Humbled

I'm absolutely humbled by the faith testimony of this man, Roy "Pachedu" Bennett. He was just released from Zimbabwe's maximum security prison today after eight months of an unfair sentence.

I'm not ashamed to say it, I was moved to tears listening to his interview. He is part of my great cloud of witnesses.

Please take a look at this timeline which details the events from Roy's life and then listen to the interview (windows media player).

Here are pictures taken at his release.

Great fun was had by all

Brad, Bren, Heather, Justin, Obang and I had a blast last night at the Oliver Mtukudzi concert. The place was packed out and it was sweltering hot in there, but we had a good time.

Bren and I watched a great documentary on sex ed in Texas the other night. Check this out too. What do you think?

11:21 Update: Here's Focus on the family's response to the documenetary.

The madness continues

Remember this? Take a look a this. Which is crazier?

Hat tip: My wonderful wife, the beautiful, the vivacious, MaiChirindo!

The "U" and "I" in Community

As I promised a couple weeks ago, here the throwback post. I originally published this post on my old blog.

"To which would you rather belong, a team or a community? Which of the two demands more sacrifice, more loyalty? Is team or community better for all those involved?

The subtle endorsement in our society today favors the team approach. Think of all the different uses you hear for the word “team.” “There’s no ‘I’ in team,” the Romania spring missions team, president’s leadership team, the (insert the department you work in here) team, taking one for the team...and so forth. All these casual references intimate that the “team approach” is the ultimat prizm for our daily operation.

I beg to differ.

At the heart of this approach is the disgusting assumption that we’re in competition with each other. Doing better than or beating out other people is the goal of the team approach. So regardless of how we’re really doing in life, we’re constantly looking over our shoulders to see who’s closing in our performance. Proponents of this approach stress emphatically that it engenders unity between people as it affixes our attention on attaining the goal above all else. The incredible fallacy of this proposition is the very reason why I disagree so sharply with the team approach, and subsequently why you’re reading this entry.

Think about it for a moment, how can we promote unity by stressing a blatant disregard of the individual and the uniqueness therein? How can there be a team if there’s no “I” in team? Stripping the ambitions, abilities, and aspirations from individuals for the sake of unity does not promote unity. What it does is to encourage lagaar mindedness and/or groupthink, but never unity.

The proverbial sports team illustrates my point well. Imagine you’re on a team whose sole goal is to win a championship. Subsequently all the time and resources available to everyone on that team is directed at the goal. The only thing that matters to that team is the championship and all the necessary routes of getting to it. Nothing else can be as important, not even the very people who work hard to deliver that championship to the team. So the man-made goal (championship) supercedes men in importance.

That’s very frightening; unfortunately this team ideal is rampant in our capitalist society today. People everywhere, myself included, are constantly latching onto some cause so they can fit into some team. Any deviance from this mind set is quashed by the anti-individualism retort.

But here’s my biggest conniption with this idea of team, it does nothing for humanity. Because, as illustrated above, the team approach elevates the goal of the team to pinnacle importance above the value of the people on the team, team does nothing for the people. At the same time the team exploits those individuals who are part of it with minimal endorsement; it does little or nothing for those outside it. Due to the fact that the idea of victory is pivotal to the team approach, teams are either going against other people or merely excluding them. If you ever tried out for a sports team, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The dejection and rejection is so repugnant, you almost believe that you’re not good enough.

Therein lies the problem with the team approach: because goals and not the uniqueness of each human being on the team are the most important things to a team, peoples importance and value to the team is predicated upon what and how they can further the team’s pursuit of those goals. That is at odds with the biblical idea that you and I have insurmountable value simply by being creations of God the most high. Psalms 139 tells both you and me that we’re fearfully and wonderfully made. There’s a fear and an intrinsic wonder that accompanies your being that should never be taken for granted. The team approach is in direct opposition to this, remember, “there’s no ‘I’ in team.”

The community paradigm is a much better model of operation. From the very roots of the word—common unity—there is a deep regard for the value of each being. You can’t have common interests if you don’t individual interests. Notice, it’s about unity itself not unity around something else. Whatever community you can think of exists for the reason of unity. This allows the community approach to be more inclusive than the team approach: anyone, regardless of how or what they can do for cause is open to join the community because it exists for the unity of the interests of all individuals. Implicit in this is the idea that each individual and the premium they place on the goal is important. The community idea, because it draws from those things that you and I have as human beings, lends itself accessible to all people regardless of ability, race/gender or creed.

I humbly implore you to elevate your thinking above the groupthink of goals to focus on what we all have in common as people and to use those things to promote a coming together of our human family.

For the “U” and “I” in community."

It gets me pissed

In light of these poems from Beth and from Brad, here's my new offing that's been brewing for a while;

It gets me pissed

It gets me pissed
That Christians act like Pharisees; judgmental and self-righteous
Feigning reality and waxing poetic
Yet always cautious
That the charade will unravel, it’s pathetic
His grace is real you hear?
When your fake reel stops spinning
His angels will still surround you in front and the rear
No need to run from yourself,
He’ll carry all the burdens you can’t bear

It gets me pissed
That black people scream about racism and prejudice
While we look at the world through the same lens
Even worse, we treat ourselves like black ain’t the thing to be
Pointing out darker skin and toma ‘bout nappy hair
While our kin suffer and die in the penitentiary, urban slums and the motherland,
We don’t care
C’mon, get hip with this tip, let me give you a hand;
“The darker the berry, the sweeter the juice” and
“The darker the skin, the deeper the roots”

It gets me pissed
That my father died before I became a father
Just like his father before him
And now, there’s none other
To show me how to be a man and all the things I’m supposed to do
But I just said I do

It gets me pissed
That we can’t get over our leader
Even though he’s taking the country to the feeder
It gets me pissed that
We don’t even know what rights are ours
So with their reign calamity pours;
Two hundred thousand homeless, families helpless, little kids loveless
All this because someone thinks we’re less?
And yet we still don’t stand up
We wince but remain tearless,
And there’s still no hint that none of us fearless

It gets me pissed
That I can’t do a thing but sit here and wish,
That my words will change things with a swish
But I have no magic wand
So like the psalmist I must say,
“My life is in your hand.”

Cynic

You know me right, I'm very sceptical. Well, think again. I think this is pretty STUPID!

Hat tip: Brad

Homeward bound!

After the second of two sessions on what we should be teaching students at Christian colleges from Steven Garber (Author of The Fabric of Faithfulness), we're headed home. We anticipated a twelve hour drive with an ETA of around 10-11 tonight.

I mention this last session because it had a lot good question, but got me thinking and left me with a lot to unpack. It was also during the sessions that I learned of Tom Wolfe and his apparently perceptive writings on American cultures. Anyone who know's anything want to fill me in?

Back to Minnesota it is!

It's Friday!

Day two in Grand Rapids went well. Started the day with a great service and a speaker who reminded me that Christianity is not about us, it is about God. She admonished the modern church movement for self obsessing by letting our differences on how we should worship (style) get in the way of whether we worship at all.

She also used a great illustration to point out the interaction that should be going on amongst Christians. She said it should be like rocks sitting on each other: None of them the same, not fitting perfectly together and sometimes grinding abrasively against each other. She went on to admonish the "lone ranger" Christian mentality saying that if we are rocks building on each other, if one of us decides to do his/her own thing, they compromise the integrity of the whole.

I thought that was really cool and well put. Her point was this, "We must be before we can do." That is, everything we do must flow from the very core of who we are. We shouldn't be engaging the world because we have or because "that's what we're called to," it is who we are. You and I are the very presence of the living God on this earth today. So all we do must flow from that.

Since it got me thinking so much, this talk reminded me about an article I wrote a while ago which I'll put here soon.

Other than that, I got to spend some time with my wonderful team on the beach of Lake Michigan in a town called Holland. Bren you'll be happy to know that this town is the home of the largest tulip festival and largest parade in the country (besides the Rose Bowl Parade). It was beautiful out there.

Have a great day!

She's there!

I just talked to my sister Lani, she's in the Harare International Airport! She made it there safely. In her own words, the Harare landing was by far the best. Just thought you might want to know that.

In other news I'm in Milwaukee tonight en route to Grand Rapids Michigan. We take the ferry across Lake Michigan at the crack of dawn. I went to Miller Park tonight to watch the Brewers beat the Yankees. Good game, great stadium overall good night.

By the way, it's also my first night away from home and my wife since we got married. I'm sharing the room with two other guys. This feels...familiar, I'm sure I've shared a room with guys before:)

On the road

I leave for a work conference in Michigan for the rest of the week. I'm not looking forward to being away from home especially with so much going on that I must paying attention to. My friends geladean and Beth have great posts on their blogs. Stop by and check them out. I'll keep you posted throughout the trip whenever I can.

Oh, by the way, my sister Lani is on her way back to Zimbabwe for five weeks. It is really cool that she finally got to go. I can't wait to make that trip myself. Thanks to all of you for praying for this trip and for being so concerned.

"What if I want to?"

"My" day is almost over. Let me catch you up on what has happened since the last post. I got another card, six phone calls (one from the UK, one from New York City and another from New Jersey, one from the parents-in-law in Kansas, and the sister in law in Omaha, and a local one), a great dinner from my WIFE, and a couple really nice messages on my blog! This is way more than I wanted, I wanted very little, in fact I was hoping for nothing.

See, truth be told, I struggle with kindness towards me and appreciation from other people. I just can't handle it. Why? Because I can't do it back, I feel like I could NEVER be as nice as the next person has been to me. I feel inadequate. So I try my best to avoid being on the receiving end of someone's kindness, yet I know I give and will sometimes FORCE my kindness on others.

Bren has a really great retort for those obstinent moments in my life when I try and block her kindness to me with my classic, "But you don't HAVE to do that for me, I don't need..." In her most authentic and emotionally genuine voice (and sometimes with tears in her eyes,) she says, "Kundai, what if I want to do it for you?"

At that moment, I'm left stone cold. Helpless and hapless, I must surrender and indulge her kind affection. All of you have had these moments with me, some maybe more than others.

I need to work on that for all you my dear friends.

I know you've probably been frustrated beyond comprehension at my desperate attempts to avoid your kindness. I apologize, Tom, Melissa, Justin, Brad, Bren, Ang, and everyone else that's tried to be kind to me and I've tried to dodge it.

I realize now and will try to keep in mind that (in Bren's words), "...you wanted to do it for me."

Birthday so far

...I've been to two party's at work (one during the Admissions staff meeting and the other in Communications and Marketing); received two cards,an e-card, and one text on my phone; had lunch waiting on my desk when I got back from the staff meeting (from my wonderful wife), and have talked to my wonderful mom already. This is perfect, I'm utterly satisfied with how the day's going so far.

It's my Birthday today!

Leave me messages in my comments!

Casual day

It's casual day! This means I get to wear jeans to work. Ya Brad shutup, you don't need special days at your work to wear jeans. Speaking of special days, these are special days at your work. How's all that going so far. Let me know! Brad, you know your inquiry, I'm following up on that an important link in that case will be at my house soon. So expect more info.

Ok back to me and my casual day. The cause for this casual day; a celebration in our office. A celebration for what you say. Freedom in parking. See when you work at a college, parking is a real skullbreaker. You can't go back home to pick up the important item you forgot, you can't leave campus for lunch, you can't come in late ALL because if you do any of those you lose your parking spot. You're then left to circle around in the parking lot with the other vouchers looking for someone else's spot to scavenge. When summer comes along, as it has, the students leave and the parking crunch eases up. Then and only then can you enjoy "Freedom in Parking." So we celebrate.

We only work half the day then stop for lunch and a movie in the latter half of the day! You're off to work, I'm off to party!