP.

Published

2008-07-09T15:19:45Z

My short story "A Simple Matter" is going to be published in Skyline Magazine. Fun times.

Hands-Free (I Used My Feet)

2008-07-08T03:47:39Z

For anyone not in California, here's the scoop: We have a dumb new law.

Automobile drivers may not talk on the phone while driving.

"Hands-Free...It's the Law," signs say.

They say it's more dangerous. I say, it takes away our personal liberties. It's big government. It's the government trying to protect me from my own stupidity.

Sure, I understand the reasoning that if it's dangerous for the driver, then it's certainly dangerous for other drivers. I'll give them that.

But if we're going to go that route, then we've got to outlaw everything else a driver uses his hands for.

Like:

Eating hamburgers
Putting on mascara
Picking boogers
Disciplining toddlers in the back seat
Biting nails
Using iPods
Shaving
Holding mapqust directions
Applying fingernail polish
Switching CDs
Changing clothes
GPS navigation systems
Smoking cigarettes, cigars, pipes, etc.

Not to mention putting your Bluetooth headset in your ear when your phone rings. I mean, how dangerous is that? Can we get the little scientist hamsters to work on that one? Can't you just see the infomercial/propoganda now. Driver-of-car fumbles dramatically to put Bluetooth in ear and drives off road into ditch. Or hits telephone pole!

Furthermore, how come cops get to read their computer screens while driving? Does that mean I can read a novel but can't talk on my cell phone?

I'm done ranting. For now. All I'm saying is I should be able to talk on my cell phone in my car. Stop taking away my liberties. Pretty soon, they'll be tapping our phones!

Though I will leave you with The Question of the Day:
If I have more than 1 Bluetooth, do I have Blueteeth?

Top 100 Books Printed (How Many Have You Read?)

2008-07-04T00:34:52Z

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let's see. (Thanks to angelina41 for this list)

1) Look at the list and bold and highlight in orange those you have read.
2) Italicize and highlight in blue those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them ;-)

NOTE: This should help us keep track of the books we want to read, shouldn't it? Maybe...?

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible (all the way through, mind you)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (only 15 plays)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnet
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

TOTALS
Read out of 100 = 26
LOVED out of 100 = 21
Want to read = 19
Don't care if I ever read = 55

A Question I've Had

2008-07-03T22:48:12Z

Why is it better that car bombs go off "over there" than "over here"?

38 1/2 Weeks at the Beach

2008-07-03T17:41:56Z

We spent the afternoon down at the Huntington Beach Pier for some pictures and a quick swim in the cool ocean. At 38 1/2 weeks, our little girl could enter the world any day now. Man, we're excited.

*** Special thanks to my father (soon-to-be-grandpappy) for taking the pictures of me and Lisa together.

The Lisa - 38 weeks and counting...

2008-07-02T23:11:17Z

Breaking into the 10,000

2008-07-02T18:53:18Z

Dude! I'm one of the top 10,000 reviewers on Amazon.com now! That's crazy cool. Thanks to everyone who thought my reviews were helpful.

>>> Check it out and vote for my reviews

James Dobson on Barack Obama & My Response Letter to Dr. Dobson

2008-06-28T22:41:07Z

When I finally stopped to listen to Dr. James Dobson's criticism of Barack Obama, I had to say something. This kind of faulty analysis and tainted discussion from the Christian sector bothers me. Where are the balanced Christians? Why can't they ever get a public voice?

Here's my attempt at balance and fairness (see below the video clips). It's in the form of a letter, written to Dr. Dobson, as he requested at the end of his broadcast.

Barack Obama's "Call to Renewal" Keynote Address:
http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060628-call_to_renewal/

Part 1 of Dobson's critique of Barack Obama

Part 2 of Dobson's critique of Barack Obama

[My letter to Dobson and Minnery in response to Dobson's broadcast "discussion" about Obama's religious views -- 080628-000296]

Dear Dr. Dobson and Tom Minnery,

This is more a comment than a question. You had asked for feedback on your broadcast as to whether you should do more segments like the one in which you "analyzed" Obama's speech on religion from 2 years ago. Here's my answer:

Yes, but only if the discussion can more accurately look at the candidate's statements. (NOTE: I have no clue who I'm voting for, so I'm trying to stay as unbiased as possible here.) Obama's words were misrepresented on a number of occasions.

For instance, 1st, when Obama asked the question, "Would we go with James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's?", it was assumed that he disparaged Dobson's view and elevated Sharpton's when in reality he did not express favoritism toward either one. He could have feasibly included Rick Warren's, Brian McLaren's, and Jerry Falwell's, as well. He's simply showing that Christian beliefs differ widely, and that there is no consensus.

2nd, when Obama asks, "Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount -- a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application?", it was assumed that he favored the OT passages or was somehow elevating them to the same status as the NT. This is falacious reasoning on a few levels. 1st, Jesus did not abolish the OT Law, he fulfilled it. So the OT Law is not out-of-date, it is fulfilled. 2nd, by Obama's laughter, emphasis, and political stance, it can be inferred that Obama leans more toward the NT and the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, what he appears to be saying is that perhaps the Department of Defense should listen to Jesus and might not survive the listening and application of the truths in the Sermon on the Mount.

3rd, when Obama says, "I do not believe that religious people have a monopoly on morality," it is assumed that he thinks moral people don't have to be religious. In reality, he's saying that he'd rather a non-religious person be real and not fake. There is no use pretending you're religious when you're not. He, instead believes that morality is from God, but not necessarily from religion. How about Romans 1, for instance? Isn't the truth of God written on people's hearts and clearly known through the created world? People don't need religion for morality. They clearly know it in their hearts already.

4th, when Obama says, "Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason," it was assumed that he meant that Christian politicians could not carry their faith with them into politics. What Obama meant was that if a religious politician hopes to make his case against partial-birth abortion, he must prove that case without the help of religion as an authority. After all, if he's pursuing God's truth and God's truth is universally right, then he should be able to argue (with logic and reason and without the support of religion) that his case is the best case. This would follow as true for Obama's example of gay marriage/civil unions. Obama is against the institution of gay marriage, but he supports the policies of hospital visitations, tax deductions, etc. because human decency and justice argues the fairness of such a policy. He's saying that religion does not have to surrender its ownership of the marriage institution but that certain rights attributed to marriages are universal human rights.

I could go on, but these are a few examples of Obama's words being taken out of context. If the name of Jesus is going to be properly proclaimed (by Focus on the Family and any other "Christian" institutions), then I'd prefer it be done in a logical, fair manner, filled with grace and love, as well as truth. But please not half-truths and not distortions. The world sees right through such discussion and exposes the hatred that seeps out.

And let's remember, Jesus only ever condemned the religious, not the world.

Shalom,
Jonathan Stephens

p.s. 4 DAYS LATER I RECEIVED THIS EMAIL REPLY FROM FOCUS ON THE FAMILY

Recently you submitted a question or comment to Focus on the Family. Please know that we are currently experiencing higher than expected volumes of e-mail. Should your situation require a response, we ask that you please allow a few additional days for handling. We appreciate your patience.

"Higher than expected volumes of e-mail"...Ha! Now that made my day.

Michael Scott's THE MAGICIAN: THE SECRETS OF THE IMMORTAL NICHOLAS FLAMEL (5 stars)

2008-06-28T19:10:34Z

"Two days ago Sophie Newman had been an ordinary American teenager, her head filled with normal everyday things: homework and school projects, the latest songs and videos, boys she liked, cell phone numbers and Web addresses, blogs and urls." Now, life is drastically different. Her powers have just been Awakened by the Witch of Endor, who taught Sophie the Magic of Air and made her hypersensitive to all sights, smells, sounds, touch, and taste. She's on the run for her life from the immortal magician and necromancer John Dee, and her twin brother Josh wants to be Awakened and equal to his sister. Jealousy is rearing its ugly head.

The immortal alchemist, Nicholas Flamel, leads their small band of fugitives to Paris in search of another Elder to train Sophie and awaken Josh. With them is Scathach, the Warrior, whose "fighting style is at the heart of just about every martial art." Unfortunately, Flamel's wife Perenelle is not with them. Imprisoned by a Sphinx on Alcatraz Island, Perenelle waits, powerless, for a chance to escape. She and Nicholas have less than a month to live. They're ageing fast, their immortality draining from them, and if they do not reclaim the Book of Abraham the Mage back from Dee, they will die.

If only their deaths were the worst of it.

The Book of Abraham holds more than just the formula for immortality; it contains all the history and secrets of humanity, including spells that could heal the world and return it to Paradise, along with ones that could destroy everything, or even worse, hand everything and everyone over to the power of the Dark Elders. The bad thing is that Dee has the Book and wants nothing more than Flamel's death and the rise of the Dark Elders to the rightful place of power. The good thing is that Josh has the two most important pages from the Book, and Dee can't use the book until he gets the pages.

Even better is that Josh and Sophie appear to be the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy -- "The two that are one must become the one that is all." Legend predicts that twins will be born with pure silver and gold auras, and that their powers will bring about the end of the age. Josh and Sophie have those auras, and Sophie's powers have already been Awakened. The question is: what kind of end will they bring with them? Good or evil?

It all depends on who controls the twins, doesn't it? If John Dee gets his way, the Dark Elders rule the world and humanity as we know it will end. If Nicholas Flamel gets his, he and Perenelle will survive, the twins will save the world, and the Humani will continue to flourish. But even that depends on whose story they believe.

Who is, in fact, telling the truth? Is Flamel really working for the good of humanity or does he have some other motive? Who really does he serve? After all, just a couple days ago, Josh and Sophie were regular teens and living regular lives. This whole world of magic and myth didn't even exist! How are they supposed to know who to believe?

Picking up right where THE ALCHEMYST left off, this 2nd of 6 books does not disappoint. Conspiracies, magic, and battles mix with friendships, doubts, and betrayal to make for good characters and an entertaining read. As with the first installment, this book plays with myths and legends, combining them all into a single storyline that makes sense of everything. Remember, at the heart of every myth and legend lies a grain of truth. King Arthur and Excalibur, Joan of Arc, the great battle Ragnarok, the disappearing islands, and the dark secrets of ancient Paris, along with legendary creatures like the Sphinx, dragons, oni, vampires, trolls, wyverns, boggarts, minotaur, and more. THE MAGICIAN: THE SECRETS OF THE IMMORTAL NICHOLAS FLAMEL is a mythological thrill ride you won’t want to miss. You'll want to read the first installment before picking up this second part.

Enjoy them both . . . this ride is just getting going.

Copyright 2008 TeenReads.com

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The Version

2008-06-25T20:26:10Z

Yesterday was eventful.

We went to the hospital to let the doctors do their work. The procedure is called an external version (not aversion, as is commonly mispronounced). In this procedure, the doctor(s) attempt to turn a breech baby around in the womb, in hopes that the baby can be born naturally and without C-section. Odds of success lie between 50-70%.

Lisa with an IV. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Lisa lay there for an hour, IV fixed in her arm and fetal monitors tracking the baby's heart rate. Then the doctors came in for "the version." Little Sarah was basically standing up in the belly, head up in Lisa's ribs and feet down in the pelvis. Our doctor and one other doctor worked together in tag-team to turn little Sarah. While frequently checking the ultrasound, one doctor would rotate the feet up and the other would come right behind and press deeply on the belly to keep the feet from moving back. Then they would rotate the head down toward the pelvis and press deeply behind to keep it from returning to original position. 4 similar combination-moves later (less than 2 minutes), and Sarah was completely flipped over, head down / feet up / heartrate fine.

Lisa said, "I can see how some woman might view it as painful, but I'd call it just very uncomfortable. I'd recommend it to any woman with a breech baby." This coming from a woman who hardly ever takes migraine medication. All that said, one of our nurses told us (after the procedure) that six months prior her version had resulted in an emergency C-section when the baby's heartrate dropped dramatically.

Medical practice is amazing. So is God.

Now we wait...

Due date: July 14th.

A Thought

2008-06-25T05:07:28Z

There are too few miracles left in this world.

The Lisa @ 37 Weeks

2008-06-24T04:00:23Z

Tomorrow after the doctors attempt the version, we're going on a little field trip to the beach to take some fun pictures of Lisa and 37-week-old Sarah. For now, though, these few from the balcony of our apartment will have to do. :)

Bees!!!

2008-06-22T23:33:25Z

There's this softball backstop across the street from our apartment complex. As we drove past it today, I went, "I think there's a bunch of bees on that backstop." So I went upstairs, got my camera and a stepladder, and walked over to it with my friend Brian. Low and behold, there were about a thousand bees crawling all over each other. I think they'd already been sprayed with some kind of poison because a bunch of them were dropping to the ground and not moving.

Did you read that carefully? That means we figured out what's happening to the bees! M. Night Shyamalan, eat your heart out (cultural reference to The Happening). But that means the bees are dying because whenever they find a new place to hive, the city workers kill them. They have as much right to that backstop as the little kids do, right? Okay, maybe not. Or maybe yes!

Enough of that jabber, I took pictures of them. Here's a few of the pics!

Today's Fortune Cookie @ Fu Wing Low

2008-06-21T21:40:11Z

Now, I'm not one of those "believe in the power of the cookie" type of people, but this one was too good to pass up. Let me guess, is this short stranger going to be 20 inches long and 7.5 pounds? We'll call her "Sarah the Short Stranger" (A.K.A. Short Stranger Sarah Stephens).

Does this short stranger look like this?

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into a fortune cookie.

CITY OF GOD (2004) -- film review (4 stars)

2008-06-20T19:37:59Z

Every big city has its crime and drug problems, but Rio de Janeiro is different. It's only sort of a big city, a sprawling landscape of measured favelas (slum neighborhoods) and mazelike city streets. Poverty lies around every corner. Crime runs rampant. Hope has left the city and shot right past the shanty slums on the outskirts of town. Young boys like Rocket don't know that a thing like hope exists.

CITY OF GOD (Cidade de Deus) follows the journey of Rocket, but it does so in a clever meandering sort of way. We get a good glimpse into 5 or 6 main characters, all for the sake of showing Rocket's story. But all the characters in a story each have their own story, and this film does its best to tell each of those as well. Rocket wants to make a truly honest living for himself, but at each step along the way, "the city" won't let him. The environment doesn't allow for honest livings. Drug gangs rule the slums, namely the youth-run gangs of Li'l Ze' and Carrot. The police are paid off by the gangs, and when the police aren't fighting against the real injustices of the town, you know you're in trouble.

This is a dark film, well-acted, but filled with heartless killing and drug use. While often this genre leaves me feeling dirty, CITY OF GOD left me sad for the people of Brazil and areas like them. I haven't read the novel by Paulo Lins, but the film has enough redemption within the muck for me to recommend it, though not wholeheartedly. It feels like a fresh version of Scarface or the Godfather, only told from a different character's point of view and for slightly different effect. When farming and fish-selling doesn't pay the bills, what else is left for a young man to do? Rocket's dream is in photography. The question is, will the City of God allow him to live a holy life free, from crime and corruption. The irony for Rocket and so many like kids him is that it's deep in that same corruption where he finds his honest hope.

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Penny Simkin's THE BIRTH PARTNER: Dads, Doulas, & All Other Labor Companions: 3rd Edition (5 stars)

2008-06-20T07:16:05Z

For first-time parents, giving birth to your little bundle of joy can be nerve-wracking. There is so much you don't know! And not-knowing can be a nasty breeding ground for fear. My wife and I are first-time parents, and while we weren't scared to death, we certainly wanted to know what we were headed towards. Knowing is half the battle, right? Because of how much there is to know, we even thought about hiring a doula (birth coach). Luckily, we found this book...373 pages of confidence-building.

THE BIRTH PARTNER is broken into 4 parts:

1) Before the Birth

This section is largely just introduction to the concept of pregnancy. It contains some good lists to remind you what to prepare to take to the hospital. Probably the most important stuff was on Kegel exercises and the Perineal massage. Oh yeah, and make sure to compile a list of friends and family to call or have someone call.

2) Labor and Birth

This section has crucial information about the pre-labor process, the signs of labor, the "bag of waters" breaking, false vs. true labor, timing contractions (there's a great chart to make copies of), and breeched babies. Her breakdown of the 3 stages of labor is especially helpful.

For those parents attempting a natural birth, she details the 5-1-1 rule for contractions, so you know when to head to the hospital. She walks you through a ton of strategic labor positions to use to relieve pain and allow gravity to do its work toward birthing the baby (these assume you haven't had an epidural...there's a whole section on epidurals and anesthesia).

She gives advice for the birth partner's role -- from leading her through breathing routines and rituals to knowing how to work with and sometimes against the doctors, depending on what they're saying. Fast labors, slow labors, irregular labors...they're all in here.

3) The Medical Side of Childbirth

Medicine, drugs, shots, tests, interventions and all that good stuff. To epidural or not to epidural? And what about Cesarean sections? It's all in here. Helpful information to keep you sane and in the loop. It's amazing what the doctors won't tell you unless you ask. Remember, it's a business.

4) After the Birth

Cleaning the baby, shots, warming, breastfeeding, postpartum depression and how to deal with it...what happens after the birth is almost nearly as important as the before and the during.

THE FINAL TAKE

This book is a mental lifesaver. Whether you're heading into the birth with complete trust of the doctors and the medical system or with a healthy (or unhealthy) bit of logical skepticism, there is a wealth of essential knowledge in here about what to look for, what to know, and what to ask about. You won't regret reading this book. It's concise and detailed in the all the right places and is clear enough that you know exactly what she's talking about. I'm a first-time, thinking-man's father-to-be, and I sure feel more prepared after reading it. After all, it's just my baby we're talking about here.

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Brian McLaren's EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE: JESUS, GLOBAL CRISIS, & A REVOLUTION OF HOPE (4.5 stars)

2008-06-18T15:50:37Z

I've been waiting for a book about this. I've asked my pastors: For which party should a Jesus-follower vote? What stance should a Jesus-follower have on war and peace? How far should Jesus-followers go toward feeding the poor and caring for the outcasts? Are Jesus-followers really supposed to be loyal to the economy at the expense of caring for the Earth? And I've been looking for a Christian leader to say something intelligent on the subject, something not firmly entrenched in conventional Christian dogma.

Here it is.

Three dominant social systems are at work in our world society: The Security System (The attempt to keep us all safe through dominating all enemy powers), The Prosperity System (The pursuit of riches at the expense of everyone who doesn't have them), and The Equity System (The attempt to redistribute wealth to make things fair). People throughout history have tried to fix the world's problems by adjusting any combination of these, without success. The problem is that all 3 systems are symptoms of the same Framing Story, and until an alternative Story is provided, our world is doomed to destroy itself. Blame that on The Fall (Genesis 3).

EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE asks 2 overarching questions:

1) What Are the Biggest Problems in the World?
2) What Does Jesus Have to Say About These Global Problems?

McLaren looks at the ministry of Jesus as it relates to the dominant powers of his day, namely the Roman governmental machine. The machine was oppressive, and so were its rulers, the Caesars. Then Jesus steps onto the scene proclaiming a different Framing Story, that a new Kingdom is here, forgiveness is available to all by following him, love is the new economy, and this new kingdom offers hope toward a healed world. The problem, as McLaren sees it, is that "our conventional view has accidentally put Jesus in the very framing story Jesus originally sought to subvert" (83).

If you're looking for a cakewalk read, don't pick up EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE. This book will make you think. In good ways, it will challenge what you think you know about Jesus. Because when it comes down to it, if the Good News of Jesus isn't big enough to fix the enormous global problems we face today (both spiritually and physically), then the News might not be Good enough. Luckily Jesus' wisdom and truth speaks not just about salvation for our personal souls, but also for our very broken systems of the world. Shalom.

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The U.S. War Machine & Solving Hunger

2008-06-17T16:26:13Z

FACT: 20% of the 2003 U.S. Military Budget could care for the basic needs of the entire world's poor.

From The UN Millenium Development Goals #1: GOALS: Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day. Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people. Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

From The World Hunger Fund 2003 Report p.83: The World Bank estimates that it would cost an additional $50 billion a year in development assistance to achieve all the MDGs.

From GlobalIssues.org: in 2008 the U.S. will spend $696 billion on military expedentures. But we should compare it to the 2003 amount to be consistant with the WHF's 2003 report. 2003=$459 billion. To put this dollar amount into perspective, the U.S. spends as much on its military as the next 46 countries combined!

SO...it appears that it would cost an additional $50 billion per year to cut world hunger in half, and logically speaking, $100-200 billion to eliminate it altogether (it might, understandably, cost more to get rid of the last parts than the first parts). 10% of the U.S. military budget would equal $45.9 billion, which would only fix half the problem. It appears 20% of the U.S. military budget would fix the whole problem.

BUT...that's in 2003 statistics. If we use 2008 statistics, the effect would be greater because the U.S. military budget has increased much faster than the percent of the world's hungry. So help me if my math is wrong anywhere, but it seems the U.S. spends enough on the military that reapportioning 20% of it would solve the world's hunger crisis. And for those military necessarios, the U.S. could cut 20% of its military budget and still spend more on military than the top 15 countries combined.

Now, that sounds like a National Security plan to me.

BEAT THE DRUM -- film review (5 Stars)

2008-06-17T15:43:17Z

Every once in a while a film comes along that really says something that matters. Recommended from another writer's book on poverty and social change along with BLOOD DIAMOND and TSOTSI, I picked up the film. It employed purely African actors and film crews, besides the director, out of a purposeful effort. BEAT THE DRUM ended up being one of those films that matters. Enjoy.

Set in southern Africa near Jo'burg, the story follows the journeys of a young boy named Musa. His mother and cousins have all died from the curse, but when his father dies from it at the beginning of the film, he is doomed to be known as the boy from the cursed family. He leaves his small village and heads to Jo'burg to look for his uncle and buy a cow for his grandmother, a journey which leads him into danger on the streets of the big city as he scraps for money and food amid the street riffraff.

The secondary storylines follow an older truck driver who is on the road a lot, whose wife does not trust that he is faithful while away and worries he'll give her AIDS. The owner of the truck driving company has a son who he learns is dying of AIDS, but doesn't want to face the truth of the disease's lack of favoritism.

The film puts faces and stories to the disease that is ravaging the African continent. There is much fear and ignorance surrounding the disease. People don't want to talk about it. Using local spiritists, they'd rather call on their ancestors for help than listen to the local medical workers. Some of them even want to spread the disease out of spite for the persons who gave it to them. The situation is dire, yet knowledge of the situation seems scarce enough in America. Not only does BEAT THE DRUM give a necessary voice to the voiceless Africans, it puts forward fantastic acting jobs and cinematography. The film is beautiful and sad, and while watching, I cried for Africa.

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Job, Sweet Job

2008-06-13T13:59:29Z

As a New Orleans preacher used to say: "God is good."

Church: "All the time."

Preacher: "All the time."

Church: "God is good."

Preacher: "Amen, brothers and sisters!"

In the middle of this teacher debacle in California, teachers getting released left and right, I somehow managed to find a teaching position for next fall. In my book, that's nothing short of a miracle.

Needless to say, I'm ecstatic. I mean, come on, 7th and 8th grade English students? Soooo cool!

And our new baby will have a place to stay and food to eat. Which is a good thing. Especially when the Lisa is going on a year-long leave of absence to care for the baby.

God is good.