Left Behind (The Rapture Song)

This is too good not to share. Remember the "Thief in the Night" movies about 20 years ago that scared everyone and their mother into heaven?

This is called poetic justice.

Team World Vision 2007

15 million children have been left orphaned by HIV/AIDS. It's not just an 'issue', it's a pandemic.

I'm running in the NYC Marathon this Fall as part of Team World Vision. You can be part of it here.

What Makes Community Suck

It seems that diversity is bad for community.

In a recent massive study, Harvard's Robert Putnam (of _Bowling Alone_ fame) found, much to his chagrin, that diversity is a detriment to real community.

The more diverse, the less volunteerism, the less trust, the less social capital. It seems that homogeneity is good for community.

He did find one exception that actually gives me hope, since what I do for a living is about creating community out of diversity. But you'll have read the article at the Wall Street Journal to find out where that place is. Hint: Can anyone say "resurrection?"

Pizza, Prayer and Leadership

Ate at John's Pizzeria in New York City, just off Times Square this week. My wife and I were on a short vacation to the Big Apple while Grandma watched Hudson, before baby #2 (name and sex TBD) arrives on the Marshall scene.

Many hail it as the best pizza in NYC. I'm not one to argue, it was pretty freakin' good.

What interested me more was the setting. It used to be home to the Gospel Tabernacle Church, led by AB Simpson in the 1880's. Stained glass and an balcony grace the open and airy setting--lending a sort of 'heavenly feel' to the place. Who knows, maybe the heavenly taste is a physical manifestation of metaphysical realities?

The place is beautiful. And that got me thinking: This used to be a place of worship, and now it's a pizzeria (discussions of the eschaton as a wonderful meal notwithstanding), why? I'm sure wonderful things happened during it's former incarnation. Lives were transformed. People lifted out of destructive lifestyles. Families restored. In fact, AB started the place to reach "the neglected peoples of the world with the neglected resources of the church." But now, a 100 years+ later, the only vestiges of the ministry I can see is the pizza pie gloriously gracing my table.

Is this okay? What can we learn from this? Here's my short working list. What do you think?

• Leadership is about the next generation. Transformation is as much about future generations as it is about our generation. We've lost the sense that our children to come will inherit our work of today. Evidence? I don't hear this topic in books or seminars. We are very moment centric (how though, to reconcile with Jesus'--"tomorrow has enough trouble of its own."??)
• Building a ministry to last for a 100 years must be different than building it to last my lifetime. Is that what we are to be about? Deep roots into the past, strong presence in the present, long reach into the future? How do we prepare for this without getting in touch with the past?
• Sometimes its okay for a thing not to last. In fact, maybe this is necessary. Is wisdom the difference? For instance, Nyack College and the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church are still functioning parts of his legacy.
• I'm thinking of changing my name to SW Marshall. It just sounds so impressive.

Running Poverty into the Ground

November 4th I'll be in the Big Apple with 35,000+ other runners in the ING New York City Marathon. It'll be my third marathon.

I hope to finish the race in $1,000. You heard that right, $1,000 is my target pace.

I'm running for World Vision and hope to raise $1,000 (all of which goes to World Vision's relief efforts). You can donate $1 or all $1,000 by visiting the mini-site I created to give to that cause.

I'll do the running, you do the paying--and a child's life will be saved.

Things You're Not Supposed to Find in Your Office

This slithered past my desk this morning. It was about 2 ft long and sat nicely in the box until I returned him to his woody environs.

Lessons from Children

Some lessons I've learned from children as of late:

On limits & longing
Hudson: *from out of sight, noises of straining to reach something* "Daddy, I can't reach it."
Me: "What can't you reach Hudson?"
Hudson: *more emphatic* "I CAN'T REACH IT DADDY!"
Me: "What son?"
Hudson: "The sky daddy, I can't reach the sky."

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on grace
Background: I'm performing a wedding of two divorced people. Both went through hell in their previous marriages, and now God has brought them together. The woman has a 3 year old daughter. As part of their ceremony, the man made a promise to the little girl. Holding hands in a new family circle, the following interchange took place:

Man (looking at the little girl): "I promise to care for you, love you, provide for you, etc"
Little girl: Looks up adoringly
Me: *thoughts* She won't remember any of this. In fact, she doesn't even understand what he is saying to her. And furthermore, she didn't do anything to deserve these kinds of promises and doesn't have the capability to even receive them.

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on joy and anticipation
Background: On vacation staying with one of my close friends. He has a six year old son.

Me (to the 6 year and my 2 1/2 year old): "Boys. Tomorrow, would you like to go swimming at the pool?" (the city they live in just built perhaps the greatest public pool I've ever seen.)
Boys (in ecstatic, jubilant unison): "YEEEAAHHHH!!!"
The six year old (at the top of his voice): "I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS DAY TO BE OVER!"

This speaks for itself...

Richmond's Sordid Past

At the height of slavery in colonial America, Richmond, VA was THE crossroads for slave trading. The warehouses sitting next to the James River where they were unloaded as "cargo" are today renovated high-dollar lofts. And in 1860, Virginia had more slaves than any other state in the Union. For Virginia's culpability in perpetuating this evil, the VA State Assembly recently issued a formal apology stating their "profound regret."

As a physical step of amends, three identical Reconciliation Statues were commissioned and erected; One here in downtown Richmond, one in Liverpool, England (where many of the slaving ships originated) and one in Benin, West Africa (where many Africans were wrongfully enslaved). The other day I met a friend for lunch just a few blocks from the statue and took some photos of it. It is a sign of the Kingdom!

Virtue Deconstructed

I came across this quote from Abraham Joshua Heschel, the great Jewish thinker.  It is rattling me.

"Greek philosophy began in a world without God. It could not accept the (mythical) gods or the example of their conduct. Plato had to break with the gods and ask: What is good? Thus the problem of values was born. And it was the idea of values that took the place of God. Plato lets Socrates ask: What is good? But Moses' question was: What does God require of thee?"