Somethinzzz

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020707P.shtml
I was researching in the library and found this article. It's a scholary journal but I searched online and found a copy of it. This gives history from everything that happened before 9/11 to Iraq. It's all of course, oil.

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How do we live lives for Jesus while living in the paradox of 'dying to yourself' & joy. I understand that joy can be found in this idea but how do you rationalize your own joys without puting yourself down? How do you pursue God with that? How do we do ministry in America without it being an occupational minister? People say things like "just live your life for God" but what does that even mean if I'm just 'living my life'..where is the 'dying to self' in that? How am I being a servant by 'living my life' as just being a christian.

family frustration

does anyone else struggle with family relationships? I know that that is a dumb question in the sense that Im sure everyone does, but its one of those rhetorical questions that has to be asked. It sucks because I love my family and vice versa, but I dont know how to let them get to know me. They dont know the same person that all of you know. And I know that there is specific reasons why that is, but the frustrating thing is that I wont let myself overcome that ya know. Its like the only thing that I can think of when I am around them all is "when can I get away?" This might sound pretty vague, and probably intentionally, but none the less you get the point. So if there is someone else out there that has family crap dont feel alone, because I have it too, and Im sure we all do. Ive come to realize something, that if I would not have held in my past from so many people then I could have helped someone else realize that their family is not the only dysfunctional one and in return they would have told me about their family crap and how I am not the only one. So if anyone needs to talk about how crazy their family is and how you dont know how to deal with it at times, I am all ears. I know I have said it before, but I really do love you guys.

Iran

What would you do if the U.S. started a war in Iran? There has been a lot of talk about Iran in the news and there are ALREADY books out about Iran and the supposed up and coming "NUCLEAR WAR".

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There seems to be a lot of things being published and spoken on the news that seems to be prepping us for a war in Iran, which oddly enough sounds very much like the language when we were in Afghanistan (failed) and wanted to move into Iraq.
Iran, is in need of more proficient energy sources and they want to go into nuclear power. They want to do this because first off, they are using more oil then they can produce. (not to mention that they export a lot also) Secondly, beause of their energy needs they would like to go into nucleur energy.
The radioactive material used for generating electric energy is a down graded version of what one might use to build a nucleur bomb. Once the materal is down graded for generating electricity it can not be purged or cleaned in a way that would make it useful again for producing WMD's. (It's good to know that a few nations are running their countries off of nucleur energy. the U.S. does have a few nuclear power plants but our use of them is extremely minimal. However, France is run highly off of nuclear power.)
It was suggested that the Russians supply Iran with this radioactive material where they profit off of selling it AND are therefore in control of the kinds of radioactive materail Iran would pocess. Thus, a happy checks and balances where Iran is allowed to stabilize their country (which is a good thing, it would not benefit the U.S. to force them into poverty) and we get to make sure they don't get any 'illegal' meterials (guess we could talk about the whos and whys of the legalization of nuclear arms but we'll leave that for another time eh?). The U.S. of course, didn't really like this idea so much and didn't back it. So, they aren't doing it.

All this to ask... if we did go to war in Iran, what would your thoughts be? What would you do? Clap? Smile? Shake your head in shame? Riot?

man down next qrt

well guys, I have a class at 2 on mwf next qrt so I wont be able to attend, blahh, but thats just part of the deal I guess, hope everyone is having a good week....any encouraging things or words from anyone?

The poor so close, a Kingdom so Capable

Kind of similar to that last post, I thought I might say something about the poor that live near us. I was reading "The Ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennen Manning a while back and he talked about something that has stuck with me. He talked about a man in Mexico, very close to the border, that he had gotten to know on a mission trip. The Mexican man had many who were dependant on him for their most fundamental of needs. Manning was able to forward a decent monetary donation he had received to the man in Mexico and in return he received something like 5 letters of gratitude...daily. The man's appreciation was overwhelming even on paper. But what does this mean? As the kingdom of God how should we respond? I've read some statistics and it appears that if we gave something like half of our tithes to the needs of the poor most poverty would be eliminated...globally. I recently heard a Rob Bell sermon about a similar topic, and in discussing the implications of the American ideal with terrorism he said, "It's very difficult to hate the ones that feed and care for you."

A clean water well to sustain an entire African village for a lifetime: around $3000