May 9th 2009 · Read More · No Comments
Okay, it’s only about three hours after the last post, but here is another thought.
If language is a barrier in our communication then how do we communicate?
I found myself in this situation serveral times today. I found myself playing some form of sharades for lost Americans. I used my eyes, but mostly my hands. Is nodding your head a universal form of yes or no? Is smiling a warm greeting?
When we are lost for words… Sharades?
I found that my body language spoke loudly at times. It helped me communicate with people and we enjoyed the struggle.
More on this later… in the meantime… more pictures… enjoy
May 9th 2009 · Read More · No Comments
What a magnificent city! I have never been to a place that has thousands of years of history. I need to get out more!
I thought NYC was big… MAN THIS PLACE IS MASSIVE! The traffic is not as bad but the cars have all been “kissed”. If driving in Egypt was put in NFL commentator language the “kiss” is “incidental contact”. It basically means… two people tried to occupy the same spot at one time. Today, when we were driving to our morning destination, the road was four-lanes wide – there were 9 cars side by side on a four-lane road!!!! It was nuts!!!
Our plans have changed. We had to make some adjustments for our safety. I will talk about this more when I return. For now, I would like to share some general observations, and when I get home I will write out some comparisons between our great city and this one. Let’s talk about Language.
Language barriers at times can be so frustrating. Yet today, I experienced something similar to the movie “look who’s talking.” Do you remember the movie? Bruce Willis was the voice of a baby. His voice was the one telling us what we all know a baby is actually thinking when it is staring at us. Today, I felt like a big voice trapped inside a baby. I watch Egyptians celebrate my first spoken Arabic words! They smiled so big and celebrated my attempts to speak to them. It made their day, knowing that I had put some effort to identify with them. Budding relationships were forming – all because I learned to say, “Thank you.”
Are there people in our lives back in Baltimore that are speaking a different language? Sure it might be English, it might be Spanish, or a street language, yet it is a different language. How badly do we want to communicate with each other? What would happen in our city, if the first words we learned to say to each other was “Thank You?”
More thoughts to come…
God, the Creator, is using Egypt as an instrument to teach me. I hope it ultimately has a positive effect on you as a result of its impact on me. We’ll have to wait and see.
April 23rd 2009 · Read More · No Comments
A couple of months ago, as a result of life in Baltimore and our Heavenly Father’s leading, I started reading and meditating on what the Scriptures have to say about Evil and the Injustices in the world. Before I continue, let me clarify one thing… I am not the smartest person. Candyland is as challenging to me as Scrabble is to you. I finished in the top 40% of my class! Notice… not top 4%! The quest for knowledge has caused me to develop a passion for reading and studying, but it does not come easy to me.
Baltimore is full of smart people; people who have great knowledge in world history, literature, art, government, math, philosophy, and science – to name a few that I can spell. I wish they would come and help me on trivia night at Reilly’s! Man…weekly reminder that I was not in the top 4%!!! These smart people are not satisfied with the depth of their knowledge. They still seem to want to make sense of God, creation, the Bible, the Church, and Pastors that molest children.
To quote Sam Gamgee, The Lord of the Rings, in the final of the three books, “Is everything sad going to come untrue?” In a world that is searching for knowledge and truth, this question is spot on! The evolutionary mechanism of natural selection depends on death, destruction, and violence of the strong against the weak – in this view these things are natural. No hope of becoming untrue! No hope of evil in the world losing. No hope of the weak ever being free from oppression. The cycle never ends. Sadness.
What happens if we stop our quest for knowledge that produces domination and oppression? What happens if we declare war on evil by insisting on always winning in the area of love? If we concede in our intellect – and take the abuse that comes from not being as smart – yet never lose in LOVE. I never want to hear someone say to me, he doesn’t love me. Maybe it’s because I have gotten used to losing intellectually to people or maybe I might be on to something.
What would you rather do? Be smart? Be loving? Yes, you can be both. But one has to be number one – they both can’t!
March 31st 2009 · Read More · No Comments
Baltimore City Council
March 30, 2009
Invocation by Ellis Prince, Pastor/Teacher of the Gallery Church of Baltimore
Almighty God, Father in Heaven, Creator, everything exists because of you alone, things seen and unseen. Every breath we breathe comes from you as a good gift. Now today, I stand before you and these distinguished men and women to ask, petition you for our city and our leaders. Our city exists as a part of the vision of our country’s founders. A vision that desires and demands “justice for all.” May each of us in this great city stand for justice. May we not just seek justice when we feel wronged, but would we seek justice on behalf of our neighbors. May we move past just tolerating one another and move to complete unity found and anchored in our love for one another. As I reflect on this city and our seemingly insurmountable issues, I can’t help but pray for its leaders. May these leaders live and display in their lives the example of how each person in our city ought to live. May these leaders seek justice, walk humbly and show mercy in not only this building, but in the communities of Baltimore where they live. May you give them divine wisdom to address the ills and successes of this city. May you protect their families from the attacks that leadership invites on them. Help us to see clearly, oh God, when we become self-centered, when we have exchanged love for hatred, when we have turned our back on You, for all of these we ask You to forgive us. Father in Heaven, as I close this brief prayer, I am sensitive to the diversity of this city and the many different faiths that call it home, yet I do need to close in the name of the One who changed my heart, mind, soul, and strength – Jesus, Amen!
December 16th 2008 · Read More · No Comments
Christmas is an emotional time of the year for many! “Emotional” is not in and of itself a negative word, yet I choose to use it here. My Christmas to this point has not been a “tis the season to be jolly” kind of emotion. My father went into the hospital to have a knee replacement operation and came close to losing his kidneys. A couple of days in the hospital turned into 12! He is doing better and heads home tomorrow.
Here is the point of this blog. How many times have we attempted to fix one problem and in our attempts, either caused or exposed another? There are so many people in this great “charm city” who have gone out to make a difference to only be broadsided by another issue.
One great example happened to a friend of mine. She was spending her Saturday organizing volunteers at one the many hurting, old school buildings in our city. Adults and students were mobilized to improve the educational environment of the classrooms and safety of the playgrounds. While doing a good thing to transform one issue, a volunteer - a young man - had his bike stolen. So the joy of the day was robbed by a totally different city problem.
Let’s not give up or lose heart. If this city is going to be transformed, well-intentioned people are going to need to rely on Godly Wisdom. We will not only need to ask for the “Spirit of God” to guide us to see the issue we are passionate about transforming, but will need guidance to see the unseen reaction or problem that will show itself.
Has something like this happened to you?
November 25th 2008 · Read More · No Comments
It sure is nice spending over $1 less per gallon than last year! Yet, it sparks two thoughts in my head.
First, time with others. Because of the falling fuel prices many will travel (my family included). We may see family or friends we haven’t seen in a long time (months or years). Let’s take full advantage of this time. Don’t over schedule your days. Spend time talking, sharing those stories that you wish you had time to tell. The temptation is to go, go, go. Let’s rest, rest, rest… (sorry for all of you who are working retail).
Second, the money we save. What are you planning on doing with the $15 to $25 per tank of gas that you are saving from two months ago? Charitible controbutions are way down. Food banks are low on inventory. Just a thought. I know the pressure to take care of ourselves and family is intense this time of year. Let’s pause and filter through what we (not just me) need.
As we think through what we are thankful for, let’s remember those around us who have not had the best year. Let’s sit with them and allow our presence to encourage them and maybe redeem a tough period of time for them. I am thinking about a friend with cancer. Who comes to your mind?
Grace and Peace.
Ellis
November 21st 2008 · Read More · No Comments
Change, it really seems to be a controversial word these days. You have one side that is so frustrated with an issue that they want something, anything to help take us in a different direction from where we seem to find ourselves. Then, at the same time, there is another side that is fairly content with the way things are and see too much change as dangerous and devastating as well. I know that a lot of people have been offering up some strong opinions on the election the last few days and weeks. And I also know that just allowing room for two sides on an issue is part of the reason that there is so much division happening in our communities and country right now. Because, here is the problem:
Sometimes it is impossible for us to see, feel and understand an issue from a perspective different from our own.
The fact is we are different, and not everyone fits into one of two categories. We have different lifestyles, experiences, and backgrounds. We come from different cultural, ethnic, and financial backgrounds and all of those things are part of what shape our opinions and thoughts on issues that we have to somehow learn to work together through. So, here we find ourselves, in the days following what will most likely become one of the most significant elections in our country’s history, and we have an opportunity.
You see change is often a very difficult process. At times it can be painful, and there will always be areas where you can’t see either end of the tunnel. It is dark in front of you, and dark behind you and often it is pretty scary to continue to move forward. But that doesn’t mean opportunity isn’t there. It doesn’t mean that there isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel. It just means that it may take some work to get there. I think that is where we find ourselves today, facing opportunity. What we do with that opportunity will dramatically influence how the future of our communities and country will go.
So here I am, hoping and praying that as an individual I can manage to find the humility to learn from my neighbor. Trying to take the time to respect them and care enough to engage in conversation, learn their perspective and try and think through the issues we are facing from more than my personal frame of reference. I guess I have just seen how damaging that limitation can be. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand that there are convictions and issues that there aren’t necessarily ways to come to an agreement upon, but isn’t part of loving our neighbor respecting them enough to at least listen to why they think and feel the way they do? And that is where I find myself, humbled and convicted by the fact that so often I don’t love and respect the way I am called to. Instead I oppose, reject, and even condemn people because they have an opinion other than my own. I find myself wondering, ‘if we would take the time to share in a few more conversations, to rub shoulders with people that don’t think and feel the exact same as we do, to understand, would our communities look different than they currently do?’
That is where this little thought comes to a conclusion, because sadly I haven’t taken that risk. So I challenge you as I challenge myself. Why not give your neighbor some love and show them some respect? What would a conversation between two opposing points of view look like if we didn’t go in trying to prove our point right and the other wrong? What might happen if we learned to respect each other enough to value someone else’s opinion even if it differed from our own, and we tried to at least hear why they feel the way they do? After all, if all men (and women) are created equal, and we all have the freedom to think and feel independently the way we claim, then there is absolutely no excuse to hate someone for having a different perspective. And I think we could all agree that everything would be a lot better if hate weren’t involved.
So, embrace opportunity, and change the world, starting with your own.
Albert
October 23rd 2008 · Read More · No Comments
In the last week, I have had to go to the airport three times to pick up or drop off out of state friends. Twice now, I have received either a phone call or a text-message that the flight was over-booked, and they were going to have to change their flights.
Now changes in flights might sound simple, and I may have lost you already in this writing. Yet, I continue! My friends were not late; they were not rude; they weren’t carrying hazardous materials. The only thing they were guilty of was being a number too high for the number of seats on the plane!
Okay, many of you know me well enough now, and you are waiting for me to switch this around on us. Good! Then buckle up and feel my passion! How many of us live our lives “over-booked”? Our seats are all full. We don’t have anymore room in our lives for someone else. They might even have a right to be on the plane. You know who they are… your wife/husband, your daughter, your son, your neighbor, or even a friend from work. These people need to be in your life. BUT WE ARE OVER-BOOKED - NO ROOM - WILL PUT YOU IN THE NEXT AVAILABLE SEAT!
How do we break this viscous cycle? Here’s my two cents worth. First, we need to acknowledge that our Creator did not create us to produce! We work and work and work to earn our value. Our lives are already at maximum value! Our Creator has shown that in many ways but none more convincing than the sending of His Son. Second, we need to leave room, intentionally, to love each other. The key word, intentionally. You see, we naturally reset ourselves to a place of pleasing ourselves. So to overcome that, we have to make an assertive effort to fight our nature. It takes commitment and sacrifice to die to us.
If we took a moment to hire a polling company to ask questions of people in Baltimore about something other than McCain or Obama, and we asked people if they felt like Baltimore was “Over-Booked”, what do you think the results would say? Are you living an over-booked life style? Do you feel like people keep putting you off for another time or day? Is this even relevant to the renewal of Baltimore?
Grace and Peace.
Ellis
October 9th 2008 · Read More · No Comments
“Student for life”— that’s my motto. A professor once said, “If you stop learning today, you stop teaching tomorrow.” That quote really puts the pressure on us to stay fresh and keep an attitude of growth and learning, not an attitude of “I have arrived and know everything.”
I was sitting in the food court with my family (wife and two kids) the other day (you know, that place in the mall where you are supposed to eat, but you never allow your food to make contact with anything other than the wrapper it came in). While we where eating, my wife (the most beautiful woman in the world and one of the smartest people I know) was leading a conversation at the table about our day. Each member of the family stops chewing food long enough to give as much detail about their day as they feel comfortable. She started this tradition when our daughter learned to talk. It’s fun listening to the perspective of a five and nine year old. The sad thing, I wasn’t fully listening. I was in range to hear everything, but my mind was off in “Neverland” somewhere. Then I heard my five year old say something that caught my ear:
“Every minute is a new minute!”
My wife taught him this wisdom to help him with his self-control! She is brilliant. Like most five year old boys he struggles at times listening and controlling his energy (like Ironman, he seems to have a nuclear reactor in his chest supplying him endless amounts of energy). This magnificent woman has given our son a refocusing tool. He knows that no matter what has happened in the past minute, he can choose to do what’s right in the next.
How many of us (over five year olds) need to start saying this? How many of us are stealing at work? “Every minute is a new minute!” Hurting people with our words? New Minute! Overlooking the needy? New Minute! Complaining, yet doing nothing about it? New Minute! Showing no love for others? New Minute! Showing No Respect for authority (parents are setting a great example of this at my kids’ school – sarcasm)? New Minute! I hope you get the picture!
It is time for Baltimore to stop and take the advice of a great mom to a five year old. “Every minute is a new minute.” Can we live towards a future of great choices, rather than the bitterness of a broken past?
Grace and Peace.
Ellis
October 3rd 2008 · Read More · No Comments
It has to have been over a decade ago (maybe even two). There was a commercial on TV that had the tag line, “Great seats, ah, buddy?” For some random reason my brain dug it out of my longer-term memory files last week.
My wife and I had gone out for the evening to enjoy a nice, quiet meal and to talk (talking isn’t something I normally enjoy doing, but that night it was fun). After dinner we had a few more dollars to waste on the babysitter so we decided to go to another restaurant for dessert (the one where we were only had good food). When we pulled into the parking lot (we drove to our date…I know…we should have walked and stayed local) and noticed a Lazy-boy Furniture store. The first furniture we purchased after getting married was from this chain of stores. We purchased a sofa and their famous lazy-boy recliner. I did love that chair (but we lost it in a house fire nearly 6 years ago).
Looking at the exact same chair, now some 12 years later, is what brought the old commercial to memory. “Great Seat” it was.
I love reading (I wish I did when I was in school – maybe I would have turned out smarter than a fourth grader – I actually misspelled one of my daughters vocabulary words – how embarrassing!). In the book I finished recently, the author mentioned, and I quote, “no action and adventure movie has ever featured a character sitting in a Lazy-boy.” As much as I loved my chair… I can’t remember ever doing anything other than watching TV (mostly sports), sleeping, holding my wife, or a combination of the three. As good as that was… it never made the city I was in any better.
If things are going to change in our city, we are going to have to CHOOSE to get out of our chairs. Yes, I said “Choose.” You see, our chairs are safe, comfortable, and we paid a lot for them. We feel the need to satisfy self first. It doesn’t make sense or come easy, giving all that up. We will have to make a choice to get out of our comfort to sacrifice for others (others who might not even say “Thank you”. I don’t have to remind you that we are in Baltimore).
I am grateful for all of you in our city who are modeling this each day. Keep it up. I am also grateful for the display of God’s greatness in you when you do. God hasn’t been on a perpetual day of rest since the last day of creation. He is at work now, in you, in me, and in our city. If He is working that hard, maybe we should join Him? Maybe then others might see that the seat of our pants (yet padded) is not the place that we were meant to spend the majority of our time. Maybe they would see that God hasn’t given up on Baltimore and neither should we.
Have you given up or do you just need to feel like you’re not alone?
Grace and Peace.
Ellis
