yesterday at mark's graveside...

I saw the kingdom of God revealed in a cardinal
I experienced intense reconcilliation with my wife
I renewed my vows to my community
I was up against a thin place where the kingdom of heaven and earth meet

and then there's this

here's a great site with some great practical ideas for sustainable living [here]

check out the May Sojourners is a special issue on food. Thankful that there is at least one Christian voice ready to speak profetically on food.

membership with these folks isn't a bad idea either.

the special issue will be featuring these articles:

1. Shopping for Justice–Find out how our muzak-themed grocery shopping experiences are mostly a label-designing, meat-coloring, cookie-positioning scheme to keep us occupied and ignorant about what’s in our carts.

2. A Farm Grows in Brooklyn–Fruits, vegetables, and hope are blossoming in Red Hook, a low-income neighborhood struggling with high unemployment and a booming drug trade. Read how a local farmers market is sowing seeds for change.

3. Check Please!–What’s the story behind each of the food items we buy? Surprise–it involves pollution, long-distance travel, the use of fossil fuels, and dangerous chemicals. We have thousands of food choices in America, but at what cost?

4. Grub for Body and Soul–Food activists share new ideas for eating ethically. Hint: They include “grub parties,” organic food, and great music–key provisions for the food revolution.

5. Blessing the Hands That Harvest–With the help of churches, farm workercampaigns are raising awareness of exploitation in agricultural jobs.

6. Dumpster Diving–Turn up your nose, but dumpster diving is one real option for living a frugal, yet abundant, life.

Mark Palmer is home from the Hospital and CPTer's are released!

CPT rejoices in the release of our peacemakers
by Doug Pritchard and Carol Rose

Our hearts are filled with joy today as we heard that Harmeet Singh Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember have been safely released in Baghdad. Christian Peacemaker Teams rejoices with their families and friends at the expectation of their return to their loved ones and community. Together we have endured uncertainty, hope, fear, grief and now joy during the four months since they were abducted in Baghdad.

We rejoice in the return of Harmeet Sooden. He has been willing to put his life on the line to promote justice in Iraq and Palestine as a young man newly committed to active peacemaking.

We rejoice in the return of Jim Loney. He has cared for the marginalized and oppressed since childhood, and his gentle, passionate spirit has been an inspiration to people near and far.

We rejoice in the return of Norman Kember. He is a faithful man, an elder and mentor to many in his 50 years of peacemaking, a man prepared to pay the cost.

We remember with tears Tom Fox, whose body was found in Baghdad on March 9, 2006, after three months of captivity with his fellow peacemakers. We had longed for the day when all four men would be released together. Our gladness today is made bittersweet by the fact that Tom is not alive to join in the celebration. However, we are confident that his spirit is very much present in each reunion.

Harmeet, Jim and Norman and Tom were in Iraq to learn of the struggles facing the people in that country. They went, motivated by a passion for justice and peace to live out a nonviolent alternative in a nation wracked by armed conflict. They knew that their only protection was in the power of the love of God and of their Iraqi and international co-workers. We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end.

Today, in the face of this joyful news, our faith compels us to love our enemies even when they have committed acts which caused great hardship to our friends and sorrow to their families. In the spirit of the prophetic nonviolence that motivated Jim, Norman, Harmeet and Tom to go to Iraq, we refuse to yield to a spirit of vengeance. We give thanks for the compassionate God who granted our friends courage and who sustained their spirits over the past months. We pray for strength and courage for ourselves so that, together, we can continue the nonviolent struggle for justice and peace.

Throughout these difficult months, we have been heartened by messages of concern for our four colleagues from all over the world. We have been especially moved by the gracious outpouring of support from Muslim brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. That support continues to come to us day after day. We pray that Christians throughout the world will, in the same spirit, call for justice and for respect for the human rights of the thousands of Iraqis who are being detained illegally by the U.S. and British forces occupying Iraq.

During these past months, we have tasted of the pain that has been the daily bread of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Why have our loved ones been taken? Where are they being held? Under what conditions? How are they? Will they be released? When?

With Tom's death, we felt the grief of losing a beloved friend. Today, we rejoice in the release of our friends Harmeet, Jim and Norman. We continue to pray for a swift and joyful homecoming for the many Iraqis and internationals who long to be reunited with their families. We renew our commitment to work for an end to the war and the occupation of Iraq as a way to continue the witness of Tom Fox. We trust in God's compassionate love to show us the way.

Living through the many emotions of this day, we remain committed to the words of Jim Loney, who wrote:

"With God's abiding kindness, we will love even our enemies.

With the love of Christ, we will resist all evil.

With God's unending faithfulness, we will work to build the beloved community."

Doug Pritchard and Carol Rose are co-directors of Christian Peacemaker Teams.

CONGRESS BLINDFOLDS CONSUMERS- REMOVING RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT'S IN YOUR FOOD
On March 8, despite massive public opposition, including 50,000 calls and letters from supporters of the Organic Consumers Association, the House of Representatives passed the controversial "national food uniformity" labeling law, which would eliminate over 200 state food safety labeling laws. The law basically takes away local government and states' power to require food safety labels such as those required in California and other states on foods or beverages that are likely to cause cancer, birth defects, allergic reactions, or mercury poisoning. The bill would also prevent local municipalities and states from passing laws requiring that genetically engineered foods and ingredients be labeled. Under the bill, hundreds of state laws and regulations would be eliminated, including those relating to the safety of milk, fish, and shellfish. In order to become law, the bill will now have to go to the Senate for a vote. Because of the enormous public backlash against the bill, Washington analysts believe the bill will have great difficulty passing in the Senate. OCA and other public interest organizations have vowed to go "all out" to stop this anti-democratic, anti-consumer bill in the Senate.

Take action here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd/labeling.cfm

Oh yeah, and one more thing: In the 2006 election cycle, big agribusiness has already given $14,562,681 in campaign contributions to members of Congress.

trey loves to be naked
trey loves to be naked on my bed
trey especially loves to sit his naked butt on my pillow with a devilish grin on his face while shifting his butt back and forth just so i'll come tackle him.

my whole room smells like butt cheese.

The question of where to live and what to do is really insignificant compared to the question of how to keep the eyes of our hearts focused on the Lord. You can be teaching, working at a business, or traveling, and feel totally useless, miserable and depressed in any one or all of these situations. There’s no such thing as the right place or the right job. You can be happy or unhappy in all situations. You’ve probably felt distraught and joyful in situations of abundance as well as poverty, in situations of popularity as well as loneliness, in situations of success as well as failure. The difference was never based on the situation itself, but always on your state of mind and heart. When you’re walking with the Lord, you always feel happy, secure, fearless and at peace all at the same time. When you’re entangled in your own complaints and emotional needs, you always feel restless and divided.

What you really do with your life is no great decision. Turning fully, unconditionally and without fear to the Lord is.

Henri Nouwen