Legislative Action on Trafficking

Hey guys, here is a good story that tells of good progress in Human Trafficking assistance. (Even though it was a long time coming.)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/immigration/6154231.html


This next link is a editorial by Bob Sanborn that describes the depths of Human Trafficking in Houston. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6132874.html

Mr Sanborn also mentions a bill (SB 89) going to the State Senate. This bill will provide for a state task force that will help in combating human trafficking through Texas as well as providing for public awareness, education and victims assistance.

christmas

the other day i got to visit st. paul cathedral's first advent service of 2008.

there were oh, about a thousand people there...

full choir-adults and kids,

and of course the place is HUGE and breathtakingly beautiful.

we got to sing one christmas carol, 'come o come emmanuel' and the whole time i kept thinking about how badly i want to be back in houston so i can sing christmas carols with my friends at wellspring...and maybe even do a powerpoint with lots of holidays photos. 

can't wait to see you guys...two more weeks! hope you're all doing well :)

In these troubled times, I thought this appropriate:

Corcovado parted the sky
And through the darkness
On us he shined
Crucified in stone
Still his blood is my own
Glory behold all my eyes have seen
Have seen

I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed to be a witness

Some have flown away
And can't be with us here today
Like the hills of my home
Some have crumbled and now are gone
Gather around for today won't come again
Won't come again

I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed to be a witness

So much sorrow and pain
Still I will not live in vain
Like good questions never asked
Is wisdom wasted on the past
Only by the grace of God go I
Go I

I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed to be a witness

I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed
I am blessed to be a witness

-ben H.

Something to disagree with???

Thought the song was fantastic and the quotes and their authors very provoking. Maybe something to think about.

(I'm not quite as savvy as textelc, so I posted the link and not the video, sorry...)

ike

i have been watching that hurricane in complete horror. i heard that the shuman's and the napier's are alright, what about the rest of you? i realize it might be awhile before any of you even see this since there's a loss of electricity. just know that i stayed up all night watching that damn hurricane roll in and i was thinking of all of you every minute. wish i was there with you all...

God Of This City

You're the God of this city

You're the King of these people

You're the Lord of this nation

You are

You're the light in this darkness

You're the hope to the hopeless

You're the peace to the restless

You are

For there is no one like our God

There is no one like our God

Greater things have yet to come

Greater things are still to be done in this city

Greater things have yet to come

Greater things are still to be done here

I've been hearing bits and pieces of this song lately, I don't remember exactly when or where, however when I heard the story of it's lyrics I was immediately taken. I don't want to mess up the story so check out this interview of the band Bluetree.
The song has been recorded by Chris Tomlin, but check out the Belfast version by Bluetree.

birthdays

i hope everyone else over there that also has an august birthday had a good time celebrating! miss you guys!

in germany

i miss you guys :(

i'm in germany right now and i've been asked a million questions on how all of you are doing...and it makes me miss you guys a lot...can't wait to be home and with all of you again!

More Human Trafficking links

International Justice Mission - www.ijm.org
Polaris Project - www.polarisproject.org
Free the Slaves - www.freetheslaves.net
Redeemed Ministries - www.redeemedministries.net

I want to say something

I want to say something...
I'm not sure what...
I'm not sure when...
I'm not sure why...
I'm not sure how...

I just know I want to say something!

TRAFFICKING

I'm not quite sure what has made me pay so close attention to the discussion we've been having lately. Shannon came to town and on a Wednesday night not too long ago shared many things with us about the her ministry. The one thing that struck me so hard that night were the stories of human trafficking. I've heard these things before but this time there was something that grabbed my attention. I'm not much on research but I couldn't/can't get this thing off my mind. So, I went looking around and found a lot of numbers that, even though I've heard them before, still astound me. Here are a few numbers involved:

27,000,000 - trapped as slaves around the world

800,000-900,000 – The number of people trafficked across international borders, world wide

14,500-17,500 – The number of foreign nationals trafficked into the United States each year.

200,000 – The number of American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry.

5000-7000 – The number of Asians trafficked into the United States each year.

3000-5000 ea. – The next largest groups from Latin America, Europe and Eurasia.

Or how about the ages involved. 8 year old kids working in fields and sweat shops around the world and in the United States. Girls as young as 13-14 year old girls sold as sex slaves. 10-12 year olds taken from their families to become soldiers. Not to mention the adults that are taken out of their country on the pretense of good jobs and money to support the family left behind, only to find themselves in a field or factory working to pay off the debt that never goes away.

I'm not through looking into this and I hope y'all keep looking too. The only thing is, what do I do with all this new found information? How in the world can this kind of stuff be happening in the 21st century? I'm praying that God will show me, or us, what to do with this.

Remember, this is not only in Asia, Africa, Europe, Mexico or South America. This is happening in the United States of America.... The great State of Texas.... The very culturally diverse City of Houston.... and possibly my own community of Spring.

http://www.unodc.org/pdf/Trafficking_toolkit_Oct06.pdf
http://www.jnet-trafficking.org/
http://www.humantrafficking.org/
http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/annualreports/tr2006/assessment_of_efforts_to_combat_tip.pdf
http://www.humantrafficking.org/uploads/publications/2007_TIP_Report.pdf
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
http://www.cahthouston.org/

I don't think I'm finished yet...

Some Kingdom Thoughts

Here are two other takes on the idea of the Kingdom of God:

1. From Scott McKnight in his book "A Community Called Atonement"
Jesus decides to express his whole vision in one phrase, and he chooses " kingdom of God." It is here and it is coming, and it is small and it is big, and it is powerful and it it sometimes silent, and it is for big folks and little folks, and it is for off-the-map sinners and on-the-map righteous prigs (if they'll just learn to follow Jesus and stop thinking so highly of themselves.) The kingdom, is the society wherein God's will is established and practiced. "Kingdom" once again, it about people, about what I will call the ecclesial community.

The church is a local expression of God's kingdom. It is a community in which God's will is to be actualized. The church is the alternative society to the structures of power found in the world. The kingdom is justice and peace and a society wherein God's loving will is lived out.

The kingdom of God, is the society in which the will of God is established to transform all of life. The kingdom of God is more than what God is doing "within you" and more than God's persoanl "dynamic presence"; it is what God is doing in this world through the community of faith for the redemptive plans of God - including what God is doing in you and me. It transforms relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the world.

2. From Brian McLaren in his book Everything Must Change:
"We talked about eh metaphor Jesus used again and again to convey his essential message: the Kingdom of God. We considered how this message of the kingdom - conrtrary to popular belief - was not focused on how to escape this world and its problems by going to heaven after death, but instead was focused on how God's will could be done on earth, in history, during this life. We described God's kingdom in terms of God's dreams coming true for this earth, of God's justice and peace repacing earth's injustice and disharmony."

"What could change if we applied the message of Jesus - the good news of the kingdom of God - to the world's greatest problems?

What do you think?

perhaps?

The "kingdom of Heaven" is a condition of the heart - not something that comes "upon the earth" or "after death." 

-Friedrich Nietzsche

The Jesus Creed (Wellspring Edition)

Sunday I was thinking of how long it has been since the Jesus Creed was posted. So here it is again. This is what I believe, how about you.


We believe in Jesus Christ who healed the sick, the blind, and the paralyzed and even raised the dead. He cast out evil powers and confronted corrupt leaders. He died for the sins of the world, rose from the dead, and ascended to the Father. He sent the Holy Spirit. We believe in Jesus who taught in word and example, sign and wonder. He taught the way of love for God and neighbor, for stranger and enemy, for those rejected and those ignored. We believe in Jesus, who called disciples, led them, gave them a new purpose and sent them out to preach good news. He celebrated, he sang, he feasted, he prayed and he wept. We believe in Jesus, so we follow him, learn his ways, seek to obey his teachings and live by his example. We have not seen him, but we love him. His words are words of eternal life to us, and to know him is to know the true and living God. We do not see him now, but we believe in Jesus. Amen.

napier family hoe down

who: wellspring & friends

what: the fire, smores, drinks & food. plus a good 'ol napier time.

they'll have some desserts & drinks, 

but if you want something...bring it :)

where: east cypress forest drive.

2nd to last house on the right.

as for the exact address, i'm gonna need some help on that.

when: this saturday the 15th; 8pm

christmas

so, i've been commissioned to plan a chrisssymas party for wellspring! i guess the first question for all of us would be the date...how about NEXT sunday the 16th after church? 

would most people be around? i think that would be a blast...we could all bring something and do a potluck if everyone is okay with that. 

we'll need to find somewhere to have it...maybe someone else's house?

add your comments & let me know what you think!

j

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these.....

Jesus lives next door. He's an eight-year-old girl and her three year old brother. The Son of Man looks like those starving Ethiopian children. He only gets breakfast and lunch at school, when he makes it. His mama is a crack whore. Nobody knows where his daddy is. I heard his mama lets her "Johns" do things to him.
Poor King of Kings.
Jesus is two houses down and has six children. Now he's pregnant with the seventh. I don't know if he hasn't figured out what birth control is, or what, but how does he expect his husband to feed all those babies on that salary? And you know with all those kids the Lord of Lords can't work. That means hardworking taxpayers' money has to go for Christ's food stamps.
He needs to get fixed.
The Lord is a crazy man--paranoid schizophrenic. If he doesn't take his medication, he walks up and down the street, cussing and spitting on everybody he passes. He's homeless. Nobody knows where his family s-if he's got one. Digs out of trash cans for food. Somebody ought to get him off the street.
I'm starting to see the Son of God everywhere I go. He's always crying or egging or looking pitiful. Why doesn't he pull himself up by his bootstraps? This is America!! Makes me mad. He's ruining our neighborhood.
Somebody ought to do something about him.
Somebody.

-Claudia Mair Burney

thanks

so i just checked our blog, which i haven't done in forever, and realized that the last post was way back in september.
i hadn't even noticed that mark had posted...it probably wouldn't have meant as much as it does reading it now.
i don't really have anything inspiring to say, i guess i just wanted to tell you guys thank you.
the last few months have been hard on me...all of you know that because you've heard the story a million times.
i just like that i feel at home with all of you, like i can tell you my stories over and over and i know that you'll listen.
i know that you'll care when i'm having a bad day, and that i can actually be honest.
i've never really believed it when people told me that they cared about me, but i'm starting to...
with all of you.
i think all of you mean it...that perhaps you actually like me, and might even care.
that's a nice feeling.
like a hug, or sunshine when i'm cold.
the holidays are here...and the noise is getting turned up.
that word describes it nicely...thanks mark.
i wish for all of you that it would go smoother...that things would be easier this time, this year, this holiday season,
but the reality is that it might not and i hope that's okay too.
all the pain getting stirred up...all the things we should have said or not said,
all the time we've spent over this past year abusing each other and being selfish.
i hope that if all that does come up that you have peace.
that you can stand in the storm of hustle & bustle,
of ribbons and bows and presents,
and food and travel and stress,
and expectations and short tempers and regret...
that you could stand still as it all tosses around you,
and that somehow you could be at peace.
i don't know how to do that...
so my prayer is for me too.
but i'm learning how,
and you all are making that process so much easier.
...thanks.

Notebook

There is a lot of noise in my life right now. When I get like this I tend to go back through the notebook in my bible, where I've jotted down thoughts from here and there, hoping to pick up some piece of wisdom left behind.
Most of them are meaningless now that I've forgotten why I wrote them down. Words like "contentious". That was obviously wrote down so that I might look it up in the dictionary and expand my vocabulary or get more meaning from something I heard. Yet the dictionary remains closed.
Or there's a name, Lisa Terkeurst, and a question, "Who holds the key to your heart?". I don't have any idea where this came from and yet when I look at it the question haunts me.
Who does hold the key to my heart? My wife of course, oh and Jesus... yeah that's it, Jesus. At least that's what I like to think. The truth is, that my pride holds the door closed most of the time.
I wrote down prayers to. Mainly to help me focus on what I was praying about. But reading them brings back memories I thought were buried in the dark corners of my consciousness. They bring tears of sorrow for lost children, broken promises and misguided dreams. They also remind me of a time when I relied more heavily on God and not so much on my own strength.
I wrote a verse to a song we sing.

"God is bigger than the air I breathe,

The world we'll leave.

God will save the day and all will say,

My Glorious"

And then I wonder, if I truly believe that, why can't I turn the noise in my life over to Him. He is bigger than anything I can imagine. He is bigger than my little noise. He should be able to handle my little noise. Well, of course he can.

Let it go...no,wait. But isn't that what we've always been told? We only need to let it go. I'm sure I have that highlighted in my bible somewhere. OK, so here... let it go...no, wait, not yet...OK, now.

One Scoop or Two?

I saw this piece today and my first thought was that I wanted to share it with friends who would "get it," who would appreciate all that it was saying and some of what it didn't say. That's you guys! Though some of you may not be into poetry, give this one a try, ok?

Jere Pfister says she saw a sign near her Heights home on North Main that captured her attention and her imagination. The sign looked like an ice cream cone with a scoop of vanilla on top. The word "Jesus" was faded but visible on the ball of ice cream. Here's the poem the sign inspired:

I wonder what Jesus-flavored ice cream would taste like.
Cool and metallic like the new cathedral in Los Angeles,
Where even the statues and Stations of the Cross are patented,
Copied, sold in-house or by mail order via the Internet.
Or salty like the tears of the wails of mothers of lost children,
Sweet trustiing children who only obey their elders?
Would Jesus ice cream taste sweet like love, sweet love,
Or bitter, sweet, lumpy, like the road to sustained love.

Would Jesus run down my hand and arm on hot days
Staining my clothes, making my hands sticky to touch
Like a vanilla-flavored ice cream cone on a hot July day,
Cause me to lick my fingers, suck them, use my spit
To clean the Jesus streaks from my arms and round my lips.
Would Jesus feed me, nourish me like communion
Is supposed to, but rarely, hardly ever does, anymore.