Trying to follow

In case you and your friends get bored one weekend. Here’s some samples of a fun projects you might want to try…

Space Invaders

Mario Brothers

Pong

9/11/06 is a memorable day for many. Anyone who has the access to technology that would allow them to read this blog probably knows exactly where they were on that day.

Regardless of your thoughts now, perspectives on the war, politics, etc. There is no denying that 9/11/06 had a major effect on many of our lives, our way of thinking, the issues we thought through, etc.

I want to make this an open thread for readers to share briefly how 9/11 shaped them, but to encourage that I’ll start with a brief thought.

Before 9/11 I honestly couldn’t tell you the difference between a Democrat and a Republican (I knew they were different, just didn’t know who supported what). 9/11 caused me to think about my views on politics, war, evil and terrorism.

So, now it’s your turn:

How did 9/11/06 Shape you?

(Writing that title suddenly reminded me I have to get our yearly emissions test done)

I just bought a TerraPass.


I wanted to wait till the end of this year to calculate how much gas we used and calculate how much CO2 we’ve emitted.
Our nice little Honda gave us an average of 43mpg over 9,600 miles this year.
That calculates to:

Fuel use:
223 gallons per year

Emissions:
4,363 lbs CO2 per year

A TerraPass is basically a donation to fund clean energy initiatives in the amount that offsets the amount of emissions our car produced.

From TerraPass:

How does TerraPass work?

A Road TerraPass is a decal you place on your car showing that you have sponsored a clean energy project that balances out the environmental impact of your driving.

TerraPass funds clean energy from sources like wind farms, methane capture facilities, and more.

By replacing energy from fossil fuels with clean energy, TerraPass reduces carbon dioxide emissions. These reductions balance the emissions from your car.

TerraPass is audited by the non-profit Center for Resource Solutions to verify the impact of our clean energy investments.

Now, getting a TerraPass doesn’t mean I can just drive around where ever we want to. Mindy and I discussed the goal of reducing the amount of miles we drive over the course of the year as well.
It’s surprising that we drove 9600 miles this year, which averages to nearly 26 miles a day. The large amount of those miles come from trips home to visit family, but it ends up adding up. I’d love to reduce our driving by 20%, but that might end up being too ambitious. That would be 7680 miles or 640 miles a month. We’ll see what happens.

For those in big cities I’d strongly recommend looking into Car Sharing Programs.

P.S. I’m not sharing all this with you cause I’m “into it” or cause “it’s my thing.” I’m sharing it because I’ve recognized that my lifestyle is unsustainable and is thus not being a faithful steward of God’s green earth. I just want to share with you how I’m trying to do that.

This date will go down in history as a tragic one for our world. The cold heartedness that could bring such atrocity to mankind makes ones heart tremble. We pause in remembrance of the tragedy that has occurred. We look forward, gaining strength from those who have been an example of heroism in the past.

The evil of hunger claimed the lives of 40,000 children on 9/10 that did not need to die. They were little ones to whom belongs the kingdom. Their death was not due to the overt hatred and action of ones they would call their enemies. These children died because of the passive complacency of people they might even call friends. There is no monument built at which to lay flowers or say prayers on behalf of these victims. Their names are not remembered on this campus, for we did not know them personally.

Try as we may, we cannot point the finger and say with conviction, “let justice be served.” If there is injustice it is our own doing. If we seek to point the finger we can only look to our own apathy and lack of concern for addressing this tragedy. This catastrophic event that we faced and continue to face is real and it is happening everyday. This is an issue that requires, even demands, our action. History will repeat it self. History IS repeating itself.

We do not mourn this tragedy without hope, we have hope. We have an example and a hope to look to because there are heroes who came before us. Jesus was that example and he IS that hope. He told us to give to the least of these, to love our neighbors; He feed, healed, shared. Like the parable of Lazarus we stand as the rich man with the resources God has given to us and we are not sharing with the poor beggar who is within our reach.

Let me be clear, the events remembered on 9/11 are tragic, and we are right to remember and mourn. For those who experienced the loss of friends or family, I and this community grieve with you. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to witness first hand the loss of a loved one, and collectively with so many in our nation. 9/10 should not be any less remembered. The loss of life that occurred this day was tragic and was within our means to stop. And each day from then until now the same tragedy occurs, and we either never cared in the first place, or have become so desensitized that our heart is numb.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” These children that are dying are our neighbors, many are our brothers and sisters in Christ. In past centuries we could say we lacked the means and resources to address these issues. Today we do not have that option. If we continue to live in the gross abundance that we have as our brothers and sisters daily die of starvation and disease that we can combat, we are without excuse.
Grieve 9/11 and pray the Lord keep your heart tender and open to His love. Grieve 9/10 and each day, and pray the Lord would turn your heart to a fervent life changing love for those in need. Pray he teaches you his truth, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Originally published in the Wheaton Record at Wheaton College. Published also at Relevantmagazine.com and Circle6 magazine.

I feel like we’ve failed sometimes. All the blogging, letter writing, phone calling, and people are still being slaughtered. And yet, the urgency of doing something is no less important today then it was yesterday, or two years ago. Darfur shifted through our minds as it shifted from front page news to back page to only google searches.

I wish I could say a magic word and make all the injustice in the world disappear. But I can’t. I wish I could tell you that if we all band together and send a postcard, victory will be inevitable, but it’s not true. Even with all the benefits of techonology, the ability for us to even keep up to date on what is happening in Darfur, it has not been the solution.
And the truth is the result might not come in our quick, immediate gratification sort of way, and we have to be ready for that.
If you’ve never done anything to raise your voice against the injustice of darfur then you can act now. Send an e-card to President Bush about your concerns.

Need some inspiration? Read my article on Relevantmagazine.com about Darfur.

Let me end on this note. I good place to start learning about your Senator’s involvement is this site. You’ll notice at the bottom there Senator Durbin of Illinois. At the beginning of the Darfur genocide we did a letter writing campaign at Wheaton College, encouraging students to hand write letter’s to Durbin to address the Genocide. I arranged a visit with four students to meet with Durbin to talk to him about the genocide and ask that he speak up concerning it. I’m not sure if he was already an avid support, but I have to believe that we had an impact on that. Take a step, you can have an impact too.