Make Poverty History

The G8, or the ‘Group of Eight’ Summit is an annual gathering of leaders from the world’s eight wealthiest and most powerful countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States). This summer, these leaders will gather in Scotland to decide the fate of an entire generation living on less than ONE dollar a day. On July 6th - 8th, President Bush and other G8 leaders will discuss the major social, political and economic conditions that leave nearly ONE billion people living in extreme poverty – nearly half of whom live in Sub-Saharan Africa. With your support and voice, President Bush and other world leaders will know just how important these issues are, and together as ONE, we can Make Poverty History this July.

It's not to late to help make a difference. Check out what you can do.

www.one.org

Crazy Times

This morning on my way to work I randomly decided to check my email. Turns out it was a good thing, because I realized I didn't have my phone with me... Must have been the sound I heard hitting the wall when I rolled over. So I head back to the apartment, realizing that I will surely be late by this point.

As I'm checking my voicemail at work on the drive in I hear my boss. That's odd considering it's 7:30 am and he's already left a voicemail. Turns out that our due date for Monday got moved to Thursday (yes as in tomorrow) for a case we are working on. Not a fun time in my opinion. And in the midst of this, what we call, "fire-drill" I have another case deliverable due tomorrow as well. So what do I do? I pack it in early from work, head to a coffee shop after work to get some reading done on this case, lead the shortest worship rehearsal ever and then head back to the Starbucks to read more. Yea! I'm still not quite finished, but am well on my way to understanding the complexities associated with punitive damages.

This leads me to my next point. While talking with a friend on my way home from rehearsal to the Starbucks to read again, we came to the startling conclusion that following Jesus is not a get out of jail card from the realities of life, like the fact that money is required to buy things and survive and therefore I must have a job, or be independently wealthy, which I am not, so I work. And while I enjoy aspects of my job there are parts I dread and dislike to a high degree. This led Clair and I to our next startling conclusion. Work is just a job and it's benefit is that is makes you money which helps you afford theses things in life you must have, like food, water, iPods and plasma TV's, or something like that... What a startling reality of life to have staring me back in the face when I wake up tomorrow and look in the mirror.

I'd banter on, but I must sleep so the reading can sink in. Cheers to all of you and your independently wealthy bum's. Must be nice.

Currently Listening to:

Beautiful Mystery

I posted a blog entry to the wrong blog - it accidentally ended up on my small group discussion's blog, which is ok, we'll see what they do with it. Here's the original post that was meant for all of you:
I'm consistently amazed by God using me. Tonight after an extremely long day of leading worship, I found myself in Jen's driveway with her in the passenger seat listening to Chris Tomlin sing "Joyous Light" from Passions: Hymns Ancient and Modern. As I sat there amazed by the worship and grace God had provided to me and the others there. I'm not even sure people experienced what I did. Sometimes it seems what moves one can go un-noticed by another. It's the mystery of the Holy Spirit. To me the day was filled with an overwhelming presence of God, felt and experienced in the message, the music, and even conversations with random people I spoke with after the service. In my heart, I knew I had been allowed to experience the incredible greatness of God. When I take the time to reflect on it, the Christian faith is an amazing testament to God who authors life in such a way that often in the moment, we overlook what is clearly obvious afterwards. Or perhaps this tendency to live in the moment allows us to experience God in as much of a tangible way as is humanly possible and then reflect on the awesome majesty we were allowed to inhabit following the experience is from God, a gift to live at one with God, experiencing life side by side, and yet reflect on the happenings the very second the moment ends. It is this celebrating Him, crying out to Him; the story of the Psalmist which gives the believer a "best of both worlds" life. Somehow I have been brought into a tradition which is more than men could make. It has been created, hand written for each of us to know the power and relentless tenderness of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am in awe of you Abba, thank you for gracing me with the mere presence of your glory and using me to allow others to experience you.

Currently Listening to:

Responsibility

Check out how Smart designers in London are becoming. I wonder when the likes of GM, Ford and Chrysler will catch on to the idea that what's good for our world, can also be good for them. The car is called the G-Wiz and in London, (which some experts say has the pollution equivalent to smoking 30 cigarettes per day) this is a miracle. There are taxes associated w/ driving a car, (which only people on the West Coast are familiar with here) emission taxes (congestion charge in UK). You also get 600 mpg, no road tax, and free parking in London (if you can find any).

Turns out technological innovation can really benefit the world too. Amazing. Check it out: Going Green. Sadly despite my zealousness of preventing any further global warming I still drive a large car and accelerate as fast as the law will allow me to. Selfish I know, I'm working on it.

NEWS FLASH

Also, in a corporate mishap, today I accidentally misread an email and wished one of my co-workers "Happy Birthday" one month before the date. Here was his reply to my original email:

Thanks…and remind me to thank you again on July 15, my birthday.

Anthony J. Colucci
Staff Consultant

That's me, that's my life.

Cultural Creative

Here are the results of a test I took online. I saw it on a friend's blog and decided to check it out. I scored a high cultural creative, which I think means I believe, but not in the traditional ways. For more on this check out the Christian Counterculture movement - I'm not endorsing this, just saying it's interesting, if you have time take a peek.

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.

What is Your World View? (updated)
created with QuizFarm.com

Cultural Creative 81% Romanticist 81% Fundamentalist 63% Idealist 56% Postmodernist 44% Materialist 38% Modernist 25% Existentialist 13% What is Your World View? (updated) created with QuizFarm.com

Will & Jonas - Queens Day 04

This is a pic of my buddy Jonas and I sporting our Dutch, orange armbands in honor of Amsterdam's favorite holiday...Ahh good times - Mazel my friends.

Birthday!


Ok, so I was a bit down about becoming an official 27 year old. I'm moving on with my favorite part of life so far, my 20s. Not that everything leading up to that wasn't good, but my life has been changed by the goodness of God since I turned 20. For some reason I got really serious about a relationship with God rather than a ritual (church) that involved Him. Anyway, the birthday was a great chance for me to look back at the life God has given me, a life most would envy. I've had opportunity and blessings in this life beyond my own dreams, and I think that is a benefit of surrender to God, because now I am given the opportunity to live the dreams of a He who created everything and I have to believe that His imagination is greater than mine.

So for my birthday, I got what every God-fearing male in his 20's desires - Coldplay Tickets (pavilion, not lawn) for August 30th. Yeah I do have the best girlfriend in the world and last night completely confirmed my suspicions of such truth. On top of that I also got to share in a wonderful, romantic dinner with just Jen as well as some other nice gifts from my parents. Oh and of course I also received the new Coldplay CD - (X&Y, hence the picture) if you haven't you will want this CD, it's great, not quite the "Joshua Tree" that critics said they needed, but still a good album. I have listened to it non-stop for the first 4 hours of work this morning.

Anyway, birthday doldrums are now behind me and today is a new day. Until next time kids...

Birthday

It's my 27th Birthday, I feel old. Not like 30 old - like some of my friends, but still old. I'll tell you how I feel tomorrow. That's when I'll be 27 years and one day old, it will have fully set in by then.