Underestimating a Healthy Lifestyle

I’ve been biting my tongue to fully engage and analyze the place that I’m in. With every major move, it takes time to grab hold and write or process with some modicum of certainty. So those posts will have to wait. Instead I am revisiting an old friend, food.

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been back on my “own” and not in a heavy carb/lard diet (Rwanda). I’ve finally been able to settle into a realm of semi-healthy/sustainable eating habits. If you’re wondering about what semi-healthy/sustainable eating is… “Eat food (not food-like products). Eat less. Mostly Plants.” Michael Pollan. It’s been even more enjoyable this time around. Being in a small South Georgia town, you get your pick on local fresh produce. The local farmers market combined with the Mennonite farms and to top it all off with the amazing Koinonia Farm a few miles down the road makes healthy eating easy and quite enjoyable.

This time it has hit me with stronger convictions than before. For the first time in while, I haven’t had the food hangover, that has affected much of my life and I bet a lot of yours. Eating healthy has given my body that extra step in not wasting time working to digest mass amounts of processed foods or piles of complex proteins for meat. Our bodies are made to eat mostly plants and if we actually listen then our bodies will respond positively.

It took a few weeks for me to realize why I had this extra bounce in my step and less of a drag on my day but now that I have put the two together, I’m going to try even harder to protect my health and the environment to go along with it.

This has just done more to cement my view that we really can reach a good point of true harmony with God and nature by treating ourselves and the surrounding environment with respect.

What Donald Trump can learn from King Solomon

Donald Trump appears to be everywhere these days, hopping from CNN to The View and back to the boardroom on his show The Apprentice. It also looks like Trump is legitimately picking up steam for a presidential run being listed as frontrunner in many republican polls. I don’t feel like I can turn the channel without seeing Trump on TV nowadays. The more I have seen him though, the more I felt like he was reminding me of someone and just recently I realized that that someone is- King Solomon.

Trump has it all: millions of dollars, tons of things with his name on it, gorgeous wives, successful children and even his very own TV show. He has achieved the American dream and exceeded far beyond it. He should be happy according to the world’s standards but it appears that he isn’t. He followed all the correct steps to receive worldly bliss but something is not quite right. What else is a man to do? Run for the most powerful position an individual can achieve? Before Trump continues his vitriolic campaign, I hope he will heed some advice from someone who has been there before.

The first two chapters of Ecclesiastes tell the story of Solomon and his quest for happiness.

Ecclesiastes 2: 10-11 I did not restrain myself from getting whatever I wanted; I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure. So all my accomplishments gave me joy; this was my reward for all my effort. Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, I concluded: “All these achievements and possessions are ultimately profitless –like chasing the wind! There is nothing gained from them on earth.”

Solomon concluded that his quest for everything was all meaningless but as the chapters continue, Solomon offers another way. A way of living life to the fullest and achieving a greater happiness not settled in this world but in a deeper joy, fully transcended in our life with God. Solomon speaks of the blessing of life and reminds us that the best way to celebrate this fragile gift is to delve deep in peace, love, justice and joy.

Things Go Round

I had felt a lull, that many things had already been addressed and there was no need to write anymore. For the first time in about three months I feel the urge to write. Although I am not going to be wondering through Africa, I am still wondering through this deeply fascinating time we live in. There are many things not being said right now and there are many things that I personally want to flesh out or push out into the open. More conversations need to be had. Alas...These Things Go Round!

A first taste… I have recently been comforted that I’m not alone. When I first heard the news that Bin Laden had been killed, I breathed sigh of relief for all those who have lost so much at the hands of this man. But as I watched the spontaneous celebrations unfold across the country I felt wrong.

This time was different though. I didn’t need to articulate why I feel as a Christian it is wrong to celebrate the death of an evil person, many other folks have done so already. Even the good old Vatican’s statement was full of hope,

“In the face of a man’s death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred”

As several others have spoken up, it’s been good to feel a sense of camaraderie that I’m not alone in my convictions. It brings me hope that a greater transition to love is occurring.

Come On Church!

In light of all this Rob Bell talk, I feel like weighing in and trying to push the conversation a little bit further. This “controversy” caught me a little bit off guard to be honest. I keep thinking we are moving from emphasis on orthodoxy to orthopraxy (right doing over right thinking). But this whole ordeal shows we’re not quite ready for it. I’ve been familiar with Rob Bell’s work for quite some time and the points he brings up in this book are not new for him as he has been sharing this message for many years now. I guess since he decided to write a book about it, it has been brought to others attention.

I want to address two things with this whole situation. One, with this “new” concept of heaven/ hell and the Kingdom of God, what does this mean were supposed to do? And two, how does this make the church look as a whole?

I have seen many folks consider Rob Bell to be a heretic, universalist and that he is watering down the gospel and the cross. He is accused of trying to repackage the gospel to be appealing to more people by making it about love. That the grace of God is to be for everyone just the way we are. How scandalous.

With this though, does not mean the gospel isn’t challenging or cheap. We are called to bring heaven on earth. To work in communion with God to push the real hells people face every day here and now. It’s about now, not waiting till a triumphant end but working here and now. Things like loving your neighbor, loving your enemy, promoting peace, justice, mercy, humility, and love. I don’t know about you but these are hard to do. It takes a lot to give yourself to these. I’m struggling: to reducing my footprint to help those affected by the environment, trying to not support companies that don’t violate their employee’s rights, passing a homeless person on the street and not knowing what to do knowing that I am a kingdom person. We live in a broken world of different shades grey muddle decisions to promote the kingdom.

I was lucky enough to spend some time with Brian Mclaren last weekend when he was speaking in Atlanta and I asked him what he thought about the new/ old Rob Bell “controversy”. Brian went on a little story about being in a room with several youth from his old church. On a semi spur of the moment decision he took 2 strips of large paper. He first asked the kids what they thought were big issues facing the world. The kids spoke of war, starvation, disease the environment, over-consumption and several others. Then he asked about the biggest issues facing the church. The kids talked about homosexuality, abortion, doctrine, ordination of women, divorce and others.

The church has a choice right now. Continue to stay irrelevant staying distracted by its own problems or it can look outwards, following the call of Christ to be here and now, serving the world to bring heaven on earth.

I fear the churches future if it continues to squabble over issues irrelevant to folks outside the church while ignoring or denying the major issues facing God’s children.

In the Name of Justice?

Last year a prominent human rights lawyer named Peter Erlinder visited Rwanda to defend Victoire Ingabire, accused of the infamous genocide denier charge. The genocide denier law wields big power in Rwanda. As Mr. Erlinder came into the country, he was arrested for this same denier law. Most people know this law is overreaching and that I think most of the outside world would have agreed that his arrest was unjust. To make that story even spicier, a few days into imprisonment, Rwandese authorities claimed that Erlinder tried to kill himself by overdosing on medicine. Those close to him were shocked and saying that Peter would never do such a thing. This was obviously a clear attempt by the Rwanda government to bend the law to railroad Erlinder and make him a non-intity. It obviously worked because he was released a day later and forced to leave the country. Ms. Ingabire is still in prison today.
This story screams injustice and a huge violation of human rights. Rwanda should be held to a higher standard but by who?
I wanted to share that story about a developing country struggling to uphold human rights, but lets fast forward to today.
Wikilinks splashed into the media with a sharp condemnation of the high profile Julian Assange. The person that enabled Assange to leak those thousands of documents was a boy, a 23 year old soldier named Bradley Manning. He has been held at Quanico in continued solidary confinement 23 hours a day, well except for a guard checking on him every 5 minutes. Going to sleep, he has to strip down to his underwear and cannot lean toward the wall. He also is not allowed to exercise at all in his cell. Last week Manning’s lawyer reported that Manning was forced to strip naked and remain that way for 7 hours due the murmur of… suicide.
Maybe we’re not so different Rwanda and USA, these 2 cases seem deniably similar and disgusting to me. As I have said many times before, we are all children of God and deserve dignity. This is disappointed and needs to stop.

Something is Not Right Here

A new survey came out by the Pew Institute the other day and I found it quite interesting. How could these be? I mean I thought we were moving forward a little bit but how could we get things so… wrong. The survey polled evangelicals and non-evangelicals on budget items they would like to increase or decrease.
Number 1 in spending cuts for evangelicals is Aid to World’s Poor, coming in at 56%, compared to 50% of non-evangelicals. On the flipside you have 45% of evangelicals in favor of increasing “defense” spending compared to 28% of non-evangelicals.
The list of things to cut was closely followed by unemployment and the environment where evangelicals favored reducing spending towards the 2 issues at almost a two to one rate compared to non-evangelicals.
Christians over non-Christians are willing to spend more money killing people than helping people. I don’t mean to demonize here but how did this happen?
I have one theory. I troll the Relevant website and have started to notice a trend. In many articles addressing serving the poor or helping those in need, many people comment that it’s not that they don’t believe in helping the poor, but they don’t believe in a handout and want people to take personal responsibility. Ah, I think we are starting to get to something. Folks are still buying the 1970’s myth of the welfare queen cruising along in her caddy spending government money on drugs and other non-necessities. This was beautiful crafting by the larger than life Ronald Reagan which is apparently sticking with us through today. Just to speak a little bit about the myth, with our economy in shackles, currently 1 in 7 Americans live in poverty. With welfare, the maximum many states set is $400 a month and that goes to single mothers with children, which do make up 90% of welfare recipients. These are tough numbers but its truth.
We have got to give people the benefit of the doubt, that includes those who are poor and it includes evangelicals who I am trying to hold to a higher standard. Many folks haven’t met each other and don’t know each other’s plight. I’m going to chalk this depressing graph up to misinformation but how about we all get together and have a face to face talk. See others eyes and learn the truth that were all children of God and deserve a fair chance to plea their own case.

Bought and Sold

The more time I’ve spent in the states, the more apparent it becomes to me that America is bought and sold. To be honest, I liked Obama. I worked hard to get him elected. I keep hoping that he will stand up one of these days. I really hoped that he would bring change but in my opinion, such change been marginal at best and at the hands of corporations. I mean really when the Wisconsin governor is trying to break up people’s ability to collectively bargain, which should be flat wrong as also echoed by the thousands marching in the streets of Wisconsin, where is Barak Obama?

It’s disheartening to get emails from safe food advocates whose writing is almost in disbelief at what President Obama has let pass in regards to GMO crops. We also have bills alive in Congress that would strip the EPA of all regulating abilities. The idea that corporations will self regulate has hurt us again and again. I certainly do not mean to put this on Obama, he has done a decent job. And you know what, its not Obama’s kingdom that I submit to. There is something bigger and greater here.

I/ we need to continue to do our part, to challenge the injustices hampering humanity. Right now foreign aid is on the chopping block. This is a fraction of what the government spends but is vital for the survival of millions. Please call and urge your representatives to not cut it.

I know this was sort of an incoherent ramble but it just hurts. It hurts to see where were going. We must stand and not get trampled corporations.

(Tom Morello of RATM in solidarity with Wisconsin Unions)

(Matt Taibbi and my hero Amy Goodman having a good chat about the realities of Wall Street)