Differed

Praise God for his blessings. I am humbled and astonished at how the works of his hands continue as my strength without my strength. i spent 8 days or so with my sister, her husband and their son in Monterey and just got back home last night. I loved every minute of it. It is late now and my desire is not to type or write but to simply talk about it to someone. I have more the desire to talk about my time with them than the energy to talk about my time with them. My heart understood a bit more this past week, what family was and how God’s message of adoption is more important the farther one gets away from those immediate in relation.

I am going to Ukraine. It is a blessing from my new friend Stephen Christian and his non profit group, Faceless International. Yes, this is confusing since I am Stephen, he is Stephen, I am a Christian, he is a Christian and his last name is Christian. The Lord kept open my month for one purpose and until I received a call from Stephen asking me to go on a trip to minister in Ukraine, I had given up a bit of hope, forgetting that just because I can’t see doesn’t mean God isn’t doing. There are plans ahead of our thoughts and our attention. So with 14 days to go I am learning Ukrainian, which isn’t easy.  I am not sure what this trip will lead to, but in this time where even my house is at stake, the only place I have to trust is the Lord.  If that sounds narrow minded please ask God yourself to provide, then wait, wait some more, erase all that you hope for and expect and see how amazing his provision is. Example; I am going to Ukraine for free without planning it. When what we plan is out of our control all we can do is label the event, “Faith”. Blanketing that unknown unseen expectation for God to work with a simple word is in itself a step into, an act of of self defiance. The fact that I am not begging God to send me out of the country, in fact I am a bit hesitant to even think about going out (simply because I have visited 27 countries in 7 years) is the reason why I believe He is sending me.

God’s faithfulness is amazing. After 3 months of prayer, He has led me and supplied for me and now I own a 1998 Jetta. Bought it for $1.

All of this amazing provision in the midst of me feeling distant from God. That is why feelings should be seen as vantage points to see that God works whether we feel he does or not.  I think I have a spirit of oppression around me for these past few days, robbing me of joy, which hasn’t hindered my faith, just my attitude. Proverbs 3:3-4 is what I have to say about that.

Today I played soccer with Joseph from Yemin, then Mosed from Bangladesh. They were good. I lost, but according to Jim from Lebanon, we all won.

Tonight I road the elevator with Detroit’s new mayor, Dave Bing and a small conversation started about my movie I might direct with T-Pain. I talked too much about myself. Next time I wont.

1 Truth

When you speak the words of Jesus it is because he is alive. I have never seen more clearly. I understand where I have been saved from. I know I am in and I want to be going where there is life and life in abundance. Detroit doesn’t need the auto industry to save us. Detroiters need God and with God the city will be saved.

I want to hold a gathering in the park across the street from Tigers Stadium.

I am not ready for this and do not have the words to say. Victory is not for the taking but for the sharing, the encouraging, the loving and the humble.

Closer than Ringside

Steps backward in flesh are steps forward in spirit. so when your back is finally against life’s ropes, know that you are facing everything with the unlimited power of God the instant you reach for him. When we serve God at our best we often confuse that as He and I strength but when we serve God at our worst it can only be seen as He Strength. Whether at our best or worst, let us remember at the second situations switch for better or worse, richer or poorer, in good health and sick, that in God is where we need to be.

Ezek 1-3, 2 Corinthians 11

Tomorrow

It seems as the tides are turning in both directions tomorrow and the next day to follow, they will turn again. A leadership will present by simply being present a new set of humanitarian morals and moral never before seen in the eyes of those who look to him and those who look at him. A type of checks and balances not for the White House, Congress, corporations, CEOs or CFOs but for the individual, brought on by the outlets for paid professionals’ opinion and research,  will decide that today the tide of tomorrow will not touch or determine the ebbs and flows of how we think, treat, love or wonder about another human being.

A recession has been announced and the scape goats counted for slaughter yet the individual has voted and set their own didactic to play.  31 days after 9/11 I could see a recession begin. 5 days after 9/11 I witnessed with my collegial set vision, what was confusion and questioning for the previous 96 hours started to take shape coast, as they say, to coast, caressed by the humbled hands of catastrophe into what some but not all regions of this country are known for; hospitality. A country filled with pride for brotherhood. A country filled with the thought of others, what a beautiful thing.  It is odd to me that the two proudest times in my life were the months after 9/11 and when I think of where we are going with Barack Obama. Not that where we are going with Mr. Obama is the to the promised land but it is to a place where as an African American young man I interviewed in Grant Park 5 hours before Mr. Obama would win said, “If President Elect Barack Obama wins, we (African Americans) will have no excuse.”

If we as a nation in this time of change could not only change how we think of the big R but also change where it is and where it belongs in our lives than “Change” will occur.  Lives are lived, from others perspectives, as slogans of religion, education, perception or constitution.  God Bless “fill another country’s name here”. I believe we are already blessed with more than enough. Oh, a recession, a humbling point to where not only auto makers but baby makers, baby dadies, mamas, drama mamas and everyone in between are forced to check the empty space in their wallet for the “insert budget guidelines here” tab and await its removal with our hopeful minds set on the $700 Billion removal fee. What is a recession without the hope for a better time when all of us can go out and buy whatever we want whenever we want it? It is 2:22 am and I will finish this tomorrow, wait, I’m sorry, make that later today.

Understand that time wears out the springs (in both the water and metallic sense) of hope that only rest on the consequences of the moment and ignorance. Even then though, the ripples and repercussions of that hope are counted and considered answers to prayer in countries you’ve never been to and in children lives you will never get to meet.  It appears that when the hours that separate tomorrow from today melt together without an eye closed to miss it, things just end up being all the same.*

*Yes I was inpsired after watching the Jack Bower in the  24 kickoff to write this message.

$2000, or 600 Mochas, gave this Vietnamese boy a heart surgery. Saved. His. Life.

www.eastmeetswest.org

World;

I believe Jesus.

fear

Hoan, 21, born without legs, came to America in October to talk around the country about the affects of Agent Orange.

Some off the moments of 21 year old Hoan’s travels while she went around the country telling people about the affects of dioxin agent orange.  More Photographs, a video, to come and a written article too.

Hoan climbs into the car.

Hoan, 21, crawls over a barrier at the overlook of San Francisco.

Hoan visits prosthetics doctor in hope of new legs.

From the outside to the in, Hoan has very little fear of both mental and physical obstacles in her life. She smiles more than anyone I know and in the next post about her, you too can see how her life is lived and learn more about the amazing stories of the millions like her being born today in Vietnam because of what America sprayed in Vietnam over 30 years ago.

How do you cope/conquer your fears?

Just an encouraging word for people who are in difficult times. Please understand that God is always there for you and has a plan for you if you come to him.  I would like to remind you that Christianity is not about Christians, it is about Christ.

Stand firm in faith with me, with all believers, encouraging our brothers and sisters in Christ as Christ encourages us and I encourage you. Tomorrow God has appointments in your fears and you CAN conquer them with the full armor of our Lord. It is not time to sleep or stand content, it is not time to put hope in our president (whom I support), but it is time to be a light reflecting in the true hope and true love that is Christ Jesus. Speak in love. Praise God.

Praise God for all of you brothers and sisters. I wish I had time to write all that God has been teaching me over these past weeks of travel documenting everything from Barack Obama to victims of Agent Orange, painters to volunteers, airports to fellow journalists. I want to and will Lord willing do so in the next week.

I leave for NYC for a big shoot I have on Monday and Tuesday next week. Please pray. I will then stay in NYC for 6 more days. Pray for my ministry and confidence in Christ.

beyond you

What do you complain about. Tell me and I will tell you there is so much more.

Photograph by Stephen McGee

Forever kneeling, 5000+ members of the Tutsi tribe lay scattered to this day 10 years later between pews of a church in the countryside of Rwanda. Seeking refuge under the roof of their belief, women and children were raped and killed by members of the Hutu tribe in 3 days.

And God is good.

For a further story. Please, please, humbly asking one more time, please visit…

http://mediastorm.org/0024.htm  (14 minutes of your life that will hopefully change you for longer than a day)…but watch out, your world view might change after this movie.

I can tell you my stories of Rwanda if you ask.

Fear. What do you seek when you seek God. Words and sentences can be thrown around in this part of the Christian world that does not see persecution. Pain is gain when it is in Christ. My answer to those who dwell on their humble circumstances includes many scriptures like this one “Yes you have suffered, but have you suffered to the point of bloodshed?” My first time reading that was a few weeks prior to when I was first truly persecuted in my faith. With rocks and hate thrown at me, my life was impacted by the silent force of the spirit, and not a drop of blood was shed from me.

In that persecution I was one with the Spirit and was blessed because of it.

I have been dwelling on the point, find God past in your fears. You can conquer them with Him. It is amazing, flat out amazing and impossibly uncomprehendable to me that God can use the worst in the world for His will. But I believe it and like those spoken in the bible, Lord willing my belief that evil will not triumph, will not triumph, will not triumph, will not triumph, is credited to me as righteousness by God.

It is not usually the last important moment in our lives we base our current situation on. It is the preceding unpredictable future that grasps us and leads us to chose what is right and what is beneficial.

Friends we have nothing that is evil to fear where we live. Whether mugged or beaten, robbed or vandalized, mocked or immoralized, the point is not that moment which haunts us, it is our status as front line participants in God’s will. Our battle at the battle field begins when we wake up because we are always the invading side, not retreating. Invading on the grounds occupied by not held by the common enemy that all brothers and sisters share across the globe.

How can we spend time pointing the wrong in others who are fighting with us.

When there is pain like this in the world while The Even Greater leads us, it is time to align on the right hand of God and fight with the only armor and weapons we have; Truth and love. Praise God. Remember this Friday that his strength is real.

Imagine with me America, what if there will be a time when our great nation will change it’s motto from God Bless America to God bless (insert country here) and we turn our focus off of us and on to the them. It is my thought that the them out there is where God is dwelling and blessing anyways.

Mark 2. James 1.

Obama on Woodward, Detroit

Sen. Barack Obama led another fan thrilled charge from his podium that railed against Wall Street and Washington for the current financial crisis. As we all know in Michigan, bad news relating to the economy is no new news at all. The state has the nation’s highest unemployment rate at 8.9%, more than 300,000 manufacturing jobs have gone under and the mortgage foreclosure rate is among the highest in the nation. So what is knew from the Obama campaign?

“We meet here at a time of great uncertainty in Detroit and all across America. The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has led us to a financial crisis as serious as any we have faced since the Great Depression,” Obama said. “I know these are difficult days and nowhere has it been more difficult than Michigan and Detroit. But here’s what I also know: We can steer ourselves out of this crisis. Because that’s who we are. Because that’s what we’ve always done as Americans.”

“It looks like we have a rescue plan that includes these taxpayer protections. And it looks like we will pass that plan very soon,” Obama said. “But our job is far from over. Because now that we’re fixing the mess on Wall Street, we need to move with the same sense of urgency to help families on Main Street.”

As I drove up to the event traffic was already backed up. . To my benefit, know the city well so driving on side streets all the way up to the ceremony on Woodward was not hard, even with only 30 minutes to go. The temp was a cool 70 degrees or so as I parked my car in one of the many back alley ways of Detroit. People were talking here and there whether or not Obama would only speak for a few minutes like he did last time in Heart Plaza. I brought my video camera and still camera to fit both appetites that the media has for distribution. There was a great mixture again of people of all colors and ages walking in the direction of the large American flag draped over the famous street. I went up to a cop to see if he knew which direction Obama would be facing and he answered, ” Do you know what kind of question you are asking, I should arrest you”.  Woah, ok, next cop. I could not see the podium through the trees on the DIA lawn so I asked that cop. I think he over reacted as there were about  70,000 people looking at an empty podium for an hour before Obama was to take stage. Being press you can go about anywhere you want to behind the scenes relatively speaking. I got there with only 30 minutes to go, signed in and was off to the stage with nobody in my way.  When I wanted to get into the crowd though the volunteer kindly stated, “Only normal people are allowed in here”. Time to get creative. The biggest thing about shooting with photographers that have been in the biz for more years than I have been alive is to find the angle that is not taken and make the best of it. Now with over 200 press crawling around, that is a hard thing to do. But I managed with what I had. So I went medium high, close and super high, calling on my friends in the Park Shelton to open a window for me. I was the only “professional” photographer to shoot from that high up. From the podium area you could notice little men with big guns from every room in the surrounding area. No helicopters from what I could see.

visit www.detroitreborn.com for more photographs on Detroit. All photographs on this site and this blog are copywrited and are the property of Stephen McGee. Any use of the photographs without permission is illegal.

More to come later..

It is not about the Victory, it is about the Vision.

The last visual slide in my Vietnam movie. Child like faith anyone?

Children playing at sunset on the shores of Da Nang, Vietnam.

Obedience by listening for Christ’s calling is key, not suggestions or what-i-would dos or books that suggest or relate like circumstances (I am not against reaching out but don’t forget to reach up first). If Abraham had a read a Christian author’s searching-for-faith book he might have killed Isaac, listening to the authors voice instead of The Author’s voice. In addition, awards aren’t the wicks that reveal to the celebrant that the victor is or are on God’s path. As it was in the beginning, I am here to glorify God with how I win and how I lose so whether I win or lose, I will honor my Lord with my attitude and purpose.  With purpose comes vision when patience and apathetic empathy collide in His grace and apprehensive is denied. Saul knew everything about security. Paul knew everything about falling down only to truely stand.Purpose is the foothold, the foundation, the fortress one starts from to cast vision. It is the stronghold one stands on to look out to something to be revealed.

On the contrary, purposeful events, like that of winning an Emmy, are not to show that God has done something, but that he is doing something. Called Human Beings, we are more to our liking and idolistic pleasure, Human Doings. Until you extinguish all surrounding darkness by becoming truly in this world but not of this world, God will be doings in you. While you are alive your life is to show God is doing something. The boastful trumpets of Jesus are sounded when the humble show love.  With such a simple answer to the unlikely simple question of, “Where is God”, why is disaster so often anticipated by the reincarnated.

But oh the human drive to relate with someone or something. The Book shelf of answers comprised by knowledge could in self scribble in sleep a written fiction to novelize one’s comprised scored life; a Beethoven’s sonata that each of us have written in the language “Complaint”, when the drama fueled by internal orchestras ignite the digital analogs that store and score error and success alike. Where do you reach?

I struggle with my flesh these days as it wants the entire world to know that I have won two Emmy’s.  But praise be to God that my purpose is Christ and my struggle with fame or lack there of is conquered whether I struggle or not because of my vision. I pray that he, in spite of my weakness, will glorify himself through his will, overlooking and changing my self assessed placement card. Is it not for myself that I should and deserve to stand atop the highest peak of success? No and no again. Falso (in Italian). My purpose is Christ casting my vision to prepare the way for a great return, it is to serve the lowest of the low and consider myself as Jesus did; a servant out for the will of the Lord.

If victory is held on to during the journey in times of struggle perseverance forgets what to hold on to. As vision is cast, a creation is born that defies logic as it grows stronger with both patience and action. When the vision is God sent, all there needs to be is one spark and a population will understand and make it their own. Victory is not the objective to start with but the objection to the means.

I praise God for what he has done in my life and what he will do in my life in the days and years to come.

Inspired by Revelation 1. First time I have ever read it.