FreeTyler's Xanga

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:58:29 GMT

New Blog: A Picture A Day

Check it out:

http://freetyler.tumblr.com

The Cost of the War In Iraq

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:16:33 GMT

Interesting enough. We should count the cost...and now you can.

General estimated cost for clean water & sanitation for everyone on the planet: $13 billion.
Estimate of basic health & nutrition for everyone on the planet: another $13 billion.

And on and on and on and on and on....

Meet Hu Qianci, China's youngest political prisoner.

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:15:11 GMT

Hu Jia (pronounced who-jee-AH), a well-known and successful Chinese human-rights activisit, was arrested and taken from his apartment in Beijing, China over a month ago. He was formally charged just a few days ago with "inciting subversion of state power." His wife and 2-month old child were placed under house arrest at that time, making Hu Qianci, his daughter, currently China's youngest political prisoner.

Before his arrest on December 30, 2007, Hu Jia was under house arrest. During that time he created a video diary/documentary of the Chinese police and security officials outside his apartment, guarding the doors, harassing his wife, following her to work everyday (by foot and by car), eating, sleeping, and playing cards outside his apartment building, making sure Hu Jia did not leave his apartment. His apartment complex is ironically named "Freedom City".
Other Chinese activists have reacted to the situation, doing their best to take baby powder and other essentials to his wife and baby in their apartment, sometimes sneaking around security and police to do so.
John Kennedy of the organization Global Voices wrote "Bloggers from different parts of the country started talking about a milk powder delivery mission, and now the exact location of (Hu Jia's) home in BOBO Freedom City is neatly marked on Google Maps, with notes of where to watch out for the secret police."

A petition can be signed here:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/demand-immediate-release-of-beijing-human-rights-activist-hu-jia.html

And his video diary, "Prisoners in Freedom City", can be viewed for free on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=1134FBCB1DF99E89

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 07:42:05 GMT

"Is the church a place for the poor?"
-Posted blog, November 2007 by Me

"if it isn't, can it really be called the Church?"

-Posted comment, 12/21/2007 by ShannonS_95

Precisely.

Merry Christmas everyone!

And now, a few questions to you from Pope Benedict XVI at the Christmas Midnight Mass in Rome just a few hours ago.
He asked:

"Do we have time for our neighbor who is in need of a word from us, from me, or in need of my affection? For the sufferer who is in need of help? For the fugitive or the refugee who is seeking asylum?

"Do we have time and space for God? Can he enter into our lives? Does he find room in us, or have we occupied all the available space in our thoughts, our actions, our lives for ourselves?"

Do we? Can He? Does He? These questions needed to be asked.

Peace and joy to you and yours and the whole world this Christmas, from me and my family - in Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Utah, China, and Rome.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 16:40:03 GMT

Video: Nephew Jadon Eugene - Tim & Daphne's House, September 2007

A Russian Orthodox Lenten Mass

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 03:42:31 GMT

"On the one hand, a certain quiet sadness permeates the service: vestments are dark, the services are longer than usual and more monotonous, there is almost no movement. Readings and chants alternate yet nothing seems to 'happen.' At regular intervals the priest comes out of the sanctuary and reads always the same short prayer, and the whole congregation punctuates every petition of that prayer with prostrations....

"But...little by little we begin to understand, or rather to feel, that this sadness is indeed 'bright,' that a mysterious transformation is about to take place in us.... All that which seemed so tremendously important to us as to fill our mind, that state of anxiety which has virtually become our second nature, disappears somewhere and we begin to feel free, light and happy. . . . 'Sad brightness': the sadness of my exile, of the waste I have made of my life; the brightness of Gods presence and forgiveness, the joy of the recovered desire for God, the peace of the recovered home."
-Alexander Schmemann, from Great Lent

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 22:08:38 GMT

I like my little nephew boy. Here are a few pictures of him from a week or so ago, taken, like the rest of my pictures, with my dependable, long-lasting Canon Powershot 410.

His name is Jadon. He is 1 year and 1 month old. He has his mother's mouth and his father's eyes. Hopefully he will talk to me soon.

Oh, Tim and Daphne (bottom left photo - also Jadon's parents) are cool too.

Battle of the Churches, or, My Church Is Better (Bigger?) Than Yours.

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 20:51:56 GMT

Photo: August, 2006 - Carthage, Missouri. Sign (left) reads "Like Jesus but not Church?"

Forest Park Carthage against Full Faith Church Family Worship Center. The battle has just begun.
The winner of Battle of the Churches 2007 will be announced shortly after Sunday morning's attendance on September 9th is fully calculated.

Note: Attendance is based on adults AND children, so make sure the children go too.

May the best (read: most attended) church win.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:46:29 GMT

Video: China (September & October 2006) - Kindergarten & Orphanage

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 05:19:41 GMT

We're right on the edge of being cast into a war-torn hell, sucked down into the humanlessness that creeps - can be found brooding - along the battlefield. For years such a dream has haunted us, begged for our attention, looked in all directions for us, shone so bright in our eyes it was all we could see. It hasn't a face, a name, a color or a smell, but we know it. We seek its attention in our darkest moments, seek its redemption in our best. We're right on the edge of this field of bloody chaos. We can run. Or we can fight.

We're looking for peace. We've seen glimpses of the hope peace offers in the eyes of the peaceful. We've read books on what it is like. We've written words that, when read slowly, summon up inside of us all of the emotions and feelings of peace our mind and heart can hold. We're heart-broken and we're ready.

Nothing but a battlefield stands in our way.