The greatest of these

What comes to mind when you think of church?

Old ladies in dresses? Donuts and stale coffee? Or is it rock music and slick mega-churches? I challenge anyone reading this to throw away their pre-conceived notions or prior experiences and consider this: Church is not a building. It's not a service, and it's certainly not a ritual. The church is you. And me. And any one else that comes together to worship God. A super strong church is made up of super strong people, even if there are only two, or three or ten of them. A strong chuch has nothing to do with wealth, or education, or race, or even the past histories of its members. A strong church is strong because it is faithful and committed to constant spiritual growth.

I had the honor of visiting one of the strongest churches I've even been to this past weekend. It is a small, one room storefront church in a very bad section of Inglewood, smack in the middle of Los Angeles. My friend Ron (one of the members of my men's group) and a pastor have been in the area for over a year now, bringing kids in the area to church and ultimately to Christ. After the last building they were in was hit by a car and condemned, they moved to this building. A man they call the Bishop lives there, and has allowed them to continue their ministry from his building.

Friday night Ron did the service and I went along. Two white guys rolling in a honda civic through a neighborhood where guys are selling drugs on the corner, going to pick up a bunch of kids and take them to church. You really can't get any crazier than that.

We sang Christmas carols off key and misprounced almost every word we read out of the bible, but it was one of the strongest church services I'd been to in a long time. Ron had recieved over a hundred and fifty toys to give out, and the day after this service over a hundred kids came to church and sang and danced and got the only gifts many would receive this holiday season.

Stay tuned for more from this little church. You can expect good things to happen here.

Pictures:

It's official

Analog Photos

I have an old russian camera that takes really moody photos. I took about three rolls when I was in Italy, but they've been sitting at home (undeveloped) ever since I got back. I really wish I could have the ease of digital with the mood of my Lomo. I guess there are some things that technology just can't make better....

A little perspective

Most people simply don't realize how much charity goes on in the world. The news doesn't cover it. You rarely see it in the paper. But every single day, there are a a very very large number of people that a) need help and b) give help.

Last Saturday, at a warehouse in the middle of nowhere, over two thousand volunteers from schools, churches, boy scouts, etc, came together to wrap over 100,000 stuffed animals to give to underpriviledged kids this Christmas. The warehouse was donated. The toys were donated from TY. Everything was donated. Target was there. So was Frito Lay. It was pretty awesome, and that is seriously just the tip of the charitable cause iceberg.

Here are some photos of the place, and a couple of guys from my men's/church group:

My Other Alter-Ego

We had our first major team meeting this week. It was pretty amazing to listen to so many guys talk about teamwork and the race schedule. Looks like we'll be going all over California to race.

I get my USCF license in mail in a week or so...