the best LOST quote thus far

There was a time when I would silently mock my dear friends as they excitedly shared the latest happenings on LOST.

The past couple of months Brad, Emily and I have been watching the DVD's. We are in the middle of season 2.

Hello. My name is Jamie. I'm a LOSTaholic.

My belated yet heartfelt apologies to the Cosbys, Pinas, et al.

"What're you gonna do? Beat me with your Jesus stick?"

--Charlie to Eko
The 23rd Psalm episode

"...street terrorism is right here."

A few days ago I got word that this kid who used to come to Summer Lunch Club at Dakota House was shot in a drive-by. Not on our street...on the West Side where his family moved after leaving our neighborhood.

He is 11 years old and in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

The thing I remember most about him is how he loved to do back flips. He was always begging us to watch him perform the next harder one he had mastered.

He still lives on the West Side but his best friend has moved back onto our street.

My prayer is this: somehow we can get him on the Dakota House camping trip. And we give him an experience he needs, and we love him up, and we remind him that God still has great plans for him.

Maybe I am just imagining this to make myself feel better.

But I am still praying for it.

*****

Today I read this story about a 17 year old boy in L.A. who was shot and killed in a drive-by. One of the quotes in the story ended like this: "...street terrorism is right here."

It is right here, too.

quote for the week's end

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?"

Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."

--Charles M. Shulz

blog tattoo

So I know we have heard this a thousand times.

The thing is... I was thinking of having it tattooed on my forearm, as a constant reminder.

But I'm too chicken to get a tattoo.

So I'm putting it on post-it notes instead.

And here.

Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.

--St. Francis of Assisi

dichotomy of the day

Yesterday while waiting at a red light I saw this:

A big, burly guy in a mud-covered, beat up truck at a stop light holding a pink pinwheel out his window. His huge, muscled arm was hairy and tatooed, and at the end of it there was this slim little stem and a burst of color...

He stared at it...smiling at the shimmery petals turning round and round in the breeze.

rock steady