It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. -Charles Dickens
This week in Project 365 I decided to photograph art around my house. I finished the week out with a photo of my new Amazon Kindle 2, which was a complete surprise from my Dad. Sweet. If you want to see the daily feed with larger images, check out my Posterous account.
by Joe Kennedy
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…Or How an Unemployed, Fat Guy Thought It’d be a Good Idea to Bike Cross-Country for Kenya
Joe’s right. Words are not enough.
Once, long ago, words bore the power to inspire change. Now, inspiration is a category of greeting cards and change is a campaign mantra.
We have a need to feel empathy and we fulfill that need in 2 hour increments with movies like The Blind Side or Blood Diamond. We throw away our popcorn and go back to our homes with no intent of living any differently.
In Blood Diamond, Solomon Vandy asks the reporter (regarding her article), ”So when people in your country read it, they will come help, yes?” She says, “Probably not.”
Words are not enough and yet I believe in stories. Sometimes, I think our response to stories is what makes them true. A true story is so even without our proper reaction except that no argument will persuade us to believe a thing we’ve determined to ignore.
The world is wrecked but is that the whole story? I don’t think so.
In the past, I’ve been so overwhelmed by the devastation that I averted my eyes. In doing so, I missed the point. Hope grew distant but I am tired of being hopeless.
My hope is in Christ. My prayer is the same one that He taught His first disciples, “Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.”
But words are not enough. To pray that and not be moved in some tangible way to benefit Jesus’ least of these is to pray in vain. It offends the heart of God.
Realizing this has motivated me to sign-on for a crazy adventure. This summer I, along with 17 others, will bike 3,100 miles from San Diego to Myrtle Beach to raise money to build water wells, latrines, and clinics in Marsabit, Kenya.
I’m a lazy 250 pound guy who gets lost in Wal-Mart and has been unemployed for a year now. Why am I doing this? Because words are not enough.
For more information and to give go to http://www.ridewelltour.org.
A note from Joe: I’ve never met Chase Livingston, but we’ve got some mutual friends. He is a native of Alabama and graduate of the Baptist College of Florida where he met my future New Orleans Seminary next-door neighbor, Jeff Watkins. Since he is raising funds for the Ride:Well Tour, I asked Chase to contribute a guest post to Words Are Not Enough. You can donate at the link above or by clicking here. Chase lives in Jackson, Tennessee and you can find him on Twitter or at his blog.
by Joe Kennedy
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This week I really tried to take some decent photos. I started with tiny fake flowers- they’re really about two inches tall. I think that shot turned out pretty cool, and I love the colors. Saturday I took a photo of my Chucks, Sunday brought Pepper and Salt, and Monday I drove to Pensacola for a meeting with church planters. As I walked around the campus of Pensacola Christian College, I saw a great palm tree with moss on it. On Tuesday I grabbed a shot of my parents’ soon-to-be sentient coffee maker. Wednesday I took a photo of a sand-globe. Thursday, my mom and I made baked penne with tiny meatballs. So there you go. If you want to see the daily feed with larger images, check out my Posterous account.
by Joe Kennedy
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A note from Joe: I’ve known Amy Nicholson since our first class together at NOBTS in January 2005. She’s one of my most trusted friends, and I was thrilled when she was appointed as a missionary in Vienna, Austria. As part of a series of guest posts my friends are writing for Words Are Not Enough, Amy offers new lessons from the last year in Vienna. She writes on her blog Meine Tage: My Days.
Some things God has been showing me lately, here in Vienna: what He wants in his kingdom and a little about how He wants to use me to help create that here on earth.
I know it’s no different than anyone else who converts to Christ-followerness. Supernaturally, through the blood sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus, we have become co-heirs and have responsibilities that go way beyond “take care of the earth” stuff. I mean, that’s a no brainer. Every one knows that if we don’t take care of the earth, we will suffer the consequences – we are suffering the consequences of wrong doing throughout the ages and what we do now will affect those who go behind us. Here in Vienna, the state has done a pretty impressive job of that. It’s nice to breath clean air and for many people to have jobs.
But, I’m starting to understand better about how God wants something more. More than good behavior here on earth. He wants heaven on earth. He wants to be reconciled to his creation. That’s why Jesus came: to make it possible for God to call his children home once and for all. View full post »
by Joe Kennedy
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by Joe Kennedy
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