come thou fount

kosovo. to recognize or not to recognize?

that was a headline on the BBC this morning. It is an issue that the EU is struggling with. THe US led the forefront on recognizing this new independent state . Other western European countries followed suit. Then of course serbia was outraged. Slowly over the next few days China and much of Eastern Europe supported Serbia out of their own interests. Political upheavals in their own nations cause them to worry of independence declarations of their own minority people groups. With China it is the Taiwanese. With Russia it is those from Georgia and other Asia break off provinces. For Bosnia it is the Bosnian-Serbs. The differnce here lies in the acts committed in the late 90's in this province. Shortly after the Dayton Peace Accord in Bosnia Milosevic knew he had lost the battle for Bosnia. There had been rumor of the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo attempting to form a unified state with the hopes of breaking off from greater Yugoslavia (serbia and montenegro). The military led by Milosevic made their way into the province and hushed the whispers of independence with mass graves, rape camps, and a term he became a pro at this point... ethnic cleansing. At this point the US had already put its foot down 5 years too late in Bosnia and was committed to this region. Thus the NATO bombings of Belgrade that ended the ten year yugoslav war. Serbia lost Kosovo in 1999. They lost it in the hills where hundreds are buried in one hole. They lost it in cattle cars full of people heading back to albania. They lost it when burning crosses into the foreheads of their muslim brothers (this i have seen with my own eyes). They lost it in camps where grown men and boys were forced to starve. I for one am proud of the US (for once) for recognizing the Kosovars. I pray for peace in this new nation because God knows they need it.

also see...

a photojournalists account of kosovo's war

tunes

current music

1.city and colour- bring me your love

this is easily my favorite album of 2008 thus far. This guy is the front man for Alexisonfire....but dont expect that at all out of him. my favorite son on there is "the girl".

2.david bazan- harmless sparks and fewer moving parts.

ive loved pedro the lion for sometime. i think dave bazan is one of the best story telling song writers today. a friend of mine was riding in my car listening to a version of "god rest ye merry gentlemen" around christmas with me and put it best "this guy's forelorned voice could make marry had a little lamb depressing."

3.rosie thomas- these friends of mine

i mean seriously this girls voice is like saturday morning sunrises and fresh snow. it doesnt hurt to have sufjan stevens and denison witmer singing back up through the whole album. there's a cool cover of denison's paper doll.

4. Zookeeper-  becoming all things

I grew up on Mineral and the Gloria Record and have a soft spot in my heart for Chris Simpson's voice. Beware guys he's gotten happy. Its kinda amazing

5. Brooke Waggoner- Fresh pair of eyes

I saw her play while I was in Nashville last month and was totally enamoured. She does the piano driven female vocals well without coming off too much like a Regina Specktor rip off. Plus she is

 her EP for free on her myspace.

sobering

its been about 75 days since the shooting in denver. charlie and dan have healed well physically and are taking the emotional and spiritual healing with stride. tiff and phil's bodies have longs since been sent home and buried with their families. news crews have left and even aftermath stories are all told. for many this pain is still fresh. those of my friends that were there the night matthew came in are just now beginning to sleep a whole night without waking in panic. today while thinking about them i sat down on my computer, googled rocky mountain news, searched the ywam shooting and finally read the stories that were too painful to make it through in december . i saw the pictures...a few of me, that i had been avoiding because of my distaste for the media through this whole thing. Then i came upon matthew's blog; the message board he had been posting on for over a year before he entered that building on december 9th and shot up a hallway of kids solely because they loved God and loved people. I read the words of a man who was disturbed, who was in pain, and who in the end allowed it to consume him. I was on Drowned tour the fall he attended YWAM for his DTS. I was there for a few weeks of his school. I never knew him but im sure i walked by him in halls, worshiped next to him, ate meals near him. I kept reading. I hoped to gain understanding of why he went to arvada that night. what drove him there. In best terms december 9th was a sobering experience for all of us.  I still cannot grasp the events of that night

remember

cup o joe sundays

i miss my dad today. As they years have gone in these days are fewer and fewer between. but today is one of them. I watched a movie yesterday where the 18 year old girl was leaving for college and the father who would otherwise had had his emotions in check would crack just for the moment where he realizes he has hugged his daughter for the last time in quite a bit of time...it leads me to remember all those times i left...for north carolina, for denver, for bosnia. each moment was one of those moments. one of those times i came to expect. this was the thing that reminded me that my goofy and sometimes emotionally vague dad, truly loved me. i miss those moments. the fact that he was crying would make me cry, its been sometime since i have been able to cry with my dad.

trust

i feel like we all have our trust in things. our own safety blankets. stuff we dont even think about but trust like gravity above our heads and earth below our feet. then there are the other things we dont necessarily have the scientific basis to back up. things we have always been told therefore must be true. things that you believe because you are an optomist. i remember living in sarajevo, and for the most part being ignorant of the war. i really didnt do my homework before i got there. i was told what a great power the UN was and that was all i really needed to know. I would feel safe walking around and seeing the blue helmet of the UN soldiers as they stood around, ate ice cream, went to the movies, rode around in land rovers. I remember thinking, if things were to get bad here i could count on these guys to take care of things. I also remember coming home and still intrigued about what i lived and saw there i started to do the research that was so overdue. As i read page after page of the story of these people i had come to love i came to the realization that the UN stood by and did nothing. said nothing. There are positions in the UN called "UN monitor" . basically you live among the people like one of them and document there deaths, and then go back to the cozy hotels that have been set aside for you and relay the info back to your higher ups. i wondered the other day...are there people in our lives that trust us to help like i trusted the guys in blue helmets. the homeless, or single mom, or katrina victim, or just a friend that is hurting. My prayer is to overcome indifference. To allow these people to effect me into action. That when others suffer i will not just "moniter" the situation but i will act. i will speak up. i will help.

i am an abolitionist

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the VOICE of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”
Haile Selassie