Copenhagen

and as i wrote the previous entry
my battery goes dead and obama walks past
with a very grim expression, everyone
thought he was storming out but no
he’d just been in talks with the chinese.
just now a french delegate tells me that
brazil has stormed out of the talks.
this is all so sad. still peace and goodwill
to all men. love and understanding.
just no more business as usual ok??
this is all starting to really feel like
some enormous vaguely pointless corporate expo.

Thom Yorke on the Radiohead blog, 18 December 2009, reporting from the UN Climate Change Conference.

Throwing Things

Once I know what beliefs and emotions
are behind my kids’ bad behavior,
it is a million times easier
to craft an effective response.

Why is Fiona
throwing things in
the grocery cart? Is
she bored? Craving my
attention? Remember that
often kids don’t know why they
are doing something, so just asking
them outright might not work. But I’ve learned
over time that when my kids are acting really big
(screaming, for example) they are often feeling very small.

From Half Full: Science for Raising Happy Kids. Submitted by Marika Rose.

IS

is
it true
that postmodern people
do not believe in
absolute truth?
and if so
why cant we
find any real-life people
who fit this description?
and if there are none
but only straw men?
then who
is
our
enemy?
because
if we cant find an enemy
(where are all those atheists
when we need them?)
how will ministries
raise money?
or
even worse
if postmodern
people
are
actually
MORE open
to the story of God
than people
thought
then
why have
our churches failed so miserably
to attract them?
and
whose job is it
to communicate the gospel
THEIR JOB to understand
or OUR JOB to create
understanding?
and
therefore
does THE CHURCH
need
to change
the way it is
doing things?
but then
if
transition
means change
and change brings loss
and nobody likes to lose anything then
it may be easier
for the church
to just point the finger
at the emerging generation
and say that we failed
in the
Great Commission
and it is all your fault for
not holding to the paradigm
that has worked for our fathers
we have good news
for modern man
but not for you
sorry
if you can change
the way you process information
then we have a message
from God
for you
for
apparently
either God is not able
to speak to you in
your language
or
we
the church
need to go back
to the drawing board
and yet if we are honest
we have too much investment
in our drawing board
to rethink it
in todays
world
unless
of course
we begin to believe
that the story of God
is already making sense
to postmodern people who see
truth personified in The One Absolute
He Who Can Be Trusted
He Who Is
Is Truth
Is Way
He is
Life
IS

From Andrew Jones’s post on tallskinnykiwi, 5 December 2003. Submitted by Marika Rose.

When

When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter.
When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter.
When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter.
When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter.
When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter.
When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter.
When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.
When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.
When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.
When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.
And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.

Seth Godin’s blog post You Matter, 15 June 2009.