Author: Wick

just received this…please be in prayer with us, for this is only one of many stories occurring even now, in India and other areas of the world…

This is a quick note to inform you that the anti-Christian outfits have struck us again in Orissa.

The details of damage are not known yet. But I have the news of several churches and Christian homes burnt and vandalized.

Our superintendents and pastors have gone into hiding. The latest is that the house of Prakash Naik, our superintendent in Raikia, was set on fire yesterday.

He is in the jungle with his wife and 40 small children of our orphanage that was at Raikia, Orissa.

Tapson, another superintendent’s motorbike was burnt in Balliguda and his house destroyed. The churches and houses in Raikia area have been attacked by the arsonist mob.

Please uphold the persecuted families in your prayer so peace and harmony is restored in the area.

Just read this article. It talks about how we shouldn’t expect the same things (opening and closing ceremonies, etc.) from the 2012 London Olympics, as we saw this past month in China. And behind all the bragging about Chinese performers and their incredible abilities/dedication…you can hear the real reason behind it: human rights.

An actual quote from the article:
” Like the moveable type cubes (at the opening ceremony), the performers follow orders,” he said. The actors listen to the orders, and can carry them out like computers. Foreigners admire this. This is the Chinese spirit.”

I’ll admit. The closing ceremony was pretty stinkin’ cool. The 5-story flame made of humans dressed in colored suits, and all the pageantry that went into it….holy cow. But at the same time as I was “wowed”, it also felt really awkward. Like I was watching robots. Like one of those scary scenes in a sci-fi movie where thousands of people are doing some ritual under mind control.

And that is the “Chinese spirit” that foreigners (me) admire? I don’t think so. It was interesting. It was curious. It was “grand”. But it still freaked me out a bit.

Trying, as always, to make some sort of connection to religion/youth ministry. It made me wonder what, human rights and individuality aside, would I desire for “youth group” to look like if I had as much control over the teens as this guy had over his actors. Sure, it’d be nice to have them uniformly obedient, quiet when asked, tame, and thirsty for every word I spoke.

But that’d freak me out a bit.

Thankfully, I can always count on them coloring outside the lines. Interrupting. Being curious. Showing up late/early. Asking the hard questions. Being young humans. And watching them become more of who they are becoming every year, praying that Christ/the Church/the Kingdom become infused every step of the way…

(a rant, not specifically to/of teenage cell phone users, but they’re more often guilty)

A while back, someone was making a phone call to someone else. While they waited for the other person to answer, a thought struck them:

“I know this person is listening to whatever favorite ring-tone they’ve recently downloaded, and probably enjoys hearing it, and perhaps that is why they don’t answer promptly.”

Feeling jealous, and a bit belittled by their friend choosing to finish the refrain of their ring-tone over receiving the call right away, this person had an idea:

“What if I could be listening to a similarly cool ring-tone that this person has selected in advance for me to hear while I waited? Wouldn’t that be great for both of us? Surely it’d be better than hearing this digital “ring” noise everytime….right?”

It was a horrible idea. But because everyone wants to advertise to potential callers how unique their musical tastes are, and how hip/trendy/anti-trendy they are…it sold well. It continues to sell well, and has even grown cheaper, so that it’s no longer a sign of how over-indulgently rich you are. Now it’s simply an annoying option, forcing passive callers to submit to your decision to shove noise in their ears.

But I’m not sure that many of these people have called their own phones. It could just be that the relatively few people I know who have this service have picked terrible songs for such a service. Something to do with the quality of the music, the mix of the audio, or the vocals/instrumentals involved.

But seriously, I dial a number ***-***-****, and usually without warning (although sometimes the nice lady tells me to “please enjoy the music while your party is reached”, but I never do) it goes from silence…..to an empty soup can caught in a blender.

Note: Thinking about it makes me realize there has been ONE song I enjoyed listening to. It was the no-lyrics theme to “Rocky”. Are there songs out there that work really well with this service? I’d like to give the people I call some suggestions.

Maybe it’s secretly a way to get me to stop calling you. If so…I suppose it’s working. 🙂