Last Sunday (8/15/2010) was the last Sunday school class of the year. The 8th grade boys that I’ve taught all year are moving up to high school next Sunday. I had an unusually small class this year, but that turned out to be a blessing, because we were able to get pretty close and the boys really impressed me with their growth (both in spirit and in maturity). I’m very proud of these boys. One of them (Ben) posted the following note on Facebook.

Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not posting this to toot my own horn. In fact, the complete opposite is true. This was one of the most humbling experiences I’ve ever had. But I felt that I should share it anyway. This is not to bask in the spot light, but rather so that all my friends and family, who often get the short end of the stick because I give more time and energy to the church (more specifically, the youth at Glenview, a.k.a. my chi’ren) can get a glimpse of why I do what I do.

Today is August 15, 2010, a Sunday. Specifically, the last Sunday that I will be an 8th grader. My teacher is Trint Ladd, and this note is about him and what he has taught me, and what I hope to carry on for the rest of my life.

I first met Trint Ladd almost exactly one year ago at a promotion party. First thing he asked us was our names. We talked for a while, some about ourselves, some about him, about his shirt, about our schools, things like that. He intended on getting to know us. He told us his expectations of us. Bring our Bibles, read our Bibles, and learn something from what we’ve read. No other Sunday school teacher had ever set expectations before. So I tried to meet these expectations.

Another thing he did was he challenged me, to read more, to spend quiet times with God, to read not because he asked, but because I wanted to. He also had a points system that would be a motivation for us to read and remember what we did the week before. If we got 24 points at the end of the month, he would get donuts the first Sunday, if not, no donuts. After a few months, I didn’t eat the donuts, I didn’t want them. It wasn’t what I wanted anymore, I wanted to earn points because I wanted to learn, not because I get donuts at the beginning of the month, but because I wanted to learn. I remembered most of what he said, and I hope I come away with a lot. So many things changed because of Trint Ladd, I became spiritually mature, I read almost everyday, and I wanted to. Thank you very much Trint for being my 8th grade teacher.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, it has gotten really hot in this room because my eyes are sweating like crazy.

I know that we live in a lost world. I know that we are surrounded by people who do not have the same values, morals, or faith. And you know what? I’m OK with that. Given my rhetoric, you might not think so, but I do embrace the American experiment. We all have freedom of speech, so people can say the dumbest things they want to say. We all have freedom of religion, so people can worship whatever gods they can invent. And we have the freedom of the press, so sick pinko liberal stinkies can broadcast their hateful, racist diarrhea of the mouth all over our media outlets.

But here’s where I get irritated.  It just burns my hide at how openly and blatantly double standards are played out and accepted. Today’s headlines bring us three glaring examples.

Double Standard #1 - Thou shalt not segregate, denigrate, calumniate, or depreciate any person or group based on their ethnicity… unless they’re white.

The principal of Dicken Elementary School; in Ann Arbor, MI; is unapologetic after conducting a field trip for black kids only. His argument remains that he was trying to “close the achievement gap between white and black students.” I’ll admit, that’s a noble pursuit. But you don’t accomplish that by sending all the black kids to a motivational speech and telling all the with kids, “Sorry, you’re white. Go to class.” What’s worse, Principal Mike Madison seems to be completely blind to his own racism.

“The intent of our field trip was not to segregate or exclude students as has been reported, but rather to address the societal issues, roadblocks and challenges that our African American children will face as they pursue a successful academic education here in our community.”

In other words, “This isn’t racism. I’m helping black kids!” Ummm… No, that’s racism.

rac·ism –noun: A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement.

And this is certainly not just about putting black kids first. Noo. That would be too obvious. We have to be “colorblind” in our efforts to subjugate white kids. As our second story illustrates.

At Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, CA, as suburb of San Fransisco, five white kids were sent home when they refused to turn their t-shirts inside-out as ordered by their asst. principal. Why? Because their shirts featured American flags. Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez, a Hispanic man, felt the shirts where “incendiary” and the kids were trouble makers because they were touting their American pride on Cinco de Mayo. According to Annicia Nunez, a Hispanic student at the school, the boys owe her an apology because, “…it is a Mexican Heritage Day. We don’t deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn’t do that on Fourth of July.” Uhh, Miss Nunez, you’re statement would make perfect sense if this had happened in Baja, but it didn’t. You are an American citizen (I hope) and an idiot.

To its credit, the school district has issued a statement that it did not agree with the school’s actions. And what makes this particularly juicy is that at least one of the students, even though he has pale skin and a European last name, is half Mexican.

Double Standard #2 - Thou shalt not disparage, insult, or even joke about any religion, faith, or moral stance… as long as it’s either Islam or Atheism.

Last month, Comedy Central was in the news for censoring it’s most depraved and insulting show for the only the second time in it’s thirteen year history. In both of those cases, South Park episodes were changed specifically to prevent the show from offending Islam. This is in spite of the fact that South Park has recurring Jesus and Satan characters that are genuinely appalling to Christians. In the very episode in question, Mohammad was removed, but “Jesus Christ was depicted watching pornography and Buddha was portrayed snorting cocaine.”

To add insult to … insult, Comedy Central is developing a new animated show, “JC,” which is “a cartoon show about Christ trying to get out from the shadow of his ‘powerful but apathetic father’ so He can lead a typical ol’ New York life.” Yeah. I’m sure that won’t offend anyone. At least not anyone that matters. Right?

“Freedom of choice” does not mean freedom to ignore the law; the state law, federal law, or the universal law of morality and common sense. (See how I did that all “PC” and didn’t mention God and the Bible? It wasn’t easy.) If you’re “pro-choice” (another piece of PC monkey hurlage), you need to know that the people inside this industry are not the saints you may believe they are. You need to know that abortion is an industry and it destroys lives (both born and unborn) en mas every day. And it’s not some righteous campaign to empower women. Do you think they’re empowering this “14-year-old” rape victim? No. They’re making money as fast as they can with no regard for human life, or even human dignity.

See the LiveAction.org article here.

Next week is Spring Break and you know what that means! What? No. Vacation? Who takes a vacation on Spring Break?! We’re going on a mission trip!

We had plans to return to Galveston to rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Ike. But the ministry with which we were going to work had some funding issues so we had to make a quick change of plans. Our missions coordinator got in touch with the churches we worked with in New Orleans a couple of years ago. They’ve still got plenty of work to do rebuilding the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. (Can you believe that?! Five and half years after the storm!)

Plans are still very fluid (even more than usual), but it looks like we are going to be insulating and sheet-rocking a house that has stood stripped to the studs for four years.

As a perk, we will be able, on Sunday afternoon, to visit many of the homes and people we helped on the 2007 and 2008 trips.

Last night, while looking for some unrelated files on my backup hard drive, I stumbled across the raw video from our 2007 trip. It was more emotional that I expected. It stirred up those feelings of sadness for the loss and joy for the help and hope we were able to bring. It’s going to be a great trip.

As usual, please pray.

If you’ve eaten three meals a day for the last month (not counting you yahoos you think you can starve yourself skinny or get ahead by saving 10 minutes in the morning)…

If you’ve slept in a more or less climate controlled room, in a bed that you have more or less to yourself, for the last month…

If you (or your family provider) makes more than $2 a day…

Please do me a favor and watch *all* of this 40 minute video.