On this day August 12, 1961

On this day August 12, 1961 Communist East Germany further divided the city of Berlin by erecting the Berlin Wall effectively isolating West Berlin from the rest of the world.

Off to Ethiopia

Tomorrow, 14 of us (5 from the Johnson household), begin a very long flight from Charlotte NC to Frankfort Germany (via Chicago!), then a layover, then off to Kartooun, Sudan, another layover, and then finally to our destination in Addis Abbaba Ethiopia. after 30 hours or so, we will arrive and begin our missions trip to Ethiopia. On the calender we will first visit the inner city of Addis to participate in a Sports Friends soccer event with a local Ethiopian Sports Minister, then a half a day spent at the Mother Teresa Aids orphanage in Addis,which has 460 HIV positive children in it (many with full blown aids) to play with and love on for the afternoon. Next day its off to the tribal region of Southern Ethiopia to Camp Langano to participate in a soccer camp with 45 or so Ethiopian children brought in from the 4 corners of Ethiopia who are currently being discipled by Sports friends in their local community. Please pray for safety i travel, and for God to use this special time in the lives of all involved.

Last week in Washington D.C -

Last week I was in Washington DC with Nathan Ross attending a Campaign Manager School. It was excellent. The leadership Institute (http://leadershipinstitute.org/ ), is an excellent organization for training conservative leaderships accross America.

When I go to Washington, I'm always reminded of its "top down solution" . Its a wonderful picture of a model which is siginficantly flawed and actually stands in antheisis to the Gospel Vision. The gospel vision requires;that real change; is accomplished; one person at a time. Through each of us living out the gospel, the world is affected through what John Calvin called, Common Grace.

Children Dying in Drought-Stricken Ethiopia

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-05-18-voa15.cfm

Children Dying in Drought-Stricken Ethiopia
Here's a recent article about the region of Ethiopia where our team will be going in the next two weeks. Please pray for rain and relief from these deteriorating circumstance, pray for safety for our team, and God would use us during this trip. There will be a total of 15 on our trip (five of those are from our the Johnson family)! See details here http://2008ethiopia2008.blogspot.com/

Word of the day

meticulous \muh-TIK-yuh-luhs\, adjective:
Extremely or excessively careful about details.

"Curt's life would be so much easier if he was more meticulous about those important details"

On this day July 4, 1776

On this day July 4, 1776 an amended version of The declaration of Indpendence was accepted by the Continental Congress. It was with this final step the revolutionist severed all ties with their Motherland. This document articulated a belief that a government could be rooted in religious and ethical beliefs and above all a focus on the rights of liberty of the individual. It was Thomas Jefferson's belief in the enduring faith in the individual which paved the way and eventially turned America away from the class rule of the federalist. And while Jefferson was a complex man full of contidictions, he was a living example of his belief in the capacity of men to learn and grow under freedom. (Source George Grants, On this day in History)

Markets remain volatile

Up 3.88% for the first 6 months of the year, I feel kind of good about that, considering all the other indexes are down -12.00% to -14.00% for the first 6 months, many opportunities out there.... many mine fields.... walk carefully!!