Human rights and the Olympic Games

I promised something of substance…here we go.

The Olympic Games are coming up soon. In about 10 days the greatest athletes of many nations will be on the world stage displaying their stuff. The media is in a frenzy of activity over this event, the first in China’s history. The American media has been showing programs about the human rights issues there for over half a year now.

China is now on display for the whole world to see.

China has really tried to put a positive spin on the Olympic Games, to show the outside world a beautiful, powerful, unified and positive China. It has done a good job, but the people who want the world to know that is an illusion have done a better one. Maybe winning the bid for the Games way back in 2001 was a good thing for the Chinese people. Maybe, this will draw the much-needed spot light on the Communist Regime.

There are real human rights issues in China and they can’t sweep them under the rug any longer. More than just America and Australia realize this.

I know many people care and realize this isn’t right, but what do we do?

I am issuing a challenge to anyone who reads my blog.

Boycott the games! Do not watch them on TV! If the IOC (International Olympic Committee) is going to allow this to go on then we have to do something. We have to show them it matters to us. Ratings matter big time.

I know that is hard, believe me I want to watch the games. I mean who do I cheer for this year? America or Australia? I want to watch them and if nobody thinks it will accomplish anything I will think of something else to do, but China wants us to watch and forget that all around that city people are being silenced by force.

People are held for petitioning the government for injustices done to them. You cannot speak against the government for fear of reprisals. Families are broken, homes are stolen and the spirit of the people has been crushed. China is building an image and a society unopposed on the broken backs and spirit of its people.

Do we just overlook this and hope for the best?

What do we do?

Can we ignore our conscience?

We know there is something wrong and it is not the media spinning un-truths. There is no more doubt for me that the Communist Regime of China is oppressing its people.

Dialog with me about this. Post comments here.

Time to take action.

random thoughts

This is just several random thoughts that have shot through my mind over the last day or so.

Enjoy.

I am really want the Boston Red Sox to get into the playoffs again this year. They look good, but seem to be struggling. As for Manny's recent trade tirade. I have this to say.

The Red Sox have upheld every agreement the have had with the ball player. They have showed him favor after favor. And he does this crap again! What they need to do is send a message and trade the bum. Yes, I know there are Red Sox fans that probably disagree with me (Heath, maybe even Rob) I realize that he is one of the hottest bats we have. But lets be realistic here, if he keeps pulling this...I am hurting I don't want to play stuff it is going to do damage to the team. And lets also be realistic here, we are a championship team...people want to play in Boston now.

Personally, I love Big Papi, YooooK, Tek and the rest of the team, to me they are the epitome of a team. I have enjoyed watching Manny play, but he has never been concerned or even cared about the team. The rest of the team does. We will survive without Manny Ramirez, we certainly did without Nomar.

Also, I would like to cite Peter Gammon's Blog.

I agree with him 100%.

whew, baseball rant done!

What is up with the weather in Queensland. Isn't this place called the Sunshine State? My travel agent tricked me! Nah, I'm kidding, I love it here. Things are great, different, but great.

I miss people back home like none other. You really don't realize how much people are apart of your life until you leave them on another continent. Thanks for all the support and comments.

I saw a Kangaroo on Sunday!!!!

I drove out to Bribie Island which is 20 minute away and the surfing bug hit me again. So, sometime soon I gotta go surfing. Anyone got a spare board lying around?

I haven't written anything about The Dark Knight. It was incredible. The wait was well worth it. Cast was amazing, Academy Award winning performances that will probably get snubbed by the academy. What do they know anyway, Titanic got best picture. All the boat did was sink. Who doesn't know that story?

I really need to get a bike.

Did I mention I drove a motorcycle? Yeah, I feel the need, the need for speed. The wheels are turning on a far future purchase. Never thought I'd actually consider that. Gas mileage is great! Safety, not so much.

Well, maybe I'll do a random thoughts part deux tomorrow. I promise I'll actually write about significant things.

bible study

Well I wanted to write about what just happened because I thought it was really cool.

I have the privilege of leading a Bible study for several South Koreans that attend our church. We have been meeting for three Saturday evenings and we have grown by three. Our group started out as nine and we have grown to twelve!!!

I think that is really cool at least.

The big thing is this. Tonight the passage I picked to talk to them about started at Mark 12:24. Yea, a big one. So we read it and I elaborated on it the best I could. I made sure that they understood that it was important that if we are to be followers of Jesus that we obey his words and Love God with all we have and that we also love other people.

What happened next is what got me.

One of the girls asked, We have a landlord who charges us a lot of money for many people to live in our house, do we have to love him?

Man talk about a killer. So, Stan and I had a real opportunity to explain that, yes, even if someone is not nice to us God tells us to love them. Now, we also explained that does not mean we just let them get away with it, but even in doing that we treat them well. The conversation went on a little longer and I could really tell she had taken it in and was processing it. Her cheeks looked like she was upset and she briefly stepped out of the room. I didn't get to talk to her afterwards, but she is the one who understand the most English. She is a really nice girl and I can tell that God is moving on her heart.

So after all this Stan had a conversation with one of the new guys. I didn't hear all of it, but he seemed to be asking Stan some really deep questions.

I was actually talking to the group of guys. Most of them live in the same house. I had gradually picked up on the fact that some are indeed believers. Tonight, I got some conformation and then some.

One of the guys asked me if I had seen God. Literally. I explained a little bit about that and that Jesus is in heaven, but that the Holy Spirit is here with us, unseen, but working for God. I then explained that there were people who did meet and see God. The apostles and other people as well. I told him about Thomas, and even after the crucifixion how he doubted. I also told him that Jesus came to him and told him to touch him, to see and feel the wounds of the nails.

And out of nowhere one of them pulls out his Korean bible and finds the passage in John and tells him to read it. So they are reading it and I turn to another one who says this about his friend, he is a virgin to Jesus. Now, I had a hard time understanding that the first time and he said it again and I knew exactly what he was talking about. He looked at me and said, he doesn't understand.

I was floored. Not only by that and what was happening, but by how they were teaching him and that he keeps coming back week after week. It was crazy because after the first question and we prayed to close I felt like God was there with us, we sat around talking and this all just developed in our conversations. It was incredible.

So be praying for my Bible study group and that God continues to move.

Well thats all I have, I have got to get up and preach in the morning. Be praying for that too...I'm pretty tired and still need to polish it up a little.

four legged and two wheeled adventures

I just got back from a couple of days up North in a town called Gayndah. I spend some time staying with Stan's brother Neil and his family on their farm.

I got to ride his horses thanks to his daughter Chelsea. It was great fun and I think I did pretty well. Pictures are coming soon.

Probably the big thing for me though was riding his dirt bike. Neil had a dirt bike for use around the farm and I had the opportunity to ride one for the first time.

I had a lot of fun riding it. I took it off on some dirt roads behind his pig farm. I even had the chance to get it out on the pavement. Don't tell my parents, but I got that thing up to about 80 k/m. That roughly translates to about 50 mph. Yeah, it was fast for me.

anyway, this was a brief update....more coming

Camp!

Last night I had the opportunity to meet an Aboriginal man or as they prefer to be called around the area, the Murray people. They really don’t like the term Aboriginal, so most go by either a sort of tribal name or something like Indigenous Australians. Gary is a man that Stan and his wife take care of from time to time offering him a place to sleep and a hot meal. Last night Stan told me Gary happened to be a little drunk, nothing I’m unaccustomed to really. We sat around and I talked to him about America a bit. I showed him North Carolina on a map and we talked about the American and Aussie landscapes for a while. He was an interesting character, I hope I get to talk to him more in the future.

High School camp was awesome. Very similar to what I am used to in the States, but minus Tub-a-mania and the Gong Show. I traveled to a town called Coolum up on the Sunshine Coast. It was very beautiful place right on the water. The whole week I had the opportunity to gaze out on the Pacific Ocean. It did rain for four days in the middle of the week, but we still made it work.

The first day of camp was a little hard for me. I didn’t know anyone, with the exception of the leaders. I’m naturally an extrovert, but even in that kinda situation I take my time with people. I don’t just want to run up in someone’s social circle all uninvited. Lucky for me the kids loved talking about Australia and America so I made friends quickly.

Most of the week consisted of normal camp things, team times, rallies and games. I really enjoyed my team; they were a good group of kids. One of them is actually going with me tonight to see the Dark Knight with some other leaders I became friends with.

The rally times were great. John Wood a Wesleyan pastor from NY was the speaker and he did an amazing job preaching and leading.

When the rain finally let up we had the opportunity to go down to the beach. This was my first time setting foot in the Pacific. A couple of my friends, Nathan, Matt and Simon taught me how to play Cricket. The game is interesting for sure. I took a few bowls and managed to crank one into the ocean. They decided to break out the regulation ball and I still managed to get a few hits. I was still trying to do the baseball swing. After that they showed me how to bowl. That bit is slightly difficult. I threw a couple American style pitches just for fun and then attempted to grasp their style. I was starting to get it before we decided to call it quits.

The whole week was a wonderful experience and my kids kept asking me if I would be back next year. We will see what God and the future holds. It was great to see young people who are committed to and desire to live a life reflective of Jesus. It was also great for me to form the first relationships with people my age here. All the leaders were great and I do hope to get to hang out with them more.

It was a great time. Kinda hard to leave because you realize that we will never all be in the same place again. But life carries on and I’m thankful for all the days I’m given.

Australia!

I will begin with an apology. I am sitting in a Starbucks. This evil place is apparently the only one in all of Australia that has wireless internet and I still have to pay for it. I think we need to bring Jittery Joe's over here.

This past week was incredibly long. I spent the 4th through the 11th in Coolum up on the Sunshine Coast for high school youth camp. It was amazing! The only issue I had the whole time was that it rained for four days. Ugh. Rain on the Sunshine Coast? The Aussies were even stunned by it. It really doesn't rain much here, in fact Caboolture is on water restrictions. I can only shower for four minutes. I guess that means sleeping for another half hour in the shower is now officially over.

Camp really was quite an experience. I felt like an outsider for the first day or so, but that quickly changed. I formed great relationships with the campers and the other leaders. I really look forward to hanging out, encouraging and getting to know all people I had the privilege to meet.

The house I am living in is really nice. I have a room up in the front part of the house with a nice big window to the street. I finally have my car!!! It took some time but I can finally drive. We had to get new plates for it and do the registration dance. It is a 95 Ford Falcon, a nice car, just has got ants all in the interior that I have to get out. The difficult part is remembering that I need to make sure I drive on the left side of the road.

I promise a detailed overview of the week at camp is coming and with pictures. I just need to find a place that doesn't charge me for internet.

Getting settled

Well this post is going to have to really brief. I am at the local shopping mall using pay internet and as it stands I have 12 minutes left.

I got back from High School camp on friday exhausted. It was a great time, God moved and the camp and kids were awesome. I will definately write more about that next week. I should have my car tomorrow. They are sorting out some of the paper work details but it is coming along nicely.

The weather is very nice here for winter. About 60 or 70 during the days, the only thing that gets me is the early setting of the sun.

Attended my first church service this morning and was introduced to the congregation. They are really nice people and have already treated me great.

My house is beautiful. We leave all the doors and windows open during the day to cool the house. It really is wonderful.

Well about 8 minutes left and I need to hurry up and post. Another one soon I promise.

laters

I come from the land down under

Guess what? I'm in Australia! About time.

I arrived here yesterday around 6. The plane landed and it took me about an hour to pass through customs. Stan, the pastor I am working with here was waiting on me at the gate. It was really great to see him on Australian soil. This one is for you Hank. We were going to his car and parked about four cars away was a white Nissan Skyline GT-R. I saw three of them yesterday, the first was an R34 model (my favorite) and two R33's.

He showed me around Brisbane and Caboolture. First thing he stopped and showed me the Southern Cross. No, I'm not talking about the constellation I am talking about a plane. It was flown from California to Australia. Stan said he takes people who have just arrived to show them how it used to be. I'm grateful I didn't have to fly in that thing. It was different riding around on the left side of the road. A couple times I looked away and looked up and for a second had that panic of oh no we are on the wrong side of the road, wait, I'm in Australia.

We arrive at his house and had a bit of tea, some crackers and chat for a while. His wife needed to get a haircut so we took her to do that and he showed me the local mall.

This story is for Matt Rhodes. We were walking around the mall and looking in different stores when I was passed by a girl wearing a Family Force Five t-shirt. I'm not kidding it was the Robot love addict one. I told Stan about it and said I was super surprised to see that shirt.

I got to meet Stan's son Greg. He's a really nice guy and we talked about cars and sports for a bit yesterday. I'm going to try to get him a American Football as a gift sometime soon. I also got to meet a young fella named Andrew. First thing I noticed was he was wearing an Atlanta Braves hat, I instantly liked the kid. He had gone to youth camp a couple years back and has been in and out of church since then. We sat around and talked at McDonalds for a bit. He loves dirt bikes and told me a couple of his stories about riding. I told him we needed to get together and he could teach me about riding and all that stuff.

Yesterday was a big day in the Queensland sports world. Apparently, I arrived just in time for game three of State of Origin. State of Origin is a rugby match between the states Queensland and New South Wales. All the players from this rugby league go back and play for their state of origin for a best of three series. It is a pretty big deal and the good thing is WE WON! After that I was so tired that I went to sleep.

This morning I got up around 6:30 showered and we had breakfast. In a little bit I'll be going over to where I will be living. Tomorrow I am headed to the Sunshine Coast for a few days for youth camp. I'm really excited, it sounds a lot like youth camp in the states except this one is at the beach. It will be a great time and I hope to have a positive influence on some of those young people.

It still hasn't quite hit me I'm in Australia.

Thank you for all your prayers, they mean a lot to me.

More later and pictures soon.

P.S. Vegimite really isn't that bad.