FIVE TALENTS

The Journey Begins Anew!

2010-10-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been a year since I have written here on my blog. Why? I realized I needed to take a break and reflect on why I was writing, whether it was effective and what did the future hold in it?

I didn't expect it to be a whole year break, but I really needed to understand my purpose here. Writing takes time, time from my life, my family and the other things that are important to me. And there are so many things that are IMPORTANT to me.

Following Jesus has to be at the top of the list and that relationship drives all the others on the list. Many of you know my lovely wife Suzanne. Wow, what a blessing she is in my life! Then, there is of course, 7, count em, 7 children Matt, Justin, Caleb, Daniel, Catie, Alex, Jessica and now a grandson, Daniel jr. My wonderful 86 year old mother, Ilabelle, my brother Ron and sister Jana. How can I spend any time away from them, but of course, I do.

My great job at Video Resources where I get to exercise my creativity on a daily basis. A great boss, Brad Hagen, who gives me the freedom and encouragement to try change the world, one video, one post, one speech, one trip, one day at a time.

My church, Fountain Valley United Methodist Church, that prays for me, loves me, supports me, trusts me and sends me out as a missionary within our denomination, as well as out into the world.

To Africa, with Bud Potter, my friend and leader in Go and Do Likewise along with Pastor Kiefa from GAD Kenya, who both let me visit my home away from home in Rionchogu, Kenya and experiment and dream of new ways to lift up the poorest of the poor.

Well, so much has happened in the last year, it will take time to catch up and look forward. In the meantime, may God bless you all.

Eaar Oden

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope

2009-10-05T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hope.
In times of despair and hopelessness, where do we find hope?

At age 14, a boy in the country of Malawi (in Africa), named William Kamkwamba, living during a desperate time of poverty and famine, found hope. He found it, in a library.

Forced to dropout of school because his family could not afford the fees, William sought a place to learn in an attempt to keep up with his peers, who were still able to attend school. What he found was not just book knowledge, but hope for his family and village.

Reading a book on science, he learned how it was possible to use the wind to generate electricity and then actually set about trying to build what he saw in the book. Using a tractor fan, shock absorbers, PVC pipes, a bicycle frame and other things he found in a scrapyard, he made a simple, yet functioning windmill. When local villagers saw him attaching the contraption to the top of a 16 foot wooden tower he built with the help of friends, they gathered around to see if he had actually succeeded. He did and he went from being a "crazy" person to a local hero.

Now he is a worldwide hero.

I have just about finished reading a book he cowrote with author Bryan Mealer called "the Boy Who Harnessed the Wind". I have never read a more accurate, yet inspiring account of daily life in the poorer parts of Africa. In my travels to Kenya for Go and Do Likewise, I have seen the same despair mixed with the same wonderful ingenuity, passion and hard work.

William's account has re-inspired me to continue with renewed vigor, the hard work of raising funds for the organization I serve with, Go and Do Likewise, and it's sister organization in Kenya, GAD Kenya. There is hope for the people in Africa, in Kenya. This world can be changed or in the case of William, a family and a village can be changed.

In this case, the change occurred because someone or some organization, helped build and supply a library. The library where William spent hours upon hours reading, learning and dreaming. I want to do the same thing for the village of Rionchogu, Kenya. Build and supply a library. Perhaps you'd like to help. Contact me at eaar@sbcglobal.net. Let's talk. I'll be traveling there in March of 2010, with a few others with the same passion to make a difference, one boy or one book at a time.

I hope you will pick up a copy of William's book. If you live near me, I'll loan you my copy. Or, take a few minutes and watch one of the 2 videos below, that tell a little about his wonderful story.

Eaar

Jesus Loves Porn Stars, Jesus Loves the Crook, Jesus Loves the Skeptic…

2009-08-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

Craig Gross and Jason Harper have written a book with some intriguing chapter headings. The name of the book is "Jesus Loves You, this I know” and I was offered the opportunity to read it prior to its recent publication, with the request that I would consider blogging about it.

I have worked for years in the same type of ministry as Craig Gross, helping people addicted to pornography (I produced a video for and mentored with SettingCaptivesFree). I was curious what he would have to say. Never one to shy away from being controversial and challenging the status quo or “religious Christians,” I was not at all surprised by the chapter headings. I doubt too many people will get upset over these chapters: "Jesus loves the Bitter and Betrayed," "Jesus Loves the Outcast," "Jesus Loves the Broken" and "Jesus Loves the Disconnected." However, more than a few eyebrows are likely to be raised with "Jesus Loves the Crook," "Jesus Loves the Skeptic," and of course "Jesus Loves Porn Stars."

Now Craig has run ministries for years helping people with addiction to pornography, including well-known xxxchurch.com. But, he also has been helping those within the pornography industry to find their way out of it and into new lives. Most recently he founded a new church in Las Vegas called Strip Church, which expands on that ministry.

Recently, Craig toured the country debating famous porn star Ron Jeremy about the dangers of porn and, unlikely as it may seem, became good friends with Ron. On the stage they were vehemently disagreeing, but off stage they shared dinner and honest friendship. Now before you think that is way too weird, I recall a book I have in my library about Clarence True Wilson, a Methodist minister and one of the leading advocates for the passage of Prohibition in the 1920’s in the US. He also toured the country debating the dangers of alcohol and his debate partner was none other than Clarence Darrow, famous attorney from the Scopes Monkey trial. Again vehemently disagreeing onstage, then having a quiet dinner and traveling together afterwards.

I am sure if I picked apart every word Craig and Jason have to say in the book I could find something with which I would disagree. However, the fact is throughout the book I was saying to myself, "Right on guys, that is something Jesus would have said himself."

So what is the fundamental message of the book? It’s pretty simple. It’s in the title: Jesus Loves you, this I know. That simple message that many of us learned as a child cuts through all the complex religious views we often bring to our faith. While it is clear God is dead set against sin in our lives (after all he did kick Satan out of heaven), we must never forget that the sacrifice of His Son on the cross was an act of love not judgment.

In my years of lay counseling, I have learned the difficulties of speaking truth into a persons life if you have no relationship with them. Jesus spoke harshly at times to his disciples because he knew them and was teaching them for a time when he would be gone.

However, when faced with people with whom he did not have relationship, such as the woman caught in adultery, or the woman at the well or the various other tax collectors and prostitutes, he spoke to them of truth coupled with God’s grace. A verse from the Bible that I like to remember for myself is James 2:13 which says: …judgment without mercy, will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

There are inspiring stories in this book of mercy, triumphant over judgment. I hope you will pick up a copy and read this book and even if there are things with which you might disagree, I believe it will challenge you to examine your own heart. Condemnation, I feel, inevitably creeps into our hearts over time and this is something for which we must be repentant. I believe this book can help guide us in that process. God bless.

Eaar

Carly of "Carly's Voice" is on ABC's 20/20 News Program this Friday @10pm

2009-08-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

Many of you commented on how touched you were, by the story of Carly Fleischmann, I wrote about last month. Her wonderful story is part of an hour long 20/20 special about medical mysteries. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the world of Autism that is affecting so many of our children. I hope you will watch it!

Here is Carly's letter that she sent to me today, and asked me to pass on to my readers:

Hi. My name is Carly Fleischmann and this Friday August 7, 2009, you can see a small glimpse of how I live with autism on abc’s 20/20. But this is not the real story. The real story is that 20/20 is doing a story on autism. A lot of people in the media feel that autism is not a story that people want to hear about. But I was once told that ignorance is caused by not having knowledge on the subject. So if you think about it that way shouldn’t the media show more stories about autism? There are so many stories out there of people and families living with autism that really need to be told.

If this Friday we can show 20/20 that people will watch these stories, maybe they’ll want to put more of them on the air. If after watching 20/20 this Friday night, you feel you need to do something, email 20/20 at http://abcnews.go.com/2020 and tell them what you think of the story and that you would like to see more stories done.

I am asking for your help right now. I would like you to email this note to all your friends telling them to watch 20/20 this Friday at 10:00 EST. Also I would love it if you could post this note with my Carly 20/20 badge on your webpage, blog or even facebook page. If you have a twitter account you can even change your profile picture to my badge to show your support.

You can get your Carly badge at: http://carlysvoice.com/?page_id=183

I would like to throw out a challenge to Oprah, Ellen Degeneres, Barbra Walters, Larry King, 60 Minutes and any other talk show or news stations to start talking about autism.

Someone once said to me that if you bend one Popsicle stick it will break but if you try to bend a hundred Popsicle sticks together they won’t. Well I am only one Popsicle stick asking you to join me to become many.

Your autistic girl who tells it like it is,

Carly Fleischmann

Now I'm a Fan of 5 year old Phoebe Who Fed 17,800 people in San Francisco!

2009-07-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

In my last post I became a fan of a 13 year old girl with autism, named Carly, who has touched so many with her story. And lets not forget Ryan Hreljac who I blogged about in May, who was in the first grade when he first started helping others by raising funds to help build wells for safe water in Uganda. Well, now I've become a fan of a little 5 year old girl named Pheobe.

There seems to be a pattern here, doesn't there. Is it the innocence of a child who hasn't yet learned their limits? Doesn't know what "can" and "can't" be done. Hasn't taken on the judgements and biases we adults have? Take a few minutes and watch this video about Phoebe, produced by another extraordinary person named Toan Lam, who I will blog about in the future.

Toan brought this to mine and the world's attention, so I want to give him the credit. Here is some of his blog about Phoebe in the Huffington Post, which hopefully will inspire many of us to be more like her.

5 Year Old Girl Feeds Nearly 18,000 Hungry San Franciscans; What Can You Do?

by Toan Lam for The Huffington Post

"Little Phoebe, from San Francisco, California has a big heart. That's an understatement. Actually, her kindness and compassion is bigger than most grown ups I've crossed paths with while reporting TV news for nearly a decade.

It started off with a simple question by Phoebe, an adorable little girl with long brown locks, peach-colored cheeks and big doe eyes, like a character straight out of a Disney after-school special. After seeing a person holding a cardboard sign begging for food, Phoebe wondered, "Why does that man look so sad, and why is he holding a sign in the street?"

That question to her parents, during her daily ride to daycare, sparked an idea that has helped feed nearly 18,000 hungry San Franciscans.

A grown up conversation ensued. "What can we do to help?" asked Phoebe. Her parents told her about one possible place the hungry could go for help; The food bank.

Phoebe also asked Kathleen Albert, her teacher at "With Care Day Care," about the hunger problem. Albert explained that some people fall on hard times and don't have the basics like food and clothes. Phoebe replied, "I want to raise money for the San Francisco Food Bank to feed hungry people then," she said. Her ambitious goal was to raise $1,000, in two months. Why $1,000? No one knows; Phoebe couldn't even count denominations of money before the project.

"Phoebe focused on the smaller picture, and what she could do," her teacher explained. She decided to collect cans as a project to complete her mission. Phoebe knew that she could raise money by recycling cans, because her dad would bring her and her sister to trade cans for cash on the weekends.

Albert, a spunky, grey-haired woman, with big Coke-bottle round, purple rimmed glasses, who resembles a jovial, energetic, Sunday strip comic book caricature, admits, "Although, I immediately supported Phoebe's lofty goal, I thought, 'Caaaaans?' I didn't think a 5-year-old could possibly raise that much money in just two months time." And as adults sometimes are...She was wrong.

With a little bit of guidance from Albert and a whole lot of support from classmates, Phoebe wrote letters to 150 family, friends, alumni and neighbors. She received 50 responses. Word got around about the 5-year-old girl who wrote, "Dear Family and Friends... My charity project is to raise lots of money for the S.F. Food Bank. They need money. I am collecting soda cans. Would you please give me your soda cans and bring them to With Care... "Donations started pouring in... Friends, family and even anonymous donors dropped off cans, checks and cash at the colorful storybook-looking Victorian in a San Francisco neighborhood which houses Phoebe's day care. Phoebe's project, which had started with small donations of $5, $10, then $20 bills, grew exponentially. As, word spread, people started matching donations dollar for dollar. "I was getting cash in the mail, and I thought this is great, I'm getting money in my mailbox," Albert recalls. Albert's loud, one-two-three eyes-on-me classroom voice softens as she admits, "Does she understand it [the hunger problem] like you and I, no, but she understood something needed to be done. I learned something from her. And when you learn something from children, it's great!"

Phoebe responded personally to every donation, no matter how large or small. She would skip recess, instead counting money and writing thank-you notes to all who gave. "Little Phoebe was determined and never once complained," says Albert, "They looked at it as, 'it doesn't have to be big.' We talked about it in terms of Barack Obama...and how it was the little money and the little donations. So when people came to the door with one or two cans, people we didn't even know, she would say, oh, that's five cents, that's ten cents, that's fifteen cents. She understood, that you start off small, and you can make it bigger, bigger, bigger."

Fast forward two months.

Last June, all of the students at With Care, got dressed to the nines for a big celebration, complete with a ceiling full of colorful balloons, decorations and cake. Phoebe handed over the money and checks she collected in a handmade and hand-colored pencil box with flowers and stickers and colorful stars, to Paul Ash, the Executive Director of the San Francisco Food Bank. Phoebe's grand total: $3,736.30. How many hungry people will that amount feed? Just ask Phoebe, she'll tell you "Seventeen-thousand something." The exact amount, according to Ash, 17,800 hungry people will be fed, thanks to Phoebe's kindness, compassion and determination.

I thought, great, she raised more than what she had anticipated, so I was shocked, proud and inspired when I heard she raised nearly $4,000! Some people I shared this story with cried. Others told me they're moved to look within themselves to think about what they can do to better someone else's life or their community. While Phoebe does not fully comprehend the complicated problems of world hunger, she did know that seeing hungry people made her sad. So she did what she could, and the rest, well.... Oprah, are you listening?

Little Phoebe didn't just inspire the people whom she literally looks up to, she also inspires her fellow little eye-level friends, who also broke open their piggy banks and shared their allowance money to support their phenomenal little playmate.

I too, learned from Phoebe's story, I learned that you never can be too young or too old to make a difference. But if you're too apathetic or scared, no matter what age, you'll never create change or improve your life or the life of others.

The simple question I pose to you is, if a 5-year-old girl can feed thousands, WHAT CAN YOU DO? "Anything is possible" is a cliché. Except when it isn't."

Ok, readers. Let me start hearing about the things you're doing. They needn't be big. In fact I'd rather they be small. Helping a sick neighbor. Changing a flat tire for a stranger. Donating to a good cause. Because its the small things that we can do every day that make the biggest difference in those around us. Jesus said to love your neighbor. Lets get out and do it! Comment here or email me at eaar@sbcgobal.net

In fact, lets start our own little Five Talents movement and I'll help us all celebrate the wonderful things we do!

Eaar

P.S. Carly of Carly's Voice, the autistic girl I blogged about last time, will be on the televsion program 20/20 on ABC Friday, August 7th. Tune in and be inspired!

I like Michael Jackson's Music, A Lot. But, I'm Not A Fan! I Am a Fan of Carly!!

2009-07-02T23:59:00.000-07:00

I don't think I have ever been a fan of an individual person.

Oh, I've been a fan of the Angel's baseball team since I was a kid. And, as a teen I had a few crushes on some famous actresses. But to be a sold out fan of a single person, like all the millions of Michael Jackson fans out there who have felt such deep loss at his death, including some who have committed suicide over it. Well, I just don't get that and I have even met Michael Jackson. But, all of sudden that has changed. Meet Carly.

She is 13 years old and has been diagnosed with Autism. I didn't know Carly till just a few days ago when I noticed she was following me on Twitter. Now, I have over a hundred Aid Organizations and people interested in mission work in Africa following me, but this was the first 13 year old girl. I thought she had confused me with one of the Jonas Brothers or thought I was a long lost family member. Curious, I went to her Twitter page and then to her Blog, watched a video and then read some of her writings and finally started to cry.

Take a moment and watch this short video and read this article, courtesy of ABC News:

Autism Breakthrough: Girl's Writings Explain Her Behavior and Feelings

Doctors Amazed by Carly Fleischmann's Ability to Describe the Disorder From the Inside

By JOHN MCKENZIE – ABC NEWS

Feb. 19, 2008

Carly Fleischmann has severe autism and is unable to speak a word. But thanks to years of expensive and intensive therapy, this 13-year-old has made a remarkable breakthrough.Two years ago, working with pictures and symbols on a computer keyboard, she started typing and spelling out words. The computer became her voice.

"All of a sudden these words started to pour out of her, and it was an exciting moment because we didn't realize she had all these words," said speech pathologist Barbara Nash. "It was one of those moments in my career that I'll never forget."

Then Carly began opening up, describing what it was like to have autism and why she makes odd noises or why she hits herself.

"It feels like my legs are on fire and a million ants are crawling up my arms," Carly said through the computer. Carly writes about her frustrations with her siblings, how she understands their jokes and asks when can she go on a date.

"We were stunned," Carly's father Arthur Fleischmann said. "We realized inside was an articulate, intelligent, emotive person that we had never met. This was unbelievable because it opened up a whole new way of looking at her." This is what Carly wants people to know about autism.

"It is hard to be autistic because no one understands me. People look at me and assume I am dumb because I can't talk or I act differently than them. I think people get scared with things that look or seem different than them." "Laypeople would have assumed she was mentally retarded or cognitively impaired. Even professionals labelled her as moderately to severely cognitively impaired. In the old days you would say mentally retarded, which means low IQ and low promise and low potential," Arthur Fleischman said. Therapists say the key lesson from Carly's story is for families to never give up and to be ever creative in helping children with autism find their voice.

"If we had done what so many people told us to do years ago, we wouldn't have the child we have today. We would have written her off. We would have assumed the worst. We would have never seen how she could write these things, how articulate she is, how intelligent she is," the grateful father added.

"I asked Carly to come to my work to talk to speech pathologists and other therapists about autism," said Nash. "What would you like to tell them? She wrote, 'I would tell them never to give up on the children that they work with.' That kind of summed it up."

Carly had another message for people who don't understand autism.

"Autism is hard because you want to act one way, but you can't always do that. It's sad that sometimes people don't know that sometimes I can't stop myself and they get mad at me. If I could tell people one thing about autism it would be that I don't want to be this way. But I am, so don't be mad. Be understanding."

Carly, I know you're off at camp, so you won't see this right away. But, I just wanted you to know I'm a fan. For the first time in my life I'm a real fan. Why? I suppose I should mention I have a daughter who is mildly on the spectrum of autism, and you have given me a window into a difficult and painful time in her life, but that is not the reason. It is because you have spoken so honestly and eloquently, that you have broken down another barrier of judgement in my life. Hearing in your words, amidst all the noise of the external and behavioral aspects of Autism, the heart that lies within. Thank you, Carly. Keep being a voice!

Eaar

P.S. If you live in southern California and have a child with Autism or have a desire to help children and families with Autism, the church where I attend is beginning a ministry called "Connecting the Pieces" Click on the link and check it out.

One Man Saves 188 Lives - How You Could Too!

2009-06-23T23:20:00.000-07:00

188 Lives saved by one man? How could that be? Predicted an earthquake? Warned a school about an approaching tornado? Defused a bomb with seconds to spare? Was he faster than a speeding bullet saving a train a la Superman?

Nah, he's just a 65 year old retired guy who makes people tea and talks to them. Or maybe I should say he cares about them. Sticking with my theme of "What Can One Person Do?" I present to you Yukio Shigei of Japan, courtesy of Time Magazine.

Postcard: Tojinbo Cliffs

By Coco Masters in Time Magazine, June 22, 2009

They come on sunny days, when the sky is bright and clear above the Tojinbo cliffs along the coast of the Sea of Japan. Yukio Shige says they don't look at the view. "They don't carry a camera or souvenir gifts," he says. "They don't have anything. They hang their heads and stare at the ground."

For five years, Shige, 65, has approached such people at the cliffs' edge with a simple "Hello" and a smile. He might ask how they came there and at what inn they were staying. Sometimes after a light touch to the shoulder, Shige says, they burst into tears, and he begins to console them. "You've had a hard time up until now," he says, "haven't you?"

The basalt cliffs in Fukui prefecture, north of Kyoto on the western coast of Japan, are a well-known site for suicide in a country with one of the highest suicide rates in the world; at 23.8 per 100,000, Japan's rate is significantly higher than that of the U.S., for example, where the rate is 11 per 100,000. One in 5 Japanese men and women has seriously considered taking his or her life, according to a recent government survey; each year over the past decade, more than 30,000 people have killed themselves. And as the economic downturn has pushed rates of unemployment and bankruptcy higher, the number of suicides has risen. From January through April, 11,236 people killed themselves, up 4.5% from the same period in 2008. "I think there will be many more suicides this year," says Shige.

The retired detective from nearby Fukui City has patrolled the cliffs two or three times a day since 2004, wearing white gloves and a floppy sun hat, carrying binoculars to focus on three spots on the cliffs where suicides are most common. He has set up a nonprofit foundation to aid the work and says he has helped prevent 188 potential suicides. After he's talked them off the cliffs, Shige--a trained counselor--takes them to his small office, where two gas heaters keep a kettle boiling, ready to make the tea that accompanies his counseling sessions. For men, Shige says, the biggest problems are debt and unemployment; most of the women are there because of depression or health issues. "If it's a case of sexual harassment, I'll go with her to the office and confront her boss," says Shige. "If a child has issues with his father, I tell the parent that he is driving his child to suicide and get them to write a promise to change. They hang it on the wall."

There's no rush in Shige's office. He offers those who go there oroshi-mochi, a dish of pounded sticky rice served with grated radish. Traditionally the food is prepared to celebrate the New Year, with each family taking its own rice to be mixed with that of its neighbors. "When people come here and eat mochi, they remember their childhood--father, mother, siblings, hometown. They remember they're not alone," Shige says.

So far, Shige has funded his operation, including office rent of $800 a month and occasional support for those trying to get back on their feet, with his retirement savings and donations. But in April, the Japanese government committed to supporting Shige's and similar efforts with about 10 billion yen ($100 million) over the next three years. "It's taken five years to get the support," says Shige. "But we also need the kind of policies that keep people from becoming depressed in the first place"--particularly by bolstering the safety net for people with mental disorders and those who have hit hard times.

In April, on the fifth anniversary of starting his operation, Shige sat reading a three-page, handwritten letter he had received that day from a Shizuoka man, one of many he gets from those he has helped. The letter concluded by thanking Shige for providing the man with an awareness of the love that surrounded him. As Shige finished reading, the melody of "Amazing Grace" rose from his cell phone. "I want Tojinbo to be the most challenging place," he says. "Not where life ends, but where it begins."

Wow, what a great story! What a great statement of life and a great statement of purpose from a pretty simple man. So, the challenge lies before you friends. You could be 10 years old or 90 years old, perfectly healthy or strapped in a wheelchair and still be a caring voice, a gentle hand, a cup of tea, a walk with compassion and actually save a life. You may never know that you did, and it may not be as dramatic as keeping someone from the cliffs. But, you might just encourage someone to live a life to its fullest, that they had already given up on.

Will you do that with me this day? If I promise not just to blog about it, will you promise not just to read about it? Lets save a life!

Eaar

Missed Air France Flight, Only To Die In Car Crash

2009-06-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

Each Day We Have Is A Gift,

A Gift That Is Renewed Each Day

Photo credit: Associated Press

"A woman who escaped death when she and her husband missed Air France Flight 447 before it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean was killed in a car accident recently. Johanna Gonthaler,a retiree from Italy, was on vacation in Brazil with her husband Kurt when the pair luckily missed the doomed flight to Paris. Fate caught up with them on an Austrian road earlier this week when their car swerved into the path of an oncoming truck outside the town of Kufstein, the Times UK reported. Kurt Ganthaler was badly hurt in the accident. Flight 447 disappeared from radar shortly after leaving Rio de Janeiro and is believed to have broken apart shortly after it left the airport in Brazil on May 31 with 228 people on board.The Ganthalers flew out of the country on a flight the day after the jet went missing."

I hate to post just a few days after my most recent post. We all have much to read and reflect on. But, with the recent news of this poor lady escaping certain death, only to a live a little over a week longer. It seems fitting to me, as the Interstate Batteries CEO did in my last post, to reflect on what time we have left in life and how we are going to use it. For me, I think that occurred when I hit 50. Kids were growing up and leaving home and I began to realize the time I had left was much, much shorter than the time I had already lived, and then shortly thereafter came my trip to Kenya, which added to my perspective.

Certainly, the most important part of our legacy we leave behind is our children, so that must be number one. I confess this is an area I still struggle to balance. It would be easy to stand on that statement and put ALL my time and energy into my kids. It would be less complicated and most of the time, a lot more fun! But then, what would I be teaching them, to always look inward? To always serve my needs over the needs of others? How can I, by the life I now live, teach them of the life I hope they live. A life of living, loving, giving, forgiving. A life of grace, of peace, of joy.

I've got a long way to go to get to where I want to be. I fail at those qualities daily. But it is the journey, the effort, the learning I hope my children see. I don't want to have to preach it to them from a soapbox. I want it to be self-evident in my life.

I would rather have weeks left to live and live it full of passion, full of the essence of life itself, then 20 years of sitting on a couch living life through the television, waiting for life to end.

Eaar

One Man Touches The Globe

2009-06-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

Warning! Warning!

This post is just for my Christian friends!

Hang on, hang on. I was just piquing your interest. Because what ever faith you hold, there is a lesson in the story I am sharing on the power of one person. In fact, I'll be sharing several one person stories over the next month. Some will be very small and very personal, man on the street, neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend while others like Ryan from Ryans Well and Blake MyCoskie from Tom's Shoes, whom I earlier drew attention to, will be big stories.

Stories of a movement sprung from one idea, one inspiration, one passion, one person.

'I Am Second' Evangelistic Campaign Touches Globe 

By Adrienne S. Gaines

published in NewMan eMagazine

5/29/09 — A Texas Christian businessman has a simple plan for evangelizing his community: Lift Jesus up and let Him do the rest.

In December 2008, Norm Miller, CEO of Interstate Batteries, launched I Am Second, a three-year Dallas-area ad campaign that features both prominent and lesser-known Christians proclaiming that Christ is first in their lives. Its companion Web site features video testimonies from Christians ranging from actor Stephen Baldwin to former Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch to virtually unknown Dallas-area residents telling of how God changed their lives after they battled eating disorders, divorce, addiction or abuse.

In its first two months, the campaign generated 280 million impressions from billboards, print ads and TV commercials reaching the Dallas-Forth Worth community. Since it launched in December, IamSecond.com has logged 750,000 unique visitors from every state and 188 nations.

"The mandate was lift up Christ and He'll draw all men to himself, so all we've got to do is be concerned with the lifting," said Miller, who is investing $1 million a year in the campaign, which he formed in partnership with Dallas-based mission organization e3 Partners.

The site has drawn visitors from as far as China, and Welch's testimony has been posted on YouTube and subtitled in Russian and Italian. In recent months, ministry and Christian business leaders in Atlanta; New York City; Orlando, Fla.; Kansas City, Mo.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Tucson, Ariz., have expressed interest in taking the campaign to their cities. Similar requests have come from as far as Ireland, New Zealand and India.

"My heart was my Jerusalem, and I thought that this was possible, these other cities," Miller said. "But my thought was, There's plenty of people like me in these cities, and if God wants to do it, He'll raise them up. There's not a lack of money. There may be a lack of giving the money, but there's not a lack of people having the money."

Miller said the idea for I Am Second came to him in early 2008 when he was approaching his 70th birthday and began contemplating his legacy. "I started thinking about Dallas-Fort Worth and their need for a real encounter with the truth of Christ," Miller said. "I thought, Does that really need to be done? And I agreed that it did."

Campaign organizers said I Am Second can help Christians share their faith with unsaved co-workers or neighbors. "It says in Ephesians that the purpose of the church, of the evangelists, and the teachers, and the preachers is for the equipping of the body to do the work of the ministry," said e3 Partners Vice President Nathan Sheets, who helped developed the I Am Second campaign. "And so we view this as a way to be able to strategically come in and help the church executive what's the mandate of the church, to be the church. It's been done so well, it emboldens Christians to want to be proud of it and to share it."

Sheets said the campaign was meant to make Jesus famous and embolden people to live for Christ. But he believes it also can help change negative perceptions about Christianity.

"I want to get away form the religious conversation," Sheets said. "We don't live authentic, transparent Christian lives, and people feel like we've got it all figured out and we don't ever do anything wrong, then we end up with people in media who are popular in Christendom that are no different than anybody else. We wind up with Christian marriages with a higher divorce rate than secular society. That perceptionally makes people go, ‘This is all fake.' Versus just saying: ‘I still struggle in my life ... but luckily Christ died for my sins and I'm forgiven and He can help change my heart and my life, so let's just do this thing together.'"

The I Am Second Web site includes links to small groups that meet in Dallas-area churches, businesses and homes. Miller said churches tell him the campaign's impact has been "tremendous."

"This is the part that takes faith," Miller said. "Normally ... I would want to know how many people you're going to have on the street, how many people you're going to talk to, how many people have come to Christ. I want to know the impact of the money, to be a good steward. But in this case Christ said, ‘Look, lift Me up, and I'll draw all men to Myself.' And I got a freedom out of that."

"I'm totally shocked at what's happened outside of Dallas-Fort Worth," Miller added. "But I'm content with what's happened inside Dallas-Forth Worth because we're only six months into a 36-month plan. I really believe God's going to do a lot more as time goes on because most efforts aren't that long. It's almost a dripping faucet. I gotta see what that site is, after a year and a half of seeing [the ads]. What is that? You might forget it after 90 days, but if you see something and you don't know what it is and you wonder then a year later you see it again, eventually you're going to say, ‘I'm going to find out what that is.' And that's what we're hoping. That's our prayer.

Ok, thats it. I have one simple question. What are you going to do before your next birthday??

My suggestion? Give yourself a present and Give!

Susan Boyle: Final Performance... Better Than the First!

2009-05-30T23:41:00.000-07:00

What can I say but that Susan Boyle inspires me to dream! Not small dreams but big ones.

Many of you have commented to me via email and asked me to keep you up to date on Susan's progress and so I will keep that promise, but this is my last post on her. I do not want our focus to be on watching Susan live out her dreams and utilize her God given talents, but for her story to inspire you to live out yours.

I will keep this post short and let you enjoy her performance and I will follow up soon with some suggestions on how you can graft into daily life in a deep meaningful way. Maybe not as glamorous a way as Susan's, but using the right filter to view your passions, talents, position, responsibility and opportunity, you will be able make a difference in someone else's life and perhaps realize a purpose you have not yet discovered or fulfilled.

Eaar

Susan Boyle Strikes Again with "Memory"

2009-05-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

It seems Susan Boyle was not a one hit wonder.

I have just finished watching her most recent performance on Britain’s Got Talent and she stole my heart once again. For those of you who read my previous post on Susan, I need not say more but simply offer you her most recent use of what is obviously God given talent. For those of you who did not read my post, I encourage you to go back and read it. It is in my April postings.

My point in drawing attention to Susan again, is not out of celebrity following, of which the world at large seems addicted to, but with the hope that one of you out there realizes there is a gift or talent or passion that God has uniquely given to you, that you are not yet using or using to it's fullest. No matter what stage of life you are in, there is a whole world out there you can touch. Oh, it may not be the whole world like Susan has. But it could mean the whole world, to someone you reach out to. A next door neighbor, a community far away in another part of the world, an estranged relative or friend, a child who needs a mentor.

And here's the deal, let it be something that stretches you, that scares you, makes you uncomfortable. Susan had this talent her whole life, yet she still felt she had to prove that she was "not the worthless person that people think I am, that I do have something to offer" and finally went for it all. I too had become too comfortable in life, a talent couch potato, letting my gifts and talents rust away and go unused. Have you become too comfortable, fallen into a routine? To quote Pastor Rick Warren, "God has a purpose for your life". My suggestion to you is, it is time to discover it. Let me know if you're not sure how to go about that. I am in the midst of that myself, and just like Susan Boyle, there are horizons beyond my vision, but I find it is a wonderful and exciting journey

I have begun!

What Can One Person Do?

2009-05-02T21:25:00.001-07:00

I was sitting on the plane to Nairobi as I began writing this post, having left London in the morning and California the night before that. Lying wide awake in bed at the hotel that night thinking, still stuck on Pacific time I realized that one of the issues that I regularly confront as I speak to people about using their talents for good, is the feeling that one person can’t do much of anything. Or as a Pastor told my friend Bud Potter before we left on this trip. Aid to Africa is "like shooting darts at the moon".

Now, my seatmate for the flight to Nairobi is Tim who works for a NGO (non governmental organization) that is working globally on getting prescription medicines that we here in the west have access to such as AIDS and Malaria medicines, to the people who don’t have that access. Certainly a huge project. So perhaps many people think, we should leave helping others to govenment's or big NGO's like WorldVision or the Red Cross.

After all, realistically what can one person do to help the billions of people mired in poverty? What can one person do to help the global environment? What can one person do about the millions with AIDS in Africa or the millions of orphans that have been left behind? What can one person do to bring clean and safe water to the over 1 billion people who don't have it?

Think about it for a minute. Whats your answer to those questions? In fact personalize it. What could I do?

Do you feel defeated or feel energized? Apathetic or passionate?

Well, let me tell you how 2 people answered those questions and the results of their answers.

The first is a boy from Canada named Ryan Hreljac. In 1998, when Ryan was in first grade he learned from his teacher that people were dying because they didn't have clean water to drink. In his innocence as to the size of the problem around the world, he decided that raising money for people who didn't have clean water would be a good thing. He worked for four months in order to earn his first $70. Ryan’s first well was built in 1999 when Ryan was seven years-old at a school in a Ugandan village. The well continues to serve thousands of people.

Ryan’s determination grew from the $70 collected by doing simple household chores to a Foundation that today has contributed a total of 502 water and sanitation projects in 16 countries bringing clean water and sanitation services to over 621,712 people. The Foundation has raised millions of dollars and Ryan is still only 16 years old. Here is their website: www.ryanswell.ca

My second person is Blake Mycoskie, a fellow blogger and founder of TOMS Shoes. In 2006 while traveling in South America, Blake befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Most children in developing countries grow up barefoot. Whether at play, doing chores or just getting around, these children are at risk.

Wearing shoes prevents feet from getting cuts and sores from contaminated soil. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected. The leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted parasites which penetrate the skin through open sores. Wearing shoes can prevent this and the risk of amputation.

Also, many times children can't attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don't have shoes, they don't go to school and if they don't receive an education, they don't have the opportunity to realize their potential.

Wanting to help, Blake created a company that would match every pair of shoes sold with a pair given to a child in need. One for One. A simple, yet bold idea. Well, Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes to be given away.

Since then, TOMS has given over 140,000 pairs of shoes to children in need through that One for One model. TOMS plans to give over 300,000 pairs of shoes to children in need around the world in 2009. Want to order a pair? Go to the TOMS website. Here is a 2 minute video from one of their Shoe Drops to the needy.

Now biblically speaking its clear one person can and should do a lot. Lets take a moment to look at Jesus Christ’s own ministry. Yes, he did die on the cross to save humanity. That certainly was global and beyond anything we can do. But if you look at his daily ministry you’ll find it was directed at individuals. He did not raise thousands of people from the dead in some mass setting, but a very elect few. When he healed he didn’t make some proclamation over a whole city that every sick person be healed, but dealt with people one at a time, as individuals. In fact each one was even healed in a somewhat different way. The blind man by the mud Jesus made with His spit, the crazy man at the cemetery by casting out demons and the woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years, simply through the touch of his garment.

Even when He preached to thousands such as the Sermon on the Mount, he spoke to people about the things they could and should do as individuals. When He said the greatest commandments were to Love the Lord God with all your heart mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself. He didn’t say love your neighbor’s, but neighbor.

How does all this relate to my current trip? Well, my friend Bud and I are on our way back to Rionchogu, a village of about 7,000 people in the equatorial highlands of western Kenya. The organization I serve with Go and Do Likewise is a loose assortment of few people. Now you might wonder what can a few people do to help 7,000. One heck of a lot actually. It’s simply a matter of commitment, purpose, and passion. Here is an update from the trip:
www.goanddolikewise.org

Commitment. When you are able, do more than just write a check, though I thank those who can do just that. In these tough economic times its needed. In fact if you can help with the work we are doing in Kenya, go here to GAD Kenya to make a donation. But I hope you'll consider seriously making a commitment to be willing to be changed through the connection with those you help. You see when we only write a check, it is a one-way transaction. The money flows from one person to another and its possible you might not be changed in return. What I am now looking for are the two-way transactions, where the people we give to, change us as much or more than the ways that we change their lives. I am sure if you asked Ryan or Blake they would tell you they have been changed, in ways they never could have imagined.

Purpose. If in self reflection your purpose has been to just feel better about your self, it probably won’t last. I have supported a World Vision child in Malawi for 10 years now. Jumani is his name and he is almost grown up and ready to take on the world. I do feel good about that, and the work World Vision is doing is fantastic, but I also realized last year that in a way my $30 a month was simply a guilt offering, to make me feel better every time I saw a picture of starving children in Africa or Mexico, etc. For me, it was a one way transaction, because it didn’t really change me. Oh it could have, had I allowed it. Had I become more involved in Jumani’s life beyond writing the check. Rionchogu, "a village despised" and the people there has changed me. In fact, this blog itself, was ignited by my experiences of my first trip there.

Passion. Having been young once, married more than once and deeply in love with my wife Suzanne, I have many wonderful memories of pursuing the woman I loved with passion. Do you recall similar memories? Is there anything else in your life where you exhibit that kind of passion? Perhaps a hobby or sport? I sure "love" my Angels baseball team and watch or listen to every game I can. What if you had that kind of passion to help others? What would that look like for you? Where does that passion come from? How do you find it within you? How do you get there if you're not there?

I'd love to hear your answers to those questions? Leave me a comment on the blog or if you're shy send me an email and I'll report back what I hear. And please share my blog with others. We're up to 93 readers from 10 different countries, 10 different states in the US and 33 different cities in California. Who knows, maybe the next Ryans Well or TOMS Shoes will spring from us? Wouldn't that be cool?

Eaar

An Athiest Says Africa Needs God! Huh?

2009-04-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

I have been studying quite abit about aid to Africa lately, in relationship to the work Go and Do Likewise is doing via GADKenya in Rionchogu, Kenya. On the flight to Nairobi last month I read "Dead Aid" a book by Dambisa Moyo that has garnered lot's of press and controversy worldwide. She argues that 5 decades and a trillion dollars of government to government aid to Africa has made the poverty related problems there worse rather than better and created nations who are now dependent on aid instead of becoming self sustaining. I agree in principle, and I have been wondering how does that relate to aid in smaller models such as the work we are attempting in the village of Rionchogu, population 7,000. A worthy discussion I hope to participate in. But, as I was doing my research I came across an article the title of which both surprised me and stopped me cold.

As a Christian, I am driven by Jesus Christ's clear commands to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself. But, I also freely admit the obvious, that there are many secular and other faith organizations who are doing wonderful work helping others in the world for reasons of their own. Still, I was caught off guard by this article by Matthew Parris (an atheist) I have copied below regarding aid to Africa.

A recipient of local aid in Rionchogu

From the London Times December 2008

"As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God

Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa's biggest problem - the crushing passivity of the people's mindset

by Matthew Parris

Before Christmas I returned, after 45 years, to the country that as a boy I knew as Nyasaland. Today it's Malawi, and The Times Christmas Appeal includes a small British charity working there. Pump Aid helps rural communities to install a simple pump, letting people keep their village wells sealed and clean. I went to see this work.

It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities. But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I've been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I've been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God.

Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.

I used to avoid this truth by applauding - as you can - the practical work of mission churches in Africa. It's a pity, I would say, that salvation is part of the package, but Christians black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.

But this doesn't fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing.

First, then, the observation. We had friends who were missionaries, and as a child I stayed often with them; I also stayed, alone with my little brother, in a traditional rural African village. In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world - a directness in their dealings with others - that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.

At 24, travelling by land across the continent reinforced this impression. From Algiers to Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, then right through the Congo to Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, four student friends and I drove our old Land Rover to Nairobi.

We slept under the stars, so it was important as we reached the more populated and lawless parts of the sub-Sahara that every day we find somewhere safe by nightfall. Often near a mission.

Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away. They had not become more deferential towards strangers - in some ways less so - but more open.

This time in Malawi it was the same. I met no missionaries. You do not encounter missionaries in the lobbies of expensive hotels discussing development strategy documents, as you do with the big NGOs. But instead I noticed that a handful of the most impressive African members of the Pump Aid team (largely from Zimbabwe) were, privately, strong Christians. “Privately” because the charity is entirely secular and I never heard any of its team so much as mention religion while working in the villages. But I picked up the Christian references in our conversations. One, I saw, was studying a devotional textbook in the car. One, on Sunday, went off to church at dawn for a two-hour service.

It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man's place in the Universe that Christianity had taught.

There's long been a fashion among Western academic sociologists for placing tribal value systems within a ring fence, beyond critiques founded in our own culture: “theirs” and therefore best for “them”; authentic and of intrinsically equal worth to ours.

I don't follow this. I observe that tribal belief is no more peaceable than ours; and that it suppresses individuality. People think collectively; first in terms of the community, extended family and tribe. This rural-traditional mindset feeds into the “big man” and gangster politics of the African city: the exaggerated respect for a swaggering leader, and the (literal) inability to understand the whole idea of loyal opposition.

Anxiety - fear of evil spirits, of ancestors, of nature and the wild, of a tribal hierarchy, of quite everyday things - strikes deep into the whole structure of rural African thought. Every man has his place and, call it fear or respect, a great weight grinds down the individual spirit, stunting curiosity. People won't take the initiative, won't take things into their own hands or on their own shoulders.

How can I, as someone with a foot in both camps, explain? When the philosophical tourist moves from one world view to another he finds - at the very moment of passing into the new - that he loses the language to describe the landscape to the old. But let me try an example: the answer given by Sir Edmund Hillary to the question: Why climb the mountain? “Because it's there,” he said.

To the rural African mind, this is an explanation of why one would not climb the mountain. It's... well, there. Just there. Why interfere? Nothing to be done about it, or with it. Hillary's further explanation - that nobody else had climbed it - would stand as a second reason for passivity.

Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosphical/spiritual framework I've just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.

Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted.

And I'm afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete."

So Dambisa, or anyone else, wanna weigh in on this?

Eaar

P.S. If you are interested from my last post, Susan Boyle has got some competition, talent wise at least, from a 12 year old!

Susan Boyle: Did You Pre-Judge Her Too? I Did.

2009-04-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, you've probably already seen the video on TV or the internet and heard commentary on Susan Boyle, who blew away the audience and judges on the TV show "Britain's Got Talent" which is similar to American Idol and also has Simon Cowell as one of the judges.

If you haven't yet read about the 47 year old unemployed church choir volunteer, who's never been kissed and who took a chance on being embarrassed in front of millions in an effort to live her dream. Well, live it she did.

I could spend hours trying to write my own post on this, but this article in the Britain's "The Herald" newspaper by Colette Douglas Home says it better than I ever could.

"The moment the reality show’s audience and judging panel saw the small, shy, middle-aged woman, they started to smirk. When she said she wanted a professional singing career to equal that of Elaine Paige, the camera showed audience members rolling their eyes in disbelief. They scoffed when she told Simon Cowell, one of the judges, how she’d reached her forties without managing to develop a singing career because she hadn’t had the opportunity. Another judge, Piers Morgan, later wrote on his blog that, just before she launched into I Dreamed a Dream, the 3000-strong audience in Glasgow was laughing and the three judges were suppressing chuckles.

It was rude and cruel and arrogant. Susan Boyle from Blackburn, West Lothian, was presumed to be a buffoon. But why? ..... (Click here to read the rest of the article).

Oh, you're one of the few that still haven't seen the video, or now that you've read the background, you want to watch it again? Here you go, soften your heart, grab your kleenex and be ready to cheer!

Susan reminds me in some ways of my 17 year old daughter Caitlin. Also, a special needs child as Susan was, Catie works hard at all that she does, she must, she has no other choice. Things that are easy for the rest of us, such as reading and comprehension, are for her, so very hard. She loves Broadway plays like Susan, such as Wicked (she has seen it 5 times), Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables, which Susan sings her song "I Dreamed a Dream" from. And she often dreams dreams, that I, in my practical sense deem unrealistic for her life.

Susan Boyle has shown me that I am the one who has who has been limited in my thinking. I am the one who has judged incorrectly. I am the one who judged prematurely, as I did when I started watching Susan's appearance. I thought this was another poor soul about to be laughed at by millions, unaware how foolish she looked. But it was I who was the foolish one.

A lesson pointed out thousands of years ago in the Bible:

1 Samuel 16:7:

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

And what springs from the heart are hopes and dreams. So how about you, do you have a dream? Are you perhaps now willing to Take A Chance? If so, let me hear about it, if you dare. Susan dared!

Eaar

TAKE A CHANCE

2009-04-09T15:29:00.000-07:00

There have been many times in my life I have used people to get what I wanted out of life. Many of those times I didn’t always have enough self-awareness to know, that that was what I was doing. I never forced anyone to do anything, but certainly took advantage of relationships, friendships and manipulated circumstances to my advantage.

I speak of this not as some confessional, as I have done that and will gladly do again when called for. It’s just that I have come to realize how much I still do it and how much we all do it. That is, use others rather than love others. Even when I do good things for other people I know, sometimes, if not all the time I do it for my own selfish reasons. Wanting to feel good about myself for example or satisfying some obligation I feel or doing a favor to gain a favor or gain influence.

The trip I am now on my way back from, to Kenya once more, for me has been exhausting, even grueling, both physically and emotionally. A nine day trip, close to 20,000 miles round trip, 40 hours on 4 different flights, 3 days of all day driving in a Land Rover over the terrible dirt roads in Kenya, being thrown about like a pinball machine.

Now please, I am not trying to impress anyone or seek sympathy. Been there, done that. It is just that there were times during this trip when I was missing my wife and family, when I was exhausted, dirty, worn out emotionally, knowing tomorrow would involve more of the same, that I couldn’t help but feel discouraged, couldn’t help but wonder why in the blazes I was doing this, because now there wasn’t anything in it for me. The excitement of going to Africa had worn off with last years trip, the “cool factor” of doing missionary work was gone and any obligation I may have had was paid.

Then finally in my loneliness, though surrounded by scores of grateful villagers, I realized that for perhaps the 1st time in my life I was doing something that cost me, without the need for anything in return. It’s not that I didn’t get thanks and love from the villagers. It’s just that I didn’t need it or require it to go on doing what I was doing.

That hasn’t brought me great joy, like I have somehow achieved something or had some spectacular epiphany. Instead, as I write this on the plane back home, tears are falling. I am not sure why, perhaps something inside of me that was broken has healed or perhaps the reverse, something inside of me that needed to be broken has, finally, so that the healing can begin.

So, if this is not a confessional, what is in this post for you?

Please, take a chance. Take a chance to love someone in spite of the love returned. I don’t mean romantic love but agape love: unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, voluntary, volitional.

Examine your motives. I assure you if you are truly honest with yourself, you will find even in your most altruistic moments you are meeting your own selfish needs. Somehow validating your own perceptions of yourself, of right and wrong, good and bad, love and hate.

So take a chance, love without conditions, give without thanks. It will cost you. I repeat. It will cost you. But here’s the rub. You will be changed. I guarantee it.

So, take a chance! Give up your comfort, your wealth, your own happiness for a moment. For the cause of lessening someone else's discomfort, their loneliness, their poverty, their shame. I can’t tell you what to do. You’ll know the moment if you look for it. Not as some assignment or stunt. Not just to prove me right or wrong. Do it for real, roll the dice, take a risk, take a chance.

Eaar

GREED

2009-03-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

Greed and the economy are hot topics right now in the news and around the water cooler, from Wall Street, to AIG bonuses, to the unemployment rate and more importantly whether you yourself will soon be a part of that statistic. But you can watch the news 24/7 or go on the internet to hear all the talking heads beat that subject into the ground.

I want to talk about greed in a personal way, because it's very easy to blame someone else and not look in the mirror at myself. My wife happens to work at a rather large financial institution and I remember her coming home one day several years ago saying that one of the economic gurus in the company was concerned that Americans had begun using their homes as ATM machines. Taking the rising equity out to finance remodels, vacations, swimming pools, new cars and college educations. I thought that was an interesting way of looking at things, but then proceeded to do the exact thing he was talking about myself. Let's see, new kitchen appliances, pool table, a couple of vacations, new furniture, new bed, new windows for the house. I could go on, but you get the picture and I am still getting the bills!

Now just before all this bad economic news hit last year I went on a mission project to a village in Kenya called Rionchogu. I had never been to a third world country before and even though I had read about the living conditions, I couldn't relate. But, after spending 4 days in this village with no toilets, no running water, no electricity, etc. I survived, quite well actually, and I came to realize how much I take for granted and how much I indulge myself living in the OC. It's not that I want to live without electricity or running water or toilets. It's that I don't want these children, in this village, to get diseases they don't have to get just because of dirty water, or live in lifelong poverty because they can't get an education, or die from malaria because they didn't have a mosquito net.

What do you see in his eyes?

Before I left on the trip my iPod stopped working. Well, I couldn't spend all that time on a plane traveling and not have an iPod, so I went out and spent $300 on a brand new 160 GB model. Hmmm, ya know, $300 bucks will allow a child to go to secondary school for a year in Kenya.

Greed? Selfish? Indulgent? I'll let you decide.

According to author Erwin McManus in his book "Uprising" the opposite of greed is generosity. He once thought that the opposite of greed was poverty since at the time he was defending his monastic lifestyle. But what he came to realize was that the true opposite of greed was not creating poorness in his life but living a life of generosity. That's a life I want to live. Now, I am not going ask my family to sell our house and go live in in a commune. But what I do want to ask of myself and of my family is to give more away. To invest our talents, not just for our own gain, but to help others. The unhappiest people I know are those who hoard their wealth.

Well, you know I love video, so here is a music video to a song from Matthew West called "The Motions" It expresses for me a deep "e"motion. I desire to live a life of meaning. I don't want to just go through the motions anymore! Yes, there will be a cost and I am not just talking financially. I hope you will join me in that quest. In fact, as this is now my 4th post, if I am making any sense to you, or you are feeling a little tug as you read, please comment for all to see or email me privately. Though one person can make a huge difference, there also is strength in numbers!

Eaar

Fruit

2009-03-06T18:34:00.000-08:00

The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. My Mom!

Well, I had 17 more potential "Seed" post's lined up, but I think I made that point already. Relieved? :) So now I am on to Fruit. Why fruit? In church circles, that is a common word, but I am not sure even there, we really dig deep as to its meaning in our daily lives.

A great definition I like to apply to the word fruit is from management guru Peter Drucker when asked about the "bottom line" for charitable organizations in his book "Managing the Non-Profit Organization". He said:

"the measurable product of any not for profit institution, is changed lives"!!

Gosh, I love clear, precise to the point statements that you can't wiggle out of.

Now, I have talked about some non profits like Go and Do Likewise and Kid Works and there are many, many thousands of them in this country and hundreds of thousands around the world doing great things and I applaud them. But this blog is not about organizations and institutions. It is about You!! And Me and our Talents and our Gifts. Gifts we have been given and gifts we are to give.

Now before you tune me out and and say you don't have any talents or gifts, nothing of value to anyone else, slow down. Because the greatest thing you can give away is simply yourself. Kinda ties into what Christ said when He said to "Love your neighbor as yourself". I've got two stories I want to use to make my point. One is personal to me and one was personal to a small group of people, but now has become quite public.

The first one is about my Mom, Ilabelle Oden. She is 84 years old and lives in a hospice care facility in Springfield, Oregon. In spring of 2008, I got a worried call from my brother Ron who was told by the nurses and Dr's where she was living at the time, that my Mom was dying. He said I better get up there soon if I wanted to say goodbye. Now he wasn't convinced that all was being done that could be, that they were giving up on her, but he said it doesn't look good. So I flew up that weekend to see her and perhaps say my goodbye. After I spent time with my Mom Saturday morning, my brother said she looked better than the day before I arrived, better than she had in months. Maybe it was the change in medication's, my brother insisted on (thanks Ron) or just maybe seeing her 2 sons together (she hadn't seen me in 2 years), somehow encouraged her to not give up. I can't say for sure.

But lets push forward one year later, to just last weekend. I get a call from my brother that my Mom had just been visited by Mrs. Oregon International Debra Gilmour, who came to present her with a boquet of flowers and a tiara, and to tell her that she had been nominated to be the Marquis Rose Queen and ride in the Portland Rose Parade in May.

What? Say again! The woman who was days or weeks away from dying could be riding in a parade??

You see my mom not only didn't give up, but she recovered well enough to be a helper and encourager to many others in the Hospice Care facility she is in that were discouraged or just needed a hug. So they nominated her for for this award. With simple gestures, she bore Fruit, she "changed lives".

My next story I won't explain in writing because this video tells it all. It's only 5 minutes and if it doesn't touch your heart in someway, you'll want to wonder why. I picked up on it at Tangle.com.

A simple gift from one person to another, Mallory to Sara, almost strangers in fact, in front of a small crowd in a small town in Washington. And if the story never left that field, never got on Tangle or ESPN or wherever its been in this internet world. If no one but those hundred knew, it was still a Home Run, a gesture that bore fruit, that "changed lives".

So, who are you going to pick up today, whose life are you going to touch, who will you help touch a base, whose life will you change?

Or for you linear thinkers, another quote from Peter Drucker I like says this

"What are you going to do on Monday, that's different?"

Eaar

P.S. You don't really think that Sara missing that bag and turning back was just some weird accident, do ya? That there wasn't some greater purpose at work?

Mango Seeds

2009-02-24T00:19:00.000-08:00

Is There Hope in These Eyes?

Ok, no comments yet on the first post. Come on people, don't be shy. I was sure some, smart somebody was going to ask why it was named "Seeds" and what does that have to do with Five Talents, Africa, etc. And now this post is named "Mango Seeds"! I'm sure all of you who know me well are wondering if Watermelon Seeds is next. Well, it would be but I really prefer eating seedless watermelon, and there is no future in that. So, here is the correct story.

As I was flying to Kenya last year I was reading a book called "The Forest In The Seed" (you can download a free copy here at disciplenations.org) and on one of the inside cover pages it reprints a traditional Kenyan proverb. "You can count the number of seeds in a mango, but you can't count the number of mango's in a seed." That really struck me as I played that over and over in my mind stuck on the plane for 20 hours and I almost made that the opening scene of my video. I visualized an animated Mango tree shaking back and forth like Elvis, dropping fruit and then all these cute little trees growing up around it.

Still a little lost? About five years ago I produced a pro-bono video for an organization called Setting Captives Free. At the time the video was made into DVD's for people to speak with and to put on their website www.settingcaptivesfree.com. The video had to do with pornography addiction, not a very popular subject to talk about publicy at the time, but something I had personally struggled with. After a year or so I kinda forgot about it. Then, right at the time I was struggling to make the decision whether to go to Kenya to make the video for Go and Do Likewise, I saw a testimony from someone who said they had found freedom from their addiction through this ministry of Setting Captives Free and that they had learned of it through a video on pornography addiction on YouTube.com. Curious me, I went to the internet to see who and what this was and lo and behold it was my video. It had been placed on YouTube for over a year before by someone I didn't even know (and still don't) and already over 25,000 people had watched it and I hadn't even known it.

Here is that video:

I planted a small seed, someone else did the watering and now many people are being blessed.

Now in my first post I said I wasn't pushing everyone in my world (just some of you, and you know who you are) to go to Africa. I say that because while I live in a relatively affluent part of Orange County, California called Fountain Valley. I live just a stones throw away (literally) from a city known for its pockets of deep poverty called Santa Ana. Just five minutes from where I live, in the middle of one of the poorest areas of Santa Ana, is an organization that is doing some of the best work to lift people up I have ever seen. The name of the organization is Kid Works and it reminds me in many ways of the work the organization I serve with, Go and Do Likewise, is doing in Rionchogu, Kenya. Focusing on children and families, education and health.

Kid Works mission statement is to:

"Restore at-risk neighborhood's... one life at a time".

Wow, is that a great mission statement? It's clear they know what their are charged with and how they are going about it, just in that one simple but profound sentence.

Here is a video they did called "This Is My Neighborhood"

And here is a link to an article about them from the front page of the Orange County Register.

So, as I sit here and write this blog I am feeling moved to write a personal (and family) mission statement as clear and focused as the one Kid Works wrote. Perhaps one that includes my Five Talents or has a vision for the next 10 years of my life. When I read theirs I was moved and I am sure many people have been moved into action to help with their mission because of that simple yet powerful message. In fact, a good friend of mine Ric Seaver interned there for a month and was so impressed with the work being done there, he now works for them and is their Volunteer Coordinator.

Now again the point of this blog is not to get you to move to Santa Ana and volunteer at Kid Works (but you could! just contact Ric@kidworksonline.org). The point of this blog is to ask what are your Five Talents, or Three Talents or One Talent and are you using them to serve others? Or are you using them only to serve yourself?

I remember a church I visited in Washington while attending the wedding of a friend of mine's daughter, that had posted right over their door as you left, a sign that said this:

"You will have your needs met,

on the way to meeting the needs of others".

You know, I couldn't say it any better!

Eaar (pronouced Ecar)

P.S. Don't forget to sign up to follow my blog if this is speaking to you in any way. Just click on the link near the top right.

Seeds

2009-02-12T17:22:00.000-08:00

Why a blog from me?

Why Five Talents?

Don't I have enough to do as it is? Will anyone read it? In the universe of the internet does anyone care about what I have to say? Hmmmmm......

Good questions and I could get stuck right there and not do a thing. Go back to watching TV or reading some other guys blog or take a well deserved nap! But if sharing my failures, my hopes, my dreams, and what I hope to do with the rest of my life (since I didn't do a lot with the first part). Well, if that moves just one other person in this world to care more, to change for the better, to love more deeply, to leave behind something more than just stuff, than I think it will be worth it. Of course, I may be dead and gone before that is proved out, and I am certain I will have many other failures in the meantime, but that is where faith comes in and that, I have no shortage of.

So Why Five Talents? Jesus Christ tells a parable in Matthew 25 called "the Parable of the Talents" in which He describes the Kingdom of Heaven. Here is how it is translated in a version from "The Message"

Matthew 25:14 -18"It's also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one, he gave five thousand dollars, to another, two thousand, to a third, one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master's investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master's money.

19 -21"After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.'

22 -23"The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master's investment. His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.'

24 -25"The servant given one thousand said, 'Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.'

26 -27"The master was furious. 'That's a terrible way to live! It's criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.

28 -30"'Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this "play-it-safe" who won't go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.'

Okay. Now, in the original language the 1 thousand dollars is referred to as a Talent, which was a form of money in those days and that is how I always looked at this parable, about money. But, just the other day, I was listening to a fellow named Erwin McManus and he related this story not about money, but .... you guessed it - as about talents. As in creativity or music or teaching or whatever gifts you have been blessed with. That hit me like a ton of bricks. I have always been an underachiever. My teachers in school saw that. I think my Mom saw it and when I have been honest with myself and looked deeply into the mirror, I saw it as well.

That last verse:

"Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this "play-it-safe" who won't go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness."

That was ME! I guess when I hit 50 years old and it occurred to me I might only have 10 to 20 good years left (my father died after years of poor health at age 70), I realized I was that "one talent" guy. God had given me many gifts and I have used them only for my pleasure, my comfort. I buried the rest in the ground!

Last year, after years of traveling the world when I was young, just for fun, I finally went for another purpose. Oh, I had many opportunities before to go to impoverished parts of the world, but I guess it didn't sound very comfortable to me. I mean sleeping and hanging with poor people didn't seem as interesting as talking to people I could relate to or seeing beautiful sights. London, 6,000 miles away, is way cooler than the slums of Tijuana, Mexico, which of course is only 90 miles from where I live. I was always able to ignore all that. I was busy in my church, serving on various committees and for a while now, even serving as the Lay Leader of the congregation. But, something was missing. Something kept tugging at me and finally when I was asked by someone I barely knew, Bud Potter, from an organization called Go and Do Likewise, asked if I would go to Africa, and make a video about an impoverished village, that was known as "A Village Despised," and somehow help them. Well, I just couldn't shut the voice up inside of me that said GO.

Here is the video I made (That's Bud in the beginning) Let me know what you think:

Now if you think I am saying we all need to go to Africa, you're wrong. That's not my point, though I am using it to make my point, but enough for now. Chew on that, I'll have more in my next post.

Eaar (pronounced Ecar)