Bracket Love

So I haven 't seen the last three NCAA tournaments. I decided to put together a couple of brackets on ESPN.com in order to pay attention to this tournament a bit. So having not seen any games this year I went ahead to pick my winners.

My Entries

NAME	GROUP	PTS	PCT	RNK
pconti02 1	Create or Join a Group	1770	100.0	144

That is right, number 144 out of over 4.5 million entries. Not bad if I do say so myself. Hate the game, not the playa....hahahah

Strip it off!

^{Hebrews 12:1-3 Do you see what this means-all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running- and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed-that exhilarating finish in and with God-he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!}

This is an awesome verse, its cool how the message breaks it down a bit. Man, what 'ministry', what distraction, what comfort, what relationship, what work, what hobby is keeping me from Jesus. What is keeping me from pressing in, from running the race?

Take a minute, don't settle for a little bit of God. It's not a contract, it's a relationship...do I truly hunger after God. Do I hunger after more of Jesus? Good questions, need to check myself.

Another roomate goes

We at the Pad (or my favorite - The Hacienda) had the opportunity to have Matt's father with us for three weeks. He is a really cool guy and we enjoyed his stories and cooking. He headed back to Oregon last week. Just wanted to share a picture of all the guys who live at the Pad.

School Fees

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. I have been running around like a madman trying to help different CarePoint kids get into school. The Swazi educational system is a bit crazy. The students must pay school fees which is a significant portion of most Swazi's income. This is a real strain for our CarePoint kids because they come from extremely poor families.

The youth have it tough in Manzini because it is extremely hard to find a place in school. High schools are overcrowded in Manzini and often even if you come up with the money the school turns students away. This forces young people that do not have money to find a way to travel anywhere between 10km - 30km to school. The students pass their Grade 7 (high school entrance exam) exam but still cannot find decent schools to go to. It is stressful. This is repeated in Form 4 where students take a Junior Certificate Exam. Often if you do not do well on this exam your school will kick you out in favor of other students. This is frustrating because the students pass the exam but still fail to retain a spot in their school, forcing them to look again.

Finally the last observation I can make is that the timing of this process is terrible. The Grade 7 exam results come out 1 and 1/2 weeks before the first year of High School starts. This puts enormous strain on parents, school administration, students and espcially the school secretaries.

Having said all this, God has been good and most the kids that I'm aware of have found a place in school. I also realize that a school system that lacks money cannot function very well. Between school shortages, teacher shortages and other obstacles the Swazi school system has to fight a lot of negative factors in order to educate students. Hopefully it will improve as more dialogue begins.

If you'd like to help Children's Cup send kids to school please go to the Cup Website and designate the money for 2009 Project: Cup Kid to School or send a check to PO Box 400, Prairieville, LA 70769. Love y'all thanks!

Preaching in Mozi

So I was blessed with the opportunity to preach at Healing Place Church - Nkobe this past weekend. I felt pretty comfortable up there. I shared about getting Closer to God...I highlighted that our main objective in life is to seek, worship, abide in Him. The truth is that when we seek God, He takes care of the rest. It's a trust issue for most of us. I am reminded about how imperfect I am but I thank God that he uses people like me. I am but a broken vessel that somehow God uses. Check out some pics:

Investing in People

I've been realizing lately that I am kind of hands off with people. I kind of do my own thing and let other people do there own thing. I'm beginning to realize that I can function ok but often I need to get more involved with the lives, struggles, questions of people around me. Currently in a couple different scenarios I am invested in peoples lives...in their issues. It's a worthwhile place to be even if I don't exactly enjoy the messiness of it. It is actually the place I need to be if I really want to be an agent of change and vessel of transformation. That's why I am in Africa right? Well I'm learning that its in all relationships that I need to dive in. I need to dive in to the reality instead of being comfortable with the superficial. Pray for me in this...I'm returning to a place that I long to a step away from. Being invested means being hurt but it also means so much more. Pray for me to have courage in this area.

Love y'all who read...hoping to do a much better job in 2009 than I did the last half of 2008.