Not a coke but a Coke Machine

Many years ago I heard that Robert Goizueta (former CEO of Coca Cola) once told his shareholders that it was his desire to put a Coke within reach of every thirsty person in the world because he knew that about 5.5 billion people in the world wake up thirsty each day. Why not give them a refreshing Coca Cola?

In a compelling way I heard, we know that about 6 billion people of the world wake up spiritually thirsty each day looking for love, significance, truth all found in the person of Jesus. Why don't we just give them Jesus within arms reach so they can quench that thirst? That became a great visionary picture of what we want to do as Campus Crusade for Christ. Let's get the Gospel within arms reach to each and every person in the world.

I have thought about this statement a lot in the past 10 years. How do we do that. Well churches, organizations, mission agencies have been thinking about this and have many different solutions. I think for years we have talked about just getting everyone a coke product so they can quench their thirst.

Now that I'm in Mexico City this vision again has surfaced. How can we get a coke product (the Gospel) within arms reach of the 1,000,000 students on over 300 campuses? To be honest, if our goal is just to get the Gospel to them we could probably with about $300,000 do this by December of 2006. Our goal is not just to give them a coke to drink. We don't just want to expose them to the Gospel. We could do that by dropping Gospel tracks or Gospel videos on each campus and make sure that leach student reads the Gospel. That vision is too small, too easy, too attainable.

Our dream is to make sure that each and every student, on every big and small campus, knows where a coke machine is so they can go back over and over again to drink a coke. We want to make sure that each and every student, in each and every faculty (department) on every campus in the city knows where a Missional Christ-centered community is so they can hear about Jesus, learn about Him, know Him, grow with Him and share Him with others. That is ongoing life changing, campus changing, city changing, country changing, world changing.

Not just a coke but a coke machine.

Pray with us that each and every student, on every campus, in the city and beyond has within arms reach a Missional Christ-centered community so they can know and follow Jesus.

That will require new thinking. That will require thousands of student leaders reaching their campuses, praying for the lost, organizing their own groups, sharing with their friends and experiencing the mission and presence of Christ.

That is what we're all about. Join us! Pray with us! Come down and take a campus.

Categories: God, Mission, leadership, MexicoCity, Movements

To all the kids who survived the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's

I received this today from some friends, the Lindstedts.

Those Born 1930-1979!

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and

NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because.

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day.

And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms.......

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,

Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.

They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned.

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them . . . CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as
kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us....go ahead and delete this.

Categories: Family

Mexican President: Is the Chaos over?

Calderon: Me siento muy bien!
It's official. Sixty-five days after the voting took place, Mexico has a new president. After four hours of speechifying, the seven-member federal election tribunal unanimously certified conservative Felipe Calderon as the winner of the July 2 contest."

We'll see what comes in the weeks to come. We still haven't visited downtown.

Categories: MexicoCity

New shots of the family

Check out the many photo updates!

Categories: family, photos

Great visit from the Rents

   This past Tues my parents on a spur of the moment trip came down to visit us for a week. What a joy. This trip, non like the others, we started the home project early. They helped us fix a few small things here and there, hung up pictures and just play around the house with the

This past week I meet a new friend David and we went to the horse races on Friday night. No big news there other than Mexico City has a wealthy, wealthy class. Then Saturday morning we headed down in traffic to the San Angel Bazaar. What a treat. Handicrafts, art, sights, sounds and tastes of Mexico. The kids loved and so did my parents. We ate great quesadillas up stairs in great restaurant and then ended our time by eating home made ice cream on the steps to the square.

That night Christine and I got to get out alone for 1st time in 6 weeks. We celebrate our 13th anniversary today, Sept 4, so we went out to Aguila y Sol. The food and the service was off the charts. Christine ate Chilean Sea Bass and I ate a great steak. It was fun to let the manager pick our wine, appetizer (the best
octopus we have ever had) and just take care of us. We are very grateful for the time alone, talking, praying, remembering the past year and being excited for the time ahead.

Sunday we met with David, his wife, Deven, her parents and their 10 month baby Max for a drive down to the south, way south; Xochimilco. This is the area that has 180Km's of canals and we battle traffic and crazy pot holes and finally made it to the boat docks. What a time. We spent 2 hours cruising around the canals listening to mariachis, eating steaks and tacos, drinking, laughing and just flat out enjoying the day. This is a must visit for all coming to Mexico City.

As we drove off we pulled into a huge plant and flower mart. I couldn't believe my eyes and my mom, a green thumb herself, was taken back. I think she felt like she had gone to heaven. We bought 6 plants, 50lbs of dirt all for $20 US.

After a short 1 hour drive back, hitting some water and almost loosing it on the freeway, a short nap last night and a quick drive to the airport this morning at 5 am, mom and dad are on their way back to Los Angeles. What a time. Great memories. Great time all around.

Categories: MexicoCity, Family