Be a part of the transformation and make a difference in the lives of area teens at the annual TreeHouse Gala!

Musical Performance by Singer, Songwriter and Actor
Josh Groban

Thursday, May 2, 2013  – SORRY it’s SOLD OUT
Reception, Raffle & Silent Auction will begin at 5:00 p.m.
Doors open for dinner at 6:00 p.m.
The Depot, Minneapolis

A year ago I only knew a few of Josh Groban’s songs other than his Christmas album called Noel. My early take was great voice, beautiful melodies, and, well, a handsome guy. That was several months ago.

More Unintended Consequences

Clearly the consequences of our actions is not always foreseeable:
– Sometimes harmless pranks go horribly wrong
– Oversights have lead to industrial accidents
– Forgotten oil plugs destroy car engines

On a more personal level, sometimes…
– Friendly banter is misunderstood as flirting
– Couples breakup when they want nothing but
– Partyers having fun get alcohol poisoning
– People try meth and become addicts
– Teens have sex and become unintended parents
– Parents try to build a relationship with their kids and it seems to backfire

Even More Unintended Consequences

Unintended Consequences

The German weekly Der Spiegel has a report about the unintended consequences of child labor laws in one Pakistani city known for producing soccer balls.

Apparently children were frequently employed in the factories, until child labor “advocates” in the West forced companies like Nike and Adidas to ensure that their suppliers weren’t employing children. But what happened to the kids? Surely after they were freed from their toiling in the factories they went to school and now have well-paying office jobs, right?

People do what they do because somehow, some way, their hopelessness craves for hope.

Someone bombed the Boston Marathon Monday. Someone, somehow found some level of hope in creating horror for someone else.

That grain of truth is what they grasp onto and that allows them to justify their choices.

“None of us,” wrote Christopher Wright, ” needs to be scratched very deep to uncover the darker depths of our worst desires and the evil action any of us is capable of, if pushed.” Moreover, while we are not the overt cause of others’ suffering we cannot escape it’s consequences. 1

As he hung on the cross Jesus Christ quoted Psalm 22: Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

God asked God, “Where are you God?”

As we watch the news, view the video footage, listen to the radio hosts rant, discuss the events with others and ask our questions of God, it’s important to remember we are NOT alone. Pain and painful events make us ask the hard questions when life goes very, very wrong.

A warning: This post may contain hard things to read

Today’s tragic events in Boston bring many questions to my mind.
– Who’s hurt?
– Who’s helping?
– Who’s responsible?
– Who’s gonna capture the guilty?

And, inevitably, we cry out: Where is God?

Last year when I read Batman:Hush it immediately became one of my favorite graphic novels. Written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Jim Lee it set a high benchmark.

I just finished reading Batman: Heart of Hush, written by Paul Dini and illustrated by Dustin Nguyen. It is not the masterpiece Batman:Hush was, but it is a rich, emotionally complex followup story.

Originally in Detective Comics #846-#850, the story has been republished in the story “The Heart of Hush.”

Surgeon Thomas Elliot is now a manipulative sociopath, known as Hush. Elliot has returned to humiliate and kill Batman.

A couple of years ago a friend – Steve Wiens – encouraged me to read Strengthening The Soul Of Your Leadership by Ruth Haley Barton. I was not disappointed.

Today’s insightful guest post comes from our friend Angi of peepsarecool fame. Angi and her husband Aaron have a beautiful daughter Anika. I’m her proud godfather.

Hey – Angi’s work friends – pass this around. She shares my thoughts with you, please share her insights with others!

Here’s Angi:

Today I put in an “old school” CD, and brought Anika to child care. It was Michael W. Smith’s Go West Young Man.

The song that I was blessed with was “Seed to Sow.” 1

I sang to Anika and then sang to myself on the way to the bus stop.

I’m not cool, and I’m cool with that.

I wasted a lot of energy when I was younger worrying about being cool. It’s way more fun to forget about that, and just be yourself.

(Tears filled my eyes as I typed that.)

The less I cared about being cool and the more I decide to become the kind of person I admired the more I like myself.