The youth of a nation

Rene Marshall shared a great reflection on the recent violence in Jos, Nigeria and the youth that were involved.

Isaiah - a youth being cared for by ECWA in Jos
Isaiah – a youth being cared for by ECWA that I met while in Jos

“The spiritual decision I made this year in camp was not to steal, no fighting, and no lying. May God give me understanding and love to people, not to be bad to any people in this community.” –Jos ECWA Camp Youth Alive Camper
Two youth campers
Two youths at ECWA Camp

As I read over this evaluation the other day, I could not help but wonder about the camper who wrote it. Was he involved in the recent Jos crisis? Did he have an opportunity to retaliate and involve himself in violence? Did he choose not to in the name of love and Christ-like humility? Has he been an agent of peace and comfort to those in his community now in the wake of the crisis? All of these questions started swirling around in my head and I started to have a new perspective of the situation we’re living in.

Like the rest of the Jos population, the events of late November 2008 set me back on my heels and made me take another look at the city and community I live in. As someone who has devoted her life towards working with youth, specifically, Nigerian youth, my heart ached when I heard that youths were the ones carrying out many of these atrocities.

Rene wonders how different the riots in Jos would have been if more of the youth would have had the chance to learn about real grace.

What if they memorized scriptures like 2 Corinthians 4:8,

“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going…Yes, we live in constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be obvious in our dying bodies.”

Or James 1:2-4,

“Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”

Christian author Shane Claiborne has said, “grace is contagious, just like violence.” What if we were able to channel the passion and energy of the youth into spreading grace and not violence?

I have to also think back to my backyard and the neighborhood/city I live in – even the state and country I live in. Are we quick to return violence for violence. Are we so set on revenge that we’ve completely forgotten that God says, “Vengeance is mine.”?

What if as Brian McLaren says, we’re known for an “insurgency of love” rather than an insurgency of shock and awe? Wouldn’t that be the greater shock and awe – if we turned the other cheek – if we sought non-violence rather than revenge?

I still think back to Bush’s Ungiven Speech that McLaren wrote. What if?

Since I hold to the ancient beliefs that vengeance is not a human prerogative and that pride goes before a fall, I have no desire to take our nation down that bitter road. I have become convinced that if we follow a course of war, the results will be undesirable at best and catastrophic at worst. But if we refuse to return violence for violence, if we decide on a response that is at once courageous and peaceful, we can seize this tragic moment as an opportunity not to return evil with evil, but rather to overcome evil with good.

Since September 11, America has experienced an outpouring of emotion from nations around the world. It has been said that on September 11, everyone became an American because all shared our grief and shock. And we Americans learned and felt what so many people in other nations experience on a daily basis: vulnerability, danger, and fear. So in a sense, the whole world has been caught up in a moment of global empathy since that tragic day. I would like to seize upon this moment.

So I am today proposing a plan of peace and security, not through war and revenge, but through cooperation and justice. My plan could be called a plan of courage, character, and cooperation…

If we launch a massive military response to terrorist attacks, we make ourselves appear aggressive and intrusive globally, which plays into the image of us terrorists want to paint, enabling them to recruit more terrorists, launch more attacks, and plunge us farther and farther into their vicious downward cycle. Instead, we must refuse to be drawn into their trap. We must defeat terrorism through broad and multi-faceted international cooperation, dealing collaboratively with its causes and reaching broad international consensus on how to respond when terrorist actions arise.

Martin Luther King Jr wrote ::

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
Through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder.
Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can’t establish truth.
Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate.
Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that . . .
We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the dis-chords of war.
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

Love wins! Now what can you do to prove it to the world?

end poverty!

Today is Blog Action Day 08 – focused on ending poverty. I caught on to this a little late. Sorry about that. But if you’ve read my blog for any length of time I think you’ll know how frustrated I get to see people living in poverty.

I think you know it rattles me crazy when folks refuse to help a brother or sister in need.

I think you know I think our reaction to the poor and to the hurting around our world is a direct indication of how we view God (and yes that can be taken multiple ways).

I don’t if I have amazing words of wisdom to share today, but thought I’d share some visual media with you to help us each reflect on the issue of poverty in the world around us.

All the media is from real people, whom I’ve had the honor and privilege of meeting and sharing life with in some way shape or form. I wish I could do more and God willing — I will. Most of the pictures are from Nigeria. The videos are from Waxahachie, Nigeria and Dallas. The point? — There are hurting people, living in poverty everywhere — all around us.

I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited.


Check Judaism. Check Islam. Check pretty much anyone.
I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill… I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff… maybe, maybe not… But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor.
God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.

Two years ago…

Mike Blythe shared his latest KMZ file of Jos, Nigeria yesterday.
Going back and looking at the sites make me start thinking about my trip to Nigeria.
I went back and looked at my blog posts and realized two years ago exactly I was nearing the end of my two week stay there.
Thought this was also interesting

Nearly two years ago today (on a Monday afternoon — Oct. 9th) I was enjoying church with a group of people who didn’t speak my language and met in a warehouse with dirt floors and wooden benches.

Yesterday we did shopping in the morning and then went to a church at the Motorpark.
The Motorpark is basically a large field where people bring their cars and wait for riders to take trips across the country.
You can probably find a ride to any part of the country if you’re willing to wait for enough other riders to make it profitable for the car owner and driver.
The church at the Motorpark meets in a large building with wooden benches and dirt floors. Their numbers are few, but they’ve doubled in size since last year.
The church was large in size years ago before fighting broke out between the Muslims and Christians. The church dispersed after that but everyday a group of women would continue to meet in the afternoon and pray for God to work.
Now their numbers have at least tripled and they are excited and on fire for God.

re: Google Earth updates Jos Nigeria


Screen shot of Jos Nigeria
Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.

Back in July I reported that Google Earth had updated their satellite images of Jos, Nigeria (where Rob and a group of others from Lakepoint spent two weeks).

I shared the info with Mike Blythe, a missionary there working with the ECWA hospital.

Mike just sent me a link for a killer KMZ file that highlights lots of areas around Jos – including many of the sites that we saw and worked at while we were there.

To view it – be sure you have Google Earth installed and the open the link. It should automatically populate your “My places” with all the sites in Jos.

Big props to Mike! Makes me really want to go back there.

Related ::
Google Earth
the Jos, Nigeria KMZ file
SSL :: Google Earth updates Jos Nigeria
Mike Blythe’s blog
Google Earth :: Jos Nigeria KMZ file
Photos from my 2006 trip to Jos
Photos of the football/soccer stadium mentioned in the KMZ file :: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
CWF photos from Nigeria 2007
CWF :: Christian Wrestling Federation

Google Earth updates Jos Nigeria


Screen shot of Jos Nigeria
Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.

Just discovered that Google Earth has updated their satellite images of Jos, Nigeria.
Awesome! The streets don’t line up at all but maybe some folks from Jos can build a KML file of some of the SIMS and Evangel Hospital sites in the city…. (hint hint hint)

I built a basic Google Earth (KMZ) file to highlight one or two things I could distinctly see – but its not very extensive or comprehensive by any means. Download the file and then open it in Google Earth to see the new imagery.

Related ::
Google Earth
Google Earth :: Jos Nigeria KMZ file
Photos from my 2006 trip to Jos
Photos of the football/soccer stadium mentioned in the KMZ file :: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
CWF photos from Nigeria 2007
CWF :: Christian Wrestling Federation

Gas prices expected to drop after strike ends

As our economy continues to be based more and more more on a global level, its important to realize what happens in Nigeria may not stay in Nigeria.

A recent strike in Nigeria as caused Exxon to completely shut-down production there, hurting the balance between supply and demand world-wide. But now it looks like the striking workers requests may have been solved and oil production can continue.

Also, recent attacks on oil refineries have also led to a reduction in overall oil production.
Continue reading Gas prices expected to drop after strike ends