Organics,Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Check out this really interesting interactive Factory Farm Map (Click Here). It was put together by the Food and Water Watch. Factory farms pollute the air and water more than vehicles in some places. Some communities are truly suffering because of corporate factory farms pushing their way into the community. Can you imagine the stench that you would have to endure? Your fresh clean country air is turned to putrid and suffocating by these corporate giants. Your natural spring water turns to a bacterial breeding ground and your food now has new strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria. The Food and Water watch website not only has this very cool interactive map, but also a host of other information to keep you informed on the subject. Wisconsin and California hold the top two spots for dairy cow pollution. Alabama and Georgia hold the top two spots for nationwide chicken pollution.
Family,Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Claire is a full time eating and sleeping baby. She’s really a sweet and peaceful girl. There’s just those few precious moments when she’s awake and attentive. Those are the times I like to give her kisses, talk to her, and coax a smile from her. Here’s a photo of Jenn holding Claire in her beautiful white Sunday best. Click here to see all the photos in the set here.
Family,Monday, July 30, 2007
Laura visited for a week and we spent a Saturday in San Francisco enjoying the warm 75 degree weather while it was around 90 degrees back in San Jose. We’re never certain how much trouble it will be to travel with 1 month old Claire and 2 year old Matthew. But this trip was actually very fun. Here’s a photo of Jenn, Matthew and Laura on the pier near with the Golden Gate bridge in the background.
We started out parking at the usual Sutter St. garage and walking down towards Market St. where we planned to eat at an awesome Mexican food place called Chipotle. They are a move towards more organic and sustainable raised food. They call it their Food With Integrity (FWI) program. The pork they use is from pigs that roam naturally and are not raised in CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations). Most of the beef and chicken are sourced from all naturally raised sources. Over time they try to slowly move more and more towards using completely organic and naturally raised foods.
Matthew loved a simple side dish of their marinated, shredded pork and rice for only $2.50. He consumed nearly all of it! All of their food is incredibly good and the prices are comparable to other Mexican food places. If you go during the lunch hour, you’ll find a line going out the door! There are a handful of Chipotle’s around in California and the number is continually growing. I have to thank God that one just opened up a couple blocks away from my workplace!
After lunch, we headed towards a popular park near the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Matthew spent a good 20 minutes playing around the multilevel fountains with pathways and walkways to explore amongst the fountains. On our way back to the truck, we stopped to listen to a violin and guitar play some folk style music on the sidewalk in front of the Men’s Macy’s. They were young girls who actually happened to be from a Christian family that was visiting San Francisco. The open guitar case that they had placed on the ground offered tracks that tell about Jesus.
After much people watching, a stop to feed Claire, we finally made it back to the truck. Then we fed Claire some more before hitting the streets of San Francisco. China town was just a block away, so we drove up the center of China Town, slowing making our way down the very narrow st. Tourists and Chinese people filled the sidewalks. We soon remembered about the excellent pearl tea drinks that are available in China town, however, the parking is horrible and there were no parking spaces open. So I parked my truck temporarily halfway on the sidewalk and halfway in the street. Jenn and Laura jumped out to fetch the pearl tea drinks. Meanwhile, I sat in the truck with the motor running and wondering if I my parking my gigantic SUV partly on the sideway would be a problem. People walked right by my truck, staring at the buildings, looking at the stores and other people. A police officer on bike appeared around the corner and headed down the street towards me. His eyes were scanning the crown and the traffic but he didn’t for a second notice me partly parked on the sidewalk. Another compact car came and jerked itself onto the sidewalk in front of me. At this point I was feeling like it didn’t really matter that I was parked here. So I turned my truck off and relaxed. Jenn and Laura soon returned with the treats. Laura, having experienced pearl tea drinks in China, knew what the good stuff was supposed to taste like. She had yet to find good pearl tea in the U.S. except at this place in San Francisco. It was yummy good. Actually, there are a number of good places in the Bay Area to find good pearl tea.
In San Francisco, it’s always fun to ride the hilly streets and experience a real live roller coaster with buildings and scenery of San Francisco surrounding you. Today was no exception. I quickly found several nearby streets that go up and down and we had a few thrills with those. But I knew there were something more dramatic and as we followed the top of the hill, I peered down the side streets and spotted a extremely steep dropping street. You know it’s very steep when rooftops of the buildings disappear very quickly. As we approach the steep street, it’s just like going over the crest of a hill on a roller coaster. The ground drops away and all you see is air and the sides of the buildings. As the truck meets the steep grade of the street all the passengers experience their seat belts being the only thing holding them into the seat! It was so steep that Matthew wasn’t even saying “weee!” This particular experience was unusually comical in that as we approached the cross street on the following block, a little old lady with a cane was patiently making her way across our path. Thankfully my breaks were working well that day. 
Click Here to See the San Francisco Photo Set on Flickr
Saturday, July 28, 2007
James Boice has an excellent litmus test for false teachers. It’s very practical and simple. His premise is based on Jesus words that tell us the good tree will produce good fruit. So the good teacher will produce good fruit in their disciples, and the false teacher will produce bad fruit in their disciples. Or put another way, the good pastor will produce good fruit in their congregation and the false pastor will produce bad fruit in their congregation. Here’s James Boice’s summary.
Let me put it this way. Does the teaching you are receiving satisfy your soul? Does it bring you closer to God? Does it equip you to live for Jesus Christ at home and in your place of work? Does it make you less selfish? Does it prompt you to help and serve other people when you have an opportunity to do so? If it does not, find teaching that does. Find a place where the teaching takes root and flourishes in growth and spiritual satisfaction. The only instruction that will ever satisfy you in this way is accurate Bible teaching.
Boice, J. M. (2001). The Gospel of Matthew (114). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.
Jenn and I are thankful that we can say yes to many of these questions. West Hills Community church in Morgan Hill is an excellent place to call our church home. If you are not in a church that prompts you to produce good fruit, then what are you waiting for?
Christianity,Friday, July 27, 2007
A recent Albert Mohler program had touched on the subject of abortion in the movies. Hollywood is reluctant to carry out a storyline that includes a character that carries out an abortion. This is surprising in a country that widely supports abortion rights. However, it is not surprising for someone like me that believes that abortion is a great evil that will haunt the conscience of those who support and practice it. Abortion is so shameful and dreadful that Hollywood doesn’t dare create a movie that contains it.
I can understand and share in the pain of being upset about the dying American soldiers and people of Iraq. Even more so, we should be upset about the injustice and shameful killing of multitudes more of unborn babies that are murdered on our own country’s soil and worldwide. There’s no lack of people to cry support our troops. But who’s crying support our children? Of course, it’s easy to muster up emotional vigor to support the troops that help protect our lives. We have selfish reasons for that. However, the same vigor is quiet when it come to support a defenseless child in the womb. This child has no voice to cry out for support. We must be that voice and if we don’t voice it, then the conscience will, and eventually God will on that day of judgment.
One person called into the program telling how so many older and very godly women in the church had gone through abortions and experienced the unrelenting pain of their conscience. Their conscience soon found rest in the forgiveness they found in Jesus Christ. And how true it is! Through Jesus Christ, there is forgiveness for even the most heinous of sins. But some people may not come because of their hard hearts. However, the love of Christ can soften even the hardest of hearts so that they can find rest in Him. The world tries to tell us the freedom to choose is where true freedom lies. This is a lie. True freedom is found when you lack nothing and are in need of nothing. Only in Jesus Christ, can our souls experience true freedom and the lack of nothing needful. Come to Him and experience it.
Click Here to Listen to this Topic on the Albert Mohler Program
