a broken heart:

i am not sure about others, but when i heard that mr. rodgers died my heart was broken. i can remember many a day sitting in front of the tv and watching him and wondering why my father could not be more like him; i can remember watching him on tv and knowing in my heart that he would never get drunk, beat his kids and be gone for days - when my life was up rooted, mr rodgers was a life line a safty zone - a place i could go and seek safty. to some he was a geek - but to me he was the father i never had. as i worked through my emotions today concerning this wonderful, blessed and caring man - i an hurt by the realizating that new generations will not have this man - except in re-runs. when i look around for a "human role model" i think we can not do much better then mr. rodgers - a man who loved kids with out fault, and was willing to be honest and transparent with us.

today i had a great loss. as deep a loss as if i had lost a "real father." there was a time in my life were i figured mr. rodgers to be corny, out of date and our of step with the word - but in my heart i know there could never be a voice so loud as that or mr. rodgers to an emerging community - his love, his grace, his acceptance, his hionesty, his transparent heart and mostly his constant warmth and "being there" for each and eveyone of us who needed to know that the world was safe - mr. rodgers, thank you for all you did for me, and for all who wathced you, knew you, loved you and wiched we could have just a bit of your compassion.

pax
john o'keefe - a rodgers fan.

God Quietly Phasing Holy Ghost Out Of Trinity

HEAVEN—Calling the Holy Trinity "overstaffed and over budget," God announced plans Monday to downsize the group by slowly phasing out the Holy Ghost. "Given the poor economic climate and the unclear nature of the Holy Ghost's duties, I felt this was a sensible and necessary decision," God said. "The Holy Ghost will be given fewer and fewer responsibilities until His formal resignation from Trinity duty following Easter services on April 20. Thereafter, the Father and the Son shall be referred to as the Holy Duo."

the magic potion

all right, it's been developed.  a special liquid that will bring you from a baby boomer to a gen-x'er; or at least that is what the email i got said.  they called it "human growth hormone with igf-1" and it is amazing it will help you reduce the amount of sleep you need, cause wounds to heal faster, you can lose weight while you sleeping, all that and be less winded when exercise.  it will put color back in gray hair, grow hair back where it had once fallen out, tighten your skin, strengthen your bones and all this while helping you build your muscles quicker.  isn't science great?  and all you need do is send them a ton of cash, wow.  they get rich, and you get the shaft - not that's capitalism at it's best.

pax

it's my ball, and i'm going home:

i got an email from a friend who wanted me to know that one of the sites he visits, removed any mention of me, ginkworld.net and punk monkey from their site. he said that when he emailed the site to ask why - all he got was "nothing" - he told me he emailed three times and each time he did not recieve an answer. he found this interesting because the site did have some links to my blog, ginkworld.net and a few papers i wrote. in his email he asked me what i thought of it all - well, after checking the site i found he was right - but hey, i can live with that. after i came out with my "anti-war" stance, coupled with my desire not to mix politics with that stance - and hold purly to my faith view of war - i fell out of favor with some - and i have the "hate email" to prove it. so, what do i do? i don't worry about it - it's their ball, and they can take it home if they want - it's cool.

but i want to add this - i have also recieved a great many emails from friends who support my views and encourage me to keep going. friends who give me a "e-slap on the back" every once in a while. normaly, being removed from a site would not be something that would effect me, but today i also recieved a number of emails from people who simply want me to stop my anti-war stance and be "more in line with america" - sorry, i desire to be more inline with jesus, and less in line with usamerica - but hey, it's my ball and i'm am home.

pax

hey - we just added a "comment box" - nothing like being a day late and a dollar shot - so, add your comments as you see fit -

pax

on average i get about 200 spams a day; i filter, i change email accounts, i even ask to be taken off the list - but i still get the spam. i am of the mid that says, if you ask to be removed from the spam list they know you are good email address so they do not remove you, they sell you to another company - so now i do not ask to be removed - it never works. anyway, back to the spam - i get everything from viagra, hair growth, penis enlarges, credit cards, home loans, and all kinds of "free" stuff - "free" because it actually not "free" - it costs for "shiping and handling." Yeaterday i recieved an interesting spam - no, i have no interest in the product (in fact, my rule is "if you spam me with an ad - including pop-ups - i will never buy your product) but the title was interesting, "the difference between celebration and suffering." my first thought was, "hey, a new 'your voice' article." it was a bummer when i opened the email - it had nothing to do with worship, as i had hoped.

pax

i am tired of all the politics and the infighting; i have created a new nation (citizenship is avalible on ginkworld.net - it is the "the republic of ginkworld." it is a place of safty and security - while the ecomony sucks, it has a ton of freedoms. we are a new nation and we are interested in fomring treaties with the republic of jordon and the rouge nation of theyblinked. the republic of ginkworld is an emerging nation with spiritual ties. here's a bit on the republic of ginkworld:

The Republic of Ginkworld is a tiny, socially progressive nation, renowned for its devotion to social welfare. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 5 million love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, socially-minded government stops and the rest of society begins, but it is mainly concerned with Social Welfare, although Religion & Spirituality and Healthcare are secondary priorities. The average income tax rate is 50%, and even higher for the wealthy. Private enterprise is illegal, but for those in the know there is a slick and highly efficient black market in Basket Weaving.

Crime is totally unknown. Ginkworld's national animal is the punk monkey, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the monkey.

pax

the rear view:

i have been following a church's discussion concerning the hiring of a new senior pastor. it's been a great discussion and an interesting lesson (i am using them as an example for something i am writing) but what i have come to see is very interesting:

this church was planted some 16 years ago by a person who was one of the "founding fathers" of the hyper-modern movement (while he may be postmodern today, at this point in time he was not) - he moved on a while back and took other positions with other churches - i have no interest in giving his name, or the name of the church - so, let's move on - the church seems stuck, it can't move on. it keeps looking back to "when he was here" (which has been over 10 years back). could you picture people driving the way some churches think? if you send all your time driving looking in the rearview mirror, you never see what's a head of you, what do you think would be the outcome? as a church they are spending a great deal of time looking in the rearview.

i remember once talking with my grandfather (a very wise old man) who said that "at some point people reach a place in life were they have more life behind them, then they do a head of them. at that point people spend more time talking about the past then they do the futurte." the church is at this point. i believe, in the hearts of many, it is dieing and they want to remember the "good old days" and recapture the "glory days gone by." by looking back, all the church does is remember "what it was like" when so and so was here."

another problem the church has it it seems to want to drive the same car it did in the early 90's late 80's - and today the selection is so much better. they are looking for a "car with all the new bells" but not a new car. they are spending their time comparing all the people who are applying for the position to the pastor who left 10 years ago - and they want the same "gift mix." - the problem is that no two pastors have the same gift mix. what worked yesterday will not work today - it just won't.

churches that spend too much time looking into their past forget that they have a future. one church elder (from another church) told me, "i thought postmodern people cared about the 'ancient and future' parts of the church?" i said, "we do, but what happened 15 years ago is not 'acient' and we will use the ancient if it enhances our future." ancient does not mean "the great hymns of the church" from the 1700 to 1900's - it means the hymns of the 100 to 500's (maybe even up to the 1100's) - but the 1950 (while it may seem ancient to some) is not an "acient" time -

anyway - i just wanted to ramble - pax

the great enfp's:

i was spending some time looking over the blogs of friends - when i came upon my friend david hopkins blog - and out from the past i was smacked in the ficae with a haunting past of the myers-briggs test. i, like david, an an enfp

here's a little quote from the page:
General: ENFPs are both "idea"-people and "people"-people, who see everyone and everything as part of an often bizarre cosmic whole. They want to both help (at least, their own definition of "help") and be liked and admired by other people, on bo th an individual and a humanitarian level. They are interested in new ideas on principle, but ultimately discard most of them for one reason or another....

Friends are what life is about to ENFPs
ENFPs are global learners
ENFPs sometimes can be blindsided by their secondary Feeling function
ENFPs have what some call a "silly switch."
ENFPs are friendly folks

here are some examples of enfp's:
Dom Delouise, actor
Dave Thomas, owner of Wendy's hamburger chain
Lewis Grizzard, newspaper columnist
I. King Jordan, president of Gallaudet University
Martin Short, actor-comedian
Meg Ryan, actress (When Harry Met Sally)
Robin Williams, actor, comedian (Dead Poet's Society, Mrs. Doubtfire)
Sandra Bullock, actress (Speed, While You Were Sleeping)
Robert Downey (Heart and Souls)
Alicia Silverstone (Clueless)
Sinbad
Andy Kaufman

and there is so much more - i remember when i took the test, my wife and i did it together and we are both enfp's, i was told by the person who gave me the test that enfp's make rotten pastors and even worse church planters - well, in a modern world maybe so - but in a postmodern reality i think enfp's make the best pastors ever - thanks david, for the flash back and the info - you rule.

mike jackson:

i, and 27 million others, watched the jackson interview last night - and i cam away with one simple fact - the man is sick, out of touch with reality and without a dout the most off centered person on this planet - on, not michael, the interviewer - mike was cool, the guy who was doing the interview was sick - real sick. the one part that sticks in my mind is when mike was talking about his love of climbing trees (which is a very cool thing) and having a water ballon fight - which is even a cooler thing - when the clown who was doing the interview saud, "so, you like climbing trees - do you like it more then sex?" mike just looked at the guy like he was a jerk - and the guy was a jerk.

now, i am not a big mike fan - i like his musis and i enjoy his shows - but i am not a memeber of a fan club and all my gloves are matching pairs (plain leather). but when i watched the "interview" i saw first hand how the "news" people can take a simple statement and twist it all out of shape; "you get the nails, you get the wood and we will get this guy mike and we'll nail him up." dies mike have issues - sure, we all do. does mike come from a disfunctional family - sure, we all do. does he have things he has to get past - sure, we all do - but is is a pedo - no. is he "sock" - no. is he being railroaded by a headline hunting media - you bet - and for shame on "baba wawa" for her additional comments - poor shot - it's not fun watching people kick an inocent man when he's down.

pax

my friend jordon cooper took his site down this week because he felt it was not going in the direction he wanted it to go - and i say good going jordon - i respect a man who stands by his ideas and walks the path God wants. jordon is rethinking, regouping, regenerating, reconnecting his site - and his first step is deconstruction - jordon, very postmodern, very community centered. i will be praying for you and the site my friend - also for that great family of yours (wendy has some great food - you are a lucky man)

pax

"the scion conference"

i have been toying with the idea of a "southwest conf." it seems that many of the conferences are either in CA or the midwest - with a few in texas - so, i have been toying with the idea of developing a "southwest conference" some place in AZ or NV - it's most likely AZ (phenx would be perfect). i even have a name for it - tell me what you think "the scion conference" - playing on the meaning of being a "decendant of or heir of an individual" (we are heir to the kingdom) and the planting term, where a scion is a "bud or a branch that is cut and grafted into another plant" - is that not too cool?

anyway - all i need is money, some sponsors, and a group of people willing to speak and teach - game? ideas? email me (gink@ginkworld.net) and help fill in the blanks - i would love to kick it off sometime in 2004 - in the summer (the southwest in the summer is great and theirs a ton of stuff to do) - the conference would need to be "family friendly" - so we will need to put together some very cool "vacation" spots for people to visit with the family - like the zoo - anyway, i have all but decided that it's a go - lacking money and sponsors is a big set back - but i have a good feeling about the possibilities - this is cool. think of it this way, a conference where you can bring your family, have fun and learn - this is important.

pax
john

there i was, minding my own business - picking my own nose - and surfing the web. i figured, "hey, why not go and see how jordon is doing." so, i popped over to jordon's site - and he's gone. he took his site down - there i was, with index in nostral, and no jordon - what is a poor monkey to do? then i realized that he was not "gone" just "re-cooping" (sorry for the tacky play on words) - well, jordon i commend your for your courage and your standards. you are the man - peace brother, and if i can help let me know - i will even remove my index finger ;-)

pax