Go ahead and JUMP! everybodys doing it!

"Lord, Save me from Your followers"

J.P. gets interviewed by a documentary film crew from Portland Oregon. The film plans to take a look at the divide between how modern Christians live compared to how Jesus lived.

Bama photo journal

We spent the weekend on the Alabama coast to celebrate our anniversary. We searched and searched for a cool place to go and nothing really stood out to us. In Portland we always had so many options for places to getaway i.e. the coast and the mountains but around here there are no mountains and the coast is a bit different. At the last minute we came across a little island south of Mobile called Dauphin Island. We headed south not really knowing what to expect. We were very pleased upon arrival. It was un-crowded and really mellow with lots of beach to walk. The island was hit pretty hard by the hurricane. On one side over 300 homes were swept away but the town seemed to be rebuilding. We stayed three nights at the islands only hotel. It ended up being a very quiet and relaxing 4 days, which is just what we needed.
Some highlights:
Watching 2 amazing sunsets on the beach over the Gulf of Mexico. Visiting and exploring the islands bird sanctuary (and being really afraid of water moccasins). Golfing on the ocean front golf coarse, half of which was closed because the hurricane covered the coarse with sand making it one giant sand trap. Getting coffee and rolls at the islands family owned bakery every morning. Meeting a guy from Michigan who is a Christmas tree farmer and talking for a good hour about the industry and profitability of bringing trees to south Alabama to sell. Emily ordered a crab po’ boy sandwich which she thought would be fresh crab pieces but instead was a whole crab, deep fried and served on a bun.( she couldn’t eat it)
Jumping off stuff. Climbing a tree.




This week we are back in swing of things. Yesterday Emily was a judge for her schools annual spelling bee. I found out that I will be traveling John Perkins to Seattle for a week at the end of the month. I will be his assistant / guy who makes sure that he doesn’t get overworked, he is 75 after all. Check it out at: http://www.spu.edu/depts/jperkins/

Yesterday we also started our reading club in the after school program. Our first book is “ The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” and the kids seem to be enjoying it so far. Our main goals are to get the kids using their imaginations and to instill a love for reading. We are enjoying cool sunny days and dreading the heat and humidity of the fast approaching summer.

Johnny

Em bonds with a pelican while Johnny uses his wife as a shield, Allie you would have been freaked out!

"Yeah, Im 98% sure that's the sun"

Audio Blog

Happy Valentines Day. Click on the link above to listen to our first audio blog or right click and choose download. Dont download this one though as it is only a test.
We love all of you! Especially you President Bush for not spying on us.
J & E

Whoops! I meant

NyQuil Anniversary Toast

It was 4 years ago today that I made the best decision of my life and married the young Emily Martin. Unfortunately we spent our anniversary in bed with fevers and chills. We both came down with some bad cold or flu that wiped us out for the last three days. We’re looking forward to celebrating next weekend.

We’ve been thinking back on the last four years, the ups and downs, and have come to the conclusion that we love each other more now than ever. I’m not trying to complain here but marriage is tough! Even when you find your soul mate you still have to work through stuff that isn’t always fun. Mostly its realizing how selfish you are and learning to get beyond that to where you are truly more concerned with the others feelings and wellbeing than your own. I feel like I still have a long way to go. It seems like with every anniversary that comes and goes someone says that “you’ve made it over the hump”, or “Its all down hill from here, the hard stuff is over” but in reality a relationship with anyone takes effort. I’m seeing that there may not be a plateau of a place to be reached but with time you get better. Looking back over these last 4 years I can see slow, gradual changes in Emily and I that would suggest we are learning, year by year, how to love each other.
So on this eve as we celebrate four years of life and love, we toast with NyQuil and look forward to many more years together.

It’s come to my attention, friends, that some of you are losing sleep over being unable to see my new “doo.” May you sleep well :)
Other than the daily questions, “but WHY cut your hair???” we’ve been pretty busy. Johnny’s continuing to pump out material with his cyber band “Synthar,” as well as golfing in our mild Mississippi winter weather, and remaining committed to the kids in our neighborhood. Last week we were able to take several kids to hear the famed African Children’s Choir. The kids sat crisscross applesauce in the front row enchanted with the sounds and movements. We were reminded of the power of exposing these kids to new experiences.
My Martin Luther King event was a success! There were roughly 75 people who participated, including 25 white college students here from Washington State and 25 black Americorps members. John Perkins held every ones attention with his moving words about service and love. The neighborhood clean up went well and especially impacted the youth that showed up from my school. By the end of the day they proudly boasted to their parents that they were life-long volunteers. Other activities included hearing from a black historian about Jackson’s past, and listening to Kings’ Dream speech. We broke up into intentional diverse small groups following the speech to discuss various topics surrounding racial reconciliation. This was the highlight for many of the adults. Johnny and I both led groups and were encouraged to see young people interacting who normally would never have a reason to.
Today we took 10 children to church with us. The word apparently spread since last week when we took just a couple kids, so we ended up driving all over town and late to church. The unrestrained joy consuming the kids as we pulled up in the van caught me off guard. They couldn’t contain themselves. Youth ages 4-13 sat wide-eyed in the front row during the service flipping through bibles and staring at people. De’Anthony looked especially sporty in a blue pin striped suit passed down from his grand dad. It appears that church and McDonalds will become a weekly ritual.
Other weekly highlights for me include fighting a cold, working long hours and cooking. I’m convinced that being a vegetarian makes life more interesting-it’s a good challenge at least. I also just finished reading Crime and Punishment (thanks Luke). Any time I get done with a book I find myself depressed and directionless. I would really appreciate any fiction recommendations people might have. I’m going through withdrawals.
I’ll leave you with this…if you are fighting exhaustion and burn out like me, here’s a word for you:
“Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

Mrs. Bertram

M.L.K.

We've had a busy week. Emily has been busy working her 10 hour days with no breaks all while planning next Monday's M.LK. rally and writing a grant for another up coming community gathering. I have been planning activities for the afterschool program and setting up our calendar for the rest of the school year.
On Monday we will be involved in a rally and community service project that Emily and her Americorps team is putting on. We are hoping to gather kids and adults from all over the city to learn about and discuss the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the day of his birth. In the Morning we have asked John Perkins to speak which we are very excited about. We will also play Dr. Kings " We shall overcome" speach. Later we will head out into the community to clean up the streets together. Following the cleanup we will split up into groups for lunch and discuss reconciliation. We are hoping that all will go well and that the people who come, including us, will be challenged and humbled again by the powerful message and life of Dr. King.

So this is the new year

We have just returned to Mississippi from a 2 1/2 week trip back to Oregon and Idaho. We had such a great time being with family and seeing friends. Just before we left Jackson to head to Portland I thought it would be a good idea to let the kids from the after school program jump off the top of the play structure and I would catch them. After doing this for about ten minutes I started to feel pain in my lower back and soon I could barely walk. The next day I laid flat and hoped I would be able to walk so I could get on the plane. It was a sore flight but we made it to Portland. The next day we drove to Sunriver Oregon for a vacation with family. We spent the five days there relaxing and watching the snow melt.
The hot tub was very good to my healing back and the 5-hour family poker tournament was exciting. Back in Portland on Christmas Eve we gathered with Emily’s extended family for dinner. Every year instead of buying gifts the Martin family pools their money and gives to a worthy cause. This year our after school program was chosen as one of the recipients of their Christmas giving project. It’s so great to have the support of our family in what we are doing.
We also made the drive down to Boise to see my family. We had a short but sweet trip and watched the Boise State football team lose their bowl game.
We love Portland and it was great to get some time in our old stomping grounds. We had great coffee and awesome sushi. I was even able to jam a bit with the old Stanton studios crew. On Christmas day Emily’s brother Julian and I started a new tradition, free golf.
Spring is in the air here in MS. Today’s high temp is going to be in the mid 70’s.
It feels hard to come back here but I think I’ve always had a hard time in coming back from vacations and trips to the routine. I was hoping to come back excited and renewed but I don’t completely feel that way. Maybe it will take a few days to get back in the groove. One thing I know for certain is that I want to make the most of my time here. I want to invest all I can into the people I interact with. I want to learn from them. The after school program will begin again today and Emily is already back at work getting confused looks from other teachers about her short hair cut.(she cut her hair and sent to a group that makes wigs for kids on chemo therapy)
On our trip I encountered many people who said they enjoy reading this blog so I guess I’ll keep it going.
To everyone we saw on our trip: we love you all and thank you for supporting us, now come visit us here!
Peace
Johnny

The fam in Sunriver

The poker game, I'm all in

With Katie and Jason on New years eve
the hair transplant from emily to johnny was a success

Arrested standing up for the poor

(John Perkins being arrested in D.C. yesterday)

“U.S. Capitol Police arrested 115 religious activists who were protesting a House Republican budget plan's cuts in social programs when they refused to clear the entrance to a congressional office building Wednesday. "These are political choices being made that are hurting low-income people," said Jim Wallis, the event's organizer and founder of the Christian ministry group Sojourners. "Don't make them the brunt of your deficit reduction and fiscal responsibility."
-From the Washington Post

Yesterday Emily and I were here in Jackson but our hearts and minds were in D.C. where a peaceful prayer protest was taking place. The house was preparing to vote on a bill that would cut spending on the poor to create tax cuts for the rich and Christians who don’t look over the 2000 verses in the bible addressing Gods concern for the poor had to speak out. Hundreds of religious leaders and Christ followers gathered at the Cannon House office Building to kneel and pray. Our country has come to the place where we believe abortion and gay marriage are the only moral issues we face, but is ignoring the needs of our brothers and sisters not a moral issue? 115 of the protesters were arrested including my friend Matt and John Perkins. I had a good talk with Matt last night and I’m so glad he was able to go and be a voice for justice. Our good friends Sarah and Elizabeth from here at JMPF were also arrested.

The Most Segregated Hour

Last night we attended a screening for a film called “ The Most Segregated Hour”. The film followed two churches in Oxford Mississippi, one white Episcopal and the other black Baptist, over a 13 year period as they attempted to come together and practice racial reconciliation. The showing of the film was followed by a discussion with the director as well as a star studded civil rights panel. It was an amazing evening and we were so thrilled to be involved. The film blatantly addresses the fact that 11:00 am on Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour of the week. Why aren’t Christians, who of all people should know something about reconciliation, paving the way for the racial reconciliation movement?
After last night I have a lot on my mind, but the thing that always gets to me after discussing this issue in depth is the fact that reconciliation is hard. It takes people who are willing to be uncomfortable. It takes people who are willing to understand that even though they may not be a racist they benefit from the fact that others have been oppressed. It was encouraging to see others last night who have committed their lives to reconciliation with the belief that we are called to love our brothers and sisters. Their hope encourages me to believe that another world is possible. I’m starting to believe that we need others to survive. We need other cultures to influence our thoughts and actions.
There is shadow over our land and where I come from it goes unnoticed. We have a broken history in which people were treated not as humans but as animals. Whether we like to admit it or not this stuff takes healing and doesn’t get fixed over night.

We have a group here this week from Seattle Pacific University and they were able to attend the film with us. Some had their eyes opened to a problem they didn’t even know existed.

Another highlight of the night was meeting James Meredith who was in attendance. Meredith was the first black student at Ole Miss University and risked his life to stand up for civil rights. His attendance of Ole Miss sparked mass riots in Mississippi by southern whites trying preserve the white race. He is very old and doesn’t hear to well but it was an honor to meet one of the most influential people is U.S. history. Ed King was also in attendance and on the panel. Ed King was an outspoken white civil rights activist in the movement and worked along side Medger Evers and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

This week the Perkins center is hosting another intimate leadership retreat with John Perkins. The week is full of great teaching on topics of racial reconciliation, community development, oppression, justice, and leadership. A number of people teach through out the week but most is done by J.P. This week we have 5 people attending and they are enjoying some up close and personal time with John. Later today they will go visit the prison with him as he leads his weekly bible study.

Emily has been very busy and working very long days. She now works at the after school program at the school where she tutors and our program is feeling her loss. She is required by Americorps to be involved in the program. I am still enjoying our after school program and the kids who attend. After almost four months I have learned a lot and continue to learn. After Christmas I am planning on making some changes in the format of our time. It is still a struggle to get students to think and I want to find creative, fun ways for them to learn. Right now we basically help them do their homework for the entire time. I want to do some homework with them but then get them involved in reading, art, and learning activities. If anyone has any input drop me line: Johnny.Bertram@gmail.com