Comments on: Like in chess – sometimes you need to start playing the game and figure out the moves along the way – are you in?

By: Terry Foester

Terry Foester — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:07:12 +0000

Nicole,
Thanks so much for coming to meet Herman. I love how you described your day in Wilmington. Ben and I had a good time meeting up with you & John. You captured so much of what’s happening here.
Talk to you soon.

By: Deana

Deana — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:19:29 +0000

Often I think we judge our own accomplishments by criteria set up by popular mainstream. We think we need to have the splashy affect of TV news-making influence to be successful. We think we need to have resume-building, blog-writing activities which show progress. God does not. God expects us to act, regardless of outward perception of progress. Here s food for thought I found in a book called Justice in the Burbs. It is a Meditation by Claudia Mair Burney

Jesus lives next door. He’s an eight-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother. The Son of Man looks like those starving Ethiopian children. He gets only breakfast and lunch at school, when he makes it. His mama is a crack addict. Nobody knows where his daddy is. I heard his mama lets her ‘Johns’ do things to him.

Poor King of Kings.

Jesus is two houses down and has 6 children. Now he’s pregnant with the 7th. I don’t’ know if he hasn’t figured out what birth control is or what, but how does he expect to feed all those babies on that salary? And you know with all those kids, the Lord of Lords can’t work. That means hard-working taxpayers’ money on Christ’s food stamps!

He needs to get fixed.

The Lord is a crazy man– a paranoid schizophrenic. If he doesn’t take his medicine, he walks up and down the street, cussing and spitting on everybody he passes. He’s homeless and nobody knows where is family is–if he’s got one. Digs out of the trashcans for food. Somebody ought to get him off the streets.

Jesus is nothing but a nuisance.

I’m starting to see the Son of God everywhere I go. He’s always crying or begging or looking pitiful. Why doesn’t He pull himself up by his bootstraps? This is America! Makes me mad. He’s ruining our neighborhood.

Somebody ought to do something about Him. Somebody.

We are those somebodies, ladies and gentlemen.

By: Joanna Champney

Joanna Champney — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:30:07 +0000

Nicole, I couldn’t agree more. As a student who has taken many social science courses, the changes discussed were always on a macro level, rarely on a personal level, and there was always this idea of social triage, or helping only those who will “benefit” from the help. I think what’s so “radical” about what Terry and Ben are doing is that they are helping someone not because they view Herman as a social investment that’ll “pay off” in the sense that he’ll do a complete 180 (although I think we all agree that would be a great bi-product), but that they are simply helping out someone in a very personal and grass-roots kind of way because that’s what Jesus modeled for us– loving our neighbors as ourselves. Love your blog, will be coming back to visit again!

By: The Ordinary Radicals « Greylias Worship

The Ordinary Radicals « Greylias Worship — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:44:24 +0000

[...] wrote an excellent blog entry about her day in Wilmington – check it out and leave a comment on The Oridinary Radicals blog. Check out their documentary info and other [...]

By: Ken

Ken — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:42:08 +0000

In glancing through the responses to this project on Terry’s site, I see a common thread – one that you’ve identified – the fact that the small things can and do make a difference. By just making this move, Ben and Terry have started something that’s inspired people all over the world. If just a few of us were to decide to make a small effort on a weekly basis – how different would this world look?

Thanks for posting this piece – very inspiring and insightful!