mexico here i come

I'm off to Mexico in the morning for our annual mission trip. We'll most likely be working on the medical clinic we've been working on the past two years. Not sure exactly what we'll be doing though, we never do know until we're there and even then it takes a while to figure out. I hope you have a great week, and I'll be back with lots of pictures and hopefully no stories of gruesome deaths or injury accidents.

world cup soccer: aka diving and clutching your shin

I just watched the US-Ghana World Cup game and I have to say while I appreciate the pageantry and excitement surrounding the World Cup I'm finding soccer a difficult game to get into. As one guy said on a forum I frequent, soccer appears to boil down to:

you dive into people
get the refs to give you a penalty kick
score
kick the ball downfield everytime you get it
dive some more
??
PROFIT


As best I can tell this is soccer. Lots of grown men running around, crying on the ground as often as possible and doing their best to get fouls called their way. There are some exciting moments, but I don't think I can ever really get into a sport so dependent on faking being hurt and tricking the refs into calling fouls.

i'm not a basketball fan, but...

Yesterday I watched Game 5 of the NBA Finals. It was actually a pretty sweet game, toward the end the Mavs and Heat were trading points back and forth. Dwyane (his parents spell it that way) Wade came on strong at the end and won it for the Heat. He made the necessary free throws and field goals to bring his team ahead. With his team down by one with 1.9 seconds remaining he made two foul shots to give them the lead. So I'm not much of a basketball fan but games like last nights are why I don't completely hate it.

There are also other teams doing quite well at the moment but for fear of jinxing them I will say nothing else.

dumb and dumber

Just sharing and caring here. Yesterday I started feeling crappy around dinnertime - we went over the in-laws' for dinner and I barely ate anything. I came home feeling lousy, with my stomach hurting and feeling nauseous. I went to bed early and woke up about 12:30. After a lengthy stay on the can I stood around because I could feel something else comin on. I spent the next few minutes on my knees violently expelling my last few meals...woke up and scared Janelle. It was as if my entire body rebelled against that food and wanted it out. It was probably as hard as I've puked my whole life.

So today was supposed to be a busy day, I'm getting my car fixed, working, attending two high school graduations and a graduation dinner. But I find myself at home with a nasty-feeling stomach and afraid to go more than a few steps away from a toilet. Bah.

benny hinn

This is funny, and sad, at the same time. I think the music is perfect. I don't think that old guy was really slain in the spirit though. If you watch him he doesn't go stiff and fall like everyone else. He must not have as much faith as the others.

towing companies are the devil

This morning I got a call from a friend, and I had to help him and another friend retrieve a car that had been towed and impounded. He needed me to help cover part of the payment to get it out of holding from the towing company. They take you to the cleaners.

First you have to pay the police certain fees because your car was towed. Then you have to pay the towing company a towing fee, which in this case was $130, plus a $55/day storage fee. So this guy's car was towed yesterday, and today to get his car back he had to pay the towing company alone $185. So I get there and my friend has cash to pay, and I am planning on paying the remainder of what he owes on my credit card. The woman, which had taken several minutes to even come help us despite the fact that we were the only "customers" there, informed us that they could only take one form of payment.

"No problem," I said. "I'll take the cash, and put it all on my card."

"Jeremiah Perdue?" she asked, looking at my card.

"Yes."

"You're not on the registration for the car."

"Yes I know, it's my friend's, he's right here, you have his driver's license so you know it's him."

"We can only accept payment from the registered owner."

"What? Why?"

"It's company policy. It's to avoid unauthorized payments."

"Well it's clearly authorized, he's right here and you have his ID, I'm right here and you can see mine. So why can't I just pay it?"

"We can only accept payment from the registered owner. We've had worse situations than this before."

"This isn't a bad situation. We're both standing right here and there's nothing unauthorized about this."

"Well it's company policy sir."

At that point I said fine and left to get cash for my portion of the fee. I was so aggravated. I had to go to a liquor store across the street and pay a stupid $1.69 transaction fee to retrieve the cash.

But seriously, those tow truck places are ridiculous. They charge you an initial fee to tow your truck and then $55/day for a car, more if your vehicle is bigger. They've got a bazillion different fees they charge you - and if you don't get your car right away the fees very quickly pile up. I'm all for personal responsibility and not getting your car towed - but the way this whole system works is completely jacked up. Poor people are screwed over big time by it, or people who just don't have enough cash at the moment. The whole thing seems completely unjust and just typing about it now I want to start a crusade against the unfair "business" practices of tow companies. As Michael said, I'm surprised the employees don't wear masks, because they're robbing you. What a racket.

realistic expectations of church

This weekend I'm preaching at Crossroads, and the topic is "Realistic Expectations of Church." Or maybe it's "church." I'm not sure. But I'm preaching about it. I'm really into the topic, but I'm also finding it difficult to try to communicate. Over the course of my life I've been involved in various churches and in a number of Christian communities, friendships, etc. I've also done a lot of reading on ecclesiology (the nature of the church), thinking about it, talking about it, and all that. I'm currently planning on eventually planting a church or some kind of Christian community. So this topic is near and dear to my heart.

I feel like over all this time when I read something in the Bible about the church - the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the light of the world, the salt of the earth, this redemptive and healing community - when I read about this in Scripture it resonates with something deep inside of me. I feel like I get a glimpse of this incredibly beautiful plan for people living in unity and experiencing the best life has to offer - and it's beyond my ability to describe or put into words effectively.

The sad thing is how many times Christians have turned this glorious thing into an ugly, domineering organization. What God intended to be an incredible breaking-in of His Kingdom they turn into building their own kingdoms, trying to get power over others and make them feel inferior, etc. Nothing is more beautiful than the Body of Christ when it's working right, and nothing is more hideous than it being abusive. I only pray that I can encourage people to see the vision God has for His church, and they're able to connect in their hearts to the indescribable beauty that is God's family.

oops, your daughter's dead!

Check out this article. Apparently two college students were in a car accident - one survived but was in bad shape and in a coma, while the other died. The family of the dead girl thought their girl was the one in a coma, and the coma girl's parents thought their daughter died. They had a memorial service and everything. Now, some time later, the family taking care of the coma girl realized that she wasn't their daughter, and their daughter must've been the dead one.

What the heck?

Read the article here