Life Happens

Family time… (Taken with instagram)

Wed, 30 May 2012 21:50:43 -0400

Family time… (Taken with instagram)

Wed, 30 May 2012 21:48:45 -0400

Family time… (Taken with instagram)

Memorial Day and the Two Kingdoms

Mon, 28 May 2012 09:24:41 -0400

I’m an American citizen.

As a follower of Jesus Christ I am also a citizen of God’s Kingdom.

Often, those two things can be in conflict and there is a natural tension that we have to live in. Not speaking for anyone but myself here, but as a Christian war is a tricky one. After all Jesus said to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, and generally speaking seemed opposed to violence (Think Peter and the sword…).

Tension.

Here’s the deal though, Memorial Day is not about war, it’s about honoring those who have served and are serving. As an American citizen the freedoms I enjoy, for instance the public expression of my faith, were paid for by the sacrifice of many in service to this earthly kingdom. I am so thankful for that.

We would be wise not to confuse politics (generally what leads to war these days) with the service of our men and women in uniform. The latter serve selflessly while the former tend to only serve themselves.

I have the utmost respect for those who have or are serving our country. I try to make a point of thanking them personally when I see them in uniform, whether it be at the airport or the grocery store. They deserve our gratitude.

To those I know who have served, Barron, Phil, Jim, Uncle Bryon, Jason, Chris, and Bliss: Thank you.

Lower Valley Sex Trafficking Update

Thu, 24 May 2012 01:00:49 -0400

Much has happened since my last post on this subject. I continue to be amazed at the work God is doing here in the Lower Valley!

The task force that has been initiated by the Sunnyside Police Department seems to be gaining momentum and is currently piecing together a game plan to eradicate sex trafficking in the Lower Valley. We’ve added more people to the Task Force. All good stuff!

This coming Monday I am told it will be presented to the city council…I am hoping this goes without fireworks. As you’ll recall, there are members of council that do not seem to want to address the issue nor do they believe it to be an issue.

Ever since we began working on this issue there has not been a week that has gone by that we have not heard stories of local girls being trafficked. I sense that when we begin the awareness campaign girls will begin to come forward in large numbers. That’s the hope anyway.

All glory to God for pulling back the veil and exposing the darkness! Let His light shine and put the darkness on the RUN!

God's People Putting Darkness on the Run...

Thu, 17 May 2012 09:19:01 -0400

The Issue…

For the past several months my wife and I have been working on an issue here in the Valley that is close to our hearts. Back in January I sat down with a dear friend of mine that is the executive director of an organization that does intervention/prevention work with the kids in our community. He told me stories of young girls in our community being trafficked by the gangs for cash, drugs, guns, or whatever else they wanted. That it seemed to be a fundamental part of gang culture and that they when they tried to raise awareness in our community they faced stiff opposition by a few members of our city council. This figured to be a problem since, the organization gets most of it’s funding from the city. In fact, at least one city council member told them that if they continued working on sex trafficking they would lose his support for funding. I told my friend that if I’m going to help out I need to hear the stories first hand. Worst thing I have ever done. After meeting one of the girls I went home and told my wife everything. I cried. My wife cried. We couldn’t believe this was happening in our community. The girl came from a broken home. She got into gang life at 12 years old. She had been traded so much she lost count but she said she knew for sure it was over 100 times. She tried to leave. They found her and told her if she tried to leave again, they would kill her family. She got so depressed that she tried to kill herself 3 times. She felt alone. She felt that no one cared about her and that her life was without worth. And there were others. She estimated she knew of 15 or so girls involved with just her gang and another 15 or so from other gangs. That means that when we take into account the number of gangs we have there could be up to 50 underage girls involved here in the Lower Valley. Expand that to Yakima and the Tri-Cities that number could easily rise to 200 or more.

Turmoil in the heart…

I prayed and prayed and prayed. God why did you let this happen? Why do I need to know about it? What can I do? I am a nobody (I like it that way) and there is nothing I could really do. Plus, I hate politics and there seems to be a fair amount of that going on… The answer was simple. Painful. Truth.

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” -Proverbs 31:8-9

There were many verses that God used to convict me on this but I keep coming back to Proverbs 31. I had a change of heart…I moved from apathy and not wanting to be involved to asking the question: Is there room for girls to be sexually trafficked in God’s Kingdom? If the Gospel is the proclamation of Jesus’ reign in the here and now and if I have given my life to the proclamation of His reign, can I just look the other way? No. Absolutely not.

God what can I do?

Bring people together. Expose the darkness and evil and through the power of His goodness and Light. Stand up for these kids. Be willing to use your voice for good.

Action

We decided we needed to tell some of these kids’ stories. We needed people to see that our gang problem and the evils it contains are complex and it is not as simple as “their bored”. There are issues of broken homes, poverty, culture, language, race, immigration, education that can all contribute. We need people to see that we cannot afford to write off all of these kids as merely “thugs” and gang kids. That many of the girls involved are victims first and foremost.

So we decided to make a video. It should be finished soon and will be released publicly (much to the frustration of some of our local city leaders…more on that later). We showed the rough draft to the Sunnyside Ministerial Association and the response was powerful and only something God could have orchestrated. In fact, members of the association wanted to help and so they as a group donated the money needed to have the video done professionally. Members of the ministerial stepped up and have began getting involved. It has been amazing to see what God is doing.

Gang Commission…one of the pastors that has been involved since the beginning of this journey also happens to be on the Yakima County Gang Commission and he has been having this conversation there and it seems the tide is turning on the county level as well. A few of us pastors have been meeting with our local city leaders, city council, city manager etc. My meetings in this department have been a mixed bag so far. Some of the council members do not believe this is sex trafficking, regardless of what the law says. One believes these are not girls that need our help but instead are “crack whores looking for their next fix”. That one is particularly painful as it seems these girls are starting off at 12-14 years of age…not exactly the profile of someone I would be willing to label as a “crack whore”. It’s not all bad, there are a few council members in the minority that get it and are willing to help the cause. My prayer is that this group grows…

After meeting with the city manager this past Monday, he directed the Sunnyside Police Department to form a community task force to address the issue…SUCCESS! In fact, we are having our first meeting this morning.

Retaliation

We are making headway and I believe God’s hand has been in this the whole time. I believe that soon enough we will be able to have a conversation about sex trafficking as a community and as a county and that we will be able to begin addressing the issue and helping these girls. One thing that is still out is what the folks that disagree with us will do. They may try to cut funding to my friend’s organization which also runs the recreation programs for the city and does tremendous intervention/prevention work with at risk youth and their families. They have already begun questioning my integrity and claiming I am doing this for publicity….funny thing is that for many of you who read this, this will be the first time you know what I have been working on the last couple of months. Bottom line though? I try to live my life for an audience of One. If I’m doing what God wants me to do…I don’t care about what people think of me. As a wonderful bonus, my church backs me 100% and I’ll be honest, I knew they would. God willing, soon enough we’ll be able to raise awareness, pool resources, and start beginning the real work at hand.

Sure love this kid! (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 06 May 2012 23:13:13 -0400

Sure love this kid! (Taken with instagram)

Taken with instagram

Sat, 05 May 2012 15:27:26 -0400

Taken with instagram

Ike’s first roller coaster ride!!

Sat, 05 May 2012 01:15:16 -0400

Ike’s first roller coaster ride!!

Cherry Festival Parade! (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:04:33 -0400

Cherry Festival Parade! (Taken with instagram)

Last week while the family and I were out of town there was an...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:16:04 -0400

Bullet hole @ OCC

Backyard fence.

Backyard fence.

Exit hole in stage closet in sanctuary.

Backyard fence.

Last week while the family and I were out of town there was an officer involved shooting in our back yard/alley way. Here are some of the pics…thankful to the Lord that my family, our house sitter, and the police officers were all kept safe. All suspects were eventually caught…thank you Sunnyside PD!

Happy boy! (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:08:12 -0400

Happy boy! (Taken with instagram)

Michael Frost @ WARM (Taken with instagram)

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:18:01 -0400

Michael Frost @ WARM (Taken with instagram)

Taken with instagram

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:38:40 -0400

Taken with instagram

Ike showing daddy his “Super Excited to See Grandma and...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:56:51 -0400

Ike showing daddy his “Super Excited to See Grandma and Grandpa” face. (Taken with instagram)

Hello westside…the land of trees, traffic, and mold. Lol...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:54:24 -0400

Hello westside…the land of trees, traffic, and mold. Lol (Taken with instagram)

The pirate face! (Taken with instagram)

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:01:36 -0400

The pirate face! (Taken with instagram)

Somebody’s feeling better… (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:24:39 -0400

Somebody’s feeling better… (Taken with instagram)

Daddy! I put my shoes on…can I go outside?!

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:57:01 -0400

Daddy! I put my shoes on…can I go outside?!

Ike’s Dinner Rock Finally

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:33:52 -0400

Ike’s Dinner Rock Finally

Tonight my wife made an amazing salmon dinner. Seriously, it was...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:14:53 -0400

Tonight my wife made an amazing salmon dinner. Seriously, it was really good. However, the greatness of this meal was over shadowed by our son and his craziness (that we love). Long story short, at first he thought he didn’t like the salmon so he decided to spit it out in his mommy’s water glass.

Me being the quick thinking guy I shouted out that I’d give $50 to spend where ever she wanted if my wife drank the regurgitated salmon water.

I’m now short $50. And an appetite.