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in speaking with a friend recently, I was allowed into the mind of a parent of a child astray…

it wasn’t that this person’s child was into, what most would term, immoral behavior, it was their expression of sadness at their child’s world-view which reflected a greater importance of material over relationship…

Sweet Anna and I (at the recommendation of Princess Irene) went to see ‘Leap Year’ last night. I discovered the theme there too…

material was being placed over relationship…

and when the moment came to really discover what was important, there was disappointment about the choices made by one who should have cared more about relationship, about person, than about the material possession, about success…

as I spoke with my friend, I realized that this parent was more sad than mad… there was a bit of anger mixed in with the sadness, but it was mostly sadness at the priorities…

I thought of the Prodigal Son’s father. He stood on the road waiting and watching, I bet he was sad too… but hopeful… that his child would return from his waywardness (in this case caring more about success and stuff than relationships)… that the son would come back home…

In this story Jesus told, the father in the story represents God the Father… who, I bet, looks at our hearts and our decisions with more sadness than anger…

my friend’s adult child should know better and put relationship and people over material and success…

I should too.

What about you?

I hope you can hang for the full 8 min 33 seconds, and if you do, you may not get it… your reaction may not be that of the audience (me included)… but I post this because SO MUCH of this depicts life over much of Europe last century in Krakow, Sarajevo, Kyiv, Kerch, Vukovar, Budapest, on and on the list could go…

be sure you have good speakers or headphones, the music is very important…

thanks Anne

Since none of the 18 (no, that is not a typo – there were 18 candidate) candidates for prez won today, (according to exit polls) there will be a run off in February. The top two seem to be Viktor Yanukovych with something over 30% of the vote and Yulia Tymoshenko with something over 25% of the vote. That they only accounted for fifty-five-ish percent of the vote shows me that the pundants and my conversations with friends are right, Ukrainians are not happy with their politicians. Forty-five percent of the vote went for a variety of up-start candidates. We, of course, are waiting for a real vote count and for the official notice. We are also praying as we said yesterday for justice, for a government that works for the people’s well being and for peace.

On Sunday the 17th of Jan Ukrainians will go to the polls (probably in underwhelming numbers – cuz they are sick of the corruption) to elect a new president.
Five years ago the Orange Revolution captured to imagination and fueled the hopes of something more that half of Ukraine and many of us who love Ukrainians.
That election got a lot more press and when it appeared to be messed up, their high court was involved (sound familiar?) and then there was a new president who leaned toward “the West.”
He and his Prime Minister (who is running for prez) were in and out of love politically and she would snuggle (again I speak politically not literally) up to the prez, and then the guy he beat, and sometimes it seemed she was snuggling with Putin… its such a stinking mess.
So, as I talk to my friends from time to time, they seem to be pretty disinterested. read more
Here’s what I said in a tweet earlier today:

“Pray for Ukraine elections tomorrow: for fairness, for a clear winner, for peace and justice to result for the people”

as a person who thinks about injustice and doing something about it all the time… its kinda my job now, ya know?… I am pretty skeptical of the former prez Clinton and W to the White House today. They are joining up with the USA’s current prez to figure out ways to get Americans to pony up with donations for Haiti… NOTHING wrong with that… that’s awesome… but what about AIDS victims in Africa? and the orphans that result from it… DONT misunderstand, we need to help Haiti… NOW

But we (Americans) are so A-D-D (please don’t be offended) that – generally speaking – we forget tragedy as soon as the TV news decides it’s no longer worthy of sending Al Roker down there… see I am afraid that Americans are the way they are (short memories) because they are SO DEPENDANT on those who are making the decisions and driving the news… It’s like Pat Robertson’s nonsense comment (I’ll devote another post to that pretty soon)… who would have noticed without media attention? CAN WE FIGURE OUT HOW TO learn about what’s going on in the world and not depend on what some managing editor decides is important to us? CAN WE GET INVOLVED in understanding whats going on in the world all the time? CAN WE care about Haiti longer than we did the tsunamis? What about all the millions of kids who are SUFFERING around the world ALL THE BLASTED TIME? When will America live up to its potential and give a crap about the needs of people because they are people and God cares about them and then so should we and not just when there is a stinking crisis? WHEN? When we take our eyes off ourselves, that’s when.  OH, Europeans, are you really any better?

Meanwhile, pray for Haiti, pray for the people who are there, trying to help, the people trying to get there to help, and for the US military who are trying to get that stuff to happen. Pray that people would care past the stinking news cycle. A good place to get involved is here

We are in the midst of another crisis where thousands are dead. Hundreds of millions of dollars will rush into NGOs around the world. Governments will commit vast resources to the tragedy. Christians will mobilize like they haven’t in years and the great cry will be for the poor of the land. All of it rightly so.

We need to care about Haiti, PRAY for Haiti, Donate wisely to Haiti. Donate to where there will be targeted, local, long range help for Haiti.

BUT, why is it that we wait for the big event to care? Why do we hardly even glance at the poor, the tragic places and their peoples until something like this happens and then suddenly, “oh no, woe is me, this is horrible, what can we do?” My question: where was the compassion last week?

And of course there will be the inevitable God discussion: one side against the other. “Oh, why did God do this?” or “Oh, why did God let this happen?” or “Oh, what has God done?” and another will say “Well if that is your God, who does this kind of thing, I want nothing to do with him.” All of which demonstrate a limited view of God and even of reality itself.

What about next month, when the dust settles? Where will the attention be then? What images will tug at our hearts as we watch our 48inch HD TV? Why do we wait for the event that gets everybody talking? Why don’t we care about the oppressed every day? Why can’t we develop hearts to work for justice all the time over all the world? Why?

Okay, you can’t answer for the entire human race. So just answer for yourself. Then do something that lasts. Then keep doing it. Governments can’t change the world, but you can, if you will care, if we will sacrifice, if we will think and do, we can make a difference. If you are a follower of Jesus, this is what you are called to! So years from now, as you change your thinking and care regularly about the whole world, and you look back, let the tragedy in Haiti, let today be the day you change your thinking and your broken attitude and decided to change the world. It is simply your calling, so do it.

So, let’s get past our broken attitudes and care about the whole world every day.