Links report

Played golf today at Sherwood Forest in Sanger. Here it is by the numbers:

89...my score, from the whites
1...chip-in from off the green
113...the high temp on the course
5...bucks, the added cost to ride in a cart (happily paid)
8...water bottles consumed, along with 2 Dr. Peppers, 1 Gatorade and 1 Capri Sun
0...visits to the restroom

Mr. Roboto

Tiger Woods is always so robotic. He robotically wins golf tournaments, systematically mowing over his opponents as well as the golf course. And he gives robotic interviews after a round ("I played well." "The course was tough." "There's a long way to go." Repeat.).

And so it was great to see Tiger show some real emotion after winning the British this weekend, his first major win since his father passed away. More of that Tiger!!!

And, for the record, no, that's not my Staff buddy Rob Knight consoling Tiger after the win...

Racialization?!?

Josh spent the week at a Vacation Bible School type of camp at a big church here in Sacramento. Loved it. I was impressed (and pleased) to hear him come home talking about Jesus walking on water, Jonah and the big whale, and how much fun he was having. We went to the big closing party last night and that was cool, even if, in my opinion, the youth pastor gave a really soft showing when the time came to "walk the plank into a sea of slime." Dude, you gotta really go for the slime when you have a couple hundred kids cheering and yelling...

Anyway...among the many things that Josh brought home during the week was a cross that described the Gospel using 7 different colored squares. And a part of the Gospel story is inscribed on each square. Purple, for instance, stands for "the crown of life." Yellow is "God's perfect light," and green is "the new life we have in Jesus." And so it tells, in a visual way, the story of the cross.

Telling the story of the cross in a visual way is fantastic, but this exercise has, in my view, a serious problem, a problem revolving around what black and white stand for. On this cross, the black square reads "black represents our sins," while the white square reads "white represents the cleansing of our sins." And so, once again, black is associated with a negative (our sinfulness) while white is tied to purity (our cleansed righteousness). This is a problem.

Now I don't think anyone at this fabulous children's camp is trying to be racist. No way. I'm sure they are just copying this exercise from a curriculum. But I will submit that this is a clear example of racialization; in other words, a systemic and subtle "racializing." Without knowing it or thinking about it, we paint a picture of white being best and black (and others) being inferior or even negative. I think this happens all around the culture and, sadly, the church is not immune.

When I think about my life and my upbringing, I can't think of a single overtly racist teaching or model in my life. On the contrary, I would say that my parents did a great job helping me to not think or act in that manner. But that doesn't change the fact that somewhere along the way, I picked up the flawed worldview that white is best. I was racialized. And as a white person, I have needed to--I still need to--recognize my latent racism, repent of it and seek healing.

And so I long for our kids to grow up racialization-free, though something like this cross makes me wonder how feasible that is. But while Amy and I will be unable to protect him from all the influences that he comes across in their lives, I pray that we will, by example and by word, provide an alternate set of influences.

One final thought...really the cross has it fundamentally wrong anyway. Because the issue is not color, it's purity/impurity. In other words, a pure black square is just as cleansed as a pure white one (or a pure green one). To accurately represent our sinfulness, it's almost as if we need a square with a dissonant pattern, or a tear, or holes in it, or polka dots...anything other than a single, pure color, especially black.

Dispatches

Here's a rundown of some things I'm following this morning:

1. How about Floyd Landis in the Tour de France?!? What a couple of days for him this week; look for Floyd to win the time trial tomorrow and bring the yellow jersey to Paris.

2. Evidently Tiger Woods is back and ready to go. Brother just shot a 67 in the second round of the British Open to seize control of the competition. I wonder how much higher the TV ratings are when he's in contention on the weekend? I know I'll be watching...

3. Props to Pres. Bush for speaking at the NAACP yesterday. Sounds like he did well. Here's a transcript, but this is my favorite quote: "For nearly 200 years, our nation failed the test of extending the blessings of liberty to African Americans. (Applause.) Slavery was legal for nearly a hundred years, and discrimination legal in many places for nearly a hundred years more. Taken together, the record placed a stain on America's founding, a stain that we have not yet wiped clean. (Applause.)"

4. What a mess in the middle east. I'm following the Israel/Hezbollah combat fairly close because a co-worker of mine has family living in the Christian section of Beirut. As her family has already lost relatives in the war previously, the branch living in America is understandibly concerned.

5. Last but not least, some people will do anything to try to get elected.

Staff-worker's Block

So there I was floating around in the pool last night (two more days of vacation) and I thought I would try to vision for our upcoming student leader's retreat; you know, come up with a theme and text to teach out of, etc. But I got nothing. Nada. And I was at first frustrated with that, until I realized...

...I'm on vacation. Having "staff-worker's block" is a good thing. Hallelujah. Besides, I need all the focus and concentration I can muster to be ready for the poker tournament tonight after the BBQ...

Allen Lim, Phd.

One of my best buddies in high school was Allen Lim. Great guy. Turns out Allen has gone on to become a highly regarded exercise physiologist. A life long bicycle racer, he has taken his expertise to the highest level of that sport, the Tour de France.

I recently came across Allen's work on the web; he is a coach for Floyd Landis, the American who is currently leading the Tour de France (Allen and Floyd pictured above). During the race this year, Allen is writing a column for bicycling magazine online. Here is a link to his article from yesterday describing the day in, day out routine of the Tour.

Friends

We've had a great time over the last few days with friends. One took me golfing here, we played hold 'em with some more, another made us a meal fit for a king (grilled shrimp as an appetizer anyone?!?). And we've been blessed along the way by caring conversations and wonderful hospitality. Right now we're poolside at the in-laws through the rest of the week. Good times...

Zidane (part 3)

The story is trickling out about the jist of what Materazzi said to Zidane in order to provoke the head-butt, and it's pretty ugly.

So I'm feeling some empathy for ol' Zizou, which makes this all the sweeter. Thanks TR!

"Walt Disney went to a community college"

The Greater Fresno Area is littered with community colleges, in downtown Fresno, Clovis, Reedley, Visalia, Lemoore, Coalinga, etc. Here's an article entitled "Five Myths about Community Colleges."

Le Tour

The Tour de France starts in earnest tomorrow morning, with the first big mountain stage as well as a mountaintop finish. To celebrate I'm going to rock the exercise bike in the gym. Check out the Stage 11 profile here.

Poop in the Bath

I know in the Dixon household that I'm not supposed to use the word hate, but I'm going to make an exception tonight. I HATE poop in the bath. There is absolutely nothing redemptive about the experience (for the record, tonight it was Lucy). It's like sin in your soul, or conflict in your relationships, or unfiled papers sitting next to your file cabinet. Horrible. Off to do the clean up.

The Why Question

As a follow up to the previous post, we may be getting an answer to the question of why Zidane head-butted Materazzi in the WC Final. There are plenty of options flying around: Materazzi grabbed Zidane's jersey, Materazzi twisted Zidane's nipple, Materazzi insulted Zidane's mother, etc.

But the most serious allegation is that Materazzi called Zidane a "dirty terrorist." Materazzi denies this, but given that Zidane is actually Algerian by birth, it has raised the possibility that Zidane was racially slurred. If so, I wish that instead of the head butt, we were talking about a well-placed boot further south on Materazzi's anatomy.

Racism is, tragically, alive and well in global, but particularly European, soccer. The worst recent story that I am aware of is French/Arsenal striker Thierry Henry being called a "negro de mierda" by the Spanish national team coach last year (it must have been gratifying for Henry and others when France beat Spain this year at the WC...). Henry has also talked about being called a "monkey" in other European stadiums during his career. All of this has prompted Henry and others to speak out. Here's the site.

You can never advocate Zidane's actions on the pitch. You can't do stuff like that, particularly when you are arguably the best player of your generation and it's your last game (and the WC final to boot). But please oh please can we do something about racism, not just in the lofty heights of international soccer, but, as a humanity, in the lowest depths of our hearts as well?

"The blue angel turned into a devil"

Last match of your career.
World Cup final.
Chance to win deep in overtime.
Glorious career.
Captain of your team.
Revered by your country.

Why Zinedine?!? Why?

Of two minds...

The World Cup Final is today (11am on ABC). We are headed to first service here shortly so that we can get back for it.

I'm of two minds. I think Italy will win the game since their defense has been absolutely airtight (they've only given up 1 goal, and that was an own goal). However, I want France to win on Zidane's last game.

Prediction: Italy 2, France 1 in O.T.

Praying for Isa

As I've spent time in the blog-o-rama, it's been amazing to me to see news of all types spread. In this cyber-village, we have the capacity to care for each other, and sometimes even folks we've never met, as news travels from blog to blog.

Scott McLane, a.k.a. Spanglish Gringo, is a Staff buddy of ours, he went to my High School and he lives and serves in inner city L.A. A few months ago he and his wife Vero adopted a little girl named Isabel. Recently they found out the hard news that Isabel has some amount of brain damage, either from the late stages of pregnancy or during birth. The great news is that there is no threat to Isabel's life or for future brain damage, and that it is possible that her brain can be "retrained" to compensate for the missing and damaged portions. Still, Scott and Vero need encouragement, strength and hope as they process this news and look to the future.

Scott's letter about his beautiful daughter is here. Please join us in praying for the McLanes!

Fixing leaky plumbing

Home improvement madness around here today. Hence, the words of the day:

Angle Stop
Teflon Tape
Faucet Supply Line
1/2" F.I.P.
Pipe Wrench

Ah, the joys of home ownership...

Book Plug

One of InterVarsity's values is "ethnic reconciliation and justice." As I have been with IV, as a student and staff, multiculturalism, racial reconciliation and the like have been an ever-growing part of my discipleship, and I am grateful for it!

But on occasion someone asks me: "why is multiculturalism important? Isn't it just a PC thing?!?" My answer usually goes something like this: "God created the varied cultures we have, and each one sees him uniquely. No one culture corners the market on God, so we need other cultures in order to see God in his fullness."

That's a true statement, but honestly at times I have struggled, if pressed, to give a solid example about how that exactly works. God's Global Mosaic, by Paul-Gordon Chandler, has helped me think through multiculturalism in some concrete ways, and I recommend it, especially for those interested in the multicultural discussion.

The subtitle of the book is: "what we can learn from Christians from around the world." The "we" there are Western Christians, since the book takes you on a tour of 6 non-Western cultural groups from around the world. At each stop Chandler, who seemingly has lived everywhere, describes how a particular cultural distinctive demonstrates an aspect of who God is and how he works, as well as what our response as followers of Jesus should be. Here's the synopsis:

Eastern Europe: deep reverance for God resulting in a response of worship
Middle East: perseverance in their faith and resulting discipline
Latin America: celebration and rejoicing
India: Jesus as a teacher and corresponding respect for his instruction
Africa: freedom in Christ, together with passion for seeing others freed
East Asia: value in the surprises of God and a resulting enlarged view of him

To quote a former Staff named Alison Siewart in The Worship Team Handbook: "from a biblical perspective cultures are relative. That is, no one culture possesses all knowledge of God, and no one culture reflects God perfectly. Every culture contains partial understanding of God, and every culture contains sin...no one culture, then, adequately celebrates God's glory. Our worship awaits the perfecting force of Jesus' kingdom coming in fullness."

I'm glad that IV is compelled by the multicultural value and hope that our little group in Fresno experiences, at least in part, Jesus' kingdom coming in fullness...

53.75 hot dogs (and buns) in 12 minutes

This man, Kobayashi, did the deed. 6 years straight! Here's the story. Too bad, I was pulling for Eric "Badlands" Booker.

Go figure

I heard on the radio yesterday that a penny costs 1.2 cents per penny to make. That's perplexing.

So is this.

Garage Sales

We had a garage sale this morning. It was a 7am start, and we were effectively done by 9. The big ticket items included a desk, old lawnmower, miscellaneous furniture and a nut tree (don't ask). These Clovis garage salers are rabid.

I was watching this morning and it seems there are a few, well, "moves" in the poetic dance that is garage saling. Here you go:

1. The swoop. This is the move where you swing in close with the car looking for either something specific, or to judge the overall quality of the sale. What follows is either a stop or a polite head nod and then a smoothe acceleration away. For us today I would guess that 90% of the swoops today resulted in the person taking off. Maybe the nut tree wasn't enough to keep them...

2. Haggling. It seems like any good garage saler is able to talk you down. This one older woman today had our sister Jill in fits with her haggling. Jill was quoted as saying: "Um, that's 20 bucks, or 25, whatever you want." God bless Jill, but she was overmatched. These hagglers are relentless, cunning and hard-nosed.

3. Early rising. Garage salers on on the prowl early. We were putting up signs for our 7am start at 6:30, and there were folks in our driveway before we were even finished with the signs, and we live in a double cul-de-sac! I'm pretty convinced that these folks have a "Spider sense" for the sales. As in a garage door goes up on a Saturday before 8am and they get a twitch on the right side of their face...

4. Trucks. Evidently to be a serious garage saler, you need some storage. I mean we saw people driving by with what looked like the local goodwill store in their truckbeds. In fact, let's make it official: if you want to compete with the big boys, nothing less than an F450 willl do...

5. The twofer. I like this move. I suppose it's a subset of haggling. In the twofer, instead of talking down one item, you lump it in with another one and get a double discount. It goes like this: "how about $5 for the lamp AND the nut tree?" Before you know it, as a seller you've effectively given away the nut tree and lost 5 bucks on the lamp...

What a morning. It almost made up for England losing in PKs. By the way, for those of you scoring at home, the nut tree was about the last thing to be sold, I think for a dollar. Another satisfied customer.