Break from the action

I haven't blogged much, I have been taking a much needed break from writing my thoughts on this lovely gift the internet provides called a blog. I usually write about my thoughts on Christ and the nature of Christian life mostly from a quasi-left wing approach. I overlook the righteouness and preach about the social justice topics and spend little time on the action myself. I spend a lot of time voicing change and loving your neighbor and struggle with practicing it myself. I get angry easily but I rarely react with anger, I get frustrated with myself at times, and distract myself from what I want to accomplish. I'm tired...the neighbors dog barks at odd hours of the night, I daydream about distant lands and solid loving relationships with others. Those who are close to me know I basically live for laughter, it makes my day when I see a smile and know I may have been apart of it. The best is when a person has a genunie "hard" laugh. one that possibly bring joy to the other persons day.

My anger usually is a self-critical type-cast orientation of pain. I then attempt to mold that pain into something humourous. I try to take a jovial approach to life, I laugh at myself all time (sometimes I'm the only one laughing). I do enjoy a good laugh. I don't know where the phrase comes from but "laughter, is pains medicine." I recently (today) gave a presentation on ways to raise a persons self-esteem. I wanted to sound like a person working for a pyramid sceme. The power of persuasion! I want people to truly be happy, I want to see people smile. The beautiful thing about facial expressions is the universality of them. Smiling is truly contagious. I'm learning more and more that life is simple, living it hard at times.

I'm a arrogant and egotistical person just like everybody else but the beauty of awareness and application can be transformational. Many of the people I hang out with are Christians who try to love God and love people and are believers in Jesus, the following part is the hardest part. We agree on that note. Theres a great part in the Bible, where Paul is addressing the Romans about spiritual gifts, find those gifts and use them (i'm a skeptic when it comes to speaking in tongues though).

I wanted this one to be shorter then my usual posts. love ya!
Try going beyond the CNNs or the FOX News. Check out a newspaper from a different country and find out what is really going on. I was thinking about when I was in St. Louis last summer. We were blessed with the chance to meet and eat with Iraqi refugees. In the United States, there is a pretty lopsidded ideal that people in the Middle East hate us, so we in turn hate them. We discussed with this family how it was wrong and we only see what the media potrays to us. They were not anti-american at all and wanted to voice there story.

Make friends with an international student. I have had the priviledge of meeting a group of friends from the Southern portion of Sudan and have talked with them about the Darfur genocide by the militant Janjaweed, but there is a disconnect between the south and the north. They avoid the North, but obviously care. I am grateful for their testimonies and expressions but i wanted to meet with someone from the North. I met with a friend who introduced me to a guy who needed needed help editting and piecing together an independent study assignment. He happened to be from the north and is writing a piece on Darfur. I am blessed to have met him because he can now share with me his testimony and thoughts on what is going on there.

Who needs a hug? I'm getting good at it.