Final night at home

IT’S MY FINAL NIGHT AT HOME and I’m up late because I’m still packing my personal stuff. Everything else in the house is packed or prepared for the shippers who will arrive in the AM. The kids are sound asleep. It’s their final night here, too. Our house has not sold yet, and we might end up leasing the house for a year – who knows? But it’s quite possible that this will be my last night here on Navarro Avenue. I’m just letting that fact settle in. I haven’t thought too much about the change, to be frank, and I’ve wondered why. My life has plenty of excitement – that’s the nature of urban ministry – I don’t often remember what I’ve done even in the past few months, just because so much life gets lived in those few months. Anyway… I haven’t had time to make rounds and connect with folks, as my family’s life has been busy on all fronts for weeks now. Let’s email or IM chat or call or skype, you know. My cel phone number is new, email me if you don’t have it and want to reach me. You can still jump in if you’d like to help me bless my wife and children in the transition. Kafi and I will be here in ‘dena for most of the day on Friday. We’ll take the kids and grandma to the airport for a late afternoon flight to JFK, then dad and mom will spend the night near the airport as we have an early Saturday morning flight to Grand Rapids. We go to make a special place for our growing family.

I have so many great memories of Harambee – how do I pick one? Check out this pic… just one special pick of many:

It was last December. We filled up two vans with boys and young male staff. I was the senior guy at 41. Think about this: 9 nine-year olds, 5 in their early twenties, and me. I did two layers of mentoring. Plus my son was along. Here we stopped on one of those Big Sur cliffs on the drive home down Highway 1. I stopped the vans and made everyone throw rocks over the cliff and down 1,000 feet to the ocean. The boys were happy to oblige, as were the adults. For years I’ve taken kids out of spaces of limitation and expanded their horizons, and we’ve had a lot of fun to boot (it’s important to have fun as you learn). This image is symbolic of many, many similar trips and events. I just want to express my gratitude to friends and supporters of Harambee, because these trips – this trip last December – simply couldn’t have happened without your support. Thanks!

Otras cosas…

• HOW WIDE IS THE WORLD’S DIGITAL DIVIDE, ANYWAY? asks Ars Technica. Telling detail: “Broadband represents the most extreme example in the gulf between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’,” said TeleGeography Executive Director John Dinsdale. “Less than 2 percent of African households have broadband compared with 68 percent of North American homes.”

• HOW MCDONALD’S CONQUERED FRANCE: They did it by “buying French” – McDonald’s France sources 75 percent of its ingredients domestically.

• THE CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE CHANGE: Kimberly Strassel at the WSJ says the number of skeptics is swelling everywhere. She notes that the Australian Parliament is “preparing to kill its own country’s carbon-emissions scheme,” and introduces us to Dr. Ian Plimer:

Credit for Australia’s own era of renewed enlightenment goes to Dr. Ian Plimer, a well-known Australian geologist. Earlier this year he published “Heaven and Earth,” a damning critique of the “evidence” underpinning man-made global warming. The book is already in its fifth printing. So compelling is it that Paul Sheehan, a noted Australian columnist — and ardent global warming believer — in April humbly pronounced it “an evidence-based attack on conformity and orthodoxy, including my own, and a reminder to respect informed dissent and beware of ideology subverting evidence.” Australian polls have shown a sharp uptick in public skepticism; the press is back to questioning scientific dogma; blogs are having a field day.

Interesting.