On a lighter note. A friend of mine, Benji Kimball, out here in LA decided to do hip-hop dance. Here is his performance. If you have 5 minutes, watch till the end. The Grandma thinks he is awesome. Hilarious Benji!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Moving from education to action against human Trafficking
This weekend was a big education and awareness weekend in Raleigh and Pasadena about the issue of human trafficking. We are excited to be a part of a community (Visio Dei) that is wrestling with how we can join with God in rescuing people out of these situations. Visio Dei sponsored a benefit concert, invited Kimberly Smith (who works to rescue women and children from human trafficking) to come and preach at their church gathering, and slept out at the capital building with others on Saturday night to raise awareness. My school, Fuller, held the ASHA forum to educate and equip the church to deal with this issue. We had speakers from all over the world, and we were able to gather a good deal of resources.
To find watch videos to find out more info:
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ProjectVideo.aspx
I just read an article today in TIME on the Jamestown Colony at the beginning of our country. I used to drive by the Jamestown exhibit everyday on the way to Jamestown high school when I was on staff with Young Life in Williamsburg, and it was a reminder at the ways we justify the dehumanization and oppression of others. When I studied American History in college, I was always shocked that the majority of the christian church justified slavery and supported it as a positive part of building a healthy society. I got to see the continued cycles of the founding system in our country that allowed "liberty" and slavery to exist side by side continue to play out in the life of our community.
In addition to the many injustices in our culture, slavery still exists in many places in the world. Human trafficking is 32 billion dollar industry. Since coming to California, this is an issue Danielle has become passionate about, and we have been working to educate ourselves on the issue to see what ordinary people can do about the problem. Just as the church justified slavery in early America, there were always a minority that voiced out and worked for the abolition of slaves. Christians were always leading the way to free people from slavery.
Danielle has found this book helpful to learn about the issue and has been discussing it with a group of women:
In our culture, the church often lives by the accepted values of consumerism, comfort, security, and convience so much that we fail to connect to God's imagination to bring healing and rescue to those who despeartely need it. Jesus did not live, die, and rise from the dead to justify our self-absorbed existence but to call us out of ourselves into a life that is lived fully for the rescue and redemption of others. He wants to inspire an alternative imagination in us to restore the world to God's intentions.
This is an issue we need to think about, pray about, wrestle with, and support.
What did my friends in Raleigh learn this weekend?
To find watch videos to find out more info:
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ProjectVideo.aspx
I just read an article today in TIME on the Jamestown Colony at the beginning of our country. I used to drive by the Jamestown exhibit everyday on the way to Jamestown high school when I was on staff with Young Life in Williamsburg, and it was a reminder at the ways we justify the dehumanization and oppression of others. When I studied American History in college, I was always shocked that the majority of the christian church justified slavery and supported it as a positive part of building a healthy society. I got to see the continued cycles of the founding system in our country that allowed "liberty" and slavery to exist side by side continue to play out in the life of our community.
In addition to the many injustices in our culture, slavery still exists in many places in the world. Human trafficking is 32 billion dollar industry. Since coming to California, this is an issue Danielle has become passionate about, and we have been working to educate ourselves on the issue to see what ordinary people can do about the problem. Just as the church justified slavery in early America, there were always a minority that voiced out and worked for the abolition of slaves. Christians were always leading the way to free people from slavery.
Danielle has found this book helpful to learn about the issue and has been discussing it with a group of women:
In our culture, the church often lives by the accepted values of consumerism, comfort, security, and convience so much that we fail to connect to God's imagination to bring healing and rescue to those who despeartely need it. Jesus did not live, die, and rise from the dead to justify our self-absorbed existence but to call us out of ourselves into a life that is lived fully for the rescue and redemption of others. He wants to inspire an alternative imagination in us to restore the world to God's intentions.
This is an issue we need to think about, pray about, wrestle with, and support.
What did my friends in Raleigh learn this weekend?
Goodbye Dirty Trucker!
This is what I refer to as the David Paxton look. Scary! It also reminds me of Wesley from The Princess Bride. Corey often says to me, As you wish.
And this is the Sweaty look. Corey just returned from a run and Hannah said, "Daddy's wet!"I figured out Corey's password and now I can get on his blog whenever I want, in all the spare time I have during my baby-filled existence. --Danielle
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Flashback to College
Most of you who knew me in college know that one of my strengths was not time management. I was known for the all-nighter to do the paper the night before. There was just too many people to spend time with until the paper was due. SOme of you (Bryce and Kush and Fudge) remember the pain of writing these papers and the amount of coffee that I consumed that would kill a normal human being, however it has become a part of my blood.
As I went to grad school, I have been deteremined to break the cycle (not the coffee drinking) of all-nighters, and I pretty much did it until last night. I made a mistake reading my syllabus and got the due date for a term paper wrong. Basically, I had to write the full term paper yesterday as well as take care of my families and fulfill some other things in the afternoon. THis means, I brought back the all-nighter. Just finished the paper, and it's time to turn it in.
I can't wait to be done with school!
As I went to grad school, I have been deteremined to break the cycle (not the coffee drinking) of all-nighters, and I pretty much did it until last night. I made a mistake reading my syllabus and got the due date for a term paper wrong. Basically, I had to write the full term paper yesterday as well as take care of my families and fulfill some other things in the afternoon. THis means, I brought back the all-nighter. Just finished the paper, and it's time to turn it in.
I can't wait to be done with school!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
G-diapers
A simple thing we started doing to our life style to care for the environment is switching to G-diapers. Diapers take over 500 years to decompose, and this is our little part to make a difference. I have been struck at how indifferent I have been toward the environment for most of my life, I never saw this as a central part of my life following Jesus, but now I think it is really important. Part of it comes from my understanding of discipleship- before I think I would have seen these kinds of things as an attempt to earn God's approval or love. Now i see that as missing the point. God's given me His approval and His love so that I will be a agent of change in this world, to reflect His deepest desires for the world through my character. God changing our lives to reflect His desires through the Spirit of Jesus is the sign to the world that God is alive. I'll always be seeking to grow, change, and improve in many different areas of my life as I continually to learn new things about the world and myself. This is a bit more exciting than just waiting for Jesus to come back. I have noticed that a simple shift in theology has made such a difference in little decisions.
If you are interested in learning more about G-diapers: www.gdiapers.com
It's a little annoying at times, when I swish the stuff around in the toilet and it gets all over my jeans, but it's worth it. (i get over my jeans because I am a bafoon, not because this is inherent in g-diaper disposal)
If you are interested in learning more about G-diapers: www.gdiapers.com
It's a little annoying at times, when I swish the stuff around in the toilet and it gets all over my jeans, but it's worth it. (i get over my jeans because I am a bafoon, not because this is inherent in g-diaper disposal)
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Conversations of the Kingdom
As we drove back from a long detour I made unitentionally (some call this getting lost, I called it an opportunity for conversation), me and Danielle started talking about the Kingdom of God--is the Kingdom within? do we bring the Kingdom? do we get a ticket to the Kingdom? do we wait for the Kingdom? or do we participate within the Kingdom?----yes, these are the kinds of conversations that we often have and that bounce around in seminary students heads---I think how we think about this is very significant for our lives, but I'll my opinion for later-
Later that afternoon after picking up a mattress for Hannah's new toddler bed at Ikea, I also had an interesting conversation about the Kingdom with my sister. She was talking about a potential idea for her PHD project. This idea came out a conversation with a Jewish professor that tries to connect churches to serving the community, and often gets frustrated because churches say their mission is to "worship" God and are too busy to be involved in the community. To which, my sister responded beautifully- what if we could help churches see the connection between worshipping God and serving the community in an intentonal way. To which, her new friend said, 'only if i get to be on your PHD committe.'
Did I mention I love my sister, Dr. Rowe? What a great response.
One article I read earlier this year said that most city managers hate it when new churches start because they are blackholes of money from the community. They take money from people that would be spent on other things, and the community doesn't benefit from it at all---
Why do you think so many churches see worship as detached from the life of the community around them?
How do you understand worship?
Do you see any connection between these two conversations?
Later that afternoon after picking up a mattress for Hannah's new toddler bed at Ikea, I also had an interesting conversation about the Kingdom with my sister. She was talking about a potential idea for her PHD project. This idea came out a conversation with a Jewish professor that tries to connect churches to serving the community, and often gets frustrated because churches say their mission is to "worship" God and are too busy to be involved in the community. To which, my sister responded beautifully- what if we could help churches see the connection between worshipping God and serving the community in an intentonal way. To which, her new friend said, 'only if i get to be on your PHD committe.'
Did I mention I love my sister, Dr. Rowe? What a great response.
One article I read earlier this year said that most city managers hate it when new churches start because they are blackholes of money from the community. They take money from people that would be spent on other things, and the community doesn't benefit from it at all---
Why do you think so many churches see worship as detached from the life of the community around them?
How do you understand worship?
Do you see any connection between these two conversations?
Friday, April 20, 2007
The Paxton Girls This Week
Hannah and friend Aidia at kids' space
one cool looking toddler
snuggling in the lazy boy
Call to Prayer all over the world
Prayers are going out all over the world. This is an image from our campus website here in California. We all received an email from our president asking us to pray for families in Virginia. I am praying for the school, the families, and the family of Seung-Hui Chohe. In a shame based culture like Korean culture, I can't imagine the pain they are going through.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Could no one see that video of Hannah?
still working it out, i guess i'm not really that dangerous yet; it does work on both of our computers
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Tragedy too Close too Home
Wow, this has been wild. I never expected to see a tragedy like this so close to my home town, and so close to my family. A friend of ours here at Fuller knows someone who was killed in the shooting, and my own family was close by. The shockwaves of this event are being felt around the world. It is the leading news here in LA, and in most places. My heart has felt very sad the last couple days as well as scared until I found out my friends and family were okay. I was struck at how tragedy is what seemingly unites humanity as I saw the faces of the people killed on the TV. All from such different backgrounds, all with such different passions and stories, met together in the same tragic fate. We really don't know how we will go, I pray we will live fully today and truly value the people around us. I feel so bad for the families and this also makes me very angry this happened..
Monday, April 16, 2007
Take Action on One Campaign, just takes two clicks
If you don't know about the one campaign, it is a grassroots effort initiated by Bono, to get governments in the Western world to give 1% of budget to end extreme poverty in the developing world.
Extreme poverty is poverty in which people actually don't have enough to continue to live and breath. Currently, 2 billion (1/3) of world population live on less than 2 dollars a day (near extreme poverty), and 1 billion live in extreme poverty. (1/6)
See my friend, Shannon Smith's blog, click on my internet friends on the right, Shannon Smith, then look for the link to urge your senator to push this initiative in Congress. Actually, the US has already agreed to it, and we just get to hold our government to the commitments they have already made.
It only takes about 2 minutes.
If interested in learning more: watch passionate speech from Bono at NAACP awards
Extreme poverty is poverty in which people actually don't have enough to continue to live and breath. Currently, 2 billion (1/3) of world population live on less than 2 dollars a day (near extreme poverty), and 1 billion live in extreme poverty. (1/6)
See my friend, Shannon Smith's blog, click on my internet friends on the right, Shannon Smith, then look for the link to urge your senator to push this initiative in Congress. Actually, the US has already agreed to it, and we just get to hold our government to the commitments they have already made.
It only takes about 2 minutes.
If interested in learning more: watch passionate speech from Bono at NAACP awards
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Couple Highlights and Lowlights from last week
I lost the championship to my own basketball league, and even worse the one mostly seminary team in the league beat us. Thanks Jon Richards, you bum.
One highlight from this week was reconnecting with my friend Bruno. Bruno and I have gotten to be pretty tight since moving out to California. I originally met him when we came to visit Mosaic while living in Virgnia. We got to be pretty tight and then haven't seen each other for a few months, so it was great spending time with him. You may recognize him if you watch Coach Carter and look for the big guy bouncing a ball off a guys leg out of bounds, or else you saw him on an NCAA commercial this year during the tourney, and you will see him in a new Will Ferrell movie coming out next year, which will be hilarious.
This is him in character for the movie.
Another lowlight, well bone-head lowlight of the week. We walked a mile or so from our apartment to Target, the store of all stores, to buy rootbear float stuff among other things for a big community event we were hosting on Friday. Then, when we got to the register, I realized I forgot my wallet. Pretty smooth, huh?
Another highlight- Hannah wanted to hold Shiloah tonight. That was pretty sweet watching my little girl love my littler girl.
One highlight from this week was reconnecting with my friend Bruno. Bruno and I have gotten to be pretty tight since moving out to California. I originally met him when we came to visit Mosaic while living in Virgnia. We got to be pretty tight and then haven't seen each other for a few months, so it was great spending time with him. You may recognize him if you watch Coach Carter and look for the big guy bouncing a ball off a guys leg out of bounds, or else you saw him on an NCAA commercial this year during the tourney, and you will see him in a new Will Ferrell movie coming out next year, which will be hilarious.
This is him in character for the movie.
Another lowlight, well bone-head lowlight of the week. We walked a mile or so from our apartment to Target, the store of all stores, to buy rootbear float stuff among other things for a big community event we were hosting on Friday. Then, when we got to the register, I realized I forgot my wallet. Pretty smooth, huh?
Another highlight- Hannah wanted to hold Shiloah tonight. That was pretty sweet watching my little girl love my littler girl.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Mosaic
This a short video from our faith community out here in LA. It is a pretty amazing group of people that we are apart of doing some really creative and imaginative things to express the character of God in LA culture. What they are doing cannot be replicated somewhere else, but we certainly have enjoyed serving here and connecting people to our community. Here is our video recap from last year, and a funny video Young Life will love on our core values.
Very funny. This guy is the head of the film projects at Mosaic.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
The Psalms
I’ve been studying the Psalms for the last two weeks, and would like to share two insights that have really made a big impression on me.
First- 65 of the 150 Pslams are Laments and more than half of the Psalms presuppose crisis. I love this because the Pslams help us to throw off the mask of the shiny happy person, that everything is supposed to be okay, or happens for a reason, and deals with the reality of the pain and suffering in the world and in the human personal experience.
The prayers of the pslams are honest. Raw. Grittty. Angry. Authentic.
They don't confuse fate with faith.
Yet, they still hold to a tenacious faith in God that grounds, centers, and give them hope.
Second- more specific. The cosmic Psalm 148 declares that all of creation, the sun shining, the moon glowing, the stars giving light in the darkness, the trees bearing fruit, the birds singing all give praise to God, and yet it is intimately personal. Both humanity and the cosmos are meant to give praise to God.
You ever wonder how the sun, moon, stars, trees praise God?
Did they sing the latest Shaine and Shaine?
They do what they are meant to do.
The Psalmists do not understand a dualistic spirituality in which we sing praise to God, but our lives are not fulfilling what they are meant to do. All of creation cries out. Humanity is meant to express the beauty, wonder, and purposes of God to care for this world, to express His love, and character to everyone around us.
Praise of God encompasses everything.
Peace
Corey
First- 65 of the 150 Pslams are Laments and more than half of the Psalms presuppose crisis. I love this because the Pslams help us to throw off the mask of the shiny happy person, that everything is supposed to be okay, or happens for a reason, and deals with the reality of the pain and suffering in the world and in the human personal experience.
The prayers of the pslams are honest. Raw. Grittty. Angry. Authentic.
They don't confuse fate with faith.
Yet, they still hold to a tenacious faith in God that grounds, centers, and give them hope.
Second- more specific. The cosmic Psalm 148 declares that all of creation, the sun shining, the moon glowing, the stars giving light in the darkness, the trees bearing fruit, the birds singing all give praise to God, and yet it is intimately personal. Both humanity and the cosmos are meant to give praise to God.
You ever wonder how the sun, moon, stars, trees praise God?
Did they sing the latest Shaine and Shaine?
They do what they are meant to do.
The Psalmists do not understand a dualistic spirituality in which we sing praise to God, but our lives are not fulfilling what they are meant to do. All of creation cries out. Humanity is meant to express the beauty, wonder, and purposes of God to care for this world, to express His love, and character to everyone around us.
Praise of God encompasses everything.
Peace
Corey
Monday, April 09, 2007
Hannah's Playground Adventures
Uh Oh, I'm dangerous now. Thanks to Jeremy Green, I can now compress videos and put them on U Tube. This is very exciting for all those who are family. More videos to follow! This is from our time off at a Pasadena playground below some beautiful mountains. Watch Hannah run and drive drive.
What you've all been waiting for-
Easter Pics
Shiloah's getting bigger too.
I love my beautiful little girls!
Shiloah's getting bigger too.
I love my beautiful little girls!
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Happy Easter
Thankfully, we don't have to stay in hell day forever. Kind of funny though- yesterday was a bit of a hell day for us-- bad weather, Shiloah cried every waking hour non-stop, me and Danielle had some fun opportunities to work through conflict, and then we watched Blood Diamond. We woke up this morning and said to each other, thank God for new beginnings.
I hope you all had a good easter. Hannah stole the show with a new easter dress and shiny new shoes. We had a great time with our community and friends out here.
I am so grateful for the friends we have made here.
Peace
I hope you all had a good easter. Hannah stole the show with a new easter dress and shiny new shoes. We had a great time with our community and friends out here.
I am so grateful for the friends we have made here.
Peace
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Happy Hell Day
A friend of mine just came by to borrow my basketball, and I said, "celebrating hell day by playing basketball?"
I'm not really sure where that came from, but I have been reflecting on the reality that God died and went to hell during this time. This isn't usually the part of the easter weekend we really celebrate too much, but I think we should think about it. We usually think about God going into hell in our place, but I am thinking about it as God coming into the hells of the world, coming into the pain and suffering of the world, coming into our personal hells to bring new life, to bring us real hope. We live in a world where there is a lot of hell for a lot of people, and we follow a God who has been there and back again and I think invites us with Him to bring others hope because we have found a new life.
Happy Hell Day
I'm not really sure where that came from, but I have been reflecting on the reality that God died and went to hell during this time. This isn't usually the part of the easter weekend we really celebrate too much, but I think we should think about it. We usually think about God going into hell in our place, but I am thinking about it as God coming into the hells of the world, coming into the pain and suffering of the world, coming into our personal hells to bring new life, to bring us real hope. We live in a world where there is a lot of hell for a lot of people, and we follow a God who has been there and back again and I think invites us with Him to bring others hope because we have found a new life.
Happy Hell Day
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
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