On July 2, 1982, truck driver Larry Walters attached forty-five, helium-filled balloons to his lawn chair, put on a parachute, and strapped himself into the chair in the backyard of his home in San Pedro, CA. He also took with him a pellet gun, a CB radio, sandwiches, cold beer, and a camera. Walters rose to an altitude of over 15,000 feet (4,600 m) and floated from his point of origin in San Pedro into controlled airspace near Los Angeles International Airport.
He slowly drifted over Long Beach and crossed the primary approach corridor of Long Beach Airport. After 45 minutes in the sky, he shot several balloons, and then accidentally dropped his pellet gun overboard. He descended slowly, until the balloons’ dangling cables got caught in a power line, causing a blackout in a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes.
Soon after he was safely grounded and cited by the police, reporters asked him three questions:
“Where you scared?” “Yes,” he replied.
“Would you do it again?” “No.”
“Why did you do it?” “Because,” he said, “A man can’t just sit around.”
I love Larry’s last reply. It’s true. A man can’t just sit around, especially if that man knows the greatest news for all the world. Lately, I feel like I’ve been just sitting around. Worse yet, I’ve been sitting on the Gospel, without any kind of movement. But this past Sunday, Pastor Nancy Sugikawa gave a message at our church called, “Follow Jesus, Change the World.” In it she shared three questions that changed the DNA of her church:
- How is our faith changing the world?
- What are we attempting that takes great faith and great sacrifice?
- How are we involved in the fight against global poverty?
And as action items, she gave us three:
- Educate yourself on the intersection of faith and justice.
- Explore specific local and global needs.
- Engage in small acts of justice and compassion.
As for me, I’m currently doing the first two – educating myself and exploring. I am currently reading a book called “The Hole in Our Gospel,” and looking into some needs that our church can attempt to take on through the World Vision website.
I feel excited and I feel a little more alive because of Nancy’s message. I hope I can stay on track and not “sit around.”
Thanks for reading.
Joe



This is what I had this afternoon – African herbal tea from Starbucks. Total number of herbal teas today – 3. I’m learning that the taste of coffee, first of all, is what I crave. But secondly, I am also drawn to coffee because I crave something hot to drink after a meal or very early in the morning. Tonight, before I went back to church for a meeting, my wife made a delicious dinner. My initial instinct was to chase down the meal with a hot cup of coffee and drink it on the way to the meeting. I caught myself wanting the cup but I stopped myself.

