Cereal is one of my favorite foods. I enjoy different kinds – the ones that I'm too old to eat (like Kellogg's Corn Pops or General Mills' Cocoa Puffs), the ones that are real simple (Honey Nut Cheerios, Kix), the gourmet kind (anything that has "clusters" and fruit and nuts) – and I'll eat them as any and/or all of the three meals of the day.
I also enjoy blog posts that are serial, like a sitcom or a special news report.
Benny V, an H Squad/January 2009 alumnus, spent a couple months in Haiti and debunked some of the myths that surround ministry and missions in Haiti. Feel free to read through his posts from March through May to get a sense of what it was like in Haiti; these are the ones I'd like to highlight:
- Misconception #1: You have more to offer Haitians than they have to offer you
- Misconception #2: Haitians are the ones who are poor, blind and naked
- Misconception #3: Haiti wasn't prepared for this
- Misconception #4: It's too dangerous to go to Haiti
- Misconception #5: There's something wrong with enjoying going to Haiti
"Manistry" is a period of time on the Race when the men are apart from the women for some quality male bonding over ministry and just. . . . life. Joe Bunting, a current Racer on one of the August 2009 Squads, put together this nifty e-manual, or rather, MANual.
He takes an honest, exposed stand on how men wrestle with image:
In Christianity, image is everything. "What will they think of me?" We say it to ourselves every time we're in church.It really sucks. It needs to stop.Because as men, we men often suffer from "Superman" syndrome. We get the capes and red boots and as long as we are flying through the air everyone claps. But the moment they see us as Clark Kent the fear of the real us sets in.We're anointed by God, but we're tired. Tired of dealing with issues, and situations and mess. Tired of swallowing what we would like to say. Tired of being nice while life is being nasty. Tired of not being appreciated. Tired of being taken for granted. Tired of paying everyone's bills. Tired of helping everyone else out when there is no one there to help us out.What will you do when the image you have of us doesn't fit this tired body?
And what is the World Race is a serial in and of itself – of moments and days and weeks and months, of lessons learned, mistakes made, victories won, laughter shared and tears shed?
A season of your life could be better than any sitcom a screenwriter could come up with. Your pilot episode begins here.
