I'm Just Saying...

I wanted to post this before the big Pats/Giants game tonight but didn't get to it in time. I don't know if the Giants will beat the undefeated Patriots tonight are not, but I want to go on record to say that I believe that the Patriots will NOT be in the Super Bowl this year. Someone will take them down.

There. I said it.

Costa Rica Christmas - Chapter 2

For the second year in a row, our family had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica to help our missionary friends at Missions Impossible International give Christmas gifts to children in poverty. In addition to the Jennings family, we were joined by 7 others from TrueNorth Church.

From left to right: Stephen Tillman, Carolyn (Cat) Tillman, Beth Jennings, Kameron Waters, Kathryn McCormick, Gene Jennings, Bailey Jennings, Eydie Tillman, Cliff Jennings, Chloe Sylvester, and Karin Soderstrom.

We had a great team! Everyone worked hard and made Christmas happen for hundreds of kids. We worked with Joy Sheraden, a native of Augusta, along with Phil and Jill Jones, founders and directors of Missions Impossible. They minister in the Los Triangulos precario in San Jose, Costa Rica. The precario is a 3 acre tract of land with about 2000 people (mostly Nicaraguan refugees) living there.

I'm not sure what the final tally was but I think we gave over 1000 gifts away! We also cooked hotdogs for everyone in the precario, hosted a Christmas party for Joy’s Ladies Bible Study group, and went into the city one night to serve coffee and cookies to prostitutes and the homeless.

Here’s a pic of Joy with one of her many friends and more shots below:

Amazing Grace the movie

I finally watched the movie Amazing Grace last night. It is the biographical story of William Wilberforce who led the abolition movement in Great Britain in the late 18th century.

It is a great story of faith, perseverance, and fulfilling God's calling for your life. I would encourage you to check it out. Since the movie came out earlier this year, Wilberforce's book is on the shelves again. Real Christianity is a revised and updated version of his original 1797 work titled A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes in This Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity. They didn't believe in short, catchy titles in those days.

One of the characters in the movie is John Newton, a former slave ship captain who later, after his conversion, wrote the song Amazing Grace. The movie has many powerful lines in it. Very quotable. As I watched it, I found myself thinking that I should watch it again just to write down some quotes. Here are a few that I found online:

John Newton (when he was old and blind): Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly. I'm a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.

Newton asked Wilberforce if he had found religion. Wilberforce replied that he had seen no bolts of lightning. Newton said, "God sometimes does his work with gentle drizzle, not storms."

Pitt the Younger: Why is it you only feel the thorns when you stop running?

William Wilberforce: Is that some sort of heavy metaphorical advice?

Richard the Butler (quoting Sir Francis Bacon): Great changes are easier than small ones.

One other tidbit about this movie. Patricia Heaton (Debra of Everybody Loves Raymond and currently starring in Back To You) was one of the producers of Amazing Grace.

Compassion International Testimony

Beth and I have sponsored children through Compassion International since 1987. We are on our third child. She is a teenager in Rwanda. This video is a testimony of the great work that Compassion does. Check them out at www.compassion.com.

What's Wrong with this Picture?

As seen on Seth Godin's blog, www.sethgodin.typepad.com