ginga: the soul of brazilian football

News Flash! My fellow North Americans...in case you didn't know, the World Cup begins in just about 10-days on June 9. :) A world sports event that is watched just about everywhere except the U.S.(and maybe Canada??). I decided to make effort to keep up with the month long series of games...since Brazil is a favorite to win again and I will be arriving just after the final game is played in July. Plus, the next World Cup will be in South Africa in 2010...so, I can get a jump start on catching the fever, if I end up there.

The games are in Germany, so that means a lot of morning and early-afternoon games with the time difference. Beware...I may be calling you friends with cable. I even thought about getting a Brazil team jersey or shirt...but my friend Walter (from Argentina) just might disown me. Hmmmmmm......

When goggling for World Cup and Brazil team info, I found a documentary on Brasil football...."Ginga: The Soul of Brazilian Football." Here's the description and link to the online film, if you want to check it out. It is divided up into seven different profiles of seven different players.

Ginga: The Soul of Brazilian Football

"Brazilian football has always had a magical quality and a romance associated with it. As well as helping them win the World Cup a record five times, it is what makes Brazil everybody's favourite team after their own country. But what sets Brazil and its football apart from the rest?

One of the answers is Ginga - an almost indefinable, mystical quality of movement and attitude possessed only by Brazilians and evident in everything they do. The way they walk, talk, dance and approach everything in their lives.

Ginga is what gives Brazilian futbol players their fluidity and rhythm on the pitch and enables them to 'Joga Bonito' (Play Beautiful).

Now a new film - entitled Ginga: The Soul of Brazilian Football - has been created to explore this influence on football and life in Brazil.

Produced by Fernando Mereilles (City of God, The Constant Gardener) and directed by three up-and-coming young filmmakers, Ginga is a dynamic documentary that explores Brazil through the country's favorite sport.

The concept of the film is rooted in the exploration of seven real-life characters, aged between the ages of 13 and 20, who come from different geographical regions and varying social and ethnic backgrounds..."

what i'm reading...

A Sacred Sorrow: Reaching Out to God In the Lost Language of Lament by Michael Card

Last week I attended a conference workshop led by Roberta Hestenes, who shared how praying the Psalms of lament is a valuable and important discipline to identify and pray for the poor. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. I started reading "Sacred Sorrow" last night and WOW! Michael Card takes us through Scripture to show us what our worship and prayer life has been missing. It includes sections on Job, David, Jeremiah, and Jesus who all poured out their hearts, tears, pain, questions, and sorrow to the Father.

Here are just a few quotes to give you a taste...

"How can we speak to the suffering and the poor if we do not learn their language, the language of lament? Until we learn to honestly embrace our hopelessness and theirs, there will be no true gospel to be heard. Until we learn to lament, we have nothing to say to most of the world."

"Worship is not only about good feelings, joy, and prosperity, though they are at the heart of it. If this were true, then according to this modern American understanding of worship, the poor would have nothing to say, nothing of value to bring to God. While Jesus would pronounce a blessing on those who mourn, we pronounce a curse. Those who 'labor and are heavy laden' can find no place in our comfortable churches to lay their burdens."

"Though it may seem profoundly counterintuitive, lament and despair are polar opposites. Lament is the deepest, most costly demonstration of belief in God. Despair is the ultimate manifestation of the total denial that He exists."

On Job's friends..."Your true friends will be willing to sit with you in silence not for a week, but for as long as it takes. Your real friends will encourage you to keep talking, crying out to, and arguing with God. And when you would be tempted to despair and quit the dance floor, saying you simply lack the strength or the faith to go on, is only your real friends who will have the love to leave you all alone with the One who desires, above all, to finish the dance with you."

Yikes! Lots to think about, consider, and take to prayer! Just had to share.

Oh yah, new "feature" on my blog. On the sidebar, I will list books I am reading or about to read. For what it's worth. :)

what i'm listening to...

Vertical by Jeff Zabel
An awesome new worship CD by Journey friend, Jeff Zabel
Check it out at... www.jeffzabel.com

(Thanks Jeff for satisfying my worship fix!)

grateful for generation 11!

I've been slacking on the blog these days. Last week I was in the mountains wrapping up the final spiritual formation and direction retreat, called the Journey. I shared four retreats over the past twelve-months with an incredible community of ministry leaders and mentors. I am so grateful for the many ways these friends and mentors have enriched and encouraged my life during this season of waiting on God, next steps, and ministry transition. Thanks Gen 11 for sharing space for God and one another! Pitcher/Cup...Saucer/Plate!!

fun in o-town with the grays

Had a great 10-days in Omaha at Word Made Flesh Board meetings and some extra days with peeps there in O-Town! Staying with the Gray family is home away from home and always fun and sweet! Here are some highlights!

With Christian & Sonya

Backyard fun with Adina & Elliott

Hanging with C Dawg in the basement

celebrating ten years

I met Chris & Phileena Heuertz and Daphne Eck in Israel ten years ago. Little did I know the huge impact their friendship and Word Made Flesh would have on my life! We celebrated the ten years of friendship by sharing a meal, memories, photos, and laughs of our time together in Israel.

more peeps in omaha

While in Omaha I was able to spend a little time with the WMF Brasil staff. Rich & Rebecca Nichols are in the US for a few months on maternity leave with baby Anna. Ben Miller is here working on his Brasil visa. These are the awesome people who will be making space and including me in their Rio community, beginning this July for five-months. It was great to hear more about life and ministry in Rio and catch-up!

With Rich, Rebecca, baby Anna Nichols & Ben Miller

Tim and Amy Hupe were just approved to begin a new WMF field in Bangkok, Thailand. They will live and serve among the poor in a slum community, Klong Toey. Tim and Amy were roomates a few years back in the loft in downtown Long Beach. They are now living back in Boston, where they are from. Tim and Amy have been dreaming and taking steps towards Bangkok as long as I've known them. So, it is so cool to see them a step closer!

With Tim & Amy Hupe