Big give

8:15 so I’m watching the big give. Its a show done by oprah. They have like 5 days to come up with an idea to raise a bunch of money for people. They got some people to judge yes I said judge on how they gave or came up with an idea to give or for people to give to them. The basic thing is we get to watch people fight with each other then cry at the end about the good work they did.

1. Iraq vet

2. Husband that died.

3. Doctor from project that owes 200,000.00 dollars

4. handicapped kids

5. Mom that is living on the street.

i haven’t made any judgments yet

8:39

“it was good to feel that I was not invisible” “Just train me and I can get a job”

the mom got a home and a car and help

the wife got a party with the neighborhood

Looks like these two were the best. They had some others but it was more about he fighting than anything else. You ever feel like you can do more and be more. I sit in a room every weekend where guys say that. you can be more and do more. Maybe its taken me this long to be convinced. Man there is so much going on out there. Gaza on fire, Kenya tourist spot of Africa just calming down, Russia turning back the clock, an election in the states. I dont know really where to start. There are many things that I dont understand. I dont understand why people make laugh harder than it is. Not to make it easy just not as hard.

8:53

Fashion show was a bit of a flop. Who plans a fashion show in a week. Jamie fox gave something. How does a billionaire do a show where people have to raise money. How about this idea. How do you get rich people to give more money. Now that should be the challenge. Oh and not use it to avoid taxes.

8:57

Time is a little off im dvr’n so this aint so right. How about the one that I think gave the most went to church. “Oh just saw sponsorship United airways is loving this” So they sent one person home. All those things will go away but I guess they will feel good for a little bit. What if the prise was nothing.

Ok so the show is over. I still dont know how I feel about it. I guess it will do some good work and hopefully change the way people view giving. Life seems so wasted when you just kinda live for you and your own. There has to be more right. More than just being, right…right. I think we should all do a big give. Come on world lets give.

Moving on to Newlyweds. back to the world.

Article

So I wrote this for Realstudentlife.com and I don’t think it has been posted yet So here is the unedited script enjoy. We always say that to help cover us not taking the time to prepare something.

Hi my name is Drew Francis. I’ve always wanted to start a sentence off like that.  I made the mistake of saying that I have nothing to do right now and the editor or Realstudent life overheard that.  So. Here I am.  I’ve been traveling on the student life tour so I’m in and out of the office every week, which is why I have find, my self with some free time. While I have been feeling detached from the people I work with I have been in the midst of what we do every week.   I want to address something that I feel needs to be addressed.  It is the art of “saved seat.”  Now I know what you are saying what does this have to do with our faith. Trust me by the end you’ll get it.   Saving seats are an old custom going back many years. I would think the Greeks where the first to do it.  Within the last 100 years we had laws here in the south that made it unlawful for certain people to sit in those seat.  Thank you to the civil rights movement.  I can now sit anywhere I’d like.  That now brings me to the typical worship service. In the days of my grandmother there were certain seats that families sat in and if you took those seat you were frowned upon.  I find it funny that you look down on someone who made the effort to come to church but it was another time.  Now that brings me to the events we do here at student life.   We have tried to make student life events a first come first serve type of event.  We give all equal chances to sit up front or in the back, whatever your desires maybe. This now brings me to trend that I guess is not a trend because it has been happening so often.  It is now an epidemic.  During tour we send people to a lunch break.  We have found that people leave their belongings to, yes, save their seat for them to return.   What I find hard to believe is that someone would feel that they have the authority to deny the rest of the audience to the very privilege, no right that they were afforded.   Why do these same groups not say to themselves that they are going to put others before themselves and give up those seats for others to have that same privilege?  To save that seat is to deny the very reasons that you come to an event for that renewing of fire and focus of service that you came looking for.  Am I talking out of turn or does it not make sense that if leave a building for two hours you shouldn’t think that you could come back to the exact same spot that you left.   Here is what I say.  If you believe what I believe then stand up to those groups that take up entire rows only keep people from the very experiences that they have come to love.  I know what you are saying, “Shouldn’t that be your job?” This is something that only the people can handle.  Now here is the question I have for you. Do you believe that God can only work in the front row?

What would Jesus really do?

I read this today. Why does it seem that churches aren’t the first to take on social issues. Do I agree totally with this article and take it on as my own. No not really.

By Roland Martin
CNN Contributor

Editor’s note: Roland Martin is a CNN contributor and talk-show host on WVON-AM in Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of “Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith.”

NEW YORK (CNN) — When did it come to the point that being a Christian meant caring about only two issues,­ abortion and homosexuality?

Ask the nonreligious what being a Christian today means, and based on what we see and read, it’s a good bet they will say that followers of Jesus Christ are preoccupied with those two points.

Poverty? Whatever. Homelessness? An afterthought. A widening gap between the have and have-nots? Immaterial. Divorce? The divorce rate of Christians mirrors the national average, so that’s no big deal.

The point is that being a Christian should be about more than abortion and homosexuality, and it’s high time that those not considered a part of the religious right expose the hypocrisy of our brothers and sisters in Christianity and take back the faith. And those on the left who believe they have a “get out of sin free” card must not be allowed to justify their actions.

Many people believe we are engaged in a holy war. And we are. But it’s not with Muslims. The real war — ­ the silent war ­– is being engaged among Christians, and that’s what we must set our sights on.

As we celebrate Holy Week, our focus is on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But aren’t we also to recommit ourselves to live more like Jesus? Did Jesus spend his time focusing on all that he didn’t like, or did Jesus raise the consciousness of the people to understand love, compassion and teach them about following the will of God?

As a layman studying to receive a master’s in Christian communications, and the husband of an ordained minister, it’s troubling to listen to “Christian radio” and hear the kind of hate spewing out of the mouths of my brothers and sisters in the faith.

In fact, I’ve grown tired of people who pimp God. That’s right; we have a litany of individuals today who are holy, holy, holy, sing hallelujah, talk about how they love the Lord, but when it’s time to walk the walk, somehow the spirit evaporates.

A couple of years ago I took exception to an e-mail blast from the Concerned Women for America. The group was angry that Democrats were blocking certain judges put up for the federal bench by President Bush. It called on Americans to fight Democrats who wanted to keep Christians off the bench.

So I called and sent an e-mail asking, “So, where were you when President Clinton appointed Christian judges to the bench? Were they truly behind Christian judges, or Republican Christian judges?

Surprise, surprise. There was never a response.

An African-American pastor I know in the Midwest was asked by a group of mostly white clergy to march in an anti-abortion rally. He was fine with that, but then asked the clergy if they would work with him to fight crack houses in predominantly black neighborhoods.

“That’s really your problem,” he was told.

They saw abortion as a moral imperative, but not a community ravaged by crack.

If abortion and gay marriage are part of the Christian agenda, I have no issue with that. Those are moral issues that should be of importance to people of the faith, but the agenda should be much, much broader.

I’m looking for the day when Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Joyce Meyer, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, James Kennedy, Rod Parsley, ” Patriot Pastors” and Rick Warren will sit at the same table as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Cynthia Hale, Eddie L. Long, James Meek, Fred Price, Emmanuel Cleaver and Floyd Flake to establish a call to arms on racism, AIDS, police brutality, a national health care policy, our sorry education system.

If they all say they love and worship one God, one Jesus, let’s see them rally their members behind one agenda.

I stand here today not as a Republican or a liberal. And don’t bother calling me a Democrat or a conservative. I am a man,­ an African-American man ­who has professed that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that’s to whom I bow down.

If you concur, it’s time to stop allowing a chosen few to speak for the masses. Quit letting them define the agenda.

So put on the full armor of God because we have work to do.

So many things

First I’ll start with a hug.
Sitting out side the Starbucks at five points with the song of “People need the Lord” running through my head as Damien Rice plays in may ears. Looking through podcasts about Moral failure in the church. Strange morning. Just watched a girl who just went running come back within 5 minutes run to her car and drive away. Listening to the crazy homeless guy walk in and out yelling something about a lady and how she wont’ stand for it. Watching couples walk into that pancake place. White men black women, black men white women, Asian woman white men. Here his comes again. I moved from my previous location because of the noise level. Wow that starbucks plays some loud tunes. Don’t know when shops like that started. I don’t’ live in a big city. No where near it. But I’d only move from downtown for love. That just made me laugh. I still remember what its like to be in love. Seriously real love. Well lets say I didn’t fall out of love it just changed. You never really stop loving people right? Maybe that is another conversation. So I’m sipping my Carmel something working on editing a paper that I just decided to stop. Young girl just came in to get coffee and knows an older guy here. They hugged and walked out. The guy he was sitting with feels cheated. Threw his hands up and is now staring out the window. So I decided to stop. Figured while rice is playing in my ears this is a good time to write. So sipping coffee. Have you heard of this thing about dead people living on because they have a myspace. Saw that the week that, that bus went off the highway in Atlanta.
Realized something the other day. I’m a Christian. Part of a faith that is practiced around the world. One that people have started wars about brought aid in the name of and tried to change the world because. Amazing. He’s back again. I have my headphones on now so I really don’t know what he’s saying. Amazing. I go to church at night now so I don’t feel guilty for sitting in a Starbucks on a Sunday morning thinking about my Christianity. Amazing. The spurt is gone. Fall in love again. I think I could do that.

Sat. Night

I realized just a few moments ago that when I’m not in school I don’t really know what to think about. I could think about work but that has fallen from being at the top of the list. It is as if I were back in college again working through my BA with the world ahead of me. I can’t wait to see what is next in store. I’m watching West Wing to be inspired again. Great TV. I remember when TV was great. I think it was during the hey day of E.R. great TV. I’ve started my accumulation of items that I want on my around the world trip. It will happen. Then I will try to find what I should do next. Well enough talk of that it won’t be for some time so who cares. I’m adding some raw video of something that we shot in Ecuador. It is one of the shots that I like the most. I also included one shot that I took today. I’m waiting to get my car back before I go back to getting church photos.

Sunday Church

Today I started my series. These are some of the first test shots. I think I need to get closer. Maybe see if I can get inside the church for the first part of the service. Well here they are. Any advice would be welcomed. Forgot to say this. I’m also thinking of doing all black and white. I thought of this when someone said that Sundays in Birmingham are one of the most segregated days of the week. We’ll see.

Great Afternoon

I just spent the evening with two great women. Rashel and Lena. I’m sure many people were wondering how I ended up with these two. Well be jealous. On the way home I saw that the lights were on at the Alabama so I took some pictures. I also took some of the 22nd street Baptist church. My book is well underway. I think I will make it a year project so that I get all the seasons.

NEW DAYS

I have decided to move here not just because of Randy but I needed something that was easier to work with and less busy. I’ve gotten to a crossroads of sort. At the end of failed relationship. At the start of something new. So I bought a camera and now I think I’m the photographer. I’m going to start a small series. Sunday mornings. For the next couple of weeks I’m going to visit some churches as they let out. I’ll try and post them as I go but it will take a couple of weeks if not months to complete. I’ll start this Sunday and I guess see where that will take me. For now here is a link to another slide show. I’ve got to get over these. I am torn between which I like better the flikr or the slide show. I could embed this but it would just keep scrolling so I’ll give you the choice.
CLICK HERE