When the U.S. was embroiled in the Vietnam war, she enlisted the help of the Hmong, a Laotian mountain people, as allies in the war against the communists. The Hmong were fierce warriors and a great help to the U.S., but they were also targeted for extermination by the communists in Laos during the war and after the war concluded. Estimates are that two-thirds of the Hmong died as a result.

Tsia Xiong was about 6 years old when his own family decided to flee Laos. They lived about 6 years in a Thailand refugee camp and eventually migrated to the United States. The experiences of Tsia and his family have made him a strong advocate for people who suffer, who are disenfranchised, or poor, or unprotected. So it’s not surprising that he is the founder and chief organizer of the Merced Organizing Project.

This video is my interview with a capable and wise man who dedicates his life to helping people improve their communities.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 17,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

The fundamental idea is, that the blessings that are graciously bestowed on us are freely given, and not in consideration of any claim or merit. In a world obsessed with justice, penalty, and “fairness,” the idea of grace is down right heretical.

Here are the top five reasons grace is often rejected.

Reason 5. Grace is inimical to the Western can-do spirit. It implies that we self-sufficient ones have a lack that must be compensated for by someone outside ourselves–in this case, God.

Reason 4. You can’t control grace. It comes from surprising places–like the African mother who adopted her son’s killer. Grace is a bequest and can only be received.

Reason 3. Grace requires a different opinion of others. In the story of the Prodigal Son, the elder brother is resentful of his younger brother who received their father’s grace in spite of the fact wasteful living. In the elder brother’s view his younger brother didn’t deserve such generosity. Grace recognizes that none of us does.

Reason 2. Grace makes us fearful that people will abuse our generosity. That was a concern in the church at Rome to which the apostle Paul wrote a letter. “Shall we continue to sin in order to enjoy more and more grace,” they asked Paul. More likely than not, grace produces humility not excesses.

Reason 1. Grace requires that we put revenge to death. Simmering anger and the desire to get even are not permitted in a disciple of Jesus. “Turn the other cheek,” Jesus told his disciples, and “Love your enemies.” These are hardly things that a person lacking in grace can do.

Grace is personified by Jesus. Behaviors that are created by grace are generosity, forgiveness, thankfulness, and the recognition of beauty. Where grace exists there is a tasted of the Kingdom of God and its benevolent rule.

Trees were stripped of their leaves. Shingles were blown off roofs. Property owners had to rake their lawns, covered by debris. So it was only logical that an umbrella would join the aerobatics.

The umbrella had been roosting above a table and chairs sitting outside a local coffee shop. It landed in the westbound lane of a busy street and forced a large pickup truck to screech to a stop in the intersection.

The driver of the truck grimaced. A car that was following her veered to avoid hitting her truck. The umbrella was kissing her front bumper so she had only one choice—get out of the truck and move the obstacle.

She grabbed the umbrella and threw it to the curb. In just a couple more steps, she could have put the umbrella on the sidewalk in a safer place, but she didn’t. Had the store manager not come out to retrieve it, the umbrella would have been left in the roadway to be blown even farther into the oncoming traffic.

The driver’s reaction to the umbrella seemed over blown. Facial expression and gestures made her appear very angry—almost as if she believed the umbrella had specifically picked out her truck to stop. I imagined her blood pressure going up at that moment and her mood changing to something dark. All because of a single umbrella.

Going down the anger road is often like accelerating one’s car to a high speed. Control decreases as mass and momentum take over. Anger then speaks more loudly than reason.

I wanted to ask the driver if her little temper tantrum was going to help her have a better day. I doubt it.

I hope her facial expression was just mild irritation and that she was able to resume a sunny disposition. But her truck was moving awfully fast when she left the scene.

Arts are important to cities that want to promote social and economic growth. People flow to the places where creativity and innovation exist, yet, ironically, the Arts are frequently what first get cut in stressed budgets. This has been evident in the national demise of arts programs in our schools despite the fact that they contribute positively to the educational experience.

The Merced Multi-Cultural Arts Center is facing possible closure because of shrinking funds. The people of Merced now have a great opportunity to express an opinion about the importance of The Arts by helping the Arts Center to keep its doors open. On June 10 the MCAC will have a 24-hour fundraiser that begins at 6:00 PM and ends on June 11 at 6:00 PM. MCAC will be open the entire 24 hours in order for Mercedians to walk in contributions small and large to help keep the doors open for the next year.

MCAC helps make our community strong and attractive. The presence of a vibrant arts community helps to to enrich the lives of Mercedians, give our children a strong educational environment, and makes us attractive to business.

For more information about the effort to save MCAC, go to Facebook for the 24-hour fundraiser information as well as other opportunities to lend a hand.

Will you join me on June 10 in walking in a contribution to help the Arts in Merced?

The lightening rod that put the topic of Hell on our collective front page was Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins. The book made the pages of local newspapers, news magazines, and religious journals. Some were comforted by its message, and others were downright mad about it.

Whatever the book prompts in readers, hearty amens or calls for the death penalty, Bell does eloquently make the point of the immediacy of hell’s influence on our lives now. He cites the example of children in Rwanda who have had limbs machetied off by guerrilla soldiers to show the soldiers’ contempt for the victims. Bell says, “Have you ever sat with a woman while she talked about what it is like to be raped…or with a wife who has just found out that her husband has been cheating on her for years?” Hell!

Jesus once said of the kingdom of God that it is not detected or made known by big visible events but rather that it is present in the acts of people doing the work of the kingdom of God. So we know about the work of God’s kingdom when we see people doing noble, compassionate, loving things in the name of God.

If, according to Jesus, the kingdom of heaven is in the midst of us, can’t hell be in the midst of us as well? Living among us in the rapist, the thief, the liar, the Ponzi schemer, the gossip, Ratko Mladic, the indifferent, and the self-righteous? Just as the work of the kingdom can be seen in the joy and peace it brings, so also we can see all around us the pain, alienation, and despair that hell brings.

A distraction in the discussion about Bell’s book is whether hell is a place or a state of being. A bigger issue is the awful damage that hell creates both in this life and the next. The wasteland that hell creates is frightful, no matter where that wasteland is.

At the heart of hell’s influence is human choice. Hell is ultimately choice. In his book, The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis helps make this point as fictional bus riders on a trip from hell to heaven talk about the choice of staying in heaven or returning on the bus to hell.

How could anyone make the choice to remain in hell? People do it all the time by electing to live in the awfulness of their lives rather than choose the changes that would give them life in the kingdom of God.

Well-meaning friends told him that God didn’t want them to have children. “God has something else in mind for you,” they assured, apparently thinking that was comforting information. Their knowing assurances only made him angry. Angry at his comforters and angry at God.

He and his wife wondered why God would keep them from having a child when people all around were pushing children out like a snack vending machine. Especially people who were abusive, dysfunctional, and uncommitted.

Why indeed? He and his wife were loving, well-educated, and caring. They would give children every advantage possible.

They suffered. Not like someone who has experienced violence or loss of some sort, but they suffered nonetheless. His friends sounded like the “miserable comforters” that Job called friends, Job 16:2.

His questions about suffering are universal and often faith breakers for those who are wounded by them. Why would a good and loving God allow suffering? If God has ultimate power, why can’t he stop the awfulness of the world?

Two children came along to the couple, born naturally and of their own genes–bright, energetic, and blessed by a good home.

Their “miserable comforters” did not remember that they vended bad advice and still think they have an inside track on the mind of God.

Having had this experience these new parents do not propose to speak for God nor do they think that the huge questions of life and suffering should be treated with such cavalier answers.

There are enough apologetical books to fill a room, however, only a few are needed for helping to sort out the questions that surround whether to believe in God or not. Skepticism without complete information is foolish. Faith without skepticism will not stand the fires of examination. The following is a short list of recommended books on the subject of belief.

Mere Christianity, McMillan Books, 1952, by C.S. Lewis is a classic in apologetics. Lewis was on the English faculty at the University of Oxford and a friend of J.R.R. Tolkien, famous for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lewis became an atheist at age 15 but later renounced that view and became a Christian. “Mere Christianity” is is a very good place to begin thinking about the validity of faith.

The Reason for God, Dutton Books, 2008, by Timothy Keller takes a look at seven biggest objections and doubts about Christianity, but he does this in a very respectful way. The second half of the book he sets forth the reasons underlying Christian faith. This book is well-written, honorable, and intelligent.

Simply Christian, Harper San Francisco, 2006, by N.T. Wright walks readers through the Christian faith, examining the questions and doubts that people often have about it. “Simply Christian” is very readable and interesting.

The Case for Christ, Harper Collins, 1998, by Lee Strobel is the result of a Chicago Tribune journalist’s examination of the claims made about Christ. Strobel holds a Masters of Studies in Law degree from Yale Law School, and this well qualified him to look at the subject of Christ through the lens of an attorney. In this compelling book, Strobel looks at fourteen pieces of evidence.

Why Christian?, Fortress Press, 1998, by Douglas John Hall is written for “people on the edges.” The book is a fictional conversation between an aging professor of Christian theology and a university undergraduate. The student is a composite of people who Hall knows or has known that have struggled with the matter of faith. Douglas John Hall would consider himself part of that crowd and therefore understands the issues of doubt.

These are just a sampling of the many excellent books available on the subject of faith. Any one of these is a good place to begin.

It’s a universal law of conversation; you can’t talk about politics or religion. Too inflammatory. Conversation about either erupts into argumentation and worse.

The word religion comes from O.Fr. religion meaning “religious community,” and from Latin religionem meaning “respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods.”

Beyond the dictionary definitions and etymologies the word gets pretty slippery in meaning. Some users wave religion like a Confederate flag and others virtually hiss when they speak it. How can one word elicit such diverse responses?

Reactions depend on a person’s experience with “religion.” Some who’ve experienced hate speech from an unloving, sectarian church might say that religion is divisive, hateful, and destructive.

But the lepers of Molokai, Hawaii who were literally touched by Father Damien saw what happens when a person is transformed by the message s/he declares. Father Damien eventually lost his life to leprosy because he decided to fully enter the lives of the lepers he served despite the cost.

When looked at through the lens of Jesus’ message, it is apparent that contemporary definitions of religion are inadequate, even antithetical, to the ideals that Jesus proposed. Jesus did not come to create an institution but rather a community. He did not come to make us feel self-righteous and exclusive but rather to recognize the universal brokenness of humans and our resulting need for grace.

When a person experiences grace, s/he knows that something other than religion has been experienced, and it is altogether attractive.