tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79923064966836458092024-03-13T12:08:02.014-07:00Flip the Tape DeckTurning up the Volume how loud can I get and showing the man that were not going underDavid Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-4785193115958238162012-08-27T19:23:00.005-07:002012-08-27T19:23:59.806-07:00The Start of Something New <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This past weekend was orientation and new student retreat for the incoming class at Chicago Theological Seminary. What a weekend! I am so thrilled to be here and everything about the weekend affirmed that this is where I am suppose to be and CTS is the perfect seminary for me to spend the next couple of years studying at. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The CTS building is brand new and absolutely beautiful. It is a lead certified building and hence is mostly lit with natural sun light. It is going to be an amazing place to learn and hang out in. This is the chapel that overlooks Hyde Park and you can even see the Chicago skyline in the distance. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Went on a walk with some new friends to Promontory Point (which may be the coolest water front spot in Chicago). On beautiful days like today, I agree with this sentiment that Chicago is rather heavenly. Although, not enough to graffiti public property. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our class spent Saturday and Sunday "telling stories." Everyone (all 40+) had 5 minutes to tell their sacred story in rather broad strokes to the entire class. The next day we broke up into groups of eight and had twenty five minutes to go into much more depth with our story. We also had time to create a visual aid full of pictures, symbols, etc to help tell our story. It was an amazing experience that really did bond the class and will lead to healthy dialogue and strong community going forth. But so exhausting! It was crazy to listen to so many stories in such a short amount of time and it really took a physical, emotional, and spiritual toll on me to listen so intentionally for so long. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I can't be more excited for class to start so I can dig into studying stuff I just love to study and even more I am excited to get to know walk alongside my new friends. </span></div>
David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-16777921271180697722012-08-01T14:25:00.003-07:002012-08-01T14:32:23.692-07:00Chicago, so Far<br />
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I live in Chicago now. I have been officially here for about
and a week and a half. In most ways, I still feel like a tourist as I walk on
the sidewalks with my head on a swivel gawking at the tall buildings and
looking down at my iphone to remember which way I am some suppose to turn to
get home. But in other ways, this place is already starting to feel like home.</div>
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I already have two jobs! And I am realizing more and more
how blessed I am to have only been here a week and a half and to have worked 30
plus hours this week!</div>
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I did not anticipate how much moving would actually cost.
The getting here and getting set up in my new apartment pretty much wiped me
clean. Had it not been for the blessing of starting these jobs right away I
would have either been on the streets here in Chicago or hitchhiking my way
south on I-65. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I sold my soul to corporate America and I am now a barista
at Starbucks. I actually am sort of torn about working for a major corporation
like Starbucks. I am justifying it a couple of ways. One is that I am poor and don’t have
many other choices. Secondly, I am hoping that it will be a really great way to get to know people and the neighborhood. After
just a few days of work I am already getting to know some “regulars” by name
and knowing their “usual.”<br />
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The neighborhood I am living in is called Lincoln Park. From
what I can surmise, so far, it is a rather yuppie crowd. Most people are young,
white, and either a bit “fratty” or really “hipster.” Actually, my experience so
far in Chicago has not been full of as much diversity as I was hoping and
anticipating. Granted, I have not ventured to far out of my neighborhood just
yet.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So running on the Monon in Indianapolis is quite great, but I am not sure if there is a better scenic run that incorporates urban landscape and also the beauty of creation than running on Lake Shore Drive.<br />
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What I am realizing from my conversations with people who
know the city well is that the city of Chicago is extremely segregated by
neighborhoods. It is not to say that Lincoln Park does not have its fair of
share of diversity. There are some really wealthy homes, plenty of struggling
students like myself, and a noticeable homeless population posted on various
street corners. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Realistically, I have barely been here two weeks and I am hoping to
continue to venture out of my neighborhood as I become more rooted and
connected here. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-68188604564110615162012-07-13T13:17:00.002-07:002012-07-14T10:32:50.173-07:00Ugandan Safari<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To top off an amazing trip to Uganda we spent our last day taking a boat ride up the Nile and going on a Safari. </span></div>
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<br />David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-67135631485435217212012-07-12T20:16:00.001-07:002012-07-12T20:45:31.204-07:00Uganda Vision Trip<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are some pictures from my recent trip to Uganda with Common Ground. Enjoy...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjZNY89dnypdHEYyireJeVJLARhgWn2Z3DB2Ca8EQhzRfCBoZ9oP1M95ZfaSHm50mggtriDRyl6E7QIL3r6tFX5XuHn0O9ZZw14lnfsw4QqxzQtnOBU1n0ihw9uWxVpe3wT6CCiJrMW4/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjZNY89dnypdHEYyireJeVJLARhgWn2Z3DB2Ca8EQhzRfCBoZ9oP1M95ZfaSHm50mggtriDRyl6E7QIL3r6tFX5XuHn0O9ZZw14lnfsw4QqxzQtnOBU1n0ihw9uWxVpe3wT6CCiJrMW4/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-125.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEYVAa-q570r4tWvOhSgkzH0fKKTqAU760fhnbUH49fQV2tRz8iJ4LVo7Lw1UIdvHHOcm-BqtBOfr2xkm73sn2PYAxFDbs3p30rz9w_XvAWWQrRlnRlZofRlWIxVOkooKAkS4g8SqxC-8/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEYVAa-q570r4tWvOhSgkzH0fKKTqAU760fhnbUH49fQV2tRz8iJ4LVo7Lw1UIdvHHOcm-BqtBOfr2xkm73sn2PYAxFDbs3p30rz9w_XvAWWQrRlnRlZofRlWIxVOkooKAkS4g8SqxC-8/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-205.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the Dental Center Restoration Gateway is building. All of the bricks are made on site by RG workers. The building is also being constructed by RG workers. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHUT_DnsOP88by2V1EQRxXYpJEOqe3-xpxr0cn8nuA9cqJu4t-zVtXmEfmbN-xHnsneO75AYPFVwnjM8-qGaVrAQaLtVcrIYA8LIQNFwswcTY7WeP793ppzJ_cjP0gbU_k4gB5Qhnl3s8/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHUT_DnsOP88by2V1EQRxXYpJEOqe3-xpxr0cn8nuA9cqJu4t-zVtXmEfmbN-xHnsneO75AYPFVwnjM8-qGaVrAQaLtVcrIYA8LIQNFwswcTY7WeP793ppzJ_cjP0gbU_k4gB5Qhnl3s8/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-206.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are like 300 Dentist for 33 million people that live in Uganda. And very few ever visit the bush. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0I2ce5QFd75yge7ULR82Zdc3dSXAK_9z2HsMQlxKMIvGxea0hB78NSQr_Hv18UbI7YVopw6gmbRftLw-ZLalQECDHzZwDa5RVKyTfe0FOF2O2Oh8yY8TVwTVLGFnPsTo45tZEcSHPYI/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0I2ce5QFd75yge7ULR82Zdc3dSXAK_9z2HsMQlxKMIvGxea0hB78NSQr_Hv18UbI7YVopw6gmbRftLw-ZLalQECDHzZwDa5RVKyTfe0FOF2O2Oh8yY8TVwTVLGFnPsTo45tZEcSHPYI/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-252.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first lady of Uganda visited RG June 4th. We were able to help out on the property by doing a ton of grunt labor to clean up and get the place ready for the big event. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are currently 90 some oprhans who now have a home at RG. There goal is to eventually have 300. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They all love to dance, play music, sing, and have their pictures taken. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifYvYmbt5VuRXZz1eRORwSQyx611tRchv_YWgYxWXNkh5-5Oj7FVJ3N2XxxEvkqLevT4MHpTRjX5I0ikh999i7we8VKBt9tAgMgektdYipjJ-ZGoQb9fSBcOqEXia8HNr94Z9oRP1m-qk/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-295.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifYvYmbt5VuRXZz1eRORwSQyx611tRchv_YWgYxWXNkh5-5Oj7FVJ3N2XxxEvkqLevT4MHpTRjX5I0ikh999i7we8VKBt9tAgMgektdYipjJ-ZGoQb9fSBcOqEXia8HNr94Z9oRP1m-qk/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-295.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the kids soccer field. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Where we slept. Too bad the mosiquto nets did not prevent me from getting malaria. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTsoTk8UH4P1pXWU_qpdoJXgjiOF0afhFy433tKfmN-mcgLeoIKzlgquPOK1DYp0mRf1M3nt3DUANPshtxmamsB8W5ZH3OxSvKymi1B58nr6EFibsQpnqHi0LjqJsQAbzbMWLtOC4sZoQ/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTsoTk8UH4P1pXWU_qpdoJXgjiOF0afhFy433tKfmN-mcgLeoIKzlgquPOK1DYp0mRf1M3nt3DUANPshtxmamsB8W5ZH3OxSvKymi1B58nr6EFibsQpnqHi0LjqJsQAbzbMWLtOC4sZoQ/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-350.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This wonderful family RG is connected with let use their home to set up a medical clinic for the day. People came from all around to get medical attention from the doctors, nurses, and pharmicist on the trip. After the clinic, the mother of the family prepared an amazing meal for all of us. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitYS26xAfxDOrRi3x3rPohU17y40cipTDus9zYl_Vx7I3cmSTn8FfTh2SV1LisSFKlmPCvyk8VXbc5qddrZl_9VTNAoOdcztg_wx1Q2aDryJWkzbpkuJMcSuKAx45o5_cDyh03WtYisUk/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-352.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitYS26xAfxDOrRi3x3rPohU17y40cipTDus9zYl_Vx7I3cmSTn8FfTh2SV1LisSFKlmPCvyk8VXbc5qddrZl_9VTNAoOdcztg_wx1Q2aDryJWkzbpkuJMcSuKAx45o5_cDyh03WtYisUk/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-352.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3DI-i0Y6iMR6fsnkDvycZ53pvxz5leXaJ3nUBhTKug_Ea9BARAtjd5vZVmp7P_zDr6rYAzi9UZbO4swqPMi4xzD-44q_PPkOPimwjjNfManPM2EvbLwJdSgDeAISExGNTC1t6rSanlNM/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-409.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3DI-i0Y6iMR6fsnkDvycZ53pvxz5leXaJ3nUBhTKug_Ea9BARAtjd5vZVmp7P_zDr6rYAzi9UZbO4swqPMi4xzD-44q_PPkOPimwjjNfManPM2EvbLwJdSgDeAISExGNTC1t6rSanlNM/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-409.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Doctor Colby (RG missionary) and Bonnie (LC1...kinda like the mayor of the area). </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HYrnCt8BP5-dSmC0-42b4RZ9hvwqtegCGrI_kfrEjHsWfmPSwyPFFaVYPYrrS7kLczY_bhU2ZJnQ3g-uWHNyOfWPQGfmsNjHpKYYGaH3J2Nts1psUiyIsdplnKFzd5bjekUIm-rKH3Q/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HYrnCt8BP5-dSmC0-42b4RZ9hvwqtegCGrI_kfrEjHsWfmPSwyPFFaVYPYrrS7kLczY_bhU2ZJnQ3g-uWHNyOfWPQGfmsNjHpKYYGaH3J2Nts1psUiyIsdplnKFzd5bjekUIm-rKH3Q/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-420.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Their home...several mud huts. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilOcX73r9m3iUV6vU69ZY4LjlARwy9rsZQK12tZnOGGLnhk7y4bQWHmuPutmQMKT3a39j8dbrqoKYWdacf6XozkC-94qXmtNBIHQvJOijvF2vcQYeftPJTasd0MaMNUWbJpvrF0bKs8Zc/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-486.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilOcX73r9m3iUV6vU69ZY4LjlARwy9rsZQK12tZnOGGLnhk7y4bQWHmuPutmQMKT3a39j8dbrqoKYWdacf6XozkC-94qXmtNBIHQvJOijvF2vcQYeftPJTasd0MaMNUWbJpvrF0bKs8Zc/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-486.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB0D_FojA9SSIV_-M3nDcRQcWaKKIdQsdcR11aqIBtQH1UnjQzsXfxTY9AKuomiqNCjCMTi9TJxN1N0QYvn0qgbzujxtZ92inqy73HYxh69wa6cHIgruQ_Nc17fc0qfyzqQKBvNL2QNyY/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-497.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB0D_FojA9SSIV_-M3nDcRQcWaKKIdQsdcR11aqIBtQH1UnjQzsXfxTY9AKuomiqNCjCMTi9TJxN1N0QYvn0qgbzujxtZ92inqy73HYxh69wa6cHIgruQ_Nc17fc0qfyzqQKBvNL2QNyY/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-497.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_lMHTBqpjCEFKL7ETKWGjnUyxN1l_1t6dPx622-BO4JuV0Mzb_iATZN3jK_2SNhG6cwVBeCJRNkLgxs-WVt3sWparNw8neV0P8EOBmu_moV_edAxdmRpY-exUX1nEdxLmWbENVlDgHTA/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_lMHTBqpjCEFKL7ETKWGjnUyxN1l_1t6dPx622-BO4JuV0Mzb_iATZN3jK_2SNhG6cwVBeCJRNkLgxs-WVt3sWparNw8neV0P8EOBmu_moV_edAxdmRpY-exUX1nEdxLmWbENVlDgHTA/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-504.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbc4S-12mSgdxVy55SDMlAPTAsfSZcs2dug6d1a4md0GWR_-lPYNhlzdT59FUZIJ-xofigmL-4QoihBI4Uq_c6E5IMy-M4fcBlvuDKeSvuC0mL3hNLmeehkEmpe0WgABvbXRWcGBnXfUI/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-512.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbc4S-12mSgdxVy55SDMlAPTAsfSZcs2dug6d1a4md0GWR_-lPYNhlzdT59FUZIJ-xofigmL-4QoihBI4Uq_c6E5IMy-M4fcBlvuDKeSvuC0mL3hNLmeehkEmpe0WgABvbXRWcGBnXfUI/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-512.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Obviously, the kids loved to play soccer. They were stoked when we left behind a couple soccer balls we brought. Amazing how much joy a soccer ball can bring. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4LS0_NXgFDg54WoegcqVVji2Om6XGevJlCpEZVcOag9w5Q8iAfCzqrm9Dy-6_YzQGx_AJzmm1KxsD3IBH16rFPuIiTDU4qAl1_7IFiNOwyVSDJfqfTqNAgNjTwPhM6KKUoHNCYc7cyBQ/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-517.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4LS0_NXgFDg54WoegcqVVji2Om6XGevJlCpEZVcOag9w5Q8iAfCzqrm9Dy-6_YzQGx_AJzmm1KxsD3IBH16rFPuIiTDU4qAl1_7IFiNOwyVSDJfqfTqNAgNjTwPhM6KKUoHNCYc7cyBQ/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-517.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2c-R3uAum4sUpss6sool_PUnKfp0296-yUtYfV5ihGSzKJlXWLV147VA0mskKz77C5aC1BhV__FxGP2wX2qSrkWsz6_65_G6BOhljm88bAG5zqHOMOudQ7i9EksO8LF3lxi4VMBWJuXA/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-528.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2c-R3uAum4sUpss6sool_PUnKfp0296-yUtYfV5ihGSzKJlXWLV147VA0mskKz77C5aC1BhV__FxGP2wX2qSrkWsz6_65_G6BOhljm88bAG5zqHOMOudQ7i9EksO8LF3lxi4VMBWJuXA/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-528.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidloOrkL3XpLTiiVm3rGnGNwvODyCQ4Tjnp4mt9zc73R7Ijih2PKe04hyphenhyphenl40kYnuUlyr_j7lkOWwIULv_0oEpe6Qa62qyhQzV1O9Xgn1FvjHrDv1xWho_qrzrjvyhbcAHpRKTqFZ7x5vo/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-533.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidloOrkL3XpLTiiVm3rGnGNwvODyCQ4Tjnp4mt9zc73R7Ijih2PKe04hyphenhyphenl40kYnuUlyr_j7lkOWwIULv_0oEpe6Qa62qyhQzV1O9Xgn1FvjHrDv1xWho_qrzrjvyhbcAHpRKTqFZ7x5vo/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-533.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A classic Ugandan meal. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDoJuSjCXwF_fYKS3iuVADgCLdnggD79v2cJECitbi4CLwclKCaJttjWJoZNXU5ubG1JiVU0-jpqIC84vVp_-v1xhkz_pSU2VO5YqXoMKrJXYk8KP-QtcFZZ3aGVHfU6tfdjdKrRXW05U/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-265.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDoJuSjCXwF_fYKS3iuVADgCLdnggD79v2cJECitbi4CLwclKCaJttjWJoZNXU5ubG1JiVU0-jpqIC84vVp_-v1xhkz_pSU2VO5YqXoMKrJXYk8KP-QtcFZZ3aGVHfU6tfdjdKrRXW05U/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-265.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUMNMUdK7SQr9z8iV5zlUm0BbnixTMQUxQRS6IdU-Vqa5o8ZXKFgqp0uU_01OUKx9RLtvNTDZ6dNm8HHthzCnb4nw7KD5n8r5BMSluEIU1P3d2QU9GJMF8cDJId-ZHQhYS78DK2YWhPTM/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-618.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUMNMUdK7SQr9z8iV5zlUm0BbnixTMQUxQRS6IdU-Vqa5o8ZXKFgqp0uU_01OUKx9RLtvNTDZ6dNm8HHthzCnb4nw7KD5n8r5BMSluEIU1P3d2QU9GJMF8cDJId-ZHQhYS78DK2YWhPTM/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-618.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Day 2 of our medical clinic. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIniza4VQzgXZWsE4wOBhsN1Z243vSO8erIzLkBpHQaBQ66CERuTwsWFU0xuBkZ7lS7m9500huCWKDsw9MrPH5t6Bo_DpyLdsIPHKQ-lvd1SV_Ag_wavmtgPF2BXWAwVt4awB_3K6oUUI/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIniza4VQzgXZWsE4wOBhsN1Z243vSO8erIzLkBpHQaBQ66CERuTwsWFU0xuBkZ7lS7m9500huCWKDsw9MrPH5t6Bo_DpyLdsIPHKQ-lvd1SV_Ag_wavmtgPF2BXWAwVt4awB_3K6oUUI/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-623.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is me triaging the patients. It was humbling to ask them questions about their illness and hear how long they had been dealing with the pain of various ailments. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibcIu99QArA9qUy7i_WzdwReTlf_on4dO5FFjhVGZWe44NnNf7jlaoBHAKPFhJc5t7AyAGE9FM1nq2_FK2BsZCk3XYqNTGDLSkrrCGm4BoGeUfKWi3G7Iuzv8Gpnyn4VwwVlvojdxu0c/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-626.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibcIu99QArA9qUy7i_WzdwReTlf_on4dO5FFjhVGZWe44NnNf7jlaoBHAKPFhJc5t7AyAGE9FM1nq2_FK2BsZCk3XYqNTGDLSkrrCGm4BoGeUfKWi3G7Iuzv8Gpnyn4VwwVlvojdxu0c/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-626.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Karuma, the town nearest to the RG property. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdO2SYGnxd05H8HjhYnjrIbMZ_086mR32PokzPb7zEA_7whBlGjeauNOWNgf-QWtY_iBa0RS32N3PHBwM4QvTD3OhkcVNFixqOc8LbUmhmXKxxS-S0DYiPumjVRPjg3cbVt5uOEKvOMWQ/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-688.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdO2SYGnxd05H8HjhYnjrIbMZ_086mR32PokzPb7zEA_7whBlGjeauNOWNgf-QWtY_iBa0RS32N3PHBwM4QvTD3OhkcVNFixqOc8LbUmhmXKxxS-S0DYiPumjVRPjg3cbVt5uOEKvOMWQ/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-688.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Boda Boda taxi drivers that gave me a ride back to RG. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy68sTaM2klpnINLGQtC_hq8Rd_kuN1WcvcZkRzz0HgolnBw5Wkbazy9ucv9J7ASi9kw7qF9Etk-LS3n2RB4i_5quxL3xAhBBRikB_PolNv9itAP5rrX3Xlf8Aiy_Xeur-n308LTWvrak/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-716.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy68sTaM2klpnINLGQtC_hq8Rd_kuN1WcvcZkRzz0HgolnBw5Wkbazy9ucv9J7ASi9kw7qF9Etk-LS3n2RB4i_5quxL3xAhBBRikB_PolNv9itAP5rrX3Xlf8Aiy_Xeur-n308LTWvrak/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-716.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A RG worker heading back to her home after a day of work. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvNL_49aGgjimrGN1ng-NM_XL0AmYO0aaYdbJNL6g7cMCxYvTOLa0-AZjJKlleGw6v9HDCVjA3Nq2lFedP7rDikatfmqovWJm2rKmhMyrol-ubrnqtCCpwjLLsyukeAmVPU82jSN3SRY/s1600/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-717.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvNL_49aGgjimrGN1ng-NM_XL0AmYO0aaYdbJNL6g7cMCxYvTOLa0-AZjJKlleGw6v9HDCVjA3Nq2lFedP7rDikatfmqovWJm2rKmhMyrol-ubrnqtCCpwjLLsyukeAmVPU82jSN3SRY/s640/CGCC_UgandaVisionTrip_May2012-717.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A down pour of rain inspired a football (American) to breakout. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-66592512484287184262012-05-14T19:21:00.002-07:002012-05-14T19:21:50.845-07:00Training School Videos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few weeks ago the Training School took all four services at Common Ground to communicate just a few of the many things we experienced and learned the past nine months. My friend and training school mate Josh Davis made these videos. Enjoy: </span></div>
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<br />David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-88629517480799211732012-04-22T14:03:00.000-07:002012-04-22T14:03:05.401-07:00The Praia Canyon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are some of my favorite pictures from the Training School's recent trip to the Praia Canyon. The canyon really is the most unique, dynamic, awe-inspiring, and humbling trails I have ever walked through. I am beyond blessed to have walked the trail with these fellow pilgrims. </span></div>
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<br />David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-39148180532475338272012-04-18T12:25:00.000-07:002012-04-18T12:33:13.884-07:00Uganda Vision Trip <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Friends and Family, </span><br />
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For almost eight years now I have had a dream to visit Africa and experience the people, culture, and the unique way God is working there. My dream will finally become a reality as I have committed to be a part of Common Ground Christian Church’s vision trip to Uganda this May.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvepMEUPJQsZos923KlZyJC51ctK_-6_to-hzQpGl3wHEuXnOXW92dOFlnTObJ_b08CBgk92AHdv3v9kGkkks7Rn80fTT8jchahOeAv0veLSl1DVmdDwwm5HFIy0_NatLeRvsE_zd5GQM/s1600/20100724-20100724-DSC_0075.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvepMEUPJQsZos923KlZyJC51ctK_-6_to-hzQpGl3wHEuXnOXW92dOFlnTObJ_b08CBgk92AHdv3v9kGkkks7Rn80fTT8jchahOeAv0veLSl1DVmdDwwm5HFIy0_NatLeRvsE_zd5GQM/s320/20100724-20100724-DSC_0075.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you have seen Invisible Children’s most recent video, you are already familiar with the wake of destruction Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army left in Uganda. If you haven’t watched their most recent video I encourage you to do so <a href="http://www.kony2012.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">here</a>. The trip I am a part of this spring is to join in the restoration of a country that has been brutalized by a 20-year war. Restoration Gateway (RG) is a ministry located in Northern Uganda that provides holistic restoration for the people that have been ravished by the wake of violence left by the LRA. RG helps restore the community by caring for orphans, providing medical and dental care, empowering Ugandans, and ministering to the church of Uganda.</div>
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Our team will spend time with the 70+ orphans that live at RG as well as engage in ministry opportunities with RG workers and the people that live in the surrounding villages.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnXTgrQb_WlHmWkdonIBQTTZQEkyACVmB_XZ5nv1wjtkfKfTLEWquq2Zpfb_KUIIRmVi2g_bjGcCvbnhZqhEE-RHHpgJYa90jNInTULK3vukim6u-PKYV6ny8s4krn-T8SEP0iIYAZGMI/s1600/UgandaVisionTrip-6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnXTgrQb_WlHmWkdonIBQTTZQEkyACVmB_XZ5nv1wjtkfKfTLEWquq2Zpfb_KUIIRmVi2g_bjGcCvbnhZqhEE-RHHpgJYa90jNInTULK3vukim6u-PKYV6ny8s4krn-T8SEP0iIYAZGMI/s320/UgandaVisionTrip-6.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Through studying Religion and Peace Studies at Butler University I acquired a passion for supporting communities that have been ravaged by violence. I also recently decided to attend seminary next fall in Chicago. I am excited about the opportunity to experience what God is doing to restore northern Uganda through Restoration Gateway as I head into seminary. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;">There are 3 ways you can help
me on this Adventure:</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">1. Prayer <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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As I step into the
uncomfortable space of raising support for this trip and preparing my heart and
mind to travel to Africa I desperately need your prayer. </div>
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I need prayer for: </div>
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1.The financial
support I have to raise for the trip. The trip costs around $2500 dollars. I
have begun to save my own money but that will unfortunately not be enough to
cover the cost. I encourage you to consider donating money to help me reach my
goal of $2500.</div>
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2. I also am in need
of prayer for the posture of my heart and spirit during the trip. The trip is
sure to be emotionally and spiritually draining and transformational. Please
pray that God would prepare me for the trip and have great things in store for
me when I get to Africa! </div>
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If you would like to
commit to praying for me please email, text, or call to let me know so I can
send updates as the trip approaches and after I return. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">2. Write a
Check</span></b><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Make a check out to
Common Ground Christian Church and send it to David Brodsky at 10721 Timber
Lane Carmel IN 46032. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> 3. Donate Money Through Pay Pal </span></b><a href="http://bit.ly/HLpXgd">http://bit.ly/HLpXgd</a></div>
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Click on the link below and you will be sent to a website
where you can donate to
me through pay pal. </div>
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(This option is for
the young folks who do not own a checkbook anymore.)</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you have comments, questions, or just want to connect
about this trip or life in general hit me up through the info below.</span><br />
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<br />David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-16077825805722927262012-03-07T10:22:00.002-08:002012-03-07T10:22:13.945-08:00Joseph Kony 2012<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/37119711?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=d13030" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/37119711">KONY 2012</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/invisible">INVISIBLE CHILDREN</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-4605085181326590212012-02-10T10:48:00.000-08:002012-02-14T05:35:21.521-08:00The Centrality of Worship<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have the most major man crush on N.T. Wright. Here is an exert from his book <i>Simply Jesus </i>that I just finished today. I have read almost all of Wright's books and this, in my opinion, maybe one of the most powerful exerts I have read from him: </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"All kingdom work is rooted in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>worship.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Or, to put it the other way around, worshipping the God we see at work in Jesus is the most politically charged act we can ever preform. Christian worship declares that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Jesus </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">is Lord and that therefore, by strong implication, nobody else is. What's more, it doesn't just declare it as something to be believed, like the fact that sun is hot or the sea wet. It commits the worshiper to allegiance, to following Jesus, to being shaped and directed by him. Worshipping the God we see in Jesus orients our whole being, our imagination, our will, our hopes, and our fears away from the world where Mars, Mammon, and Aphrodite (violence, money, and sex) make absolute demands and punish anyone who resists. It orients us instead to a world in which love is stronger than death, the poor are promised the kingdom, and chastity (whether married or single) reflects the holiness and faithfulness of God himself. Acclaiming Jesus as Lord plants a flag that supersedes the flags of nations, however "free" or "democratic" they may be. It challenges </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>both</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> the tyrants who think they are, in effect, divine </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>and </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">at least ecclesial, that is, communities that are trying to do and be what the church was supposed to do and be, but without recourse to the one who sustains the church's life. Worship creates-or should create, if it is allowed to be truly itself-a community that marches to a different beat, that keeps in step with a different Lord."</span>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-9457414092334759492012-01-31T17:30:00.000-08:002012-05-18T08:00:56.515-07:00My Recent Trip to Tijuana<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6_KxIy1zkeIT08dOidcPY6XsyCOi2TaQoVcRSrn3sLHl8Ck5qc9t2O91op1JBP9n7OmSib5e5Sk1dlz-ZPq6EZ6Kss6O_tT0YdkTX6bE6OhxgPNwFsWMSG93vg4A36l8AeD77fmCpXbU/s1600/IMG_0451.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6_KxIy1zkeIT08dOidcPY6XsyCOi2TaQoVcRSrn3sLHl8Ck5qc9t2O91op1JBP9n7OmSib5e5Sk1dlz-ZPq6EZ6Kss6O_tT0YdkTX6bE6OhxgPNwFsWMSG93vg4A36l8AeD77fmCpXbU/s400/IMG_0451.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was the "bridge to mexico." They didn't check our passports, id's, baggage, nothing! Just... bienvenidos come on in! </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the orphanage compound that we spent most of our time at. This kids love to hoop. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was probably my favorite moment of the trip. It was right in the middle of our longest day of experiencing the suffering in Tijuana. We came back from the "dump" and some kids were helping the cook make dinner. I asked if I could help and they taught me the proper Mexican way to roll out a perfectly round Tortilla. My last tortilla was definitely a lot better than my first but I was no where near the perfection the locals were turning out every three to my one tortilla.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was the meal I helped make. Actually, "helping" might not be the best word choice since it implies I some how aided or quickened the process of making dinner.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We played an epic soccer game in the Mexican mountains against the kids that live in an orphanage there. We lost badly, but like the tortillas it was one of those cool moments where I felt like I was diving into the Mexican culture by playing soccer on a dirt field and a perfect setting in the mountains. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This community is built on what was once a garbage dump. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWUE3zRkPSijZS2ooD8mVLdCy3G5VuSFVcxuIqIstbfqS-IVLUgnFUkPSo96cf4NfnkNA2_yw1gTNfN5MidLf_0vZt0uHIM9ptyzoQAcFV_zOYkCY7eIwADh9Tga-aNuJCQrVjAXTtq1A/s1600/IMG_0512.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWUE3zRkPSijZS2ooD8mVLdCy3G5VuSFVcxuIqIstbfqS-IVLUgnFUkPSo96cf4NfnkNA2_yw1gTNfN5MidLf_0vZt0uHIM9ptyzoQAcFV_zOYkCY7eIwADh9Tga-aNuJCQrVjAXTtq1A/s400/IMG_0512.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The dump was shut down years ago and they covered the trash in dirt. The entire mountain and valley in this picture is literally a trash pile covered in dirt that people have made their homes on. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the bottom of this valley was a river that was full of trash. I was reminded of the River of Life promised in Revelation to appear in the new Jerusalem to be an eternal source for the living water of Christ. I long for Jesus to come back and fill this river with water. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As you know, all the injustices of this world can be traced back to Disney. I thought it appropriate to record the obvious source of the suffering in the dump. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aaron touching the Pacific Ocean for the first time </span></div>
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Every night we snuck out of the compound and headed to a corner six blocks away that was serving up the best tacos I have ever had! It is pretty obvious from the expressions of Larry and I that we were pretty excited about these tacos. The best part was the fact that one taco was only one dollar! </div>
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<br />David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-64609601063879929532012-01-30T10:02:00.000-08:002012-05-18T08:02:13.846-07:00Ocean Beach California<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Training School recently took a week long trip to San Diego and Tijuana. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Conclusions from the trip: 1. Four years of Spanish and I can only ask people who their favorite soccer player is. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. I love Cali and would not mind at all living there one day. "Ocean Beach Christian Church" has a nice ring to it..eh?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. The human spirit is incredibly resilient and creative in the face of poverty and suffering. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Sex trafficking is seriously fucked up and I am really struggling with why God allows this to happen. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. I really really love Cali. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are some pictures from our short stop in San Diego's Ocean Beach neighborhood. More pics from Tijuana to come soon. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ocean Beach is an awesome community full of local surfers and vagabonds that have travelled all the way across the country for the promise of sleeping on the beach next to a bonfire ablaze with Christmas trees that were dug out of a dumpster. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I had forgotten how refreshing and rejuvenating the sun, sand, and waves are.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some how Ocean Beach has remained a haven for those of us who hate the "man" and corporations. There were no big businesses, hotels, resorts, chain restaurants, and the homes were literally surf shacks sitting on five million dollar lots. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We watched the sun set one night. Did you know when you watch the sun set on the Pacific coast you can see a green flash when the last rays of the sun disappear under the horizon? I thought I might have some sort of little flash that evening. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some of us stopped into the Hummingbird Coffee Shop to load up on some of this molecule to keep us going. The coffee shop was split right down the middle. On one side was a coffee shop the other was a fed ex store. </span></div>
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<br />David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-71781103135194889742011-12-12T10:04:00.000-08:002011-12-12T10:05:32.649-08:00Toronto's Sanctuary Church<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the best things about the Training School so far has been our visits to </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sanctuary Church</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> in Toronto. Maybe you have read the book </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God in the Alley?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> If not, I recommend it! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The church is the most tangible expression of the Kingdom of God on earth that I have ever experienced. Truly all are welcome and all are free to act however in the safe space Sanctuary creates. They truly emoby their name and become a sanctuary for people who are marginalized and ignored by just about everyone else, including me. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Because </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sanctuary </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">has been so formational to me, I wanted to share with you a few articles written by someone who has imbedded himself in the Sanctuary community, is living out of his car and on the streets, and is writing about his experiences. I got to walk with him for two weekends while in Toronto debating fun stuff like journalistic objectivity versus subjectivity and exploring though conversations why in the world this guy would want to live on these cold jaded streets for a month straight! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are the links to the articles Stephen was written and that have been published through a not-for profit out of Carmel called </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">World Next Door: </span></i><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Article One: </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.worldnextdoor.org/2011/12/a-motley-crew-of-christians/#comments</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Article Two: </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.worldnextdoor.org/2011/12/that’s-god-that’s-god-that’s-god-–-part-i/#</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-40154705361059821872011-12-06T21:42:00.001-08:002011-12-06T21:44:41.222-08:00Images of Jesus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">In light of Christmas (specifically christmas shopping) coming up and the Occupy Movement that has been gaining momentum the past two months; these images of Jesus seem rather relevant and provocative: </span></span></div>
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<br />David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-16626041660962012912011-12-01T13:16:00.000-08:002011-12-01T13:30:33.356-08:00Some Recent Quotes<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Here are some recent quotes we have been wrestling with in the training school: </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">"Sometimes I would like to ask God why he allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when he could do something about it." </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">"Well why don't you ask him?" </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">"Because I am afraid he would ask me the same question." </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:small;">Christ has no body on earth but yours </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">No hands but yours </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out, </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">And yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">-Teresa of Avila </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The greatest hermeneutic of the gospel is a community that seeks to live it. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">-Larry Mitchell </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-86173565193903835572011-12-01T05:08:00.000-08:002011-12-01T16:47:07.474-08:00Back in the Game<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">I haven't been blogging much at all lately. Which is super odd to me since I am processing, learning, and experiencing more than I probably have in any other season of my life. The Training School has afforded me all types of new experiences and space to live in community with people. So I should have tons of thoughts, ideas, and questions to share all the time, and I definitely do! Yet, my blog says otherwise. My theory is that so much of what we do is so hard to quantify into blog posts let alone conversations when someone makes the mistake of asking me how Training School is going.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I think I will try to be a little more intentional about processing and sharing my thoughts and experiences through the blog from here on out. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I think I will start now: </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Just two weekend ago some of us from the Training School made a trek up to Toronto. It is amazing how formational a quick weekend trip can be when you go with the intentions of walking together in intimate community and go with open eyes and hands for what the streets have to offer. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What I learned: </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">1. I don't walk much. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I was physically sore from walking wherever we went in the city. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">2. I don't live below the surface very often. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Walking with friends that want to have conversations that revolve around meaningful, emotional, and spiritual concepts for basically three days straight causes me to be emotionally and physically drained. My lack of stamina for such conversations led me to deduce I don't live below the surface very often.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">3. I am a communist. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Just Kidding, about that one. But we did stumble into a park that was being occupied by people in support of the Occupy Wallstreet movement. It was pretty awesome to walk around and interact with the diverse group of people that had committed all kinds of time, energy, and money towards the movement. </span></span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-IvyF7SP5TEHYBWn8mn1kT51Ake8T0324KKOvsIxY_UwOTH9yfMIEN-5TsGs6YLOOGtj-UYK1oRxxeIvNqtudS5ypkbvS2uXixLGyP3d3oblCt2laLGHXw-XA2nCNPquPXk15zewfDM/s1600/IMG_0035.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681150000152523426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-IvyF7SP5TEHYBWn8mn1kT51Ake8T0324KKOvsIxY_UwOTH9yfMIEN-5TsGs6YLOOGtj-UYK1oRxxeIvNqtudS5ypkbvS2uXixLGyP3d3oblCt2laLGHXw-XA2nCNPquPXk15zewfDM/s400/IMG_0035.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The protesters were occupying St. James Park for five weeks in the heart of downtown Toronto before they were evicted. </span></div>
</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia2y-wIlxEZResuxZc5Gq8GcG_Xaw18Mxhun4svuSH3xg5n2p3tZIom4Zq_ZOHAh9BgIpR2frL1VELURw44JCBPMs4B_-b0GQdM7M0VuAY3ytMvQD2AKrZshiHLzRRagTQkcX5bYJ1lSI/s1600/IMG_0039.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681149997067750098" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia2y-wIlxEZResuxZc5Gq8GcG_Xaw18Mxhun4svuSH3xg5n2p3tZIom4Zq_ZOHAh9BgIpR2frL1VELURw44JCBPMs4B_-b0GQdM7M0VuAY3ytMvQD2AKrZshiHLzRRagTQkcX5bYJ1lSI/s400/IMG_0039.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_yOASeuV3AucBgip37Q6OQEKG4Sd-Hn-_lqRaoK5dWmHifq1GbuA2jAy72-CCr2J-x4JiTgKMXAWV6-2tV7UlH0rVQ-5BG_dVISXdRicuYZT8NdBAYU8WxvTSlFuNHmbKpF4BLbOR66U/s1600/IMG_0037.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681149987113067026" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_yOASeuV3AucBgip37Q6OQEKG4Sd-Hn-_lqRaoK5dWmHifq1GbuA2jAy72-CCr2J-x4JiTgKMXAWV6-2tV7UlH0rVQ-5BG_dVISXdRicuYZT8NdBAYU8WxvTSlFuNHmbKpF4BLbOR66U/s400/IMG_0037.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They occupiers had literally created their own little community equipped with a kitchen, first aid tent, general assembly, and even a library full of more than a 1,000 books. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFChwr7l-bf7itsXHNPtlSvz1A9awOXTMWeZGExDsaRrmhqno5l5t71vdnOa4W_ic4Lrdeve1zidgQMWqCDxaREdABD_vJedCOFgFt41srnsEpVqHQWGujxeFDDXeB9EfDOIzdyB2S_mE/s1600/IMG_0043.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681149984758592562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFChwr7l-bf7itsXHNPtlSvz1A9awOXTMWeZGExDsaRrmhqno5l5t71vdnOa4W_ic4Lrdeve1zidgQMWqCDxaREdABD_vJedCOFgFt41srnsEpVqHQWGujxeFDDXeB9EfDOIzdyB2S_mE/s400/IMG_0043.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5oqFlXbJCAeM23vMJ8ZQGDmju2al6-BoCOkGb4GzJl0Y6YJEc_WR0D5ezTL-2Mmh8VAW4qR5HLJMNLYkaU9RH-Eb_uxRiAydoy3nH8XSBZur5T4gKtq1V_t2lF15s5s6JJOJcmB5qqbc/s1600/IMG_0040.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681149981247308994" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5oqFlXbJCAeM23vMJ8ZQGDmju2al6-BoCOkGb4GzJl0Y6YJEc_WR0D5ezTL-2Mmh8VAW4qR5HLJMNLYkaU9RH-Eb_uxRiAydoy3nH8XSBZur5T4gKtq1V_t2lF15s5s6JJOJcmB5qqbc/s400/IMG_0040.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjrsWOdVpFm1hHEaR2oT1lxmWT3TJieNZz4TJuUBaOTnZXifojr3vPwjOP-ZBCnlNw9EHAFmgV4S9lzaSXugnkyX_TgHUgwGeD_A8iJJUq8g-iL3bqFAPNSfJhagsS8KQUmMOoiBFFBlY/s1600/IMG_0058.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681147676741312690" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjrsWOdVpFm1hHEaR2oT1lxmWT3TJieNZz4TJuUBaOTnZXifojr3vPwjOP-ZBCnlNw9EHAFmgV4S9lzaSXugnkyX_TgHUgwGeD_A8iJJUq8g-iL3bqFAPNSfJhagsS8KQUmMOoiBFFBlY/s400/IMG_0058.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
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This guy was cool. He came up with this idea of setting up portable tables for dialogue. Aren't conversations, debates, and arguments better around a table where people know each other's names and aren't posturing at one another??</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipheahor77YTqPWXykDtGYXGk1-2u-uXLOmD829f05iLAQ127hVSFExAtx1aSBXQHgaU2ppo0kcirvHjsETyclSZT-AAzRwwwUZbVUmxO2T6vuur1cpaHYbI_86Pd3b-5kbCODvOy50d8/s1600/IMG_0077.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681147666090106738" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipheahor77YTqPWXykDtGYXGk1-2u-uXLOmD829f05iLAQ127hVSFExAtx1aSBXQHgaU2ppo0kcirvHjsETyclSZT-AAzRwwwUZbVUmxO2T6vuur1cpaHYbI_86Pd3b-5kbCODvOy50d8/s400/IMG_0077.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ocBD0k9kaS6GfKcbEmMpx1fCBSzDacJM18WP32bfE2vaxGCPkoKIXJ0_gUHWQY6RbEx-to6CgxdPIBhVy8WjjBWOENIwGjN5i4NhLZsGh2_bsk5SskSftDd0reTWfEBjctwg5c_1-mU/s1600/IMG_0083.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681147661744803522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ocBD0k9kaS6GfKcbEmMpx1fCBSzDacJM18WP32bfE2vaxGCPkoKIXJ0_gUHWQY6RbEx-to6CgxdPIBhVy8WjjBWOENIwGjN5i4NhLZsGh2_bsk5SskSftDd0reTWfEBjctwg5c_1-mU/s400/IMG_0083.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
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We just happened to be there on a day that they marched throughout the city. There were probably only about 100 permanent tents in St. James Park but nearly 5,000 people turned out for their march through the city. </div>
</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNv4kSKswbfFq8PtvyjfM1-lwKew9NUVMv1fRPjtVdayA3lYsSEkXbzrgc99wNl4ZYg8XjmHFcooAr2gyKgaQUU6cD4Txd93h2ZWAcGQGYzSQqgrKxvLBGccFMPJfJd8DzNINOuvDKNaQ/s1600/IMG_0087.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681147650253295586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNv4kSKswbfFq8PtvyjfM1-lwKew9NUVMv1fRPjtVdayA3lYsSEkXbzrgc99wNl4ZYg8XjmHFcooAr2gyKgaQUU6cD4Txd93h2ZWAcGQGYzSQqgrKxvLBGccFMPJfJd8DzNINOuvDKNaQ/s400/IMG_0087.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUtzdx57U8ja0ZAf4CErw5gBXSWDhjW2KMF8dfRpDtBxlaes4JreaYqoUj91UpI503Vm9v23UP_iPcks4rsEgC7HCvR8VL17NQcjvNHGXpaIoa_9825GEuEDcU49LdpQgm0wAogSDK4AI/s1600/IMG_0091.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681147648368489922" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUtzdx57U8ja0ZAf4CErw5gBXSWDhjW2KMF8dfRpDtBxlaes4JreaYqoUj91UpI503Vm9v23UP_iPcks4rsEgC7HCvR8VL17NQcjvNHGXpaIoa_9825GEuEDcU49LdpQgm0wAogSDK4AI/s400/IMG_0091.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></div>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-60906169755742616962011-10-13T11:40:00.000-07:002011-10-13T14:44:57.510-07:00Where I've Been & Where I'm Going<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">What a journey I have been on since I graduated from Butler University last spring! I just recently started working part time for Young Life Carmel and I am also embarking on a journey with my Church that I will explain later. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">My senior year at Butler was a season of transition as I wrestled with what would come after graduation. I was accepted into a graduate program in theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City but was also feeling God tug on my heart to stay in Indianapolis for one more year. As I prayed and had conversations with friends, family, and mentors I felt that it was not the right time to take the financial leap into graduate school. </span></span></p></div><div><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEi76EvAHRbgAKigXouswHn49hJoX7aBPqoOnaub_utNSPymzKAAbnG-Qq8FPmUZ1PkErJ08dLsF0vwD4ujn-g1NcezOP0kmeYAKvpKUrIdsDdjDETzRjEudxfS9rWocdmzY5tIhsbE1w/s1600/cu_home_uts_night.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 145px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEi76EvAHRbgAKigXouswHn49hJoX7aBPqoOnaub_utNSPymzKAAbnG-Qq8FPmUZ1PkErJ08dLsF0vwD4ujn-g1NcezOP0kmeYAKvpKUrIdsDdjDETzRjEudxfS9rWocdmzY5tIhsbE1w/s400/cu_home_uts_night.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663084620669917074" /></a><div><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Above is Union. It sits on on the upper east side of Manhattan right next to Columbia and Harlem.</span> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">This summer I spent a month volunteering at Timberwolf Lake in Michigan as a Work Crew Boss. The Work Crew is comprised of around forty high school kids that have volunteered a month of their lives to live and serve at a Young Life camp. As a work crew boss, my role was to lead a group of six Work Crew kids in our daily physical labor but also (and more importantly) I was leading the group in all spiritual matters. In other words, I was disciplining, mentoring the high school kids that had come to serve for a month. The experience afforded me amazing opportunities to grow as a leader and in my individual relationship with Christ. </span></span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvCwE-bU2KdWwwQAooTbi3jldtcN_bG-2VRL5HwjR1nPRM53JOzw-kKeVbS4xVIVNM7ttzVHzOJxnVfT4Lp0Cb5_ljH33M2j5RSrW5MyJIbo9rwXpSjR9ij5iqSGtGByvfOLHHqwmpLIc/s1600/summer+2011+1161+14-33-17.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvCwE-bU2KdWwwQAooTbi3jldtcN_bG-2VRL5HwjR1nPRM53JOzw-kKeVbS4xVIVNM7ttzVHzOJxnVfT4Lp0Cb5_ljH33M2j5RSrW5MyJIbo9rwXpSjR9ij5iqSGtGByvfOLHHqwmpLIc/s400/summer+2011+1161+14-33-17.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663083498969687874" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">One of the best jobs the Work Crew has is to welcome the busses that are dropping of hundreds of high school kids about ready to have the best week of their life and maybe here the Gospel for the first time.</span></span></span> <br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6GNY5-JSsTxPhlH1AqUQs97JbAzugJnnTPa3fVpgDevzZMUPlimdOjuoyYG-c-W6rEzt8aXkUlxpaQ_NyLurIH6aXOc3uCL-OaX3EH_HkYzCb-vFNjc1BWxY6CfL72O_VoE1Q5WUC9ts/s1600/summer+2011+869+14-26-16.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6GNY5-JSsTxPhlH1AqUQs97JbAzugJnnTPa3fVpgDevzZMUPlimdOjuoyYG-c-W6rEzt8aXkUlxpaQ_NyLurIH6aXOc3uCL-OaX3EH_HkYzCb-vFNjc1BWxY6CfL72O_VoE1Q5WUC9ts/s400/summer+2011+869+14-26-16.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663083490611607746" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">I was the Outdoor Crew Boss and these were the six guys and girls I worked with daily. I learned so much from their willingness to serve and dig deeper in their relationships with Christ.</span></span></span> <br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWWpCf_SHgqqF7HV5cZPJdp4grRH37zF5p1pT2vy51oXI36sdlgtfMsIOMf2jIdfXW3GQdyvEmdCohxH9Pwar4WYgnW1ovQRIUBek7Bg1NbBMn1MRb05axP-oJuHuKDGsIjU-fiODt0NM/s1600/summer+2011+644+14-33-13.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWWpCf_SHgqqF7HV5cZPJdp4grRH37zF5p1pT2vy51oXI36sdlgtfMsIOMf2jIdfXW3GQdyvEmdCohxH9Pwar4WYgnW1ovQRIUBek7Bg1NbBMn1MRb05axP-oJuHuKDGsIjU-fiODt0NM/s400/summer+2011+644+14-33-13.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663083477594629618" /></a> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">his is us on one of our nights off. We threw the junk in our lives that was holding us back from following Jesus into the fire, sang songs, and drank root beer. </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:13px;">While graduate school seemed to be the most prestigious option for my life, I felt God pulling me towards a different path for the year ahead. After many conversations I decided to commit to a year long journey with <a href="http://www.cground.org/">Common Ground Christian Church</a> called the Kingdom Living Training School. </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Do not be deceived by the title. It is not really a school, and I am not really being “trained” in anything. It is a journey with a group of 15 other people that have committed to intentionally walking with Jesus for the next year.<br /></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Practically this looks like<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> three </span></span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">classes a week from 9am to 12 where we sit in a classroom and are lead in conversation by our teacher and guide </span></span></span><a href="http://www.cground.org/Contact-Information_c2f8dd92a6dc.html"><span style=" ;color:windowtext;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Larry Mitchell</span></span></span></a><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">. We also take five or six vision trips to places like Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Tijuana. There is no curriculum only our guide and the direction the spirit leads the community in conversation with each other, with questions, with people we run into on our long walks through the city, with books, and with God.</span></span></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:13px;">It is so clear to me now that God lead me to the Training School for so many different reasons. In fact, God reveals something new to me every day. The best way I know how to describe the training school is a very intentional time in your life where you make space for God to really get into the cracks and crevices of your life that you have kept hidden from yourself and God. It is a period of refining that is sparked by the intentionally of the group and the community we are trying to live into. </span></p> <!--EndFragment--> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisNzyvt51LqrcFOeOhyVZpVwmc7JeNrBJjH9bhrIXpYMy-Cl9hNPvYEyngj5TGVBJGCjgM6PzrIh9R6puSNW0QJSnFcKVltfeXWL2kZqoDV-n4PsK_atJj1LG9zx6HtSQovmdBHp6xB04/s1600/KLTS_Toronto_Aug2011-90.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisNzyvt51LqrcFOeOhyVZpVwmc7JeNrBJjH9bhrIXpYMy-Cl9hNPvYEyngj5TGVBJGCjgM6PzrIh9R6puSNW0QJSnFcKVltfeXWL2kZqoDV-n4PsK_atJj1LG9zx6HtSQovmdBHp6xB04/s400/KLTS_Toronto_Aug2011-90.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663049851198276578" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:13px;">This is the group on top of the hostel we stayed in overlooking the Toronto. Which is the 5th largest city in North America and one of (if not the most) diverse cities in the world. </span><br /></div></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:13px;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxyqV43694dZxdjFKGtbTRzfAyn8i3MUnAe2c2tKlpjkgMkc7-2KbkS2eUb8m9MbaDEUwdSKaXuVCxHX23LesDe1-BClxeGwSFbawgdo-vE1CiyBE_NIOaQyD36d2w6Z0ryb68_9J33o0/s1600/KLTS_Toronto_Aug2011-127.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxyqV43694dZxdjFKGtbTRzfAyn8i3MUnAe2c2tKlpjkgMkc7-2KbkS2eUb8m9MbaDEUwdSKaXuVCxHX23LesDe1-BClxeGwSFbawgdo-vE1CiyBE_NIOaQyD36d2w6Z0ryb68_9J33o0/s400/KLTS_Toronto_Aug2011-127.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663049458792868258" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic; font-family:verdana;">We walk everywhere! And because we walk every where we are constantly in communication with each other, with the city, and with the people that line the streets of the city. </span><br /></div></span></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiRkvPlqsvwHRnxXy6_FN8C9ikPn-V5G896bdOnSHJwC2aw9yHQRqYwNhueePQyMZ0QBRWUWVc_Fpp-0pqLRIj4Oi75E9cSU8O9DindxebTPPBrj1hnxjs9pFR5ByKFFY_2sg3K7K4XL8/s1600/KLTS_Toronto_Aug2011-54.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 313px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiRkvPlqsvwHRnxXy6_FN8C9ikPn-V5G896bdOnSHJwC2aw9yHQRqYwNhueePQyMZ0QBRWUWVc_Fpp-0pqLRIj4Oi75E9cSU8O9DindxebTPPBrj1hnxjs9pFR5ByKFFY_2sg3K7K4XL8/s400/KLTS_Toronto_Aug2011-54.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663049446230887154" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">We ate like this for the whole week. On the ground, in the middle of the city, sharing, tearing bread with our hands, and always sitting in a circle. </span></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzcTbaJU7O_Bm6vwvm2TMXwO3FfMsKp2ewrKbDGWm-nI7z8vZdLZiRhkJtEPswzzi7dOoWls8hOQEWTDwyGujfz7N5x4G85Hlmm9w_JHLzNbB_o7o0vkLmhSAmqw8HcrqLhSMX9duKT4E/s1600/KLTS_Toronto_Aug2011-49.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzcTbaJU7O_Bm6vwvm2TMXwO3FfMsKp2ewrKbDGWm-nI7z8vZdLZiRhkJtEPswzzi7dOoWls8hOQEWTDwyGujfz7N5x4G85Hlmm9w_JHLzNbB_o7o0vkLmhSAmqw8HcrqLhSMX9duKT4E/s400/KLTS_Toronto_Aug2011-49.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663049436897275698" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:13px;">The whole group! </span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:13px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:13px;"><br /></span></div></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEbQqRGTPSBzUCpY6bxgwXPb-IYUzHUAOBpRlTX-eFXdl47lTYQ7PUHhBh15E3ejiZ_UOiYQM0x4TQlnc-ev_irVN2NTmhdotSOL816dPCOktE4gfu-ESojlw3T5G3-Q6SfCijrYox1_Q/s1600/KLTS_Toronto_Aug2011-36.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEbQqRGTPSBzUCpY6bxgwXPb-IYUzHUAOBpRlTX-eFXdl47lTYQ7PUHhBh15E3ejiZ_UOiYQM0x4TQlnc-ev_irVN2NTmhdotSOL816dPCOktE4gfu-ESojlw3T5G3-Q6SfCijrYox1_Q/s400/KLTS_Toronto_Aug2011-36.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663049424616696274" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvjD1kw2SF2GnMODya0baNoGpUj4qOCdf7laSCYPFs7Eid8STiTQZbElKUVC62RjbZQcr-b8JOkBfZQ2vGYA2Mmej-dgSDpLbrFQDZF-kxAbiG58Ik2BWP9x-HV1BFyBsSj1e2TC3ltW8/s1600/KLTS_Toronto_Aug2011-12.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvjD1kw2SF2GnMODya0baNoGpUj4qOCdf7laSCYPFs7Eid8STiTQZbElKUVC62RjbZQcr-b8JOkBfZQ2vGYA2Mmej-dgSDpLbrFQDZF-kxAbiG58Ik2BWP9x-HV1BFyBsSj1e2TC3ltW8/s400/KLTS_Toronto_Aug2011-12.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663049418151918738" /></a></div><div><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Outside of the Training School I was hoping to find someway to make money to pay bills, eat, pay for the training school, and save a little for graduate school. I was really hoping to do this by finding a job that I am passionate about and that would provide good experience in ministry and non-for profit work. </span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I was blessed to be offered a part time Young Life staff position with Carmel (the area I have been leading at the past four years.) It has been such a blessing to work on staff in Carmel. I get to work alongside my best friends and already have a solid base of relationships with high school kids to work from. </span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Part time Young life staff means I am doing all of the same things I did as a volunteer leader but also taking on administrative, organizational, and non-profit management roles to create space for other volunteer leaders to build relationships with high school students. </span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">So far my time on Young Life staff has been an absolute blast! There is some really amazing momentum and excitement right now stirring in Carmel Young Life. God is doing some amazing things in kids lives and setting this leadership team up to meet hundreds of new kids that maybe have never heard the good and true news of the Gospel.</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <!--EndFragment--> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDT3zu0U5ZElXOWywPH7Skelzi4JRT8XXlLHZSt-jbROnLx3zb2kFIVBlsmMoINGrq8Z3t_TNJVlwoUk2xc77GjsH2lEDV9sOmTB8BZzb-3oDwP4NyAq7yDQvPj9MKq5zoMl_wdHvZi0/s1600/IMG_4125.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDT3zu0U5ZElXOWywPH7Skelzi4JRT8XXlLHZSt-jbROnLx3zb2kFIVBlsmMoINGrq8Z3t_TNJVlwoUk2xc77GjsH2lEDV9sOmTB8BZzb-3oDwP4NyAq7yDQvPj9MKq5zoMl_wdHvZi0/s400/IMG_4125.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663049087077930034" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Every month we have a Thanksgiving dinner potluck style. We probably had close to sixty kids show up to eat and have community with us. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRutxwREIh4S4FLyesZEs4vVyOCX51H9F1wMJmG9EJEI1HD9wF15UgSc00XgZboe-GFjR2wDFo9sJC1sdqeuQX4hPZiVMmZwzbZ_ADuy1D7zTKL8n9Q3lKM_M2HlI8vWgXVNGOwMI9H28/s1600/IMG_4041.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRutxwREIh4S4FLyesZEs4vVyOCX51H9F1wMJmG9EJEI1HD9wF15UgSc00XgZboe-GFjR2wDFo9sJC1sdqeuQX4hPZiVMmZwzbZ_ADuy1D7zTKL8n9Q3lKM_M2HlI8vWgXVNGOwMI9H28/s400/IMG_4041.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663049076042682818" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">This was "Double Dog Dare you Club" Jake was Moonrock and I was Danger.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"> </span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9AhY9AxvSep6vHKiuynWZfBqLDzXu_0-ZvKesejGGdLOdSe0fWgF7gSPshpqxFbDvi06F1FdsCV8Wq_ErO1hOqr7XRAjpKCniMfKH75Dpwpjqz4DH7IOcw8FfMufSK4r3z9lDhtxWT-I/s1600/IMG_4034.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9AhY9AxvSep6vHKiuynWZfBqLDzXu_0-ZvKesejGGdLOdSe0fWgF7gSPshpqxFbDvi06F1FdsCV8Wq_ErO1hOqr7XRAjpKCniMfKH75Dpwpjqz4DH7IOcw8FfMufSK4r3z9lDhtxWT-I/s400/IMG_4034.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663049068025358002" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio1xxxiELJhi_GLVK90CPJr7VvoRIvqIEdFIv261sB-Rw1Ex-1GerHbJLrwnkqkIF0-5XIOJG0cVJDfr6NDZuaeXzUkIFhJcKC2VnuHK7KofkAbBGQWFDgqdZOGJs3kJgHiRCbit__6Q4/s1600/IMG_3996.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio1xxxiELJhi_GLVK90CPJr7VvoRIvqIEdFIv261sB-Rw1Ex-1GerHbJLrwnkqkIF0-5XIOJG0cVJDfr6NDZuaeXzUkIFhJcKC2VnuHK7KofkAbBGQWFDgqdZOGJs3kJgHiRCbit__6Q4/s400/IMG_3996.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5663049051926263202" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic; font-family:verdana;">Campaigners so far this year has been amazing! It reminds me of how badly kids want to dig deep, ask hard questions, and wrestle with stuff that matters. Nothing gets me more excited than sitting in a circle with young people and wrestling with matters of the heart. </span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;">Wow. This is a lot. I hope you made it all the way through to the end or at least looked at all of the pictures! In the future my updates wont be near as long, there has just been a ton of transition these past couple of months that I wanted people to be updated on. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I am looking for financial support for Young Life so if you are interested in partnering with me in my mission in Carmel you can email me at brodsky.david.peace@gmail.com. If nothing else, please partner with me in praying for me. Here are some specific areas that need prayer: </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">1. My time in the Training School. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">2. Carmel Young Life- that we would be a ministry that is both wide and deep! </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">3. That God would provide a part time job outside of YL so I could have more money to save up for school. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Shalom </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-9396742976440110562011-10-06T09:55:00.000-07:002011-10-06T10:04:14.452-07:00Whose Song are you Singing?<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:Courier;font-size:12px;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dYP2EJb1nTQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Monday night at Campaigners we talked about being YOURself. We wrestled with questions like: whose song are we singing? Who wrote the script we are playing? </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">In the Training School we have been discussing what it means to be apart of God's sweeping story. I do not want to sing a song I selfishly desire up and I definitely don't want to sing a song just because people have gone before me and achieved some sort of "success" by singing some generic song. I want to sing the song the creator of the universe that loves me relentlessly has specifically and uniquely for me. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I waited patiently for the LORD; </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> he turned to me and heard my cry. <br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">He lifted me out of the slimy pit, <br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> out of the mud and mire; <br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">he set my feet on a rock <br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> and gave me a firm place to stand. <br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">He put a new song in my mouth, <br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> a hymn of praise to our God. <br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Many will see and fear the LORD <br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> and put their trust in him.<br /></span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">-Psalm 40 </span></span></div>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-15536849335786495602011-09-17T17:09:00.001-07:002011-09-17T17:09:56.471-07:00Are you a Trader?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Courier; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I am a trader! </span></span></div><div><br /></div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NqQueZwIuzk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-9297679068923602552011-09-16T10:46:00.001-07:002011-09-16T10:46:37.279-07:00Kirk Cousins Big Ten Kickoff Speech<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 11px; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Rooting for Michigan State to win the Big Ten because of this speech: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tp15N9BbYgY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-63263159854858297172011-09-09T15:34:00.000-07:002011-09-09T15:35:33.335-07:00Jesus is a Friend of Mine<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Courier; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px; ">Any words of mine would diminish the amazingness of this video. so just enjoy. </span><br /></div><div><br /></div><iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7-NOZU2iPA8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Courier; font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-67892372947038304062011-09-08T12:06:00.001-07:002011-09-08T12:20:02.050-07:00The Parable of the Sower<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; font-family: verdana;">I have recently been contemplating and wrestling with my understanding of Christ centered community. Today, I read the parable of the sower in Mark 4. It goes like this:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Charis SIL'; font-size: 16px; "><span class="woj"></span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Charis SIL';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="woj"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span></span><span class="woj"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span></span><span class="woj"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span></span><span class="woj"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span></span><span class="woj"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span></span><span class="woj"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px;">This time reading through the story I couldn't help but think about how much stock, time, and effort the Church and Christianity at large puts into "planting seeds" or telling people about the good news of the Gospel. This is no doubt something that should be pursued relentlessly by Christ followers. But if this story teaches us anything, isn't it that you can plant the seed (or the good news) in the hearts of people but if the soil (community) they live in is not a rich soil prepared for the seed, it will never grow or temporarily sprout up only to wither and die. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px;">I propose that the Church needs to be spending equal time relentlessly creating a community (rich soil) as we do the spreading and planting seeds in the hearts of people who have yet to hear or accept the good news of the Gospel. In so many ways the Church always does this. But a bible study, Church service, or a quiet time is not really the full extent of community Christ calls us to. No, a rich soil that a seed can take root in, grow, and flourish in is something much more than those things. I am not sure exactly how to describe this sort of rich soil, I am only suggesting that we need to spend equal time creating space and community for people to be invited into as we do planting seeds of the good news in people. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-23917455824573669832011-09-08T11:24:00.000-07:002011-09-08T11:27:13.080-07:00A Story<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; font-family: verdana;">Today a fellow pilgrim in the Training School told us that the skin doctor has found some conspicous spots on her back that ended up being cancerous. She is in the process of waiting to hear how seriousness this cancer will be. It could very well be nothing at all but it also could be a serious game changer in her life. </span><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px;">I told her this story about when I was in a similar situation: </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">Four years ago when I was a Freshmen at Butler I went to the orthopedic doctor that I had grown close to over the years of ACL injuries, broken collarbones, pinkys, toes, etc. For a about a year I had had an aching pain in my knee that I thought must have been something like a torn meniscus. I ignored it for a really long time and the pain would come and go. Eventually it hurt too bad to ignore and I went to see the Doc. He took and x-ray and saw that a pretty good size tumor was making its home on my lower femur bone in the knee the knee joint. Being a good orthopedic doctor and realizing that I was 19 and at the prime age for osteosarcoma he started to bombard me with a ton of questions and worries. I had no idea and my mom (a nurse) wasn't there to explain to me the magnitude of what could possibly be growing in my knee. I felt fine and therefore thought there couldn't be anything significantly wrong with me. I told my mom and played down the seriousness of it but the Doctor said the next step was for me to go to get an MRI. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">A few days later, my mom called me and told me that various radiologist and my doctor believed that the tumor was in fact ostersarcoma and that I needed to move fast to see a specialist, get it removes, and get a biopsy to find out for sure if it was malignant or just a random tumor. Either way, they dropped the bomb on me.... Cancer. I immediately began to realize that if this was cancer that life would be drastically different. That I would probably not be going back to school, that I would go through kemo, lose my hair, maybe lose my leg, and worse case scenario maybe even die. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">There was five days in between this news and going to see a specialist that would give me a better idea of what was going on in my knee. Needless to say it was some of the craziest most bizarre five days of my life. I was scared and didn't want to lose my the grand life I had been living. Yet, I knew that more than anything God was putting this in my life for some divine reason, even though I had no freaking idea what that may be. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">At that point, I had read the scriptures enough to know what Paul's perspective on suffering was. I began to live into this scripture and ponder that maybe instead of dreading this I should be looking forward to the opportunity to grow into a more Christ like person, to suffer like Christ, to show others how much God has done in me, to the point that I would rejoice and be joyful in my potential sufferings. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">Five days later I went to the doctor with my girlfriend, parents, and uncle with a very bizarre perception. I had become excited and was looking forward to the opportunity to follow Christ more deeply and to become more like Christ through the suffering's that lied ahead. My parents, girlfriend, and uncle were terrified and I was stoic ready to walk down this road the Lord and laid in front of me. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">The specialist looked at the x-ray and MRI and (metahporically) lit the prior report on fire and told me that those other Doctor's were silly and that he was 98 percent sure all that was growing in me was a benign cyst. Everyone else wept tears of joy while I felt extremely disappointed. The only way I could describe the feeling would be similar to what one feels when you have to miss out on a ridiculously awesome part all your best friends will be at. The Lord seriously did so much to me those five days that I couldn't help but look forward to this time of trial and suffering that I would come to know the Lord better. And now I would be getting this experience that would ignite all of these changes. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">For many years, I had no idea why God had done this to me. Then one day, as I was telling this story, it hit me and I realized that I could never have been excited about such immense suffering if I was not connected to God through Jesus. It doesn't make and worldly sense that one would be excited for cancer. Therefore, I was given a sense that God was putting this in my life to reaffirm his connection with me, for him and I to know that I was no longer wandering lost, no longer half way in following Christ, but all the way in and fully committed to his will and narrative for me. </span></span></div></span></span></div>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-41211004413579095482011-09-07T15:11:00.000-07:002011-09-07T15:14:57.672-07:00The Journey I'm On<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">This year I have embarked on a somewhat crazy and ambiguous journey. I have committed the next nine months to being a part of the Kingdom Living Training School at Common Ground Christian Church (the Church I have worshipped at all four years at Butler.) The training school is impossible to describe but nevertheless here is my attempt that will fall terribly short of encompassing or grasping what the Training School is, has been so far, and will be for the next nine months:</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The training school is a commitment to be apart of a community chasing after similar dreams of Christ centered community, of living deeper into our walks with Christ, and desiring to live into our call as a people of mission. Practically this looks like 3 classes every week from 9am to 12 where we sit in a classroom and are taught and lead in conversation by our fearless leader, teacher, madman of a guide Larry. We also take five or so vision trips to places like Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Tijuana. There is no curriculum only our guide and the direction the spirit leads the community in conversation with each other, with questions, with people we run into on our long walks through the city, with books, and with God.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Why? Why am have I jumped into this ambiguous madness of a journey or pilgrimage? To love people better. Not to gain any more wisdom, theological understanding concerning God or community, but to live out what I have been reading and talking about for the past eight years in a very intentional way with others who are also longing to makes dreams a reality and turn theories into praxis.</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> I am super excited to see where this river flows and to hang on tight for what is sure to be a crazy ass ride through some dangerous and challenging places.</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></span></o:p></p> <!--EndFragment-->David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-42975885430737776812011-05-24T11:52:00.000-07:002011-05-24T13:57:12.510-07:00A Reflection, Four Years of Young Life<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I have come to understand that in every Christian’s journey there is one fundamental change that we all experience that is more monumental than any other area of growth. This is the move from always wandering what I can </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">get out </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">of church, young life, vocation, and even people to wandering what I can </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">give. </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Essentially the transformation is from a selfish and narcissistic consumer to a self-less, others focused person who wanders: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">how can I serve others? what do I have to offer to this group? </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Rather than only being concerned with what you can consume from church or wandering in what ways others can serve my interests. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">For me, Carmel Young Life has been the medium God has used to transform me from a person who was constantly self-focused and concerned with what young life or other people can do for me to a person who finds </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">real </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">full</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> life in being self-less and serving. For the past four years Young Life and the relationships I have had with Carmel kids have been the most important thing in my life. More important than my own family, college grades, friends, my social life, or internships. As a young life leader you are almost obligatorily forced into being self-less. Otherwise, you are going to be a pretty crappy leader. High school kids deserve consistency and persistence in a way in which is only achieved through them being the number one priority in a leader’s life. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Through this “obligatory selflessness,” these past four years have been monumentally transformative and solidified to me that life is fully lived when we are not concerned about “me,” but consumed with the constant battle to turn away from my own selfishness and find a full and adventurous life loving selflessly. Jesus says in John 15, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Through Carmel Young Life I have actualized this in my life, but I have also realized how I still have a life time of struggle ahead of me to truly embody the selfless love Jesus calls us to. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Gosh! I could go on and on about how my experience in Young Life has transformed me into a more confident person, a better communicator and leader, a more articulate Christian, and even a better future father and husband. What is more important than how I am different is the ways in which God has impacted and transformed lives through me simply just showing up in guy’s lives. I will try to incapsulate in a few sentences how God has transformed a handful of lives through me. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I have spent the past four years building relationships and pouring myself into only a handful of guys. When I started out on this journey my hopes for their lives were simple and few. First, I hoped and prayed that God would move in their hearts so that they might know the truth of the Gospel; that God became man in Jesus to die and rise again so that God might restore our relationship and we could experience eternal life in the next life but mostly in this life. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">My second priority was helping them realize following Christ is not only about the personal relationship with God but about taking part in God’s sweeping story to restore and redeem this broken and suffering world. Following Christ in not just about quiet times and going to Church but about taking part in God’s massive restoration project that is this world. </span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Finally, what I have spent countless hours praying they might realize through conversations is what it means to means to be a “man of God.” One of my favorite moments as a young life leader was at the end of a week of a crazy co-ed Wilderness trip. One of the guys that had been on our trip and that I had been challenging all week to serve and love the girls in our group well, stood up during the part of club when the kids were given an opportunity to share what they had learned after a week on the trail and said, “I have learned this week that men (myself included) are called to love women as Christ loved the Church.” All of the girls awed and the guys sneered while my eyes welled up with the proudest and most joyous tears my eyes have ever produced. To think that a seventeen year only kid would know this monumental and gospel truth at such a young age! </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">There have been so many other moments like this that have helped realize most of my goals I sat out to accomplish with these guys have come to fruition. Not at all by anything I have done other than showing up consistently and allowing the grace of God to work through me. I share with you these goals only to express to you the ways in which God has worked in the live of a number of Carmel high school kids in the past four years. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992306496683645809.post-11288375616059753432011-05-17T14:10:00.001-07:002011-05-17T14:16:07.765-07:00My Systematic Theology: Heaven<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The modern Christian view of heaven is quite construed. Where is heaven? Is it out beyond the stars in some distant galaxy?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">It is highly unlikely that one day an astronomer scanning the universe with a giant telescope will ever come across a distant galaxy full of puffy clouds and the righteous drinking pina coladas in “paradise.” Therefore, if heaven is not a “place” then what is it?</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">It is my understanding, that heaven is in fact not a place but a state between man and God and creation and God. Sin corrupts the sate of God’s relationship with man and creation causing a broken relationship between both of these with God. It is thus God’s main purpose since the fall of man represented in Genesis to restore his relationship with man and creation. This comes to complete fruition in Revelation when John describes heaven breaking in to our present sinfully laced reality to wipe away tears, end suffering, erase pain, and do away with sin. Thus it is my understanding the heaven is not necessarily a specific place (although I don’t discount this possibility) but a state of perfect union between man and God and God and creation.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">In this light, Jesus' confusing and seemingly paradoxical claims in the Gospel about heaven and the coming the kingdom makes sense. Jesus says in the Gospels that heaven is now, I am heaven, and that heaven is yet to come at the end of times. Because of Jesus’ work on the cross and the grace one receives through faith, one can experience heaven (as I have described it) on earth, before, death in this present reality. Yet, as long as sin persists in this reality one can never fully experience an unadulterated relationship with God. That is why heaven is also yet to come.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times New Roman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;">It is my understanding of the Biblical text that at the “end of times” God will enact a process in which “heaven” or the New Jerusalem will break into our present evil and sinful world to fully restore creation and man to God. Everyone that has professed faith in Jesus Christ (including the dead, that are in some state that I do not fully understand) will rise from the dead and experience this new reality, free of sin, evil, and suffering. A new reality that is in fact the heaven we have been longing for and trying to figure out how to describe.</span></p><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></div>David Brodskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18344491531226210577noreply@blogger.com0