Posted on

Podcast 22: EJT about Truth, Justice and the American Way!

After an unintentional hiatus for the summer…here is Megan and Dave’s 22nd episode of the Everything Jesus Taught Podcast!

In a nearly 45 minute long podcast episode, we talk about Truth, Justice and the American Way. We also catch up about:

  • Summer time travels (that our kids took without us)
  • How much money Dave would have if he hadn’t sold that Apple stock in 2007
  • Walter White and Tony Soprano
  • Dave’s problems with fundamentalists
  • Meditation

Listen, comment, subscribe, share, and ask questions for them to answer on the next episode!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS

Posted on

Justice While We Wait

Watch

There is one thing we fear most as Floridians. 

It’s not sharks. Or hurricanes. Or even snakes and spiders.

No.  

There is one thing so much more frightening than that.

It is the moment when our air conditioner breaks.

A few weeks ago, Dave and I came face to face with this very fear. I noticed the house felt a little hot, and went over to check the thermostat. The thermostat was set for 75 degrees. But the inside temperature of the house was 78, which meant we had a problem. 

We found a few more signs of trouble near the condenser and quickly called the one person we knew could fix the problem, the repair company, and then sat down to wait. 

Because once you call the one person who can fix something, that’s what you do.

You wait.

And watch the number on the thermostat.

An hour later it went up another degree.  

We were powerless. All we could do was wait.  

But then it went up to 80 degrees.  There had to be something we could do!

We can’t overhaul an entire air conditioner, but couldn’t we do something to help with the problem? A quick google search gave us a few ideas, and an hour later Dave was outside with a shop vac, some clear tubing, and a roll of duct tape.

AND IT WORKED.

Now, can we fix every air conditioner problem? No.

Can we build an air conditioner from the ground up? Absolutely not.

But we were able to do something to make a difference this time when we realized it was broken.

I know it’s a big jump to move from thinking about our broken air conditioner to thinking about the broken state of the world – but hang with me, because the principles we are going to talk about are surprisingly the same.

Continue reading “Justice While We Wait”

Posted on

Justice for the Vulnerable

Watch

I’ve been struck by two things recently that seem to contradict each other.

The first is that I’ve heard a lot of people say “The economy is so hot right now!” 

Granted I don’t really know what they mean. But I believe them. Partly because they seem like the kinds of guys who would know. And partly because I see lots of buildings going up everywhere. So I guess, the economy is so hot right now. 

But the other thing I notice is that there seem to be more people holding signs asking for money than there were even a year ago.

Moms holding a baby in one hand and a cardboard sign asking for help in the other, standing next to the drive-thru at Chick-fil-a. That feels new. It feels wrong. And it feels like the opposite of the economy being so hot right now. 

And more than anything, it makes me feel powerless.

I want to help. I do help. I’m sure you do too.

And at the same time, I’ve heard the same story, so many times, always with more details than I can keep track of, of job offers in other cities and cars that need gas, that I’ve become a little hardened to just how hard it is to be poor and vulnerable in this city. 

People are in trouble. They are taken advantage of, stepped on, overlooked, and cast aside.

And I want to help, but I don’t know how.

Or more precisely, I don’t know how to help and still have my life stay exactly as it is. 

So if that’s something that you struggle with too, keep reading.

Continue reading “Justice for the Vulnerable”

Posted on

Justice and Mission

I feel in love with doing mission projects the same way I fell in love with chocolate cake.

One bite, and I was hooked.

I love the way mission projects wake up the team working together to a world they might have ignored. I love the way it breaks down boundaries between people you might never find in the same room short of the work of the Holy Spirit. More than anything, I love watching other people fall in love with it too.

I have this scrapbook of memories of seeing people catch a vision for helping other people. Watching a group of teenagers go out from behind the soup kitchen counter to go play dominoes with the homeless men at the shelter. Seeing the love in the eyes of young mom helping another mom who lost everything in an apartment fire.  Walking through a completed home with a man who helped build it’s frame, and now got to meet the children who would live there.

I do love mission projects.

But after several years I realized something.

These projects are really important. They are valuable and important and they transform the people who do them and show the people we partner with that they are loved and not forgotten. But they are a first step, not the only step. It’s where we start, but it’s not the end.

Social justice is more than a one day project.

Continue reading “Justice and Mission”