Godgrown

Updates from January, 2011 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Mark 10:41 am on January 17, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Covert Ops: A Short Story 

  A soldier goes undercover, “dark” as they say – a covert operation that no one, not even his own government can track.  His mission is dire and will impact the livelihood of the entire planet.  He makes strategic engagements with the locals, interacting delicately, and coaxing those he helps not to tell anyone about him – “this never  happened,” “you didn’t see anything…”

  This undercover agent is smuggled into the capital city – where his mission is to take place.  A few have noticed his handiwork, and think they know what is about to go down.  But they have no idea.  No one has access to him now.  He has gone dark.  He is alone in his mission.  And the higher-ups are hoping against hope that this works.

  He is discovered.  A rat points him out.  He is accused of treason by his own government, his own people.  The misunderstandings and threats are unbelievable, and yet they continue.  He is beaten, tortured – they demand to know who he is working for.  They want to know his mission – they want him to talk.  Yet he keeps his cool, he remains silent.  So they put him to further agony, sensing now that he is hiding something…something big.  Could this be an insurrectionist on our hands?  Might there be others?  Was he planning an attack against our people, our leaders, our security?  Working on him by any means necessary to extract this information now becomes the central concern.

  More people are beginning to hear about the national security threat posed by this exposed terrorist.  The media is getting involved.  It was becoming too much for the leaders to handle.  They had to stop this man from carrying out his aims.  And so they killed him, like the criminal he was… he died a traitors death, even as his mission was to remain loyal to the end to the people he worked for…all of us.

  —

  What they didn’t calculate for was that his death was a part of the plan.  It was the sneak attack they never saw coming.  And that’s exactly what happened.  They played right into his  hand, even as they believed they had finally squelched the rebellion, his subversion was only beginning!  It remained quiet for sometime.  His name left the headlines, people went back to work.  But rumors persisted.  People were claiming to have seen him moving about the city unnoticed by local authorities – some others began falling off the grid, entering into their own covert ops…it seems this rebel starfish-organization could not be squashed, it only multiplied.

  Little pockets of a new society flashed onto the scene and like Whack-a-Mole the leaders sent strike teams out to dismantle the communes.  But even as they neutralized one, two more popped up across town.  It was as if they were themselves stoking the flames of revolution.

  And then strange things began to happen.  It  happened slowly at first.  A rank-and-file officer went missing.  His family too.  They simply were not heard from again.  Then another, and another.  Before long white-collars were turning coat too.  This virus was spreading beyond a few fringe-groups – it was impacting the entire society.  It was unbelievable.  The plan had worked.  What was once misunderstood by all was now finding complete saturation – and the plan of the once-misunderstood soldier was now taking over the world…and folks couldn’t be happier about it!

  Isaiah 53:8-12

  
   

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  Mark 10:27 pm on December 1, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  The Trees Can Breathe Easy 

  Kings and presidents and other national leaders are an interesting bunch.  They usually surround themselves with luxury, even as they say they are working and fighting hard for the “everyday people.”  They keep “yes men” nearby and shun those who are in complete disagreement with them ideologically.

  And when they write their memoirs, they rarely ever apologize - even for their most blatant mistakes!

  Perhaps that is why Isaiah writes what he does about the outgoing King of Babylon.  The King is filled with pride, and may be totally oblivious to the oppression he is enacting over all the peoples, and even over all creation!  Isaiah plays with words and imagery to construct an ironic taunt for the reigning King.  Isaiah writes this looking forward to a time after the King’s death – how pleasant!

  6 You struck the people with endless blows of rage

  and held the nations in your angry grip

  with unrelenting tyranny.

  7 But finally the earth is at rest and quiet.

  Now it can sing again!

  8 Even the trees of the forest—

  the cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon—

  sing out this joyous song:

  ‘Since you have been cut down,

  no one will come now to cut us down!’

  9 “In the place of the dead there is excitement

  over your arrival.

  The spirits of world leaders and mighty kings long dead

  stand up to see you.

  10 With one voice they all cry out,

  ‘Now you are as weak as we are!

  Think about your own life.  Think about the ways in which you unknowingly enact oppression on others.  How are the people treated who grew your coffee beans you had in your cup this morning?  How did you treat your kids before sending them off to school?  How many trees had to be cut down in order for you to function at your job yesterday?

  Will trees say of you when you are gone, “Now there is no one to cut us down?”

  Will the earth breathe a sigh of relief when you’re not around anymore polluting it?  Will others be glad to see you gone?  If you have influence (and I’d say if you can READ THIS you have influence enough,) think carefully about how that influence impacts the lives of others.

  It could make all the difference when people read your memoirs!

  
   
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  Mark 9:14 pm on April 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 60's, American Idol, Beatles, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, Jersey Shore, Revolutionary War, Survivor, TV ( 2 )   

  So if Ya Want a Revolution 

  If two things pervade the realm of ironic ubiquity and paradox in our world today, its “reality TV” and the word “revolution.”  Reality TV has been around since Candid Camera, but has really skyrocketed in the last decade with hits like Survivor and American Idol.  At first it was a novelty to see what was purportedly unscripted dramas with “real people” living out the script with their actual lives… until we found out that producers, editors, even WRITERS were behind the scenes all along.  In fact, there is nothing less real to me than the reality TV show Jersey Shore – not even high fructose corn syrup is as processed as that lame excuse for “reality.”

  Which brings me to the word “revolution.”  If I am to understand this word correctly, it is “an overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or system by the people.”  Can we really have a “REVOLUTION” in pet food?  Even Chicago beer is purportedly having a revolution…we’ve come a long way from the 60′s, man.

  

  So please excuse me if I was a bit skeptical with the latest reality TV show, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, which just aired its final episode of the season last night.  Its a show about a British chap moving to the “unhealthiest city in America” to introduce common sense cooking and healthy eating at various sectors of the city.  Focusing on schools and families, he is avoiding turning his revolution into a bureaucratic paper-trail of boredom, choosing instead to inspire a people movement that he hopes leads to lasting change.

  My initial skepticism was doubled when I saw his name and mug all over the show itself – Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution? What kind of people movement has one guy’s name splashed on their banner?

  But as I watched last night’s episode, and reading this blog post, a few thoughts that had been germinating in my head about TRUE revolutions and how they happen began to emerge:

  1. It must be led by a passionate few – maybe one at the start. Jamie’s self-described “revolution” was a turn off to me and most of the folks in Huntington, WV where he filmed his show.  He was seen as an “outsider elite” that no one took seriously.  But every word that came out of Jamie’s mouth was dripping with passion for fresh, healthy foods.  He was relentless in his passion – he didn’t shame the city, he inspired them with a vision that “We can do this.”   That combination will start a revolution every time.  Read more about how a leader’s communication makes or breaks the change they seek.
  2. It must quickly be passed to other locals that are ambassadors to the larger community. Jamie worked hard, and finally won over Alice, an elementary school lunch lady who was stubbornly doubtful of the new fresh foods being introduced into the school’s lunches, by the end of the series she was teaching other lunch ladies how to cook with real food.  He spent a whole day with a radio DJ who was defacing Jamie’s work on the air, and showed him the King-size coffins now being made to accommodate the obese in their city.  He won over the trust of a major donor from a local hospital which spread his “revolution” to every school in the city.  He found the lynch-pin citizens and instilled in them the passion so clearly evident in him.
  3. It must leave no corner of the territory unaffected. Imagine if the Revolutionary War had left 1/3 of the New World in the hands of the British – or imagine if Martin Luther King Jr. concluded that the “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington was victory enough.  Jamie put together a “boot camp” for parents, lunch ladies, teachers, and district administrators, and pleaded with each of them to see the larger systemic issues with not joining the revolution.  “You giving your kids jelly beans for lunch is killing them early, and its putting them to sleep in class.”  “Chocolate and strawberry milk is being advertised in school cafeterias, and yet it has more sugar than fizzy pop.”  “It really gets easier making food for school kids that is good for them, and now I’d never go back to the old way of doing things.”  Hearing these stories helps change hearts at every level.

  What are you so passionate about that you talk about little else?  Which ambassadors are you passing your passion and vision to who are in turn sharing their story with the locals?  In what areas have you conceded defeat, or are simply unknown to you?

  Its not the 60′s anymore, but the Beatles had it figured out: “So if ya want a revolution….welllll ya know….we all want to change the world…”

  So maybe this is not the day of one major Revolutionary War, but maybe its the day for a million revolutions – will you be what starts one?