Marc’s Musings

This will be the movie for the men’s small group. We’ll start at 7 p.m. sharp at our house.

POST KINSHIP UPDATE: I’m having a blast with this kinship format. We are having wonderful conversations about meaningful topics.

After Spiderman 3, we talked about things like:

• marriage (when are you ready),
• male-female communications (Peter is painfully stupid in this regard…but I be we are too!),
• revenge, forgiveness (and how good revenge can feel but then it takes over and owns you), and more.

After Amistad, we talked about:

• story (you aren’t where you’re from, so who are you?),
• the perceptions of Christian action (how good it can be and how goofy), the way we tend to mark out territory (the Africans united on the ship, divided by tribe in prison),
• self-promotion and humility in the life of a Christian, and more

There are even a couple scenes where Christians are trying to help but we get to see how that looks to the tribal people from Africa. Very insightful on how things that are normal to us may appear to others.

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.
- GK Chesterton

Over the last couple days, I’ve been looking at how was can work to end slavery. (See Seek justice, encourage the oppressed, Part 2 to catch up.)

Here are a few more ideas on how to work to end slavery:

• We can learn more, facing the brutal reality, and pray we grow in God’s compassion to the people victimized by this rather than be hardened with indifference.
• We can match movies like Human Trafficking and read books like the ones below. Sold and Vanish are fiction books based on reality. One takes place in Southeast Asia, the other in the US. Both are chillingly similar. (There’s a more extensive list at Human Trafficking and Slavery Related Movies and Documentaries on the Foreign Policy Blog. (Use your own discretion. I haven’t seen or read all of these.)
• We can read the New York Times Magazine’s 2004 indepth report “The Girls Next Door”.
• We can be pickier about the clothes we wear and thing we buy.
• We can join causes like Not For Sale! on Facebook.com.
• And we can of course send money to organizations like International Justice Mission.

We live in the richest nation on earth. There’s no excuse for every American to be giving more than 10% of their income to charity: tithing to their church and supporting other causes. God will ask us did with the wealth He trusted us with, whether we’d consider our current income wealth or not.

God freed us. Why would we not do anything in our power to free others?

This is why I’m so proud of people in our church like Janice Murray who’s leading an Addicts Victorious group, helping people get free of things that addict them. That’s actively fighting against slavery. And the affects of that group could have global impact!

In an earlier post, I mentioned the shock of seeing my weight gain from January 2007 to December 2007.

I just turned 36. I’d been hoping my age would finally catch up with waistline. Alas, my waistline stayed out in front of me. *sigh*

So here are a few of the things I’m doing this year to reverse that 10% growth.

• I’ll be increasing the protein in my diet. According to Dr. Al Sears, protein tells my body that “the hunting is good” and I don’t need to convert my food into fat. No need for my body to hoard. (He also advocates cutting out grains. I’m not willing to go there yet!)
• I’ll be drinking less beer and wine. It turns out that a beer has about 150 calories. Just one beer a night adds up to over 1000 extra calories a week. Apparently, that’s around 15 additional pounds a year! Very close to my 20 pounds!

  I’ve already started this. It’s really easy to grab a cup of tea or a glass of water rather than a beer. Who’d have thunk?!

• I’ll be cutting down desserts. I liked a couple desserts a day. But that’s a lot of sugar (which I think makes me eat more) and “empty” calories. So I’m going to limit to Wednesday and weekends. Or just Wednesdays and Sundays. We’ll see how it works!

  (I can rationalize not abstaining on the Sabbath–Friday night and Saturday–and there’s ample historic evidence that Sunday is a Christian feast day. So not eating dessert on Sunday wouldn’t make sense. Ah the joys of rationalization!)

• I’ll be eating more fruits and vegetables. My awareness of these plummeted last year. But these are too important to neglect.
• As a matter of fact, I’m committing to eating more “real” food than “low fat” or “low carb” chemical lab concoctions. Since I like food, particularly real food, this year I’ll learn to enjoy it more slowly, as opposed to shoveling it down.
• Portion control. Ever since I did Weight Watchers years ago, I’ve been amazed at how small portion sizes really are. And how satisfying. I’m going to watch my portions–not just “watch them go into my mouth”! Keeping them smaller will certainly help.
• I’ll keep drinking a gallon of water a day. The health benefits of 8 glasses a day are dubious, but I know I have fewer zits when I stay well hydrated. That’s enough motivation for me!
• Last year, I added an additional 2 months of circuit training simply by working out 12 times per month rather than 10. Thank God! I’m scared to think of how much more weight I’d have gained had I not done that!

  This year, I’ll keep up the 12 visits per month. But I’m adding aerobics and calesthenics. Probably an eliptical workout 2-3 times a week. (I’ve started this and it seems sustainable.) I’m coming to grips with how incredibly sedentary my life is: sitting in front of a computer at a desk, sitting behind the wheel, or sitting in front of a laptop on the couch. Certainly less activity than my farming forebears experienced in a typical day. So I’ll augment that with stepping up the exercise. Literally.

Overall, I think this is quite sustainable. Basically eat less, exercise more.

Yesterday I suggested making a resolution to work to end slavery. That was the first in a 3-part look at this commitment and my wrestling with what to do about it.

Little did I know that January 11, 2008 was Human Trafficking Awareness Day!

And I know that it’s often US citizens that are creating the “demand” for this trade.

I have a huge problem with our government spraying drug crops in Latin America or twisting those governments to when it’s our own citizens buying the drugs. Trade is supply and demand. Trying to eradicate the supply is one way to stop the traffic. One that doesn’t cause us to confront our own demons as a country. We can just blame “them,” those guys over there.

But the truth is, if we Americans didn’t by drugs, the drug producers would eventually go out of business.

Same with the sex trafficking. If we were able to free people from the bondage of pornography and abuse, we might be doing our part to curb the demand.

This may be a place to start.

Even though it’s mid-January, I’m still hearing a lot about New Year Resolutions. So I thought I might offer one for your consideration: working to end slavery.

Seriously.

There are currently around 27 million slaves on the planet. That’s more than the twice the total number of slaves taken from Africa in the 300 to 400 years of the transatlantic slave trade.

27 million.

And I’m not refering to the kind of “slavery” we sort of joke about in our middle-class terminology, working for a hard boss or being up to our ears in consumer debt.

I’m talking about 27 million men, women, and children sold against their will into slavery with no hope of release. Men, women, and children forced into making rugs, rolling cigarrettes, making bricks. And more often that not being forced to have sex. “Rape for profit” as the International Justice Mission calls it.

Kids the age of all three of my kids: 2, 5, and 8. It’s sickening.

And I don’t really know what to do about it.

But God’s had my wife and I on a steep learning curve for the last few months. Human trafficking and sex trafficking books and articles keep finding their way to us.

What’s shocking is that slavery is so involved in so much of our normal life here in the USA. It’s even involved with much of the chocolate we eat.

I do know I can ask God to keep at me until I overcome my apparent indifference.

And I can support groups like International Justice Mission and others. (I’d love to figure out how my fundraising experience could be used to help them!)

Researching microwave popcorn prices for a Vineyard Church of Waterville outreach, I came across this post: How to make your own microwave popcorn.

I knew bulk popcorn was cheaper. But I had no idea how easy it was to make it in the microwave!

Mark Batterson’s Lion Chaser’s Manifesto is so inspiring! Read it and live it:

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshiping what’s right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze new trails. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don’t try to be who you’re not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away.

If you’re not familiar with In the Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars, check Amazon or your local bookstore. It’s a great inspirational read inspired by one of King David’s Might Men of Valor.

I’m excited about a new program I’m facilitating for Inland Hospital’s Birthing Center and Silvermount Women’s Healthcare. Here’s an announcement:

Boot Camp For New Dads, a program for first-time and new fathers, is being offered at Inland beginning in February.

The class is a one time 3 hour Saturday morning workshop covering not only baby care and fatherhood but also the needs of new mothers. Activities will include hands-on opportunities for prospective dads to practice baby care skills under the guidance of veteran dads who bring their new babies to class and an interactive session featuring the best advice veteran dads can offer the rookies.

2008 Boot Camp for New Dads workshops will be held on February 9, June 21, and October 25 in the Ford Grant Conference Room and is facilitated by Inland Foundation Director and veteran dad, Marc Pitman.

The workshops, offered free of charge for fathers-to-be and new fathers in the Waterville area, is sponsored by Silvermount Women’s Health Care and the Birthing Center at Inland Hospital. Pre-registration is required.

For more information about Boot Camp for New Dads please call 861-3392 or visit www.inlandhospital.org.

If you know anyone that’s going to have a baby in the next 2-3 months, encourage them to attend. This is going to be a great time!

And if you know any guys who’ve had babies (or whose wives have had babies!!!) in the last 2-3 months, let me know. They might be able to be some of the veteran dads!

Today I invited the folks of the Vineyard Church of Waterville to join me in praying this every day for our selves and our church:

And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.” So God granted him what he requested.
–I Chronicles 4:10 NKJV

To find out more of why I think this is a wonderful opportunity for us, listen to today’s sermon. Go to:
- the Vineyard Church of Waterville sermon page or
- click here for the direct link of the mp3 of today’s sermon “Don’t Come up Short: Abide”