pinakidion.*

I was listening to the radio this morning when NPR covered a story about a National Guardsman’s recovery from injury.

What struck me more than anything was that his wife credits the injury with saving their marriage. Apparently, this man inspected his children before they went out to play and had explicit instructions on how to fold items from their laundry. Now, he is more laid back. Amazing what perspective can do for a person.

Who knows what good has been done for this man’s family, especially the children, because of the accident.

Some time ago, a friend of mine explained his spiritual life in terms of the seasons of the year. I have found it true in my life and I hope it may help in yours:

After summer, when the leaves fall and all prepares for a winter sleep, it is a natural time of reflection. The winter brings a time of rest - a time to pause and catch your breath. The springtime is a new birth and allows you to start fresh. It is a time of new ideas and planting. The summer is the time for harvest, a chance to reap the benefits of the work of spring. With the summer harvest taken in full, the Autumn allows for reflection, as previously stated. Read more…

Yesterday had to be my best Christmas ever. It wasn’t very elaborate, but it was quite special.

I didn’t have to run all over and be anywhere at all. I just had to be home with my wife - and that was exactly what I needed.

For my friends out there that worry about my ingestion of soy, I had actual turkey bacon yesterday and today for breakfast. While I still consider soy ‘fake food’, I am beginning to eat it less and less grudingly. (Thank goodness for occasional wing nights with Shane!)

Our stockings were hung by the chimney with care.
Our erstwhile kitty was asleep in a chair.
Bribed with some ‘nip, he gave his approval,
for the slow but steady package removal.

Anywho, just some random Christmas thoughts in no particular order. I hope to continue my study of Jeremiah and the fleshing out of the Hesberian culture over the coming days. As always, I’ll let you know.

Merry Christmas everyone - I pray it was a great one for you and yours.

Quote from a man named Allen.

The area where some improprieties may have happened is in the actual collection and distribution of funds. When the ICC evangelizer preached for donations to the poor … did he mean the benevolence account at the church - or did he mean HOPE? Did he promote projects of HOPE to stimulate donations that he *knew* would be retained by the church? We will not know until the books of the churches are open for more detailed study.

I have found the Shell Game with HOPE. Let me go over it one more time. HOPE Regional entities such as HOPE - Florida, Hope - Arizona - etc. 30 something of them … would collect locally - citing projects in the region plus HOPE ww projects all over the World. They were ‘usually’ very careful to not promote -> to the public < - how much would stay local and how much would go elsewhere. On the other hand - various people at the churches would promote to membership that high percentages of the donations would stay local. Members often quoted figures such as 87% of HOPE is for local projects -- or only 12% is administrative costs ... I have no choice but to recognize this as equal to the preachin' in the churches - ie., - what members were being *told*. Very infrequently were such figures 'written down'.

What the HOPE Regionals had done was to establish local projects and give them a name - like HOPE for Kids After School Mentoring Program. Many of these projects were staffed with volunteers from the church. People would donate - thinking that their money would go to such and similar real programs - and that their donations were needed to cover expenses of the program. The 'accounting' on the local level would support such programs by name and the expenses would be listed. There would be a column for telephone, printing, rental, etc. -- there would be NO Salary Column ... but there was also a column named = Management Fee Paid to HWW Corp. THIS column most often overshadowed all others in total amount.

The Management Fee Paid to HWW Corp. was as much as 90+% of the 'program fee' in some areas ... see http://TOLC.org/finances.htm [1999 Audit section 3] for actual audits showing YOUR Region and the Management Fees. Now -- what was this Management Fee used for? It was used to pay the Local HOPE Administrators, Executives and Paid Staff at the HOPE Regionals - and in support of the HOPE Corporate Executives and their Paid Staff. The HOPE New England 990 confirms this to be a fact.

In closing -- most of the HOPE expenses -- whether on a Regional or Corporate level -- were consumed as Salary and Benefits. Very little went to other costs associated with the Programs. This is evident when doing a careful study of available IRS 990s. However ... and this is troubling ... HOPE sends about 60% of the money off-shore to projects in foreign lands ... and the US IRS *DOES NOT* track how this money is actually spent. The amounts sent off-shore are merely an Expense Item on the US forms. HOPE has NEVER provided a detailed Audit of ANY FOREIGN PROGRAM to the contributors in the US.

An increasing number of people are beginning to see that HOPE may be the vehicle to move money out of the US ... for who knows what ... only a detailed Audit would show. Remember -- 60% of HOPE Money goes to off-shore projects ...

Each city of the former or current Hesberian Emprie had these markers to show the border of the city. In places where the Hesberians have no control, it often marks the ‘old city’ borders.

Recently, I went off on the ICC Discussion Forum (no link provided) on a thread about reformed ICC churches. In case you don’t know, I’m very proud of my church and how far we’ve come and how bright the future appears. We’re not better than anyone and we certainly haven’t arrived - it’s just that I feel safe going to church and have no problems inviting my friends and family to it. I thought I’d never feel that way again. Read more…

But I’m still around. There’s been some furious attempt to finalize the Study Series only to discover that now may not be the right time for it.

I may still publish it, but there’s little reason to now. I never thought that I’d be ahead of the curve on letting go of some things in the past. Oh well.

In the meantime, I hope to do more with my fantasy world and on a class about the Synoptic Gospels this winter. Read more…

Those that are a part of the ICC subculture know what the phrase ’study series’ means. I use the term because it has some meaning, but I hope to discuss it in neutral terms. In other words, I hope to discuss its utility, purpose, and necessity. It seems particularly useful now because so many people want it. Its purpose seems self-evident, it is designed to equip the Christians to help someone else become a Christian. Its necessity is debatable. Maybe a new series is a stepping stone to a hope of a mature Christian confident and competent to use the Scriptures without the fear of teaching a ‘different’ gospel from other Christians.

In any case, a draft proposal to my church’s governing board will be presented tomorrow night. As such, it will be on my blog tomorrow sometime during the day. It may change, but the outline so far is this: Read more…

I’ve been around men telling their ‘war stories’ a few times. The older I get, the more I tend to join in on these stories. While most of the conversation can center around the kind of talk that rightly belongs in the The Rancid Crabtree Fly-Fishing & Filosofical Society, sooner or later one of the men will roll up a sleeve and point at a small discoloration.

“I got this one while peddling my dirt bike down the dirt path by Burnside’s path. I was eight.” Read more…

My wife has this bit of zen on top of a bookshelf in our living room. She pointed it out to me last night as part of showing off the apartment to me. (She and a friend have been putting our stuff away for two days now and it looks great.)

More later, it was just a good thought for the morning.