Author: Wick

If you’re like me, the media over the past few months has focused on so much ridiculous stuff; that even when you’re watching it….you’re probably not actually watching it. From Michael Jackson’s last hours alive, to John or Kate Plus 8, to the endless other stories they play up to make us drool for more drama; it doesn’t take long to forget you’re watching actual news, and not entertainment.

Because of this, many of us are missing out on the issue of Healthcare Reform. Not because the news isn’t talking about it….they certainly throw a few dramatic stories out there to bait us. But it gets lost in the rest of the drama. And not because we haven’t heard about it – we’ve probably all gotten a few forwards from well meaning people warning us that Obama wants to let old people “just die”, and is going to use tax-payers money to fund abortions (both WAY false, of course).

So where is a source of information we can go to that talks about Healthcare Reform?

Here are a couple you may find helpful:

1. Cover All Families – Faith-based group dedicated to informing people on facts and truths involved. Why should health care be reformed? What’s being proposed? Etc. They have a few printable resources that you can use to read yourself, share with others, or discuss with your small group.

2. FactCheck.org – A general “fact-checking” website for all things related to current politics. It’s deep in resources/articles/information right now concerning these health care concerns. Check the “Wire” for the most recent updates.

3. Politifact – Another general “fact-checking” website. This one focuses on accountability and honesty in statements/promises made. They even use little graphics that are pretty easy to understand/grasp at a quick glance, as well as link to other places/previous statements and promises made.

4. Your Local Newspaper – It’s interesting to see the range of issues covered, and how the current state of healthcare is impacting our own communities. You’ll notice that in our local newspaper, they ran this article, and this article in the same week. I give a lot more credit to the doctor in one of those articles – you decide which one. 🙂

An update from the “ONE VOICE” Luncheon yesterday…which I recommend to anyone in ministry around the city. Awesome free food, and you get a chance to sit down with others in ministry, school board members, school faculty and district leadership, principals, vice principals, and our Superintendent.

Here are some encouraging stats from Decatur Public Schools:

– Our drop out rate has decreased to 1.6%

– Our graduation rate has increased to 87.7%

– We’ve changed bus transportation providers to “First Student“, a company very committed to on-time service and strong community involvement/interaction.

– Members of “One Voice” Clergy (even the Pastor of the Universalist Unitarian Church, in case Hemant reads this) who have received a badge are permitted to enter schools, walk the halls, visit lunch times, and even attend a class with a student at any Decatur Public School!!!

I also had a meeting as a member of the Decatur Parking and Traffic Commission. A few locations for proposed “STOP” signs were discussed, as well as overall updates on the city/budget. Some things I learned:

– Placing a “STOP” sign, or any other sign really, costs the city around $200.

– These signs have a life span of approximately 7 yrs.

– Placing too many of them can cost a lot of money to replace every 7 years, as well as reduce how often people take them seriously. They must be warranted due to visibility issues, high traffic volume (attempt to keep accidents below 1.5 accidents per million vehicles entering an intersection), or other safety concerns.

– The word “fiduciary” can be used in some conversations.

– The city has over $400,000 in traffic/parking violation fines (here are a few) still outstanding that we have not collected yet. They are going to step up on their methods of collecting, before paying a large amount to find out if we should raise parking rates yet. Makes sense. 🙂

I enjoy participating as a citizen/father/youth pastor/etc. Thanks Decatur.

From the blog of Free Methodist Bishop David Kendall:

“I’ve been urging our churches to join Paul and Jesus in praying for the church’s sanctification (see 1 Thess. 5:23 and John 17:17-19), praying that the church would be utterly God’s to do with as God pleases, to use however God chooses, and to participate in God’s ongoing mission to reclaim and renew the whole of creation. We’re way beyond church survival and even beyond church growth—we’re after the most comprehensive renovation of the whole of reality. Nothing short of all God plans will do, if we have anything to say about it.

Here’s the problem, however. Much of the church has been hijacked by the culture. This is not a new phenomenon nor is it a stroke of genius to observe it. It is a recurring problem. Predictably the cultures of this world have deconstructed the gospel, the good news of Jesus and His kingdom, and then put the gospel back to together again in ways that fit or even enhance the culture. For example, in our country people have harbored hopes of an American Dream—a vision of a kind of life that enjoys prosperity and peace. For many generations this dream has exercised enormous influence. So much so, that the gospel is often seen as a means to realizing this dream. To put it way too simply, the dream has deconstructed the good news and put it together again so that accepting Jesus represents a fast track to realizing the dream. Come to Jesus, join the church, be a good boy or girl, and God will bless you and the blessing will look like this dream-come-true.

When the culture stalls and the dream shatters, however, the gospel that was tweaked to accommodate this dream no longer seems adequate. Followers of Jesus, on their way to the dream-come-true, suddenly realize that it’s not happening for them and nervously wonder about where Jesus is taking them. There’s a lot of this going on just now. Huge institutions once thought invulnerable now seem on shaky ground. The economy no longer seems a safe harbor. Many are wondering how life can continue or ever be good again, if things keep going on as they are. Hand wringing is common, sometimes even in the church.

But when God owns us as church, when the church is utterly at his disposal, when there is nothing to lose because it’s all been surrendered for his use, when the good news of Jesus once again asserts itself against the bad news of our world, the good news deconstructs the culture, and helps us shape a life free of that culture’s illusions and idolatries so life goes on but in ways fully compatible with the kingdom Jesus declared and demonstrated. If God were to foreclose on all our false hopes and assume sole proprietorship of the church, the good news would show us how to live even in a world that is passing away.

This is how it was when the church first came to be. Followers of Jesus showed their world that life did not require the gods venerated by their contemporaries. “The way it has always been” was shown to be a lie. In fact, it hadn’t always been that way, and it could be another way that was better. And followers of Jesus were often in the lead showing that better way.

Not long ago in the country of Peru mountain farmers stood up against the drug lords that owned most of the land around them. They had convinced everyone that the land could only grow coca plants, from which cocaine was made. It had always been that way, and it had to be that way for the people to survive. Of course this was a lie, but everyone believed the lie. Everyone, that is, until a Christ-follower refused to use his land in that way and started to plant other crops. Now, everyone knows that the land will produce many crops, most of which can be eaten and directly benefit the village. Christ-followers exposed the lies that had kept people from possible blessing, and led them to a different and better life.

If the Christ-followers who are church courageously follow Christ in these days, dare we believe that once again lies about “the only way life can be good” will be exposed? Dare we trust that if Christ has us wholly at his disposal, we may become agents of blessing and recreation to a world that thinks it’s falling apart? Dare we still hope?”