the God of the living...

Luke 20
36bThey are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection. 37But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' 38He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

Praise God!

Sabbath day...

Genesis 2
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

John 19
30When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

It is striking to me that just as God rested after he had "finished" the work of creation, Jesus rested on the Sabbath after he finished the work of the cross. In fact, in reading through each of the Gospel accounts of Jesus' death and burial, only Matthew makes any comment about what happened on that Sabbath day. I have the excerpt listed below:

Matthew 27
62The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63"Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' 64So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first."
65"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." 66So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

So here we have the Pharisees who had called Jesus out for healing and picking grain to eat on the Sabbath, in a most hypocritical display, lobbying Pilate to further ensure that their hold and power over the Jewish people is not jeopardized by the possibility of a resurrection story. So, on the Sabbath, rather than resting and observing the day of rest as God commanded, the Pharisees are still plotting and scheming to put down the uprising of Jesus followers.

I hope you enjoyed this day and had a chance to rest. Not just physical rest, but spiritual rest...

Ponder the sorrow and pain and confusion that Jesus' disciples felt that night after observing the Sabbath...

With the next dawn came new life! In the words of the angels at the tomb, "He is not here; he has risen!"

He has risen indeed!

letter from new orleans...

I read an article today in Metropolis magazine about the project that Brad Pitt started in New Orleans called Make it Right. It's fascinating to me because it reminds me of the work that Architecture for Humanity is doing around the world. I loved this quote so much that I had to share it. Andrew Blum, a journalist for Metropolis quotes Steven Bingler, founder of Concordia Architecture & Planning, in New Orleans as saying, "If somebody designs a building that people don't want to live in, then I would argue that it's sculpture. And maybe that gets to the point about architecture's role in the twenty-first century: Are we going to continue to create monuments to ourselves, or are we going to start listening? Are we going to develop a different kind of respect?"

I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this way. But man, are we in the minority.

Hotel Rwanda clip

I watched Hotel Rwanda last night and this scene has stuck with me. Joaquin Phoenix's character's comment cut me to the core and I've been struggling with it ever since. I hate that I have been so desensitized to atrocities such as this. The scariest part is that strangely similar events continue to take place in Africa from Sudan to Darfur to Kenya to the Congo. Africa has been on my heart for sometime through books I have read, movies I have seen and the project I am working on.

My heart goes out to the people of Africa and I continue to pray for peace. This is one spiritual thing that I can do. I struggle with the question of what I can do physically.

In reading a book recently, The Way of a Worshiper, a phrase by the author, Buddy Owens, jumped out at me: "and it is through your body that God reaches out to the world around you."

I pray that God uses me to reach out to the people of Africa who weigh heavy on my heart.

my baby girl is six today...

Wow! It's really hard to believe...

I remember my wife and I were scared after the September 11th attacks five months before our daughter was due. We had conversations about what a different world it would be in a matter of months after the attacks. I remember how unsafe we felt at that moment and how scared we were to be bringing a new child into the world. Then came her birth and as we witnessed that beautiful miracle, I felt a new joy and love that I have never experienced before. Six years, brings a lot of firsts. From the first smile, to first words, to first steps she changed our lives and our world. My daughter and I formed a special bond and there is nothing like having daddy's little girl. My favorite times have been hiking together and driving together. We have deep conversations. She has an inquisitive nature about her. God blessed us with her birth six years ago, and he's blessed us with six wonderful years of her life. I couldn't be more grateful. I pray he blesses us with many more...

I Have a Dream Speech...

i'm back...

Wow! It's been a while. Here's a summary of some things that have happened in the last three weeks:

I am now beardless (to my lovely wife's liking)

I am back online after the internet and email fast. In some ways, it was easier than I expected. In other ways it was more difficult. I was "obligated" to check in on work email to prevent emergencies and I realized how internet dependent I have become.

We visited Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem, PA for the first time. It was a lot of fun.

I now have a GPS. This is sweet. A great gift; something that I now use constantly but never would have purchased for myself.

I surprised my daughter and wife with a trip to New York City to see the Mary Poppins show on broadway. It was a great show (extremely well done), a great day and a great time.

I got to spend lots of time catching up with my family. Here's a pic of my brother and I.

I have also been reading/listening to some great books. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah and The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman. These are two extremely interesting and profound books. I will review each in the coming weeks.

I thank God for the amazing blessings in my life and the opportunity to begin a new year refreshed and refocused. I'm excited to see what He has in store for 2008. Please join me in praying for the people of Kenya, particularly in the slums of Nairobi, as violence still breaks out in the aftermath of the election. You can get local news and updates here.