Metro Relational Evangelism

Home missions in the 21st century presents an interesting challenge for all of us. We do so much more than just hand out tracts or invite people to church. We have a responsibility to show our beliefs through our actions. Every day, every minute.. wherever we are.

From a recent article on the ministries METRO BAPTIST in NYC. quoting Ronnie Adams.
"The whole idea here of reaching people for Christ is relational evangelism," Adams said. "It’s a long-term process of letting them see how God is reflected in your life, and through that having an opportunity to share with them about faith and our walk with Christ and why its important to us."

Valborg

Today is Valborg. Sweden´s favourite day of the year, haha. The day when you´re "allowed" to get as drunk as you can possibly get and then make jokes about it for the rest of the year. It´s the student´s day and it´s celebrated BIG time here in Uppsala. I often wonder what we really are celebrating, May 1 I guess but why ? What is so special ? Why can´t we then celebrate June 1 or September 1 or the national day ? We are off that day but no one really celebrates...weird country, hahaha...

I didn´t go down to town to get drunk. I chose to be sober =). Sis and I were planning to go down just to chill and eat a McFlurry (now when they have an offer and they only cost SEK 10 ;P) but the sun wasn´t really shining, so who wants to eat ice-cream when the sun ain´t shining ? We went for a lot of walks instead...

and then we brought mummy along to eat hamburgers - yeah, again ! - at the new burger place MAX. It was a hell of a road getting there though...I was like "erm...where the heck are we !?"

But then we finally found it and got our burgers...

I really eat hamburger too often nowadays...pizza too...shame, shame =.=...I´m gonna get better. Decided not to eat any more hamburgers nor pizzas until summer. Really hope I´ll keep my promise ! Bye for now...soon it´s Grey´s Anatomy

Remember this?

...do you remember in 1999 hearing this song and thinking, this is so lame..but um, wish it was around for my graduation. :D
I don't know why but I have been thinking about this song lately, so I had to track it down and here it is. ;) peace enjoy

haha...;P

And I thought our attic was horrible...

Prep: Chowan Creation

I sit here this morning.. preparing for a Creation performance at Chowan University in NC tonight.  I look out the windows of my sun room and I see the budding leaves. I hear the rain drop against both the leaves and the roof..  Only a few weeks ago, this scene was stark, almost cold. I could see the neighbors houses clearly. Today, the explosion of the color green is hard to describe. so many shades.. so much of it where there was none before. Vines, weeds, grass, all working together. Green is the common denominator for all of them. 

The rain sustains them. It washes away the pollen that has so troubled my days of late. The water cleanses and sustains. 

Web Links on Creation that I don't want to lose:

Creating the Creation - Sandow

Re Creation - Sandow

Creation

shop, shop, shop, shop ´til you drop

Uppsala´s favourite mall - Gränby Centrum. 5 min walk from where we live. Dangerous ? Apparently...at least today, hehe...=) Every store we went into we came out with 1-2 bags and we ended up with...yeah...a lot...=P

I was thinking of buying this pretty one for SEK 398 but I´m not stupid when I could get this...

for SEK 49 x)
Then I also bought...

and...

Talk about dressing up, huh !? LOL...

Home. Sis did some runway with her pretty bargains and then mummy ordered pizza. God, I love Liljehallen´s Hawaii xD.

Problem with a great performance

Clarke Bustard wrote a nice review of the Richmond Symphony's performance of Stravinksy and Bartok.. I heard a wonderful performance/theater review presented by Chris Hester on Thursday night. There were probably hundreds of wonderful performance around the country in just the last week. Actually, there is no probably about it. I am sure there were.

Musicians and artists are driven to achieve something special in their performance, or in their artwork. In the case of musicians, this presents a problem because the only thing left is to do it again. The impermancence of a great performance is a both a burden and an opportunity. We have something left to do. We can't recreate it, but we can explore our art, ourselves and the music and seek something new next time.

Let's just hope that there is always a next time.

One last thought here. Church musicians are struck by this reality regularly. A colleague of mine used to call Sundays the "relentless return of the Sabbath". It provides a sense of humility and will overwhelm anyone not ready for the long haul of vocational music ministry. No matter what we do today, we will always have to do something else next week. Again, this is both an obstacle and an opportunity. It is all about our perspective and approach.

The mission is the journey, the exploration.. never the event!

Women's fancy shawl...

...this is also a good video of some good dancing fancy shawl...look at the feet. It's not like here in Cali, this is what I guess you would call a "down home" video. ;) peace

Work is kind of kicking my ass!

Believe me, I am trying to kick back but it's not working. I only have a few weeks left in this position and then my contract is up and I am being tugged apart from different people clamoring to get their projects finished before my end date. People, relax...life is wonderful and so am I, it'll happen...my way. I don't need IM's, phone calls, emails etc. I know what needs to be done and I am on top of it, you are messing with my euphoria that engulfs me when I think of walking out on my last day knowing I will not grace those doors again. That guard shack, the turn style, the locked doors only opened with my badge. The cubicle where I never get to talk to anyone face to face or even on the phone (well except recently people have been calling)...my communication is just IM an email...IM and email....IM AND EMAIL!! I am a people person! I look forward to my next job, office gossip...lunch with co-workers actually using my voice to talk to someone face to face. Ahhh...life will be good. Until then, I wish I was able to come home to one of these guys and just rest my head and be told...everything is going to be ok. ;) peace

Fancy Shawl, Crow Hop

...here is a pretty good vid of a crow hop. You all know I'm about being traditional but this actually is not that bad, old school wise.

it ain´t summer folks !

Skirts, shorts and halters - that was what I met during the whole day in school =.=. Okay it was sunny but for God´s sake it was 16 or maybe 17 °C ! It´s not hot, or maybe in the sun but the air was cold and windy. I was freezing and I could´t care less about the other weirdo people, if they want to wear summerdresses and short pants - their decision if the want to freeze to death...but I just thought it had gone too far when I was on my way home from school and saw a guy and his friend being out playing with a frisbee - and he was bare on the upper part of his body IN APRIL !
I just had to get this out, hehe...what´s wrong with these people ?! I mean the sun is their God, that I known for a long time ago but it still shocks me...think about when it´s 25-30 °C, is everyone gonna walk around topless ? hahahaha...gosh this country is funny...

Another funny thing; mummy was toasting a slice of bread and all the sudden flames came up from the toaster ! She told me later that she was so panicked she even considered to throw water over it, thank God she didn´t then she might had catched a electroshock ! She just blew at the flames and plugged out the contact - smart move...LOL... the only not so funny thing is that now the toaster is in the garbage and I won´t be able to eat no more toasted bread =(...

This ain't right....

...no really, it's not.
;)peace

life is a roller coaster

Today my life´s been a roller coaster, going up high, high and then going down, down without even given you time to catch your breath...first you do the act (deciding to go for a ride) then you have to take the concequences (screaming, feeling like your soul is coming out of your nostrils and begging that someone out there will save you). Okay, my day wasn´t really that exaggerating but it had some facts that were alike...


Started with perfection, haha...my hair was made in a perfect topknot, which is really hard actually and I just made it right after getting up, before I was washing my face ! Talk about morning skills !!! xD

Then Mandana and I made a perfect tuna and broccoli-pie...

Then I had other lessons of course but I felt so tired I just wanted to go home...so a white lie later I skipped PE...mummy was at home when I got there and that´s when the bomb dropped...now we made up again, cause that what´s best friends do =) but from now on I promise to attend every class no matter how tired or sick of school I am ! That´s why I´m writing it here so everyone can see that I will and have made a promise to myself. Just 10 lessons left...but I can do this =)

classy night - so much fun xD

Finally I have some time over to sit down and just update my blog, haha. Yesterday all the girls were invited to Klara´s crib to hang out because her parents have gone away for the weekend. All the 8 of us, a girl in my class I wasn´t so happy about coming (but still we made it a rememberable night) and a girl called Julia. She was really nice. Really needed to hang out like this with my new friends and just leave all the shit and my crappy french test I did yesterday morning behind...

Sara and Sofia

look how cute Klara set the table...(Stefanie and Sofia)

Actually we were all going there again tonight - I know party 2 days in a road isn´t good but it´s fun =D - anyway Klara and Stefanie were so tired after shopping in Stockholm all day so they cancelled...quite nice anyway, sis is having her party at my Yiyi´s house so it´s just me and mummy tonight =)

Worship how?

The pentecost experiences for me is always a bit surreal. I struggle to apply the events of the resurrection, and the stories of the early church in Acts to my every day life. This week, I have had several conversations with friends and colleagues about the nature of worship and my experience has taught me repeatedly not to ignore these types of occurrences as just coincidence.

I believe that worship is an intrinsically personal experience normally, but not always, played out or presented in a community/public setting "in church". Believe me, I worship and can worship in other places, but the ritual of Sunday morning, along with friends and other Christians is the paradigm for me on how to best encounter and honor God in worship.

I have strong feelings on how corporate worship should be approached. Reverence, humility, elegance, innovation, energy, flow, sequencing, spontaneity, comfort, discomfort, ritual... These are all words that come to mind and all of them can be accomplished no matter the choice of music, no matter the dress or style of the worship leaders. That said, I think the worship must strive to emanate from the congregation to God, and not from the worship leader to the congregation and then "hopefully" to God as it is in so many congregations regularly. The congregation must be engaged as an active participant both intellectually and musically. If the presentation becomes a concert like setting, then the MTV generation has simply come and turned on yet another channel in the TV of life, expecting to be fed, rather than to offer themselves wholly in spirit to a God that is both personal and beyond understanding at the same time.

I teach a Sunday school, "life community" class weekly and the last few lessons have focused on the Holy Spirit as it empowered the apostles and early Christians. These people were amazing and were filled with the spirit. Peter stood up and led with the power of the spirit guiding him, and speaking through him. There is an interesting balance here in that they waited, were patient and humble and then contrasted that preparation time with action and energy. I don't think there worship was so different from mine sometimes. Other times my worship is empty and ritualistic. Perhaps that is okay in that I am recharging, simply waiting for the spirit to instruct me. It is clearly important that I not act on my own will.

How often do you stand up and proclaim, with the confidence of the Holy Spirit. Lead despite the cost of doing so? Trust before you step into the unknown. When is the last time you openly discussed your future plans with a group of Christian confidants? Looking to the Lord collectively for guidance and trusting the Holy Spirit to work uniquely in each of your lives, decisions and spirits.

I worship on Sunday mornings to honor God, to offer myself in service to my Lord. Not to get something out of the service, or to feel enlightened by the wisdom of the preacher. I go to give, not get. I pray that others do the same. I choose to participate and lead as the Holy Spirit guides me. I believe in the idea of concurrent diversity. God is working all around me, all the time, and that the same words, same service, same action can have millions of different impacts through the power of the Holy Spirit.

When the Spirit comes upon a group, they are empowered in worship, to act, and to evangelize from God, to their world. Think about what happens when that same group chooses to go forward on their own strength, without the power of the Spirit, using their own abilities and intellect. They can and often do good, but they do not have unimaginable power. They are limited.

No answers today. We are here to seek and yearn for the journey. Our goal is the opportunities presented by the journey rather than the destination.

Acts 2 (The Message)

A Sound Like a Strong Wind

1 -4 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.

5 -11There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn't for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, "Aren't these all Galileans? How come we're hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?

Parthians, Medes, and Elamites;
Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene;
Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes;
Even Cretans and Arabs! "They're speaking our languages, describing God's mighty works!"

12Their heads were spinning; they couldn't make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: "What's going on here?"

13Others joked, "They're drunk on cheap wine."

Peter Speaks Up



14 -21That's when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: "Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren't drunk as some of you suspect. They haven't had time to get drunk—it's only nine o'clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:

"In the Last Days," God says,
"I will pour out my Spirit
on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy,
also your daughters;
Your young men will see visions,
your old men dream dreams.
When the time comes,
I'll pour out my Spirit
On those who serve me, men and women both,
and they'll prophesy.
I'll set wonders in the sky above
and signs on the earth below,
Blood and fire and billowing smoke,
the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Day of the Lord arrives,
the Day tremendous and marvelous;
And whoever calls out for help
to me, God, will be saved."

My Niece at her first powwow...

...ok well not her first but her first where she is dancing. She's the one with the blue star shawl and the white rabbit hair ties bouncing around. LOL ;) peace

you go girl !

Somaly Mam. That name brought me to tears today when I was reading about her in Metro today. She is really a hero and this is her story...

Somaly Mam was an orphan growing up in Cambodia. All alone not knowing where her parents were. When she was 12 years old she was sold to the neighbourhood´s "businessman" for the first time to pay of a debt. She was forced into marriage with the man she called grandfather and then when he got tired of her, at age 15, she was sold to a brothel in Phnom Penh where she were raped, beaten and locked up against her will. She tried to run away but they catched her and kept on torturing her until she accepted the situation she was in - they broke her down.

One day a 10 years old girl came to the brothel and Somaly didn´t want an innocent person like her to be teared apart like herself and she gave the girl all her own money and helped her to escape. As punishment she was beaten for several hours and locked into a cage, just to show the other girls what would happen if they didn´t obey the pimps. after that experience she became one of the brothel´s most obedient sex sex slave.

Then one day an American man gave her 3 000 dollar and for those money she bought out all the 10 girls working at the brothel and herself. After 8 years in hell she was finally free and started to save other girl from the same faith she´d been through. It´s dangerous and he 14 years old daughter was kidnapped as revenge on Somaly and was drugged, raped and sold to a brothel in Thailand. 4 days later they found her but she told her mum to continue saving the innocent girls even though the things she had been through. Somaly did and she is on Friday beeing given The World´s Children Prize.

ciao ciabatta ? - not for me xD

Started the day at 06.10 am. - I know ! But my mobile had a "no-battery-cry" - so what was I suppose to do ? My baby needed energy, =.=...and I saved 20 min of my precious time by getting up early (I thought !). Did some meditation for like 8 min and gosh I felt like I was a different person, it really is amazing how just such a simple thing like sitting on the floor and doing absolutely nothing can change your day and give you more energy... yeah, it truly is =)

Breakfast was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S but a no, no, absolutely not for the girl that don´t eat carbohydrates, haha...but it´s not that bad la, lettuce, cucumber, ham and some ishavssallad. Only the ciabatta bread that makes it non healthy (?) I think it´s quite figure friendly anyway =D

Gonna go do some homework now...the pile is growing and I´m shrinking behind it and I´m going to be swallowed alive soon if I won´t battle against it =.=. Tomorrow I have english exam - the last one =D...wish me luck all sweeties out there !

chinese people age well ?

Yeay ! Started to like Mondays all the sudden. Why ? Because 09.00 pm. Cashmere Mafia is on =D Okay, there is some time until then but still, hehe...I´m such a girl I´ve noticed - getting all excited about series, LOL...but I am a girl, so what the hell =P

And guess what ? I didn´t believe it at all when my sis told me...Lucy Liu is freaking 39 years old !!! She got some serious good genes that woman, cause she is working it and looking damn hot...=)

Hope I´ll look like that when I´m 39...and maybe there is some hope, I mean she´s chinese and I´m half chinese, maybe chinese people age well....and by the way that´s another reason why you should look at Cashmere Mafia - to see the beautiful Lucy Liu as Mia walking around and being so classy, cool, smart and pretty all the time =D

Today's Weather...

...was HELLA hot, ok for the first hot day of the season anyways. If I didn't have so much to do today, I would have loved to hangout at the beach with these guys!! Enjoy! ;) peace

yoga yoga...baby ?

OMG...I don´t know if I´m predictable or unpredictable...11 min ago (o4.oo pm.) the yoga class started. Where am I ? At home, hahaha...gosh...but it´s raining like...it´s raining =P so there´s my reason - my excuse. I really got to stop with those lame excuses someday =.=...

Even the baby is better at accomplish the moves than me =.=...naaw so cute =)

9 500 steps left...

The average number for steps you should take per day is 10 000. Today I did maybe 500...LOL...actually it´s not anything to laugh about but still...=)


Sat the whole day infront of the computer watching YouTube videos and reading blogs, then ate some ice-cream with peaches and grapes for dessert instead of taking a walk. But hey, my excuse is that I´m tired, reeeeaaaalllyyyy exhausted...maybe it´s a bad excuse but at least I have one, hahaha...

Anyway, tomorrow I´m gonna make some exercise (I hope), they have this free yoga class for 1½ hour in town somewhere and sis and I are planning to check it out =). I always wanted to try and now it´s even for free - so why not !? Maybe I´ll start doing yoga daily after that =) who knows ?

have an issue about Dr. Phil ?

Just watched a the Dr. Phil show and I know that I normally don´t do that because I hate it but this was an one time occasion, alright. Anyway, they were talking about New Year´s resolutions and there were (as usual) people there that wanted to change, and I will tell you all - they had issues =.=. One was deathly scared of birds and feathers and guess what ? Her last name was Bird !!! But she still had her ex-husband´s name because of her terror against birds, LOL...
And then there was a woman that couldn´t shut up ! She was worse than me, hahaha, no la I´m not that overblown, I can be really quiet too actually. Then there was the last one - the one that couldn´t eat vegetables and he WASN`T 3 he was 30...his fiancée once made him eat a bean, ONE BEAN ! and it all came up just seconds later...goddness...
My conclusions; the world is filled with strange people so if you ever think of yourself as starnge during certain situations - think again, there are people with much more mager issues than yours.

Stages & Choices

I spent a wonderful 3 hours last night coaching a young Richmond theater artist named Chris Hester. I know him from Capital One, but I was excited and intrigued by his current project. He, along with some fine collaborators, has assembled a one man show entitled "Stages".  This musical is a review of his life, his stages, and presents a unique opportunity for the audience to think and learn about the stages of life, through an autobiographical musical review.  

We talked a lot about choices, about less as more, the standard directing/coaching clichés. I worked with him on his tools, and his execution.  I was inspired by his desire to use his art to speak to his community. I was inspired by his willingness to share his soul so personally with an audience.  Funny, this is what we as artists do so regularly.  

We lay it out, only to have our thoughts and ideas so regularly trashed by the public, the critics, the list goes on. Young artists are evaluated and valued against an objective standard of perfection instead of an evaluation of their courage, spirit and heart. I'd sure like to see more of what I witnessed in Chris in every day life. People willing to take risks, and be authentic as artists. Instead our culture and the "production machine" forces our artists into cookie cutter molds who will appeal to the largest audience, sell the most records/dvds/tickets. 

Entertainment tonight versus ART can change the world.  Story isn't new. Which do you choose?

Sounds of yesterday

Who remembers Book of Love? Boy, I touch roses? and this song...I love it. I know there is a version called tubular bells, I think from the Exorcist? I will try and post that soon,. Dang, am I that old now where my music is considered "old". Oh well, they can learn from my time. ;) peace

choco freak

2 hours. That was the time it took for today´s dinner. We are pretty amazing, especially for eating wafers...that takes like 10 minutes for "normal" people, but on the other hand we are not normal. We are unique. My family is unique ya´ll. =D

Right know I feel like this...

Hehe..why ? Well let´s say, when I got home from school mummy and I went to Gränby Centrum and there they handed out free chocolate...and not any kind of chocolate, Lindt chocolate =). So that was nice at the moment but now I have to diet for 2 weeks =.= hahaha...ate 4 pieces : 2 chilli/rasberry, 1 orange and 1 of my favourite, fig/chocolate mousse...YUMMO is all I have to say in defense...hihi...anyway this is what I brought home with me...

not bad huh ? And what ? Chocolate is my drug. Me love CHOCO !!!

Sneak up Dance...

...we have a dance called a sneak up. It is when the warriors would sneak up on another tribe or the enemy. This is the womens version, my sis knows the shaking of the shawl but she didn't do it at UC Davis, she felt alone. Hey my sis is from the rez and the girls she was dancing with are from the Cali bay area...they don't know where they from. N e ways...this is how it should be. ;-) peace

It's all about the Eyes...

...oh so purty! Everyone have a good hump day tomorrow! Literally. ;-) peace

STREET Stockholm 5/4

Finally I have some time to sit down and just write...Saturday in Stockholm was a total waste of time =.=, haha, just kidding. It was sooo much fun =D. But with some complications (as always when I´m involved, hehe). Annette was running late because she had a hung over from Friday night, she was actually going to wake me up (according to the plan) so she called me almost an hour late 08.50 instead of o8.oo am. and said she was sorry I just said I was happy that I put the alarm on myself =). Anyway I talked to the ladies at the train station and we decided to leave ahead and Annette will meet up with us later...

at Wayne´s coffee (Sofia, Klara and Katrina)...then we went to STREET market...

7 hotties out of 10 (recognize me ?)

Sofia/Sofia

Klara/Katrina

Sara/Sofia

Yeah, we had an awesome day over there, also went to...

CUBUS (so cute)...

Topshop (adorable right ?)...

found Dona´s Shop in Gamla Stan "Old Town"...

and I just had to take a picture, before we had to take the bus (!) home, all the trains were cancelled bacause of an accident...home at 07.45 pm. What a day...