I don’t remember a lot of things about being a really little kid.  I remember our carpet was a weird color, (I attribute that to the 80′s)  I remember my parents got along (or seemed to get along) a lot better when I was little.  I remember catching flies with my sister, and I remember what my dad looked like.  I mean.  I remember very specifics about my dad.

My dad had a mustache, and always tried to kiss us, and we gave him a hard time about the scruff. My dad was always wearing a suit.  My dad always wore sunglasses, very similar to aviators, but a little less Top Gun and a little more… Miami Vice.  I remember that he always wore a belt. (Just wait til your dad gets home)  and I remember that no matter where we went, he demanded respect for all of us.  Best of all, I remember hearing change jingling around and knowing that daddy was home.

I have been thinking.  What do I want my little kid to remember as.  Should I have a beard or shave?  Should I keep my glasses or get contacts?  I think these kind of things stick with a person their whole life, and I want them to be good memories.  Should I start carrying around 3 dollars in change, so that whenever my son (ok ok, or daughter) hears the noise of change jingling, they think of dear old dad?

It’s rough.  What if we do have a girl, and I keep the beard.  What if my daughter grows up to be attracted to creeps with beards.  To top it off, some creep with beards AND tattoos!  *sigh* I don’t know if I can handle that.

What if I shave my beard, and my son grows up never seeing one, or being scared of them.  All because I shaved.  Jeez.  Maybe I’m over thinking it, but some of the earliest things I remember are the ones that stick with me, in my good memories.  I will never forget my dad’s mustache, and the sound of change jingling.  Or the smell of old spice and cigarettes. (and sometimes vodka or beer..) I love those things.  I want my child to look back and be happy. It’s a lot to think of.

What do you remember about your childhood that lights up your day?

yes. I switched webhosting. Obviously something went kind of wrong… But at least I got all of the data. So, you can still click around. You just don’t get the prettiness there was. Go look at some old stuff.

Comment some old stuff. Rock it! I’ll be fixing the rest later. Also, go look at http://www.makinghimfamous.net

We are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside… but one day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that mean and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed.  True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a better.  It comes to see that a system that produces beggars needs to be repaved.  We are called to be the Good Samaritan, but after you lift so many people out of the ditch you start to ask, maybe the whole road to Jericho needs to be repaved.

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“A Time to Break the Silence” Sermon

The more I think about my life and my faith, I am more and more convinced that this isn’t what He meant.  The more I think that there is more to this than donating money to the Salvation Army.  I am not bashing these charities, they do great things, and I recognize that.  But, I wonder why we have set up these establishments to pacify the poor?

Dr. King put it so gracefully, “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a better.  It comes to see that a system that produces beggars needs to be repaved.”  The poor are sick and tired, the middle class is sick and tired, the rich are sick and tired.  So what are we doing right?  Working 50+ hours a week, to buy that new ring, and make the C-note?  To pay the gas, or to get the water turned back on?  To flip a quarter to a poor man to feel good about ourselves, and so the poor man might get something to drink?  The road is broken.  Who are we to rebuild?

What I’m saying is, change doesn’t start in the Oval Office. (Sorry B.O)  Change starts right here, with you and me.  What are we called to?  As Shane Claiborne put it, when we get to Heaven, I’m not so sure Jesus will say, ‘When I was hungry, you gave to a food kitchen, and they fed me, when I was naked, you gave to Salvation Army, and they clothed me.’

Do you get it?  What are we doing to the least of these?  Who are the Least of these?  Is our annual donation/tax write off good enough?  Does that fulfill your heart?  Not mine.  Old christian cultures used to say, if they didn’t have enough for even the poor to eat, everyone in the community would fast until they had enough food to go around.  How long would we be fasting?  Geez.  I don’t want to think about it.

What I do want to think about is the light of hope.  The light WE are called to shine on this world.  Not this country, but the entire world.  The Mexicans and the Somalians.  We have a responsibility to the least of His children.  What can we do?  Surely we can at least feed them and cloth them, right?