This is the stripgenerator. You can make your own three panel cartoon. It’s pretty cool You will see more of these show up here and you can make your own so enjoy and enjoy your hump day. My lovely lady lumps. I use the word “So” a lot. That may be my new catch phrase.

The show is the Cleaner. I think I’ve written about it before. I didnt really say why though. The Cleaner is about a guy who is an ex-addict who goes around taking on  clients who have no where to turn when their loved ones are on drugs.  He gets them into rehab and off drugs. Dont worry I dont have a drug or alcohol story about my self. Trust me though I have stories of my family but that’s a little too deep.  Mom if you happen by not us. Anyway I had a friend or maybe a friend of a friend that I grew up with. She drank her self almost to death… was in the hospital and the first thing she did when she got out was get another drink. I still remember visiting her in the hospital…twice…I dont know what happened to her.

I dont believe in throw away people.  Maybe that’s why I have a heart (I think that’s the super  chrish thing to say) But at the time I didn’t really do anything (I dont do anything)  maybe it’s guilt for that. Maybe by watching this I can make some kind of sense to that.  Addiction pretty much sucks.  Oh and in this story (tv show) the father who is our hero is slowly losing his family.  By the end of the season he has moved out. How about that hitting home.

So I watch the cleaner and now the song.  Oh first the scene. The father makes it home just in time for dinner. He has been out all day saving the world while he loses his family. Enjoy The song is called is there a ghost. Now enjoy.

1.  TV  I can watch and remember entertainment very well.

2. Cooking.  I wouldn’t say I’m the best but I do think I’m good at it.

3. Web research.  I actually enjoy it. Weird I know.

4. Missions. I dont know if its a skill but I like doing it so therefore I’m good at it.

5. Technology. I like to figure that kind of stuff out.

6. Creation. I like art..design.. I don’t know if Im good at it but I like it.

So I was turned on to these guys a couple days ago by the great Steven Bush activist, father, musician, lover fighter…ive now worn it out. There is a particular song that causes me to pause.  Poison and Wine. Maybe one day I’ll figure out why.

I had an interesting conversation this week about blogs. Whether they are diaries or not.  Its a good conversation. It came to mind this week when I started watching 2/8 life. Interesting online show. It starts out with a girl wanting to chronicle her life through a video blog. Now these kids were in middle school while I was in highschool but I dont think we are too different.  We all were raised by parents that believed that a nice home a good job and a beautiful mate is who and what we were meant to have.  I think some of us have disappointed. Some of us are right on track.  So how does the conversation on blogs or this show fit. Well I don’t know if it does. Here is what I think.  There are a few of us that have realized that, that dream isn’t what we had in mind. We sit up at night and contemplate the meaning of life through our blogs or website or whatever you call it. (there is some debate on what a blog is).  Maybe its because we are wired that way or we are trying to channel what our parent’s once dreamed of until their parents snapped them back into reality.  Now with our single families we see that that 50′s family is broken and some of us cling to our faith while other just blow in the wind. Moving from one cause to no cause to nothing. Maybe its a little bit too late.  And this album may be getting a little sad. I may need to put on some Black eyed peas before too long.  Lets have some fun. Tomorrow I’m going to try something.  I’m going to think of just what I will do for the next hour. Baby steps.  Well check out those links. You wont be disappointed.

Oh and sometimes we write here because its better than doing and saying nothing. Too bad we have to be grown ups some times. I’m listening to a new album right now but i’ll let you know about that later.

drew

edit:

We now return you to our regular scheduled program.

Drew is still on Water  January.

I am about to put something up that I did take some pause on. But hey we are all adults here.   The video if you choose to watch it does have language in it.  Why do I show you this? Well, first I like the story. I don’t really understand it yet but I like it. Second, I like a good independent film that appears to be a little different. So if you are looking for a good adult laugh take a look.  Also Meagan sent me http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com if you are looking for a new bookmark. More on her later.  Keep them coming.  Oh and if you have an independent movie trailer that I got to check out let me know.

Every once in a while I come across a website that I have add to my bookmarks. Well this morning while checking my facebook I “checked” out one of those ads that you see over on the right side. It brought me to the lexus video something website.  That’s where I found oddly enough Found. I heard about this site then forgot about it a while ago. Found. Somewhat like that secrets book that you see at urban outfitters. You know the one where you just read one then you end up spending the afternoon going through it. Well found is about people finding notes and sending them in to this dude. For me this is one of those ideas that I wish I had and followed through on.  I get ideas then never want to take the time to do them…I’m getting off track. Plus.  This dude can tell it better. I’m always looking for bookmark adds so let me know if you have some.

Her project’s name is PAG MTWIVILA student center. She is in an HIV/AIDS affected area.

Ok so here’s the deal. Some of you I know would never stumble across Compassion’s website which could be understandable.  So I figured I could bring Irene to you.  I’ve had a chance to visit projects in three countries and its the real deal.  I’ve seen them in Peru, Guatemala and Haiti Watching translators go over sponsor letters to get them out children makes it the real deal.  You don’t just help Irene you change a life.

You provide: Bible teaching, training, health screening, hygiene education, education, uniforms

What we have found is that the whole family is changed not just the child in the program. That means you don’t just affect 1 but you affect many.

To sponsor a child its 32 dollars a month. I could go through the “here is what that equates to” but between me and you does that really matter.

Here is what I’ll do.  If you would like to sponsor Irene I will mail you her packet and you can get started. How easy is that?  Send me an email francisdrew@gmail.com and tell me where to send her. If you have questions please ask me.  I’m sure this is not something you do every day and you have questions so please ask.  You can trust Compassion.  They do what they say they are going to do.

The Fish Company Newsletter

Why a newsletter?

A couple of weeks ago I was approached to take on the task of revitalizing the newsletters for The Fish Company. These newsletters will go out to Youth Ministers and adults who are involved with The Fish Company in some way. The first question I asked was what’s the age group of our audience? I knew the groups we were sending the newsletters to, but I needed to know the age of the typical reader. They then asked me what age group I would like to target.

I thought about it a bit and answered, “Mine.”

What does that mean you ask? It means this: I can pretty much write—and direct others to write—for people 20-35 years old. Any older than that and I start to get out of my area of expertise. They agreed, so here we are.

So why this newsletter? Simple. The Fish company would like to communicate with the leaders they serve. I believe there is an age group of ministers, both male and female, that have many of the same struggles and joys that we here at The Fish Company have. But, honestly, we don’t talk about this enough with each other. I believe that ministers my age are looking to connect more and more with each other and with the world around them. My hope for this newsletter is not just to show you the new things going on at The Fish Company, but for it to be a place where you can be challenged and educated about the world around you.

What’s in it?

I want this to be more than a newsletter. Whereas normal newsletters let you know the happenings of an organization, this newsletter will show the heart of an organization. Many of the articles you’ll read will either be written by people at The Fish Company, or people I have met in the blog world. My hope is that as this continues to grow we can solicit people outside of my circle. The first few issues will rely heavily on story ideas from the Fish Company staff. As the newsletter evolves, the goal is for readers to contribute to stories, expressing their collective desire to communicate with this generation of youth workers.

I want this newsletter to be informative and entertaining without being too heavy. My thought is that a person should be able to read every article in one sitting. That’s why the length of the articles will only range from 400-600 words. But the newsletter won’t just be writing. Here is what we are planning in terms of structure.

There are four distinct sections that we will always have in each issue.

Media— The media section will cover all things media, from how to use it correctly to what it accomplishes. During our events we get a lot of ministers that ask how we did a certain video or set, and what type of equipment to they need to do it. In the media section we will give users a little peek under the hood, and also give a little advice how to meaningfully use media.

World— We believe the world is our community. We can no longer only consider things that happen in the US as the end of the story. In the world section we want ministers outside of the country to have a place to be heard. We want the newsletter to be a place where we highlight the work they are doing. We want to encourage ministers to guide their students towards lives of servanthood. The world section will be used to expand minters’ and students’ worldviews.

Message— The message section is in tended to be the voice of the twenty-to-thirtysomething youth worker. After all, we are part of a unique place in history. We grew up watching technology make incredible strides. We watched as computers became integrated into our daily lives. We saw the start of the worship movement. And in our professional lives, we are transitioning from being managed to being mangers. In the message section our hope is to deal with issues that effect our students . . . and us.

Truth— It seems over the past few years there has been a resurgence of the Bible not just being what we open to teach our students, but a book central to our daily lives. During the truth section, we will always come back to what the Bible says about a particular issue. I believe we sometimes forget how truly practical the Bible is. We assume that “teaching and rebuking” is only meant for our students. In the truth section we will tackle big issues and work through them together.

Marketing— The name says it all, right?

Waste of Time— The waste of time section is just that. From Youtube clips, to podcasts, to interesting websites, to flash video games . . . you’ll find it here. Listen, we know you are busy. Everyone needs a few moments of down time to unwind. You’ll find plenty of options for doing just that in the waste of time section.

Extra— The extra section will be a sort of bonus section for us. We want to keep you in the loop of the cool books we’re reading, blogs that have affected us, music we are listening to, and so on.

So there it is.