well, i found a new blogsite that i like better than wordpress…so if you’re up for moving one more time with me, you can find me at 

jeffg72.tumblr.com

sorry for the inconvenience…but i really like how much more interactive this new site is.  

enjoy.

“Deeply ingrained in the collective psyche of Western culture is the notion that slavery ended in the nineteenth century. In our own day, however, a thriving underground market in human beings has emerged once again. More people are in slavery today than at any other time in human history, including all those seized from Africa during the four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave-trade.  Modern-day slavery respects no borders. Therefore, it will take a sustained concerted abolition movement to end slavery once again. You may not have known this before, but now you do. You can be part of this movement.  (taken directly from the Covenant Website)

On October 22nd, our students in 8th-12th grade focused their attention on the Biblical principals of Compassion, Mercy, and Justice.  We did this because we want to make sure that we are giving them plenty of opportunities to put feet to their faith—in very practical and hands-on ways.  Our focus that night was on Modern Day Slavery—specifically Human Trafficking.  We chose this topic because our denomination is working hard to put an end to it.  The Human Trafficking project has been initiated by Women Ministries and is a partnership between all Covenant Churches in an effort to develop awareness of and put a stop to human trafficking—this initiative is called Break the Chains.  We spent a good amount of time reading the many Old Testament passages that deal with God’s view of injustice in our world.  Together, we discussed what our response might be to this horrific reality and it was decided that we should raise $1000.00 to free one slave!  If you are interested in learning more about Human Trafficking, please visit the Covenant website.  If you are interested in donating money toward this cause, please contact me @jeffg72@gmail.com.  Thanks for your interest and support.

This is a video that uses bible scriptures to demonstrate God’s thoughts on injustice.

I’m the kind of person who likes fall and spring more than winter and summer and winter…so today I celebrated a beautiful fall day by making some Zuppa Toscana Soup and by carving the most incredible pumpkin (ever!–in my opinion:)  The best part was doing it all at Dan and Cory’s (Mark thought the pumpkin was kind of gross) and then Mike came over for some soup and conversation.  This is what the fall is all about..good soup, creative pumpkins, and great friends!  (ps, the pumpkin is the Death Star–for those of you who aren’t nerdy enough to recognize something from Star Wars–jean  

I noticed a funny thing here in Bellingham at our local recycling center–they take old dolls and hang them from ropes…kinda odd, kinda funny, kinda creepy!  

I’m a visual/spacial kind of person. I like it when a room looks good, feels good, and sparks creativity. I’ve been working on redecorating my office for the past month so that it reflects more of who I am. Lately, I’ve been into “simple” things and natural things (I like finding ways to bring the outdoors in.) So I painted my walls a deep brown (formerly a buttery-beige.) I put up some cool window panels that look like tree trunks and I installed some doors on my bookshelves to hide the clutter (my favorite thing about my office!) I painted the bookshelves black and hung some of my favorite pictures from this past year. I also found a brass chandelier and spray painted it white (I’m not too sure if I like it yet…) Anyway, here are some pics I took today. Enjoy!

Many of you have asked for it, and I aim to please!  Here is our highlight film from our recent trip to Malaga.

bcc|youth took two trips this summer…the first one was an upperclassmen trip to Malaga Spain.  Our second destination took our freshman right down the road to Seattle for an event called Feet To Faith.  This week-long trip was designed to introduce our students to some of the Social Injustices in our neck of the woods.  The day was split into four parts:  

I drive past this building every time I go to my favorite coffee shop and today I finally stopped to take this picture.  Kinda fun…

jet lag
Extreme tiredness and other physical effects felt by a person after a long flight across different time zones.

I’m jet-lagged.  I’ve been back in Bellingham for a few days now and I’m still feeling the side effects of my journey to Malaga Spain.  I’m pretty tired right now…but I think it’s more than just physical exhaustion.  I’m coming home emotionally tired, relationally tired, spiritually tired, and yes-physically tired.  And even though the trip made me this tired I really want to be back there!  This part of Spain is everything I was anticipating–and then some.  It is a beautiful place with kind and generous people.  The Church we were working at (Parque Victoria) was a short 10 minute walk from the Mediterranean Sea (you could see the water from the church-come on!!)  And you know when you watch movies and you see the rows of white houses cascading down the hillside right to the water–that’s where we were!  

So when you match this kind of beauty with the people we met while in Spain, you can see why I want to be back.  We spent a lot of time with the youth group of the church–but theirs isn’t a typical youth group like you’d expect here in America–their group includes 14 year olds through 25 year olds.  It was really cool seeing the older ones taking care of the younger ones.  One of my favorite memories of this trip involves Juan Fer.  We saw him get baptized in the sea while we were there and got to know part of his faith journey.  Juan is the drummer for the worship team (and he’s amazing!)  There were a few nights while we were there when 2 or 3 jr.high students would come in for drum lessons…it was so fun watching Juan relate to these jr. high guys–believing in them, teaching them, and messing around with them.  The thing that sticks out the most to me was when Sunday rolled around and the entire worship team showed up…there was Juan with his 2 students–they simply sat at his feet while the team rehearsed and they were glued to his every move.  I loved watching this image of discipleship!  It was encouraging to me to see how well these guys responded to someone who believes in them and who gives them a chance to belong to a team like this.  I believe that’s how Jesus treats us–he invites us to be a part of something larger than ourselves.  We are invited to belong…and to respond with our entire being.  I want to sit at his feet-and watch his every move-and live like Jesus.  (sorry if this sounds corny–but it’s true:) 

Anyway, these are a few of our new friends (Juan is in the black t-shirt.)  It was hard saying good-bye to them.  I hope to return back to Malaga one day soon to catch up with my new friends.