I was amazed when I saw these pictures and read the story of a newly discovered indigenous tribe on the Peru/Brazil border that has not been contacted by civilization.  Reports say that there are about 100 uncontacted tribes in the world and half of them are in the Brazil/Peru area. Silly me. I assume that Man has explored the entire world.

What a sight it must have been to see a low flying object zipping across the canopy of their land; the men aiming their weapons.

“Make sure you bring Jesus & justice to the city.” - Ed Stetzer

If you have been around me for awhile you have probably heard me contextualize the Christ-follower’s life as INTIMACY and INCARNATION. John 5 has one of my favorite stories that models this. “19Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” Jesus was one with the heart/will of His Father. Therefore, He DID whatever was on the heart of the Father. He became the hands and feet of His Father. Jesus has shared this privilege with us. We too can draw near to the heart of God. He reveals His heart. Then we become His hands and feet. He fills us with Himself - we overflow in the lives of others.

There are two incarnational areas we want to press into: evangelism and justice.

We Hoobastink

I was listening to “The Reason,” by Hoobastank earlier. Love the song. I am once again reminded of the human condition that we wrestle with. Check out the lyrics:

“i’m not a perfect person. there are many things i wish i didnt do
but i continue learning. i never meant to do those things to you.
and so i have to say before i go, that i just want you to know

i’ve found a reason for me, to change who i used to be
a reason to start over new, and the reason is you

i’m sorry that i hurt, its something i must live with everyday
and all the pain i put you through, i wish that i could take it all away
and be the one who catches all your tears, thats why i need you to hear

i’m not a perfect person, i never meant to do those things to you
and so i have to say before i go that i just want you to know

i’ve found a reason for me, to change who i used to be
a reason to start over new, and the reason is you

Google is showing compassion for the homeless in San Fran. I will post the article in its entirety in case the link goes down. I was particularly touched to hear about family or friends leaving encouraging messages. That is one step away from isolation and towards community. May they all seek/find Christ. He is the conclusion to their story.

“SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Google has made an announcement that could help hundreds of homeless people in San Francisco get back on their feet.

Every single homeless person in the city will be given a life-long phone number and voicemail, should they choose to accept it, NBC11’s Lisa Bernard said.

Google is partnering with San Francisco to provide the service to homeless individuals and to shelters and agencies so they can distribute the numbers to their clients.

The announcement was made at a Project Homeless Connect event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium Wednesday.

I am not a photographer. But I began thinking about the lens of a camera. It is not something focus on, but rather, something you see through. However, if your lens is skewed then so is your perception.

We are called to be individuals between gospel and culture.
We are called to be a church between gospel and culture.

Each of these elements can be the lens of a person’s (or organization’s) perspective. This makes up a large portion of what we call worldview. We can look at everything from the individual, or the communal, or the cultural, or the gospel perspective.

We are called to understand our culture, yet we must be rooted to survive the risks of “in the world, yet not of it.” So what do we root in? What is the lens? It is not the individual’s mindset/opinion. It is not the communal wants/needs. It is not found in cultural immersion. It is only found in Christ and the Bible.

Happy New Year!

I have been praying for Sojourn and our city this morning. Yesterday’s teaching mentioned that God’s grace and favor is the foundation we have for victorious self assessment. If you are depressed or debilitated by 2007, you are not standing upon God’s grace. If you realize that God’s favor was upon you before the universe was formed (Tit 1:1-2, Eph 1:3-6) you will be both humbled and exhilarated. Humility helps to not think too highly of ourselves. Exhilaration and empowerment comes when we see how God thinks of us. So… dream big dreams about what the Father desires to do IN and THROUGH you this year.

Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. ESV

Time with your Father

On RC helicopters, there is a bolt that fastens the main rotor head to the frame. I was amused to learn that pilots refer to it in their common vernacular as the “Jesus bolt”. Different theories abound for the origin of this curious title…

- because it’s the first of two words words out of the pilot’s mouth when he sees the rotor head separate in flight
- because it holds everything in the helicopter together