When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush.

He answered by saying that, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return was enough to bury those that did not return."

It became very quiet in the room.

having tea with bea and andrew, but i still need a hamburger, hopefully this tea thing won't last too long. (kidding, i'm looking forward to getting to know andrew).

you better be here @ wabi.

wabiSABI has started and i'm already missing it, go read andrew's blog to see what i mean. hopefully i can get my stuff done early today and get out of the office...SOON!

this isn't going to be a come listen to whomever pitch some propaganda about some agenda to do whatever the latest ministry kick is. it is going to be the people of God come together to share encouragement, differences, support, love, community, discipleship, and God only knows what else (really). please come be a part of this with me, with us.

blessings! - see you in Austin!

not too late to come to wabiSABI.

wabi is taking on a life of its own which is great - come add your part. never before have i seen the body of christ demonstrated so profoundly as with this (i.e. we all have different giftings and talents, but yet we are all important).

pray for our troops!

a big storm rolled in last night and a thunderclap hit nearby and i thought the windows were going to blow out of the house. i guess that's as close as i can get to understanding what the people of iraq are going through. i still support our government and their efforts 100%, but hurt for those that are scared for their lives. hopefully this will be over soon and the iraqis can rebuild their lives in a post-saddam world.

also learned this week that the brother of a good friend of mine, Andy Sparkman, is with the 101st ground forces that are constantly in the news. father protect him.

upray - a KCM website, but still worth a look

inspections?

i like what gary bauer said on fox news this morning..."we finally have 250,000 real inspectors in iraq."

btw ~ on the first day of this war iraq fired 7 scud missles that saddam swore he didn't have and that were against the un resolution for him to have in his possession.

why

here's why i feel so strongly...a few weeks ago i watched several iraqi nationals talk about the struggle the iraqi people had gone through under saddam's reign. they were afraid for their lives and those of their families living there. they were all witnesses to the starvation and torture imposed upon the people by the government. the only hope they had was for someone like the US to come in and overthrow the gov't and help to restore some form of leadership that would promote economic well being and stability. the other part of that equation is that if the regime changes, the trade sanctions might be removed and the necessary food and medical supplies could enter their country. many more iraqis die everyday from the restriction of the sanctions than the war will ever kill. saddam and his army are probably the only ones not hungry in the country. we are not fighting the iraqi people, we are fighting FOR them. i am saddened that people don't understand that.

November 7, 1997: Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz: "The American government says openly, clearly, that it's not going to endorse lifting the sanctions on Iraq unless the leadership of Iraq is changed."

go get 'em W

the events of last night and today make me proud to be an American, while at the same time hurting for those that will inevitably be caught in the crossfire. i am proud that our president and leaders are removing a planetary nuisance and trying to construct a better government all while being as careful as possible. i saw a guy on cnn talk about the smart weapons, the targeting procedures, the contingency plans, and all the other protocols they go through to only destroy what absolutely needs to be. every pre-caution to protect civilian lives is being addressed. saddam is the one who puts babies and children in harms way, not us. thank God for W.

by the way - the surgical strike last night was probably the best thing we could have done under the circumstances. i guess we will know later this week how effective that was.

i was dropping off some wabi information this morning at TBC in kerrville and I got to hear nathan play and lead worship for a few minutes. if you never have heard him, you need to, really. hopefully later this year we all will be able to drive around town listening to his music as he has been working hard on a worship project. be in prayer for him as he does this, i understand that recording can be exhausting work.

i am once again on my way to new orleans - 2nd time this month - for business, so i'm kinda rushed....

one last thing - we need people with big cars, vans, SUVs or whatever to help transport people around for wabi. some of our vehicle support has fallen through and now we have some big needs. this mostly will involve driving people from the motels to FBC austin or the friday nite event or wherever. you can come drive or trade cars with me or whatever is easiest. we really have a need for this, so please contact me, dianna, shannon, or jessica as soon as you think that this may be your thing.

gotta run.

drink deeply of the Father today!

"5 is too small, i want to be 6, that's big"

today is my son's 6th birthday. 6 - not 5 or 4 (which were very hard for me) but 6. when i look at him and all that we've been through it sometimes seems like a hundred years and sometimes it seems like yesterday.

the thing that i cherish the most about my son is that many of you have had an integral part in our life with him. Specifically shannon helped us pay for the motel during one of tyler's surgeries, nathan and amy decorated our house for our return from the last surgery, and bea has made special trips to kerrville when she was in austin last year just to pray for tyler's physical healing - which started happening immediately and has continued ever since.

i thank my God for you who have invested so heavily in my life, in dianna's, and in tylers. we could not have made it without you, really. i think i understand why paul says that he thanks God every time he remembers those that supported him. just like paul, i love and need you guys in my life.

so bring on the cake (star wars of course) and let the journey continue.

get outta here

i like what shannon and nathan said better than anything i've said lately so go read their stuff...links are on the right!
blessings.

i just updated some of my links, now that i have found that some of you actually go there.

one that i am the most excited about it triad design. it is the creativity of anita roach, one of our moderators for wabiSABI. i am excited about meeting her and experiencing her work and i think you should be too.

just got back from lunch mass ~ wow ~ it was the coolest ever.

i had never been to our local catholic church, in fact the place was kinda spooky because of the 10' tall brass mary at the front. i went with a co-worker who was a regular attendee and she explained everything to me or at least as much as she could in the given time without being disrupting to anyone.

the scripture reading was intense, the songs a little monotone, but the ritual of the liturgy was incredible. it was quite participatory and interactive which connected with me very well. i think it might get too routine if i did this every week, but for special biblical occasions like this, it was powerful. i can't wait for the easter service.

happy ash wednesday ~ go to your local neighborhood church to experience ash wednesday mass. i'll tell you about mine later today.

run, run rudolph, run

it is frustrating to me that us wabis have to be multi-talented, meaning we have to figure out how to be true to our wabi-ness, while at the same time be skilled in playing all the sabi games. until we wabis are making all the rules, we have to abide by those put in place by the sabis - which to me looks more like a big game, than a rational regime.

maybe that's where i come in. i can talk church-ese and be diplomatic and i try to keep up with all the emerging information that is out there. who knows? sometime i wonder if wabiSABI will be the greatest ministry thing i've ever been a part of or if it will be another jim jones misadventure. i hope it isn't the later - i'm currently just saying NO to red kool-aid.