Upon searching the internet for news this morning I stumbled across this attention grabbing headline on the MSN website: "WEEKEND REWIND: WHAT YOU MISSED!" Curious to see what I had missed this weekend, I checked out the headlines in the article. Each headline had a video to go with it... a tribute to our instant visual society. Here are some of the things that MSN says I missed this weekend:
NFL: JETS BEAT DOLPHINS: I like football, and I am a fan. I understand that the NFL is a great "release" for people in America. We kick back on Sunday afternoon and cheer for our favorite teams. I do question how much time we spend worshipping football in our culture sometimes, but that topic is for a different day. I didn't really get to watch much football this weekend. I'm not upset, but according to this MSN article I missed out.
AMAZING ACCIDENT ON "AMAZING RACE": Apparently I missed out by not watching this reality TV show. I hardly ever watch TV, and I almost never watch reality shows. I do know people, though, who plan their lives around their favorite TV shows. That's kind of an interesting phenomenon, if you really stop and think about it. As human beings, we could all be out in the world enjoying our own adventures. But we don't. We sit in front of our TV screens and watch other people live out their adventures. We watch other people do hard things in front of the world while we comfortably fire down Doritos in our easy chairs.
1,000 POUND BULL SHARK CAUGHT IN AFRICAN RIVER: My friend, Tim, is definitely glad he missed out on this one this weekend. He has what I have always considered to be an irrational fear of sharks. I have been waterskiing with him in freshwater lakes where he got freaked out because he thought sharks might get him. I, of course, as a good friend... ridiculed him. According to this article, and the video that proves it, his fears of sharks in fresh water are no longer irrational. Tim... let me state here publicly, in this blog forum, that I hereby release you to be afraid of sharks in fresh water. Just be careful because I think sharks can smell fear. Just sayin'.
RAIN-SWOLLEN RIVER FORCES EVACUATIONS: This is another strange phenomenon in our culture. I feel bad for the victims of this flooding, so I hope I don't sound insensitive. But this is another example of how natural disasters all over the world are beemed by video right into the comfort of our living rooms. We can watch people struggling through a flood or fire or earthquake, or we can watch children in Africa dying of starvation, while licking the remnants of Doritos off of our fingers and agonizing over how we're going to get the salsa stains out of our clothes (OK, maybe that's just me). What would happen if Christians in America saw people struggling on TV, and they turned of their TVs, and they went to where the people were hurting and loved their neighbors by demonstrating the profound love of Christ to the world? I don't know. Maybe I'm wierd for thinking that way. MSN did tell me that I missed the flooding this weekend, though, so it must be an important issue.
Despite missing out on all of these things, I had an incredible weekend! The MSN headline gave me the idea to describe my weekend through my own headlines. So, here it is: WEEKEND REVIEW: WHAT YOU MISSED... HOMEWOOD VERSION:
A HUNGRY CHILD FINDS COMMUNITY: A boy we know from our neighborhood has an unstable home life and he doesn't really know where his meals are going to come from from one day to the next. Most of the time, he is out and about in Homewood wandering around looking for things to do and for people to hang out with. Lately, he has been at our house a lot. This weekend, he shared several meals with us and he was just kind of "here," even when we had guests over for dinner on Friday and our small group met on Sunday night. I had to kind of chuckle last night when everyone showed up at our house for small group and brought their kids with them, because there were tons of kids running around everywhere and about half of them didn't belong to couples in our small group. The kids from our neighborhood had just seen that some type of gathering was happening at our house, and they assimilated into whatever was going on. It was kind of a wierd mix of "intentional" community where people at a church form into organized small groups in order to build relationships, and "spontaneous" community where people just show up uninvited and join in on whatever is going on. I love it. Too bad there weren't any news anchors here to report it. It was quite a block party.
A HOMELESS SINGLE MOM EXPERIENCES GRACE: A single mom who has been struggling to find a place to stay found a room at a house in Homewood that she can stay at for a little while. A kind person offered her the place to stay, rent-free, until she can get back on her feet. I've been spending time with her son over the past year or so until I can find him his own one to one mentor, and she has really appreciated the support. She's been really struggling lately, so the act of compassion that she experienced this weekend was meaningful. I don't think MSN will be running with this story any time soon, but these kinds of stories in the margins of society get at the heart of Jesus' message to show compassion to people who are hurting.
AN ANGRY YOUNG MAN HAS THE BEST DAY OF HIS LIFE: One of my mentees has been struggling with a lot of pain and brokenness recently, and he has been acting out by being angry and depressed. On Saturday night, God opened the door for me to take him to a Penguins game at the new arena in a luxury suite. The night was exactly what he needed! We had the opportunity to talk about all kinds of things, ranging from how he can cope with his anger and depression to how he can make good choices by staying away from the negative influences on the streets that are desperately pursuing him at the moment. He really needed a fun night away from his neighborhood and his life circumstances. He must have told me about twenty times that Saturday was the best day of his life! Too bad the journalists missed this story as it unfolded. It was a good one.
A BOY WITH A BROKEN HEART IS REUNITED WITH HIS FRIENDS: God is so amazing! I had one extra ticket for a Pirate game on Sunday, and as I was driving around to pick kids up I got a call out of the blue from a former mentee who I had not seen in over a year. His family had just moved back to Pittsburgh this weekend, and he wanted to know if we could hang out. So he had the chance to hang out with me and four other LAMP kids most of the day. Last year at about this time his family had to flee in the middle of the night to a different state, so I never had the chance to say goodbye. We've kept in touch by phone about once a month, but I was so happy to be reunited with him finally! He has been through a lot over the past year (a brother and uncle were killed due to gang-related violence, and his family has had to live in constant fear of being attacked). I could tell this past year has changed him, and his heart has broken even though he is trying to put up a tough front. I know he has accepted Christ, though, and I am praying that the Lord will bring about healing in this young person. The TV cameras missed out on this reunion of long lost friends. Too bad... it was a joyful reunion that would have made for good reality television! I'm sure the reporters were there after my mentees' relatives were killed, though. Gotta keep those ratings going for the evening news.
7 comments:
Bryan
Ya know, bro, you are getting better and better at telling the stories of the brokenness of our culture. Of course, I wish you didn't have any fodder for stories; but that said, you really are doing a great job with your blog in getting these stories out.
John V
Great post Bryan. I really think we need to connect on some sort of way as it looks as if we are dealing with a lot of the same types of issues and brokeness. I loved your story of the small group and all the neighborhood kids coming over. I've played out that scene in my neighborhood several times this past year. It is amazing despite some of the pain we experience the amount of laughter and joy we get to experience and at the same time doing God's work.
Chad... we definitely need to hang out some time soon. I think we could learn a lot from each other. Thanks for the comment, and I'll follow up with you to set up some time.
Your story about sharks only confirms the obvious point I've been making for years: sharks are MAN-EATERS. If they see you, they think: "I want to eat that thing."
The real question here is whether HORSES have that thought. Do horses ever look at a human and think, "Yum." Can horses smell fear?
- Tim
Tim... I found this on the internet, so it must be true:
Average Number of Deaths per Year in the U.S
Bee/Wasp 53
Dogs 31
Spider 6.5
Rattlesnake 5.5
Mountain lion 1
Shark 1
Alligator 0.3
Bear 0.5
Scorpion 0.5
Centipede 0.5
Elephant 0.25
Wolf 0.1
Horse 20
Bull 3
You may have gained some ground in this debate, my friend, but statistically we are all still twenty times more likely to die from horses than from sharks.
My rebuttal is the same:
IF PEOPLE STARTED SADDLING UP AND RIDING SHARKS, THE DEATH RATE WOULD SKY ROCKET BY NEXT WEEK!!!!!
There is a REASON people don't try to ride sharks or have them pull a (water) buggy.
The reason sharks only kill one person per year is because most people know to be afraid of them and avoid them. It's the legitimate FEAR of sharks that helps keep the death rate down. Again - when they see you, they want to EAT you.
Horses are not known to eat humans.
I still hold out this challenge:
Your choice:
1. Run across a horse-infested field.
2. Swim across a shark-infested pool.
I know which you'd choose. So do you. Denial is futile. Submit to my superior logic.
Thank you.
Tim
Tim, it appears that once again you're looking past the scientific data and engaging in attempts to trigger emotional responses based upon fear and far-fetched scenarios. It's a shame that you've chosen this blog to advance your radical shark fear-mongering ideologies.
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