by jphilo | Feb 4, 2010 | Current Events
In this corner of the world, we’re often insulated from major world events. But not last month, when the earthquake hit Haiti. The Wednesday before disaster struck, a woman in our Wednesday night Bible study asked us to pray for her father, brother, and several nieces and nephews who were on their way to Haiti to volunteer at a medical mission and orphanage.
We were familiar with the mission, since three people from our church spent a week there last January. So we prayed for this year’s travelers, asking God to grant them a safe journey and many opportunities to share Christ’s compassion with the people in that desperately poor country.
From the moment the earthquake hit, our church body and many others offered prayers for the people of Haiti, the family members at the mission, and those waiting at home. After four harrowing days, they arrived home safely, but suffering from the trauma they’d endured and concerned about those left behind.
For more of their story, click on the newspaper and TV links below:
- www.kotatv.com Wednesday, January 13, 2010: Sioux Falls KOTA interview on Wednesday, January 12, 2010.www.kcci.com Thursday, January 14, 2010: DES MOINES, Iowa — Some Iowans are already in Haiti helping responding to calls for help after Tuesday’s devastating earthquake. You can see the KCCI Des Moines interview with Taylor and pics of the team on their website now – below. Bryan is in blue wearing a Univ of IA cap and Alissa, seen in several pics is in the green scrubs, blond hair.
- www.kcci.com Skype interview with Taylor on Des Moines KCCI TV channel on Jan 14, 2010
- www.kcautv.com Sunday Jan 17, 2010: Sioux City KCAU TV Channel 9 – Megan Harshbarger’s report titled “Missionaries Return Home” includes interviews with Gene and Rachel from Mission to Haiti team and all six First Reformed Church members [Jeannie Clubine; Gene Den Hartog; Andy Getting; Mark Koerselman; Rachel Rooseboom; and Marwin Vogel] as they worship Sunday morning. (Expect a commercial stream to show first)
- Sioux City Journal article Jan 13, 2010 with photo of Bryan, and Alissa assisting him: By the way, all victims they treated survived the night and were transferred to a makeshift clinic on Wednesday. It is unknown if they continued to survive, but we pray they did. Without infection control stepping in soon, the injuries would be fatal. We hope one day any survivors would let Mission to Haiti know they were someone treated that night on campus. I think the team could use some encouraging news like that.
Of course, the country of Haiti needs our continued prayers and support for months to come, just as they needed it before the earthquake. So pray that the world doesn’t abandon Haiti once the media reports wind down. One family I know won’t forget. They’re already planning next year’s trip.
by jphilo | Jan 28, 2010 | Current Events
Have you seen the February 2010 issue of National Geographic? The front cover is a doozy with the title of the feature article “Polygamy in America” printed below the picture of Joe Jessop, his four wives, two generations of their descendants spreading out behind them.
As a kid, I first encountered the concept of polygamy in Sunday school when we studied the Old Testament. But our teachers assured us that the practice had gone the way of stoning, animal sacrifice, and the ban on bacon and lobster. So when my high school sociology teacher announced that the practice had been alive and well amongst Mormons in the United States until the late 1890s when their leaders banned it, I was shocked. After he said a few renegades were still hanging on to the practice in remote western outposts, I realized the truth and the history taught to kids didn’t always match up.
The recent issue of NG proves the point. According to the article, the polygomy hangers-on are procreating with gusto, regardless of the spotlight shined on them since the big, botched federal raid of their compound in April of 2008. The article details the history of the movement, from Joseph Smith’s original vision to its present day manifestation. It’s quite a story, and you may want to read it for yourself.
It sure got me to thinking, and here’s what I want to know: what other cover ups were perpetrated by Sunday school and elementary teachers, the Weekly Reader writers, and children’s TV advertising mavens if my childhood? Here’s a start:
- Contrary to what the Weekly Reader said, lots of active volcanoes still exist, not just in foreign lands but in the United States.
- Lassie had a double.
- Teachers don’t know everything, but they do go to the bathroom, just like everybody else.
- George Washington lied.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You probably need to debunk your share of historical untruths fed to you as a child. If so, add them to the list. If we do a really good job, maybe National Geographic will do a cover story about us – “Myth-busters Unsanitize History.”
You never know. It could happen.
by jphilo | Jan 18, 2010 | Current Events
I was listening to the radio a few days ago and heard the term “greenwashing” for the first time. As context of the radio story indicated, greenwashing is “the practice of companies disingenuously spinning their products and policies as environmentally friendly, such as by presenting cost cuts as reductions in use of resources.” (Wikipedia)
According to Wikipedia, I’m hopelessly behind the times since the term was coined by “NY environmentalist Jay Westerveld in a 1986 essay regarding the hotel industry’s practice of placing green placards in each room, promoting reuse of guest-towels, ostensibly to ‘save the environment.’ Westerveld noted that, in most cases, little or no effort toward waste recycling was being implemented by these institutions, due in part to the lack of cost-cutting affected by such practice. Westerveld opined that the actual objective of this ‘green campaign’ on the part of many hoteliers was, in fact, increased profit. Westerveld hence monitored this and other outwardly environmentally conscientious acts with a greater, underlying purpose of profit increase as greenwashing.”
Well, last week, only days after my awareness of greenwashing was heightened, I experienced the practice firsthand. At Christmas, my sister gave me a Pampered Chef gift certificate, which I used to order a handy-dandy food chopper. The food chopper is about ten inches tall, with a diameter of perhaps four inches and weighs less than a pound. So imagine my surprise when a Pampered Chef box, measuring18 x 24 x 8 inches, arrived. Imagine my further surprise when I opened the box to find it filled with crinkly packing paper and another food chopper-sized box containing, you guessed it, the food chopper.
The company tried to neutralize their wastefulness by stamping the “Recycle” symbol on the box flap. They even included an exclamation mark at the end of the word for emphasis and a pretty leaf design on the R to show their sincerity.
But their wily ways didn’t fool me. I recognize greenwashing when I see it. And though I like Pampered Chef products, I’ll hesitate before buying from the company again. Even though I’ve got a hankering for their ice cream scoop before summer, satisfying my yen can’t justify such blatant waste.
So please, Pampered Chef packaging gurus, quit greenwashing consumers. Prove that you’re in it for the trees, not just the bucks. Recycle for real or you’re going to lose customers. We’re smarter than you think!
by jphilo | Dec 28, 2009 | Current Events
Last week was a wild and wooly weather adventure for Midwesterners. Two storms came together, one from Canada and one from the southwest, resulting in six days of rain, freezing rain, drizzle, freezing drizzle, sleet, and snow.
The storm started three days before Christmas and ended two days after the holiday so we watched the weather reports religiously for days. The “wintery mix,” as the weather gurus called it, lit up our weather maps like Christmas trees. The longer I watched (and I watched plenty with a daughter and her fiancee heading straight into the mess), the more the precipitation color scheme mystified me.
My little brain understood why they used green to signify moderate rainfall. Rain makes the grass grow, and grass is green. The logic behind using blue to represent snowfall made sense, too, since it’s the color associated with the cold spigot, ice cubes and other chilly stuff.
But for the life of me, I can’t figure out why they use pink to represent a “wintery mix” which leads to the winter’s most hazardous drivIng condition. It’s kind of like using a Barbie Dream House as the symbol for a military fortress or the Barbie convertible to represent enemy tanks. It’s like dressing up GI Joe in Barbie’s pink feather boa and a pink sequined leotard.
Pink sends exactly the wrong message to everybody.
Women see it and think, “Oh good, it’s time for a party.” Then they put on halter tops,, capris and strappy sandals instead of snowsuits and boots before going to meet their BFFs for lunch.
Men see it and think, “A sissy, little pink storm won’t keep me home.” And they hop in the car and drive over to a buddy’s place to watch professional wrestling.
If the forecasters want people to take their “wintery mix” predictions seriously, they’d better pop the lid on the box of 96 colors with the sharpener and choose a color with some weight behind it. Maybe gray. Or brown. Or my personal favorite – burnt sienna.
Anything but pink.
If you have a new color suggestion for “wintery mix,” please leave a comment. I’ll compile all the suggestions and mail them to the National Weather Service for consideration.
by jphilo | Dec 18, 2009 | Current Events
For the past twenty-four hours, winter storm warnings have been flying around faster than snowflakes in a blizzard. The forecast inspired Anne to drive home last night instead of waiting until morning.
This morning, I peeked out the window, expecting a cloudy sky, a little wind, and a little snow to greet me. Instead, a bright sunrise blazed through the branches of the spruce trees in the back yard. Even now, three hours later, the sky is a clear winter blue and the tree branches are still, still, still.
But the forecasters promise a storm this afternoon, snow in the north part of the state, ice in the south, and a mixture of the two in the middle of the state where we live. I hope it waits until after noon when I visit my mentee over the lunch hour. We haven’t seen each other for three weeks, what with the West Virginia excursion, and I want to see her before Christmas and plan a time next week for us to bake treats for her family.
Then the storm can hit. We’ve got DVDs to watch, popcorn to pop, and five years of catching up to do around here. It’s not a storm warning at our house; it’s a blessing, one I intend to savor.
by jphilo | Nov 30, 2009 | Current Events
Though our family Thanksgiving was a good one, a peppy, glowing and grateful post-Thanksgiving blog just won’t work today. And though today is the anniversary of our son’s life-changing decision to seek treatment for PTSD, a blog about how God has healed and blessed our family won’t work either.
Here’s why.
On the way to the Twin Cities Wednesday, we passed a bad accident only a few miles east of home. “Someone’s Thanksgiving just got ruined,” I said to Hiram before whispering a prayer. After we returned home Saturday, I read about the accident in the paper. One of the men killed was from our town. He was only 54 and left behind a wife and three young adult children.
The day after Thanksgiving, I opened an email from my friend Scott. He and his family are featured in A Different Dream for My Child. Their youngest son Evan, who has been fragile since his birth seven years ago, passed away early Friday morning. Evan leaves behind his parents and a brother who is 11.
On Sunday one of my dearest friends described her difficult weekend. Without divulging details, I can tell you this particular Thanksgiving will not make it onto her Holiday Hit Parade. For months and years we’ve asked God to ease her pain and loneliness, to make His love and delight in her faithfulness real to her. As far as I can see, He’s not doing much.
In the face of such tragedy and suffering, I want to shake my fist at God. I want to say is, “No more pain, please! Make it stop!” I want to ask, “Why, God? Why do these people have to suffer?” I want to wrap my arms around them and take away their pain.
But in my own dark days, I learned that the best any of those things could do was bring temporary relief. The only thing eased the pain was considering the character of the God who saw me shake my fist and heard my questions – the God who didn’t condemn me or minimize my pain. Instead He gently revealed His understanding of it, as only a parent who lost a child can do.
So God, would you reveal to these hurting people what you revealed to me? Would you do it now, today, immediately, in their hour of need? And would you continue to do it every day until they can live with their losses? Would you ease their pain, God? Please?
