Thoughts at a truck stop..

I know I have been horrible at keeping up with my blog this summer, but I've been pretty busy with my housemates and with working. I am currently sitting at a Love's truck stop about 100 miles from Detroit, wating for my car to cool down so I can properly check the fluids and most likely add some engine oil. I'll take this golden opportunity to catch you all up on what I've been doing this summer.

This summer I am living in the amazing city of Detroit with 5 other college students and each of us is working at a different site in the city. Myself and 2 of my housemates are working at The Outpost at St. Timothy's United Methodist Church. The Outpost is basically a day camp and summer enrichment program for kids. At the day camp, the kids learn Math, Science, Reading and Spanish. I am teaching Reading for the summer and it has turned out to be a LOT of fun! There are three age groups: 5-8, 9-11 and 12-14 and the hardest class for me has been the 5-8 year olds. I think this is because at least 3 of them do not know how to read and it's really hard to gauge what the rest of them know and what they don't know. The other challenging part of the day camp is that last week, we acquired Caleb. Caleb is an 11 year old boy that has Down's Syndrome. He is a very very sweet kid and he seems to really like and respect me, but the other kids don't understand when he pinches them and sometimes spits on them(he does this when he gets nervous). Other than that, camp is going great. In the afternoons, after class, we have games and free time. Most of the time, we've been going outside and playing basebal, which is great, but it can be a pain when it's 97+ degrees out.

The other huge part of my summer is living in an intentional community with 5 other individuals. Living in intentional community is a lot different than just sharing a house with people. We eat together, hang out together, do different things within the city together and are basically just working on becoming a very tight knit community. The house that we live in is on Wildemere street in the University District in Detroit. It is a very nice neighborhood that even has it's own 24 hour security patrol. I've had a great time getting to know all my housemates, and I think that we all get along very well, which is a good thing.

Well, that's all for now.. I need to get on the road. I hope you all are having a wonderful summer!!! I will update more often. Also, if you happen to be on Twitter, follow the following people and you can get a close view of what goes on in our house and community: @D_tm @joshuamckamie @jessystark @cari_drolet @carlgladstone @erinmaxam

Day at the Zoo

Felicia and I took a day trip to the St. Louis Zoo over Spring Break.. I put this little video together of our adventure!

Make sure you click the HQ button right under the video to watch it in High Quality!!

Why it's ridiculous to be against legal gay marriage

I know that Prop. 8 was passed a few months ago, but I just found this video.

Getting it wrong

Awesome video by Tanner Woodford, one of my former classmates at MHS. Check out the rest of his stuff here : http://www.ctlw.net



Getting it wrong from Tanner Woodford on Vimeo.

I just lost a little faith in humanity

"Wal-Mart worker dies after shoppers knock him down"

What would be so important that you would need to bum-rush a Wal-Mart at 5am.... Apparently 2,000 people needed stuff so badly that they broke down the doors to a Wal-Mart and trampled one of the employees. Has our society gotten so focused on having the latest "stuff" that we don't notice that we're stepping on and killing a fellow human? What would Christ think of this behavior? Wasn't it Him that cleared the temple of the people selling their goods? Wasn't it Him that said that love one another as you love yourself? I don't think trampling a man while you're trying to get more stuff is loving one another. How odd is it that the word "stuff" is coming up in the blog.... I'm starting to think that the reason for the season is becoming "stuff." What can I have that will make me happy? What's the newest thing that I can have that I'll appreciate for all but a day and then forget about it? Christmas has become so commercialized that it's lost it's real meaning, the birth of Christ and loving one another. I know I've been guilty and am guilty of the whole wanting new stuff, and I think that it's human, but to get that new stuff, do you have to trample a human to death?

Fundamental Islam is not a religion? What?

"Islam, at least fundamental Islam, is not a religion. It is a political system who's goal is world domination."

That's an exact quote from Pat Robertson of the 700 Club. I was watching tv a few weeks ago, and came across the 700 Club and decided to watch because they were talking about Islam. Not long after I started watching, the above quote was said. The quote made me quite angry, and I ended up calling the 700 Club prayer line to voice my concern about this misquote. I ended up talking to a little old lady, God bless her heart, and we had about a 15 minute conversation/argument about how that statement was false. It ended up with her telling me "the only thing Muslims want to do is kill Christians and Jews"

I will admit, that Islam is sometimes used for political causes, but so is Christianity. I will also admit, that some very violent things have been done in the name of Islam, but some very violent things have also been done in the name of Christianity, The Crusades in particular. Why did The Crusades happen? One reason is because Christians wanted to recapture the Holy Land from Muslims.

All I'm saying, is that if you're going to bash another religion, do your research....

I love the band The Myriad.

Watch the video, and if you have any spare change, donate... the video tells you how to