[it starts with change]

[It's Time Folks!]

Mark Andrew — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:08:37 +0000

Alright everybody, the fall is upon us. And you know what that means… PUMPKI… no wait sorry, I mean its time to start preparing for our 2^nd Annual THANKS-BUT-NO-THANKS-GIVING Extravaganza!!!

I’ll clue you in if you are new to PM, but on Nov 26, we will be heading down to the Country Club Plaza around 5:00pm and set up some music, paintings, and other ways to get some funds rollin in for the what looks like is going to be a stinkin harsh Winter. We will need all the help we can get this year as our homeless friends will need food, clothing, and blankets more than ever.

…. Now wait a minute Mark, don’t you know that we eat Thanksgiving dinner at 5? I obviously won’t be able to help!

And here comes the rejoinder:

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to sit around with family and friends and be thankful for what you have been blessed with. I mean who doesn’t love the stuffing, Aunt Pam’s pumpkin pie, and of course the sacred turkey!

Hey, the did you know that about 45 million Butterball Turkeys (675 million pounds) are consumed at Thanksgiving each year? And did you know that, if we bought the same amount of non-perishable foods (in pounds), and donated it to the Salvation Army, they could feed the entire starving US population for 10 YEARS without having to ask for more donations?!?!?!1

So what Panhandler’s is asking you to do this year is to take that plate of turkey and stuffing and wrap it up in aluminum foil and bring it downtown. Or at least bring your leftovers, preferably still warm, and we will send out a group to spend thanksgiving with our lonely and hungry friends downtown.

Don’t worry, you will have all day to spend with your family. I just want an hour or so.

So then, we need volunteers!

Two Groups: one to do the gig at the plaza, and one to seek out lonesome and hungry wayfarers who could use a hot meal and some loving on the holidays.

So if you feel like you are up to making the sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom, hit us up via Facebook or www.panhandlerministries.webs.com for more info.

Also, If you want to view some more staggering facts about US and World Hunger, Check out: http://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats

________________________________________________

1 : http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf/vw-dynamic-index/C53EC18002B7D64285257433005AAF76?Opendocument

[The Epidemiology of Homelessness]

Mark Andrew — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 05:29:35 +0000

I’d like to start by saying that I have lost all faith in Panhandler Ministries.

I am currently studying “Sociology of Poverty and Homelessness” at the University of Central Missouri. In this class, we are required to write a “thesis” or maybe just a hypothesis concerning :

1. What is Homelessness

2. Why it is a Social Problem

3. Common Beliefs and Myths of Homelessness

4. Current Studies on Sociological, Psychological, Emotional, and Spiritual Viewpoints of Homelessness

5. What Current Methods are Being Implemented to Control It

6. Suggested Methods to Better Resolve the Issue

I find that, through studying and answering these questions, I am beginning to add more fuel to the dwindling fire that used to run so rampant in my soul to solve the problem of homelessness. Thus, I am pulling out the old writings and records I’d collected with my involvement with PM, and am excited to go back to the beginning in order to rekindle the fire. That is, I believe with my new found information and knowledge of the audacity of homelessness, I am ready to concern myself with finding a ‘cure’ again.

So then, all this to say, my faith is slowly being restored and I am currently working on gathering thoughts, ideas, and minds to reintroduce Panhandler Ministries to the streets of the KC Metro area. My goal as of right now is to start simple, and just observe and spend time with the homeless and hurting, and maybe use some of the old collected funds to minister to them on a small scale. I believe this research will help us better understand the epidemic on a larger scale overall. So then, please keep your eye on the site and I invite you to contact me if you would like to get involved in this endeavor.

Short term, I’d like to get a once or twice a week meeting going on this fall, then as the snows and cold winter hits us, we can be ready to meet the smaller physical needs of our homeless friends, and start building relationships.

Long term, I am looking into Federal Grants and donations on a larger scale, in order to possibly opening a communal living quarter (i.e. 6-8 family apartment building) in order to hopefully plant a community where we can work toward restoration and re-construction of lives and lifestyles. But this will be very long term, and I hope to be a fully operational organization before any efforts to start this are made.

I’d like to start throwing ideas around with some people who are willing to dedicate themselves to this cause so shoot me an email if you think you would like to be a part of this.

Itstartswithchange@yahoo.com

[Cogitations on: Knowledge...]

Mark Andrew — Sat, 16 May 2009 23:29:14 +0000

Knowledge is completely unnecessary. We see proof of this every day in the lives of the 2.1billion Christians in the world. It seemed as though Jesus was always hanging out with the losers in the crowd and the “uneducated”. So why do we spend thousands of dollars writing books and producing DVDs and such when in all reality, we should just be preaching ” cuz of God’s sovereignty, now stop asking questions”. I think that is a much better answer than “I don’t know”. Because us Christians are supposed to know and have all the answers. Jesus is the answer to everything. No question about it. Right? So then why do we need to Know things if it is easier to blindly follow God with ignorance? I mean if we learn something we might just doubt God, and with doubt might come more, and with more might come unbelief!

Or with growing knowledge, we might understand less, which teaches us how much we really don’t know, and in essence, we are just as ignorant as anyone else.

Guess that answers that question…

[Cogitations on: Faith Vs Knowledge]

Mark Andrew — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:46:44 +0000

Part 1: Faith

First, before I dive into this one, let us make clear that I have no empirical, experiential, or practical evidence for any of this. It is merely a miserable attempt to answer my own questions. And now that this is established, we begin.

What is faith? We can easily start with what it is not. It is not belief. It is not knowledge. It is not tangible. It itself is not visible. Only the effects or affects are observable. So then is it subjective? Objective? Introspective? I don’t care. But what I do care about is why Jesus made such a huge deal about faith instead of knowledge. Why didn’t he say, “if you have enough knowledge of how mountains work, then you can move them”? well you are in luck, for I have found a suitable definition of faith. Faith is “the ideals of complete and absolute dependency” but on crack or redbull. I get this definition from the observable events where faith was used. I will not take the time to quote the Bible for examples because I don’t want to. Because I don’t want to be held accountable for misinterpretation or abuse of Scripture. But if you remember all the times that faith was mentioned, it had to do with the realization that the event or miracle could not be done without first understanding that it simply could not be done. In some instances we see that it could be done, but not by human hands. So to say that anything cannot be done by our own efforts means that we comprehend that there is something or someone that could. To attempt and to fail doesn’t mean that it cannot be done, but that it should not be done according to human laws. Once we have “faith” we call on the higher power of laws that are not subject to humankind. To say that we have faith to move a mountain means that we have had the idea that it could move, thus proving its ability to do so. This strategy is the same one Descartes uses to prove the existence of an “all perfect being”. That if we can conceive the idea of it, it must be possible. So back to the original question [or answer], faith is just a mix of unconditional reliance on a higher power to accomplish and the sense of urgency that leads us to that dependency.

[The Bottleneck]

Mark Andrew — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:07:50 +0000

Walk out on me
Invisible eyes
Don’t break the lock
Leave your hope behind

What’s he got now
That I cannot steal
A whispery voice
Achilles’ heel

Well there’s only one way to fix this
Like there’s only one way to breathe

Get on your knees boy, get on your knees

I’ll show you honey
The right way to love
Your angelic voice
From the speakers above

Give me a reason
I shouldn’t try to stop you now
Cuz your city of angles
Is one empty town

Well there’s only one way to fix this
Like there’s only one way to breathe

Get on your knees boy, get on your knees

The bottleneck’s a great place
To get your heart broke
Yeah The Bottleneck’s a great place
To get your heart broke

[abc’s]

Mark Andrew — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:26:19 +0000

Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

[if you are able, then who am i?]

Mark Andrew — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:14:11 +0000

this song portrays how we are all Cain's, but God can restore us because he is ab(el/le)

My first of flock is already gone
I’ve given none of what’s required
I plot to kill before the dawn
I offer not what you desire

I have nothing to give Lord
I bring no offering to burn
My heart is swollen with sin Lord
I bring nothing but hurt

Where is my heart?
Has it fled?
Where is my heart?
Where is my heart?
Is it dead?
Where is my heart?
Where is my heart?

Anger consumes like a fire
Hate follows me like a hound
Do I look like my brother’s keeper?
And now his blood cries from the ground

I have nothing to give Lord
I bring no offering to burn
My heart is swollen with sin Lord
I bring nothing but hurt

Where is your heart?
Has it bled?
Where is your heart?
Where is your heart?
Is it dead?
Where is your heart?
Where is your heart?

Perfect lamb that was slain
Perfect love offering
Perfect God made a way through
Perfect love offering

Pour out your heart
Crimson red
Pour out your heart
Pour out your heart
It is shed
Pour out your heart

[air]

Mark Andrew — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:33:57 +0000

How shall I describe the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom is like the air of the earth. It exists. It not only exists but is necessary for the existence of all other living things. Air is the life support of the Earth. Air has been since the beginning and air will be until the end. Air exists but cannot be seen or comprehended; invisible. Only the affects can be seen of the air. These two things: life and movement. They prove the existence of itself. Air is big. It completely surrounds everything. It cannot be contained or concealed. You cannot grasp it or hold it or also throw it away. You cannot control it or tell it where to move. Air is completely independent of us. It can exist without us. It can fulfill its purpose of existence without ever touching us. That’s the great thing about air is you don’t have to believe in it in order for it to exist. Air is a gentleman. It will not force itself in you. You must allow it. Air is whether you want it or not. Whether you even acknowledge it, it is. And the need for it will be recognized once you separate yourself from air. Air will not remove itself from your presence. You have to go very out of your way to find no air. You have to go out of the boundaries of the intentioned. Try to go without it for more than three minutes and see what happens. You have to be seeking death to be without it. And then once you realize your lack of air, it is the only thing important to you. It is your only goal and objective; to be back in the presence of air. Some people realize their need for air. Some people appreciate air. Some people take it for granted and live life without thinking about it. But air does exist. Without air, we could not be thinking about it. Talking about it. Acting upon it. Embracing it. Or ignoring it. Air keeps us alive. And even thought there are more dead in this world than alive, it still is. Filling every hole and crack and room and building and sky and lung. That is the greatest thing about the kingdom of God. That it merely exists.

[the philosophy of change]

Mark Andrew — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:15:33 +0000

“Change is what should be left over after we have spent ourselves pursuing a tangible relationship with the all-perfect God” – The Gospel of Dan

more to come when i am bored

*Edit*

In these next few thoughts i write with the most casual language possible. And by the end of this, there will be more questions than answers. Becuase that is how i think…

Why is change necessary? Or is it?

change may not be what we think. what if change was instead of action, it was “refraintion”. to not act outward, but to just refrain. so really change, instead of being liberating is now “conservation”. Change could simply be this: be still.

We think that change means something different, but what if it meant to return to the same? I speak with postmodernity in the forfront of my mind. but what if change started in the beginning, and not at the end. of course i mean change that starts in the heart. I could care less about Obama’s definition of Change. maybe we as “christians” need to withdraw from ourselves for a while and ask if when know what in the firey gates of heck we are talking about.

We have the word Repent all wrong. We think it means to stop sinning or “turn around” your preacher might have told you in youthgroup. but what if the word REPENT was not a verb? at least not a visible one. what if REPENT started at the heart. and not at the body? What if REPENT was taken literally? What if we used the Websters definition for it?

REPENT: To feel such remorse about past conduct as to CHANGE ONE”S MIND

what if repentence wasnt change of our actions, but of our heart? what if my preacher was wrong in telling me that i have to stop sinning, and just focus on a mind-transfiguration instead of a life choice transformation? what if i am wrong in not explaining that repentance is a heart thing, and not an action at all. but then our “change” is what is left over from reprogramming our mind. Could change just be an a-ffect of what is happening in the heart?