Visit by My parents

My parents leave today. They came out to visit us for Thanksgiving. (Who am I kiddin'? They came to see grandkids.) It was great having them here for a couple of weeks. The weather was nice before T'giving and we got to go to the zoo with Luke one day. Robin did a Safeway T'gving meal that was definitely worth it. Robin is a great cook but a whole lot easier to buy a prepared meal with all the fixins.

Tonight I will go to the aiport with my folks and then actually leave on another flight to Orlando for some quick WSN meetings.

Only in China!

XI'AN, Oct. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- A chimpanzee in a northwest China zoo has succeeded in quitting smoking, a habit that has troubled her for 16 years. "Ai Ai", a 27-year-old mother chimp at Qinling Safari Park in Shaanxi Province, spent four weeks abstaining from smoking, by cutting her daily cigarette consumption step by step until ridding the habit entirely, a zoo keeper told Xinhua. He said the zoo management decided to help the chimp quit smoking because it had been deteriorating her health. "She's served fried dishes and dumplings at every meal, alongside her usual diet of milk, banana and rice," he said without giving his name. "I also put earphones on her so that she could enjoy some pop music from my walkman." The zoo keepers tried every way to divert the chimp's attention from cigarettes: a walk after breakfast, a music session after lunch and gym after dinner. "In the first few days, she squealed for cigarettes every now and then, but as her life became more colorful, she gradually forgot about them altogether," said the zoo worker. Ai Ai became a smoker in 1989, shortly after her spouse died. With the death of her second spouse in 1997 and a daughter's moving away to the Shenyang Zoo in the northeast, the chimp became a chain smoker in solitude and grief.

Who's the Boss?

Last night as Luke sat in time-out on the stairs for not being willing to wash his hands, he said, "I am the mommy and the daddy. I am the boss." I couldn't help but laugh. Later that evening, I reminded him he was not the boss as we washed those grimy little hands. Today I wondered how often I say that to God. I make claims that I am the boss and in charge. No, He is the Daddy. He is the boss. Hopefully I will obey him and not face the consequences. But He will get His ultimate will eventually.

Nothing exposes my own sin more than a three-year-old.

2030 NL MVP

Agustin Garduno

One of the highlights for me last week was getting to know Agustin Garduno better. Agustin (see on the left sharing the CityFocus viz with students and pastors from Mexico City) is the National Director for Mexico. I got to ride with him in one of the taxis we grabbed when we first got to the DF. I knew Agustin grew up in Mexico City so I asked a little about what part of the city he was from and how he came to know the Lord.

Agustin came to Christ in the 70's while a student at a private University in the city. There was no CCC at his campus but he was involved in the one at UNAM where he had friends. He shared with me how the campus ministry was once really strong then in the DF and all of Mexico but when he was a young director all the guys like himself were challenged to help with the "I Found It" Campaign. They never came back to work on the universities. At present we only have one American full-time staff and a STINT Team working in the Campus ministry in MexCity. We left the campus ministry and the most influential city behind. Agustin shared with us that night of his viz to see movements on every university in the city and among every faculty on each campus. Movements so that every student in Mexico City will know someone who truly follows Jesus. Movements that will change the city, the country and impact the world!

May the Lord lead us to 1000's on men and women like Agustin was 30 years ago. Men and Women who will follow Him and help us change the world!

CityFocus: Mexico

Last week I went to Mexico with a group of folks. We went to scout out Mexico City: a city of about 20 million people and a university (UNAM) that is the largest in the America's (1/2 million students) and the oldest in the Western hemisphere.

There's a lot to write about our week but some of the highlights to me where praying over the city from the top of the Latin America tower, eating tacos al pastor, touring very livable neighborhoods, planning with some really cool leaders from both the US and Mexico, sharing Christ with two guys outside a coffeeshop in a neighborhood (Coyoacan) that Trotsky, Frida and Diego Rivera lived in, and and believing God for seeing movements launched all over the city.

Countdown to Sept 1st when we fully launch this new effort to see movements on every campus and in every faculty.

The Reality of Jesus

I was reading this from Renovation of the Heart by Willard the other week (emphasizes mine):

“Jesus did not send out his students to start governments or even churches as we know them today. They were to establish beachheads of his person, word, power in the midst of a failing and futile humanity. They were to bring the presence of the kingdom and it’s King to every corner of human life…. Churches are not the kingdom of God but primary and inevitable expressions, outposts, and instrumentalities of the presence of the kingdom among us. They are societies of Jesus, springing up in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the furthest points of the earth as the reality of Christ is brought to bear on ordinary human life.”

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