Dauphin, Wilco, Katie, and Vegetable Garden

Hey thanks for reading our blog. Sorry about the lack of updates lately. We’ve had a delightful March here in Jackson.

We went back to Dauphin Island on the Alabama coast for three days to celebrate my 25th birthday. We had a lot of fun golfing, running on the beach, jumping off stuff, and playing with a big blue balloon. (See the short story below)



We also did an art project on the beach with flowers that we saw blooming all over the island. Emily collected several bags full of flowers all over the golf coarse as I sank numerous birdies, pars, and quad bogies.






After Dauphin we headed north to Meridian Mississippi to catch one of the greatest rock bands in this here country, Wilco. Normally I don’t think Wilco would play a small town like meridian but one of the band members was a local born and raised so we got lucky. It was a great night of music not soon to be forgotten.




When we arrived back home to Jackson we enjoyed a week with a special guest from Portland. Emily’s good friend Katie came to visit and we had a great time hosting her and showing her around the area. On the Sunday that she was here we had the kids who come to church with us over for lunch.






Last week we began work on our new project with the kids, the vegetable garden! We worked throughout the week on clearing our small plot of land in John Perkins back yard of grass and weeds. Yesterday we had our final tilling and weeding day before we begin to plant seeds this week. The kids are loving the garden. They love dirt and mud. Most have never had the chance to use tools like shovels and rakes much less the roto tiller.

We had 10 to 12 kids that came to church with us yesterday. They all came over for lunch filling up our big dinning room table. Half of the children worked with Emily on preparing the meal and the other half worked with me on clean-up.




After lunch we hit the garden. We are really excited about the kids working and maintaining their own garden. When we harvest we will give the crops to the children to take home and share with their family. Its great to see Emily’s vision becoming a reality and to see the kids so enthusiastic about it. We’ll keep you updated on our garden project progress.





This week we have Emily’s parents and Grandma coming out for a visit and we are very excited to have them here.
Come see us!

The boy and his Big Blue Birthday Balloon (True Story)

Once there was a boy and a big blue balloon.



They were friends.



They had fun at the beach.



The boy showed the balloon the ocean.



The Balloon longed to float upon the ocean but the boy refused to let it go.


The balloon betrayed him.




And drifted out to sea.






The boy was sad.



The End

WATCH THIS ! ! !

www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/bononationalprayerbreakfast.htm


Copy and paste the above link

Seattle

Last week I had the privilege of traveling to Seattle with John Perkins for a week of lectures and speaking engagements. My roll was to be his nap coordinator, well not really but basically it was to make sure the 75-year-old man didn’t over work himself. The week was based around a visit to Seattle Pacific University where they are working to start a John Perkins Center. John spoke several times at SPU over the week. They all love him up there. The university itself is working to incorporate Perkins philosophies on reconciliation and community development into the core of their students and faculty.

It was a great but tiring week. At times I felt like we were a rock band on tour, going from one venue to the next. JP would get up on stage and rock the house then we would be off to the next engagement. I couldn’t believe the amount of energy John had. Some highlights of the week included J.P. speaking to a group of 85 fourth graders who had read his book, attending the governors prayer breakfast where J.P. was the keynote speaker, selling books after each talk, meeting up with my good friend Erik and sitting out on a curb talking til the sun came up, having dinner in Olympia with Carole and the “incredible Becki”, enjoying a few of the local micro brews, coffee (I brought six bags back). I met so many people and had a lot of good talks over the week.

I probably heard JP speak 15 to 20 times and each time I was effected and challenged. When people talk about love and justice the bells in my heart ring and I am interested in how I can better practice those things. I think I had forgotten what a radical voice JP is in our times. He has the ability to speak to not just Christians but to anyone. He fires people up but not on emotion or promises of prosperity, he speaks to the heart. I found myself thinking back to first time I heard him speak. I had given up on the modern church and was in a state of soul searching. I didn’t see the church living out what Jesus talked about, instead I saw people clinging to folklore religion that’s only purpose was to appease themselves. When I heard JP talking about literally living out the things Jesus talked about, justice for the oppressed and ministering to the poor, I could no longer deny that all of Christianity was messed up. I saw people experiencing that change on our trip. I spoke to a middle aged, somewhat wealthy man who was realizing that he’d lost the vision in his life. He’d realized that his kids were getting a great education in their all white private school but that they may be missing out on the joys of being friends with other ethnicities.
This short blog cannot give justice to JP’s philosophies and speaking. If you are really interested in what he’s all about read a few of his books. He talks not just about helping the poor by giving them food but also by introducing them to a Jesus through discipleship.
The end result of discipleship is character and in our neighborhoods and world we desperately need people of true character.

If you are interested in reading any of John’s books I’ll make you a deal. I’ll pay for the shipping for a limited time. All books are $10. Email me if you would like to take me up on this. johnny.bertram@gmail.com

Johnny ( who's Bad?)

Books By Dr. Perkins


Let Justice Roll Down
A Quiet Revolution
With Justice For All
Beyond Charity
Restoring At Risk Communities