An Internet Epiphany Using A Keyboard Confessional.

Praying for a Miracle. The Facebook Campaign

2011-02-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

I've posted about her before, but recently things have a taken a turn for the worst and right now she needs help and prayer more than ever.

Please go to Praying for a Miracle (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=190776837613443) on Facebook and invite everyone you know.

Post about this. Repost this. Invite everyone. Tell them to invite everyone. Keep it going.

Get the word out.
It's not over yet.

"Hope is heard loudest when it's a response to hurt.
Comfort is heard loudest when it's a response to pain.
Love is heard loudest when it's a response to hate.
Let's be loud."
-Jon Acuff

"Give all of us gathered here tonight the strength to remember that life is so very fragile. We are all vulnerable, and we will all, at some point in our lives... fall. We will all fall. We must carry this in our hearts... that what we have is special. That it can be taken from us, and when it is taken from us, we will be tested. We will be tested to our very souls. We will now all be tested. It is these times, it is this pain, that allows us to look inside ourselves."
-Coach Eric Taylor

New Years Notes

2011-01-01T12:23:00.000-08:00

Haven't updated in a while, so I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the new year.

2010 was good to me. We all had some bad experiences, but I got to share them with some very close friends. I got new opportunities presented to me. I made a new best friend. I got a couple jobs. One of my favorite things about this past year were that I have become really close with two of my best friends. We have different relationships but they are equally as important. One of them, I know everything about. She knows everything about me. We know how we act, we can predict each others actions and statements. (This is the part of the reason I think she is going to be super awesome in Psychology.) The other I share a different relationship with. She and I have had a more recent junction. She's someone that I have a lot of respect for and love to spend time with. Usually, when the other person wants to do something we do everything short of dropping everything to make it happen. It's a beautiful system really. We have been there for each other in seasons of trouble and seasons of trouble. Another of my favorite things is that I got selected to help run one of the best National Youth Leadership Training programs in the country. I worked really hard and basically didn't sleep for 10 days trying to get the job. I did and the work is different, but still time consuming. I am happy I got it though. I look forward to this summer.

I am looking forward to everything this year has to offer. Some of these things are (in no particular order):

SPL NYLT
Talent show
Anatomy field trips
Block projects
Kikthawenund
Working with ABC and the Extreme Makeover teams to really make a difference
prom
Firecrafter
Redwing renovations
going to Ransburg with my troop
turning 18
driving
(finally) getting my eagle scout
hiking the High Knoll trail in the Blue Ridge Mountains
small group
senior year
parties
februhairy
doughnut day
lumber jack club
planning certain senior events for next year
campus life
"talking politics"
prepping for Philmont
Growing closer in my relationships with friends
good times
good friends
good food

If last night was any kind of prediction to how the year is going to go, I think it means that I should surround myself with people that I love and that love me. Take time to hang out with the bros. Girls will come and girls will go, but you'll always have your bros. Don't worry about trivial things. I focus way too much of my time and energy on things that do not work out for me, so maybe I should focus it on things that will. School is difficult and I don't like the work, but I enjoy the things I do. i just realized how easy yet difficult this semester will be. I am taking television production, a study hall, personal finance, BSU Anatomy 201, Yearbook, and American Studies block. Anatomy and Block are definitely my two most difficult classes. Anatomy involves a lot of studying and Block involves a lot or projects and essays. TV is also very difficult but in it's own way. It is very time consuming and has a lot to do with my people skills. I only have two "difficult" classes this semester, but I will be busy nonetheless.

Here we go 2011.

-zañe

KLIK Radio

2010-05-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

Everyone should go to http://klikradio.org/ and listen right meow! Listen to CAUTION: Legit Content!

Seriously!

It's legit. Too legit. Too legit to quit.

Februhairy

2010-02-15T18:14:00.000-08:00

It is becoming increasingly apparent that I should not participate in events such as "No-Shave November" or "Febru-Hairy".

If you are not familiar, the idea behind it is that you go a whole month without shaving(your face) and try to beat out your pals for the best/longest/coolest facial hair.

I never win but always participate. I have a feeling this may have something to do with why I did not celebrate Valentine's Day with someone this year. (haha)

Until next time
-ZN

Perfectly Flawed

2010-02-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

So I've been doing some thinking....

And I'll keep this short.

But I am just really glad that we are flawed. If we were all perfect, life would suck.
As I was sitting at lunch today making fun of people around me, I realized that I had characteristics of all these people in me.

Two girls who absolutely hated each other sat next to each other in order to please a guy they both liked. Working together with an enemy to obtain a goal both want, but neither can have. How many times have I chased after something that wasn't good for me, even to the point of disrupting good relationships?

A girl tries WAY too hard to be liked. She dresses up and wears pounds of makeup so that she will impress people and fellow highschool students might think she's pretty. How many times in my own life have I "dressed myself up" to look better to others?

One guy sits back and laughs at all of them, thinking he's better. But really, is anyone better than anyone else? How many times have I thought I was better than someone else because I was wealthier, smarter, or knew the right people?

One girl sat at that table depressed because she didn't think she looked good enough for anyone to like her. How many times have I been depressed because I didn't think I was good enough?

All the people at that table have something in common. They all shared a need to be loved.

So I think that I can say that High School is really a microcosm of society as a whole.

We all find ourselves in this spot once in a while. Just remember, no matter who you are at the table, we all need each other. Our flaws make us who we are. If we were all perfect, lunch would suck.

Be a Match Registry Drive for Kelsey and Karly Koch

2009-11-14T09:24:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDm1srjWUPg

"Kelsey and Karly are 2 of 6 children in our family who have been diagnosed with a rare, genetic primary immune deficiency disease. Both girls are patients at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD. The genetic mutation that causes their rare disease has recently been discovered. With this discovery also comes the bad news of where this disease leads ... death. Kelsey's more advanced state has caused her doctors to stare the process for her to receive a blood stem cell transplant with the hopes of eradicating the mutations. The first step is to find a matching donor"
-Tammy Koch, mother

There will be a donor drive for anyone interested in joining the marrow registry. You have to be between the ages of 18-60 in order to donate. Also, a $25 donation is needed! Normally this process costs $100, but family, friends, and sponsors are helping to cover the remaining costs ($10,000 is needed).

You can check out bethematch.org for info about the donation process or kjkdancingthroughtherain.blogspot.com to follow their progress. Feel free to respond on the wall if you have any questions about the process.

If you are between 18 and 60, you can be swabbed to see if you are a match for Kelsey or Karly Koch who are in need of a stem cell transplant.

You can join the registry for a $25 donation.

If you would like to make a donation the goal is $10,000 to offset the cost of each test kit of $100.

Please join the registry on Sunday, November 15th between 10:00am - 4:00pm in room 102-104 at Union Chapel.

You may be the one to save her life.

Anyone that would like to make a donation, but can't be there on Sunday can send checks to Union Chapel at 4622 N. Broadway, Muncie, Indiana. Please make sure and note that this is for Be the Match.

Coming Soon....

2009-09-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

Alright.

Now I know it has been a long time since this has been updated, a lot of things have happened. But due to some recent events, I promised a friend of mine I would get back to this. I just want to put this out there, that something is coming....

New post is coming soon....

-zane

Music Pick of the Week #2

2009-03-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a little longer than a week, but I thought I should continue this anyway...here goes.

This week I choose a song that I thought was really good by a band I just recently found out about. I had been on spring break this past week so I had a lot of down time and so there were a few late nights. The band, White Lies, was playing on Letterman the other day and I got a chance to watch them and really enjoyed them. So here is the song of the week.

To Lose My Life
by White Lies
White Lies Myspace
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

He said to lose my life or lose my love
That’s the nightmare I’ve been running from
So let me hold you in my arms a while
I was always careless as a child
And there’s a part of me that still believes
My soul will soar above the trees
But a desperate fear flows through my blood
That our dead loves buried beneath the mud

Let’s grow old together
And die at the same time
Let’s grow old together
And die at the same time

I said I’ve got no time I have to go
And I was more right then now I'll ever know
He said my heart is faint, will minds regret
And left him crying next to the chapels steps

Let's grow old together
And die at the same time
Let’s grow old together
And die at the same time
He said ...
Let’s grow old together
And die at the same time
Let’s grow old together
And die at the same time
He said ..

He said to lose my life or lose my love
That’s the nightmare I’ve been running from

So let me hold you in my arms a while
I was careless as a child
There’s a part of me that still believes
My soul will soar above the trees
A desperate fear flows through my blood,
Our dead loves buried beneath the mud.
A desperate fear flows through my blood,
Our dead loves buried beneath the mud

--------------------------------------------------------------.

Watch Them On Letterman Here
Watch The Music Video Here

Happy Birthday Barbie

2009-03-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

A letter to Mattel's favorite doll. Today is her 50th birthday.

Happy Birthday Barbie,

For years you have been there, waiting on store shelves. Waiting on numerous young girls to come and rescue you from your life in the store, staring out of the box. Your website tells us that you are, "More than a doll". It tells us that you are something different. You certainly are different, that's for sure. From urban teen to fantasy queen, you seem to represent every girl. Your website tells us that with more than 3 billion dollars(that's $3,000,000,000) at retail, you are the number 1 girls brand worldwide. This is not unexpected, I mean after all, this Barbie we're talking about. You know the one that can be anything or anyone from Malibu Barbie to Carol Burnett Barbie to Fantasy Barbie to Marilyn Monroe Barbie to Pop Life Barbie. There is one thing I have never seen you be. Fat. For years, you've kept your slim figure without doing a lick of work. I'm willing to let that pass, seeing as you are an inanimate object. However, through out the years, you've shown girls that they can be anything they want to be. Your creator, Ruth Handler, made you just so that girls could play with a teenage doll and inspire to be anything they want to be. Obviously, they can only be those things if they are amazingly slim. It seems as if this is not the only problem. Were you to be blown up to "normal" size, keeping the same ratio as you have now for your body parts, this is what would happen.

Your height would be 7'2"
Your weight would be 101 lbs.
You would wear a size 4 dress
Your bust would be 39" (FF cup)
Your waist would be 19" (same as your head)
Your hips would be 33"
Your shoe size would be a 5

But if you compare this to an average adult female(and remember, you were made to be a mid-teenaged girl, so about age 15) this is what you get.

Real Women

Average woman's heigh is 5'4"
Their weight is approx. 140 lbs.
They wear a size 14 dress
Their bust is between 36" and 37" (B cup)
Their waist is between 30" and 34"
Their hips average between 40" and 42"
Their shoe size is estimated to be between 8.5 and 9.5

Obviously, this does not seem accurate. I would consider myself a fairly bright individual and I could figure this stuff out. Most eight year old girls won't even consider how much you cost, much less the size of your waist.

There is something you do that seems to work. You cause pain. You have shown girls an unrealistic image of what they should be. They think that they have to hips 33" to look "pretty". Many girls are depressed because they get told constantly that they are not beautiful. Many resort to drugs, sex, violence, and self-injury to resolve their pain. Barbie, you and me both know that isn't going to solve their problems. I just wanted to let you know how much damage you have helped cause. In the year 2004, there were 4,599 suicides among teenagers in the USA. 4,599 deaths that could have been prevented. Many more girls are becoming depressed because they are being told they can't be beautiful because they don't have a 19" waist.

I thought I would share this information with you to help you better understand what you have done.
Happy 50th Barbie, and here's to many more....

-Zane Naylor

The Heart Of A Generation:Re-visited

2009-03-05T17:44:00.000-08:00

I know I already talked about this, but the video was recently released online. I encourage you to find a half hour or so and actually watch this. The performance was amazing and I believe they are planning to do it again in September. Share this video with everyone you know. I believe it is that amazing. I went there and I still sat down and watched the video. It is a great show with a powerful message. And if thats not enough, you might just get to see the back of my head. (It's my best side (;)

Here you go:

The Heart of A Generation from Ryan Schaefer on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/3479596

PS-Great job Allison and all the youth that put this on. It was AMAZING.

The Man List

2009-03-05T13:55:00.001-08:00

The Guys' Rules

Women are always telling us their "rules" and how we should treat them. Give us a break, we're men. Here is our list of rules. The are numbered in order of importance(1 being most- and so on)
**********

1. Men are NOT mind readers.
1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.
1. Crying is blackmail.
1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!
1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.
1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a Problem. See a doctor.
1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.
1. If you won't dress like the Victoria 's Secret girls, don't Expect us to act like soap opera guys.
1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.
1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.
1. You can either ask us to do something Or tell us how you want it done. Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.
1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials.
1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.
1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong.
We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.
1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really.
1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or golf.
1. You have enough clothes.
1. You have too many shoes.
1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!
1. Thank you for reading this.

Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight;
Pass this to as many men as you can - to give them a laugh.
Pass this to as many women as you can - to give them a bigger laugh!

Heart of A Generation Wrap-Up

2009-02-21T19:12:00.000-08:00

I was told that I should go to a dinner tonight to help some kids raise money. I went to get spaghetti, but i left with a renewed sense of hope in our generation. The dinner was all about the heart of this generation of young people. Some call us the "Y" generation, some call us "post-modern", but I don't want to be known for war, iPods, and presidents. I want to be known for passion, love, acceptance, unity, diversity, justice, and most importantly hope.

This was a video that a girl made about hope. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj8sOwyeWdw

I challenge you to look into the heart of a generation, and see what we're really about.

Goodnight and god bless.

-Zane

Depressent Drug

2009-02-16T05:32:00.000-08:00

I know some people in my high school that might need this.

http://www.break.com/tv-shows/onion-news-network/fda-approves-depressant-drug-for-the-annoyingly-cheerful-667654.html

Abortion

2009-02-11T15:05:00.000-08:00

This girl has something to say.

Whats on your mind?

Thoughts?

Barack Fresh Prince?

2009-02-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

This has nothing to do with my political beliefs, but I thought it was funny.

----------------------------------------------------
Now this is a story
All about how
I ascended to the seat of power
If you'll listen fora minute
Hear what I say
I'll tell you how I became President of the U. S. of A.

In west Honolulu, born and raised
In Jakarta, where I spent most of my days
Chillin' out in Chi-Town relaxin' all cool
Organizing communities like I was a fool
When a couple of guys
With a disdain for peace
Started making trouble in the Middle East
They started two little wars and we got scared
The people said "We need a president who isn't mentally impaired!"

I ran a perfect race, turned red states blue
Swept electoral votes, added Rham to my crew
With a mandate for change and Constitution in hand
I'll dance on the Colonnade singing "Yes we can!"

I got the White House about seven or eight
And I yelled to the Bushes "Yo holmes, smell ya later!"
Looked at my office
There were no corners there
Sitting at the Resolute Desk, signing universal health care.

Mission Year

2009-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Mission Year is a really cool program that I recently found out about. You should definitely check it out.

The Program

Mission Year is a year long program where Christian young people live in an urban neighborhood volunteering, worshiping, and loving their neighbors.

It’s in opportunity for anyone 18 and over, both single and married, to spend a year following Jesus' command to “Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself.” By partnering with a local church, volunteering at a service site, and spending time with neighbors, Mission Year Team Members effectively impact their communities while catching a deeper vision for what the Kingdom of God is like.

Relevant Info.

Our Mission Statement: As followers of Jesus, Mission Year Team Members work to advance the Kingdom of God by loving their neighbors.
Our Mission Question: In this moment, how can I best love both God and people?

Mission Year is About...

Relationships: Building deep relationships based on trust and respect with your neighbors, seeking practical ways to show Christian love.
Community Living: Sharing life in community with a supportive team of other Christians in an urban neighborhood.
Community Service: Volunteering 25-30 hours a week at a social service agency that's providing vital resources to the poor.
Discipleship: Drawing close to God by spending time deepening your own walk with Christ and developing spiritual disciplines.
Church Partnership: Supporting God's work in the city by partnering with a dynamic local church that's engaging the community.
Social Justice: Seeking justice by learning to identify disparities in power and working creatively to bring resolution.
Simplicity: Living life without excess to better care for your neighbors and the environment around you.

The Vision of Mission Year

IMAGINE the city the way God wants it to be. No more poverty. No more injustice. Every person matters. Now imagine a handful of young people moving into a house in the city, working to make this a reality.

People who learn from their neighbors, listen to their needs, and pray with them over and over. People who work hard to love others the way Jesus loves. People who stay long enough to become true friends.

IMAGINE that house becoming a safe place in the neighborhood where people see the gospel lived out, alive and available to all.

IMAGINE each individual devoting each day to God, then going out to do what God says. Partnering with social service agencies and local churches who are working towards the same goal. Offering compassion and working for justice.

Can you see what happens? That household makes a difference in the neighborhood, and the neighborhood makes a difference in return. The living gospel transforms everything it touches. The Kingdom of God advances.

Now, finally, IMAGINE all of that a thousand times over, and you have the vision of Mission Year.

How Does It Work?

Mission Year recruits single and married Team Members, 18 to 29, to spend a year living in a neighborhood, following Jesus. From early September to early August Team Members are involved in the following aspects of Mission Year:

	TUES.	WED.	THUR.	FRI.	SAT.	SUN.	MON.
8-9am	Team and Personal Devotions						Sabbath
10-12am	Community Service/Justice				Neighborhood Prayer	Church
12-2pm					Chores
2-6pm					Neighborhood Outreach	Various
7-9pm	Team Dinner	Church Bible Study	Curriculum	Training	Open House Dinner	Citywide

Neighborhood Outreach

As far as Mission Year is concerned, neighborhood outreach simply means Team Members intentionally building relationships with their neighbors, in order to move them closer to whom and where God wants them to be. In the beginning that may just be two or three team members walking around the block, introducing themselves to people. Later on they may stop back to ask for prayer requests, to share opportunities, or just to hang out with new friends. Team Members try all kinds of things over the course of the year until they find effective ways of connecting with people.

The process is not always easy, and seldom moves as fast as we would like, but it almost always works out. Meaningful relationships develop over time, so that eventually our Team Members find themselves deeply involved with their neighbors' lives, helping to meet all kinds of practical needs, and sharing their faith in a very natural way.

Relevant Info.

Takes Place: Saturday and Weeknights

Community Service

Mission Year Team Members faithfully and enthusiastically volunteer at least 24 hours a week at one or more community service sites, aiming to strengthen the ministry or organization where you're volunteering, encouraging your co-workers, and serving the people there to the best of their ability.

Community Service gives Team Members the opportunity to serve the needs of their new neighborhood in Jesus' name. Sites may be neighborhood public schools, hospitals, parks, senior centers, homeless or women's shelters, housing agencies, community development corporations, or other locations, depending on Team Members' individual interests and abilities, as well as the needs and opportunities in the neighborhood.

In order to have their community service overlap with their neighborhood ministries, Team Members generally choose service sites near their apartment or house, starting their service before 10:00am and ending before 7:00pm. Team Members who choose to work at schools or other sites that dismiss early generally find an after-school or community program to volunteer for in the afternoon.

Relevant Info.

Takes Place: Tuesday through Friday, 10:00am to 6:00pm

Church Partnership

Team Members participate in Sunday morning service at a local church and also seek out some specific ministry where they can make a contribution within that church. They can join a weekly bible study, drama ministry, or prison outreach. While Team Members may or may not feel entirely at home in their church, their aim is to understand, appreciate, and encourage their church staff and fellow church members to the best of your ability. The main point here is for Team Members to become part of God's family in their new community and to establish a spiritual home base from which they can reach out to their neighbors as followers of Jesus.

Relevant Info.

Takes Place: Sundays and Weeknights

Justice

Mission Year Team Members faithfully spend time each week actively pursuing Biblical justice in their community. Their initial goal will be to identify and understand specific examples of individual, group, and systemic abuses of power which directly affect some or all of their neighbors. Later, Team Members will identify more experienced advocates who can enable them to responsibly help rescue, protect, or otherwise intervene on behalf of those neighbors, in areas of injustice.

Relevant Info.

Takes Place: Through out the year

Personal Discipleship

Mission Year Team Members pursue their own relationship with God through taking advantage of scheduled quiet times, weekly Sabbath days, Citywides (all city worship and teaching gatherings), Weekly Reflections, and training sessions. Their aim in all of these things should be to better understand and more closely follow the teachings of Jesus. One discipleship tool we will often encourage Team Members to use is our Mission Question: In this moment, how can I best love both God and people?

Growth in personal discipleship is one of our foremost concerns, rivaled only by our obsession with actually blessing our neighbors in significant and lasting ways. Simply stated, every aspect of Mission Year, in one way or another, is intended to help Team Members develop as a follower of Jesus. From the beginning of orientation all the way through the end of the closing retreat, our goal is to give Team Members a genuine opportunity to better understand themselves and the world around them, to pursue the disciplines of thought, prayer, worship, sacrifice, and service, and to draw closer to God by loving some of his most precious people.

Relevant Info.

Takes Place: 24/7
Orientation: First 3 weeks of Mission Year.
Trainings: Bi-monthly.
Citywides: Bi-Monthly, (Time of worship for whole city).
Devotions: Every morning, 9:00am to 10:00am.

Community Living

Living in Christian community includes much more than sharing the same space and putting up with messy roommates. Christian community living involves intentionally putting into practice the “one anothers” of Scripture (praying for one another, encouraging one another, submitting to one another, serving one another, etc.).

Team Members participate in team devotions, family times, team dinners, curriculum, and team business meetings, pursuing the best possible relationship with each teammate.

Community living is likely to be the most challenging part of your Mission Year by far. After all, most teams are like most families...dysfunctional in at least a few areas. However, Mission Year is designed to provide you and your teammates with plenty of team building opportunities and lots of encouragement to learn how to love one another, because we know from experience that this will be a key to your success in ministry.

Whenever possible, we seek to have multi-ethnic/multi-cultural teams, in order to provide you and your neighborhood with a fuller expression of the Kingdom of God. Through Mission Year, God is inviting you to open yourself to the gifts that other Team Members offer and to embrace the growth that each Team Member provokes. As the Apostle John puts it:

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we should also love one another. No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us. His love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:11-12

Relevant Info.

Takes Place: 24/7
How many people are on a Team?: Usually 5 to 6
Why are most teams co-ed?: For a couple of reasons. 1. Safety. 2. Cost; It's more cost-effective to have one house per team than two. 3. Diversity; Team Members get a well rounded experience in a co-ed house.

Curriculum

The Mission Year curriculum brings together a diverse collection of books, articles, movies, and taped messages that our Team Members read and discuss on a weekly basis throughout the year. The goal of our curriculum is to expose our Team Members to a variety of perspectives on a variety of subjects, ranging from interpersonal relationships to social justice to spiritual growth. Selections may include:

Beyond Charity, by John Perkins
Community and Growth, By Jean Vanier
Freedom of Simplicity, by Richard Foster
Jesus and the Disinherited, by Howard Thurman
Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Out of Solitude, by Henri Nouwen
The Corner, by David Simon and Edward Burns
The Irresistible Revolution, By Shane Claiborne
The Ragamuffin Gospel, by Brennan Manning
Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, By Beverly Daniel Tatum

Relevant Info.

Takes Place: Thursday Night

Training

The important thing to remember as you wonder, “How will I do all these things?” is that you will be receiving lots of practical training throughout the year. Of course, to get you started, there is intensive orientation and training for at least three weeks and regular training sessions every two weeks thereafter.

Relevant Info.

Takes Place: Friday Night

Citywide

Citywides are designed to address the spiritual and emotional needs of Team Members for encouragement and fellowship. Every two weeks, teams come together from across your Mission Year city to participate in praise and worship, fun and games, testimonies, small groups, food, and guest speakers in an open and informal environment. These meetings are your City Director’s opportunity to introduce you to people and ideas he or she thinks are particularly timely and helpful. We may not always agree with everything our guest speakers say, but you can be sure we think they are well worth listening to.

Relevant Info.

Takes Place: Sunday Night

Sabbath

Mondays are your official Sabbath from normal Mission Year responsibilities. While you may not spend Mondays doing ministry, your plans for each Sabbath should, nevertheless, still flow from faithfully responding to the Mission Question: In this moment, how can I best love both God and people?

Sabbaths help us pace ourselves for the long haul, instead of the quick burnout, which is another way of saying we need to recharge our bodies and souls whether or not we feel like it. Given the desperate needs all around you in the city, it may be hard for you to step away from ministry in order to take care of yourself, but do your best to trust God’s wisdom in laying down the fourth commandment. Get out and away, do things that heal and energize you, and don’t forget to catch up on your sleep.

Relevant Info.

Takes Place: Mondays

Various Logistics

Sunday Afternoon

On a rotating basis, a few people go grocery shopping on Sunday. In addition to being a wonderful time to hang out with neighbors, Sundays are also good times for Team Members to do laundry, read curriculum, write your monthly support letters, call family or friends, and generally stay caught up with their lives.

Support Letters

Once a month Team Members write a letter that they send as an update to family and friends. This is an opportunity to let others know what they are experiencing and to invite their ongoing financial, emotional, and prayer support.

Cost

We ask all of our Team Members to raise $12,000 over their year. This covers the cost of housing, feeding and training our Team Members. We have a development department that works with each Team Member in the process of raising support.

So if you have any interest at all, check them out at www.missionyear.com

-Zane

"I am zane, and I am....rushing around."

The Ripple Effect

2009-01-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

Something to think about this weekend.

What kind of ripples are you making?

Video and voice: Elizabeth Jones
Music by: Ronald Jenkees

Snow more school!

2009-01-30T04:22:00.000-08:00

Er... I mean, no more school.

Here in Indiana, we've been hit with quite the snowstorm. In one day, one 24-hour period, we got 14" of snow. Then it went away. Then it came back, more snow!!! Soo for the past 3 days(Wed., Thurs., and Fri.) almost all of the local schools have been closed including mine. Thought I would share this experience with ya'll in the blogging community. Below are some pictures of the Snowstorm of 09'

Music Pick Of The Week-#1

2009-01-29T00:00:00.000-08:00

This week, I decided on a song that I have been listening to. I had watched the premier of Scrubs a few weeks ago and the closing song got stuck in my head. I couldn't figure out what it was, so I had to look it up. Here it is.

I'll Follow You Into The Dark
by Death Cab For Cutie

Love of mine some day you will die
But I'll be close behind
I'll follow you into the dark

No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark
If heaven and hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles brusied by a lady in black
And I held my toungue as she told me
"Son fear is the heart of love"
So I never went back

If heaven and hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

You and me have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes are all worn down
The time for sleep is now
It's nothing to cry about
Cause we'll hold each other soon
The blackest of rooms

If heaven and hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
Then I'll follow you into the dark




I think the song speaks of following this girl into the afterlife, even if no one wants her.
What do you think?

A video

2009-01-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

A little video I put together on a day off for an event.

The Fray, Hope, Honesty, and Interpression

2009-01-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

I found God on the corner of First in Amistad
Where the west was all but one.
All alone,
Smoking his last cigarette,
I said "Where you been?"
He said, "Ask anything."

Where were you
when everything was falling apart?
All my days,
spent by the telephone.
that never rang.
All i needed was a call
that never came.
The corner of First and Amistad...

Lost and insecure,
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor,
surrounded, surrounded.
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you? Where were you?
just a little late...
You found me, you found me

In the end,
everyone ends up alone.
Losing her,
the only one who's ever known
who i am, who im not, who i wanna be.
The way to know
how long she will be next to me...

Lost and insecure,
You found me, you found me.
Lying on the floor,
surround me, surround me.
why'd you have to wait?
Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late,
You found me, you found me.

Early morning,
city breaks.
I've been calling
for years and years and years and years.
You never left me no messages;
you never send me no letters;
you got some kind of nerve
taking all of our love.

Lost and insecure,
You found me, you found me
L ying on the floor,
Where were you? Where were you?

Lost and insecure,
You found me, you found me.
lying on the floor,
surround me, surround me.
Why'd you have to wait?
Were were you? Where were you?
Just a little late,
you found me, you found me.

Why'd you have to wait,
To find me?
To find me?
Listen to the song here

--------------------------

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Whoa. You're not supposed to talk to God like that... right?

Maybe it's not that we complain to God, maybe it's what he wants us to. What if He can take it? We all need a shoulder to lean on, why can't ours be God? Maybe God can handle my pain and my questions. Maybe God would prefer the most honest version of me.

I'm not sure what you believe about God, or conversations with God... Perhaps that's a separate conversation. I guess I'm just writing to say that it's okay to be honest, that pain shouldn't stay silent. Questions shouldn't stay silent. We need to say these things out loud. Perhaps hope or healing or even faith, perhaps it begins there, with honesty.

Change begins here, will you join us?
Help is here.
Help is here.
Help is here.

Making Money on The Rapture?

2009-01-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

I saw this and of course I had to stop and look.

http://youvebeenleftbehind.com/

It's a website that you can start a profile and set up messages and emails, so that when you are raptured, it will send emails to your friends and family that have been left behind about the Good News.

Services Overview

We have set up a system to send documents by the email, to the addresses you provide, 6 days after the "Rapture" of the Church. This occurs when 3 of our 5 team members scattered around the U.S fail to log in over a 3 day period. Another 3 days are given to fail safe any false triggering of the system.

We give you 150mb of encrypted storage that can be sent to 12 possible email addresses, in Box #1. You up load any documents and choose which documents go to who. You can edit these documents at any time and change the addresses they will be sent to as needed. Box #1 is for your personal private letters to your closest lost friends and relatives.

We give you another 100mb. of unencrypted storage that can be sent to up to 50 email addresses, in Box #2. You can edit the documents and the addresses any time. Box #2 is for more generic documents to lost family & friends.

The cost is $40 for the first year. Re-subscription will be reduced as the number of subscribers increases. Tell your friends about You've Been left behind.

I know you've seen the price tag, and you may be wondering, "Is it worth it?" Here's what you get...

Document storage and "Rapture" triggered email messaging system.

* Store up to 250mb of documents
* Send to up to 62 individual email addresses
* 150Mb encrypted document storage
* 100mb unencrypted document storage
* You can edit documents any time
* Write your own documents or choose from some of ours

Thoughts anyone????

"I am Zane and I am.......relevant."

A collection of thoughts.

2009-01-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

This is a collection of thoughts over the past 6 months-1 year that I have compiled for you. I am not a great writer or an author by any means. Understand that I only want to express myself, and I am not trying to publish a book. If I discredit someone or do not use proper grammar, please don’t criticize me, and most of all, please do not discredit me because I do not write as a professional author. Enjoy=)

I recently did a google search on the #1 kids toy and one of the first to come up was one of the Bratz dolls. I went and visited the Bratz website and realized that I found lot of today’s toys to be disgusting. The Bratz website includes a link to a social networking area for kids called BeBratz. This is a website for kids who have just bought a Bratz doll, similar to the Webkins epidemic. The Bratz dolls are all affiliated with fashion, and if you read each dolls biography, you'll see that some of these fictitious girls wish to become fashion designers or models for fashion companies. On the BeBratz website, I have found that every time you log out of the website, it gives you their log-out message including their log-off message "Take care, keep it real, and above all else, be beautiful!" This leaves one to wonder that maybe, they're trying to say that fashion and being beautiful have something to do with each other. Little girls are buying these dolls and dressing like them, in efforts to become "beautiful." Is that what we are teaching our kids when we get them a toy? Now, I see that it is one thing for a kid to have a role model, but it is just sickening that they are trying to force upon our youth of the nation that they have to dress a certain way or act in a certain way to be considered beautiful.

Bratz's leading competitor Barbie, is another one of these dolls that alter our perception. The Barbie doll has always been one of the most liked dolls around the U.S., not to mention the world. But these dolls put out a perception that all people have to look a certain way in order to fit in. Why should someone have to alter the way that they look to be cool?

This is not an isolated incident. Toys are not the only things that have a bead effect on our youth. Hello! Have you ever heard of Disney Channel!?! You know, that thing that your children watch everyday to enjoy their favorite shows. Sure, you could argue that some of these shows are OK, but they should all be OK.

If you live with a girl between the ages of 4 and 17 or are in the range of 5 miles of one then you probably have heard of the Hannah Montana epidemic. Have you ever noticed how she is TWO PEOPLE! One the one hand, she is Miley Stewart, a lame girl at her school with a few friends. And then she changes who she is to become Hannah Montana, a superstar girl with billions of friends and fans. This just further pushes the facade that we have to be rich, famous, or extremely talented to have many friends.

We need to teach our children some good, classic family values. What happened to the days when we were appreciated for being ourselves, and didn’t have to be materialistic, snotty, little brats (no pun intended) just to be friendly? I think that a large portion of this is partly a family’s problem, and maybe an education problem. Oprah Winfrey once said about the American education system, “I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isn't there. ... If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod, sneakers, or some money. In South Africa, they don't ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school.”

We need to have an appreciation for what we have, not for what we want. In the Sheryl Crow song, “Soak Up the Sun,” she writes, “It's not having what you want, It's wanting what you've got” We need to take what we have and use it for a grater good. I’ve got an idea, instead of buying more stuff, why don’t we use what we have? For the past 6 weeks, I have worn a different every day of the week without repeating all 6 weeks. I have worn 42 different shirts in the past week, and I have more to go. I didn’t realize how much I had until I started my anti-poverty protest. Given these are shirts I have accumulated over the past 4 or 5 years, however, it doesn’t change that fact of the matter that I have a lot more materially than I thought. With the exception of a class t-shirt, I have not bought any new clothes in the past 3 months, and I have bought any more than 3 items in the past 9 months. If I can do this materialistically, who’s to say that I don’t discredit myself by not owning up to myself? How do I know I cannot do something, maybe I am just not trying hard enough?

Matt Thiessen, lead singer of Relient K, once wrote, ”I just want to get mugged at knife point, to get cut enough to wake me up, cause I know that I don't want to die, sitting around watching my life go by, and what we take from this is what we'll get and we haven't quite figured it out just yet, because all of us are all too stuck, strapped to a chair watching our lives blow up”. I think that it’s time. We need to wake up. Maybe you don’t understand. WE NEED TO WAKE UP! This is our time, this is our planet, and these are our bodies! We need to use what we have now to better us for the future. We often pass the blame to other people. It is nobody else’s problem. We control what we do. “He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.”(Orwell’s 1984) We need to start taking responsibility for our own actions.

In conclusion, all I really have to say is this:

Love people for the way they are, and mean it.

All you need is, what you want is, all you need is love. Everyday-Dave Matthews

Appreciate what you have, because you don’t deserve it, but you do have it.

It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got. -Sheryl Crow

Take responsibility for your actions. We control what we do, and ultimately, that’s eternal.

He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future. -Winston Smith, Orwell’s 1984

Thank you for taking the time to listen to me. I do not know who you are. I do not know where you are, or what you are like, but I do know this. I know 2 people off the top of my head that love you. I love you. I wish the best for you. I really do. The other is God. God loves you. He loves you just the way you are and wouldn’t have it any other way. He loves you so much, that he sent his only son to die for you. He suffered the same pain as his son did. He did this for everyone in the world. The truth is…He would have done it even if it was only you. That’s how much He loves you. May God bless you in all that you do.

-Zane

"I am Zane and I am.......concerned."

First Post

2009-01-23T21:48:00.000-08:00

This is the first post of my new blog. I have wanted a blog for a while now. I have had several reasons, and some of them better than others. I wanted to be able to log in to leave comments on others blogs, and I wanted to be able to share my view with everyone else. I really feel like this blog should be named something more like, "Confessions from someone other than Usher." or "Computer Confessional", because that's really what it is. It's a way for me to express myself in an appropriate matter. One of the things I want to do with this is to be able to talk about things. I also want to post a Music Pick of the week. I also want to work on some other things. I invite you to join me on this journey. Come along, It's gonna be fun.

"I am Zane and I am.....excited."