Learning with a disability / Slavery
What’s with the title? Disabilities and Slavery have nothing to do with each other is what you’re thinking at this point. Do I have your attention? I do? Good! Ok I’ll get back to the tile of this post in a few but, for now I ask that you open your mind so that you can think and posses what I’m about to say. First off I want to clarify that I am not an expert when it comes to much and well I don’t think anyone is an expert at any one thing all though I’m not saying someone can’t be very good at something for many people are very good at many things. I also want to clarify that the flowing is from my observation only and therefore is solely my opinion based off of my on observations and experiences. As many of you know that I graduation High School back Jun of 2004 at the age of 19 and now about 6 years later am doing more than many people said I ever would yet, that’s beside the point and rely has nothing to do with what I want to talk about today yet, it does have its relevance as you’ll see in a few minutes. Today 6 years after I got out of the hell hole of High School I’m 25 years old and have a BA in Youth Ministry which is raped up with a minor in Spanish from a Christian University in Chicago. Now I’m not trying to blow my own horn yet, its fun to do from time to time rather I’m setting up the foundation to a few points that I’d like to share as well as the based to some of my frustrations with the system of educations as well as how we educate those with needs that are a little bit different then those who somehow fit into the mold of “normal”. Every now and then I get that email or letter from someone who I used to know from my High School days and as much as I enjoy getting such letters / emails as its fun to connected with people and here what they are doing these days it also frustrates me to a level of anger from time to time when I get an email/ letter from an old friend that is not very well written or thought out or in some cases rely is just a mix of words on a page that have little or no meaning as they are scared throughout the written text. Now some of this I know is not the fault of the one who is sending such messages but, yet they are at some fault as they are the ones putting the words on the pages and then sending them to me yet, on the other hand they are not at fault for it is the fault of the system of education that they have been through that is to blame for most of this craziness as the system has in a way not done a good job at providing them with the skill set needed to communicated in written form. However, with some people this is very much the fault of the system or do to the lack of recourses that one had access to when they were in grade school yet, others it’s the fault of the system for other resinous ; rather than lack of access to recourse the person is say labeled with having some kind of disability and therefore the education system makes the assumption that they will not be able to do everything a person without such a label will be able to do and therefore does not invest the same amount of time with the disabled person as they do with the person who is not labeled as having some kind of disability. Now I am not saying that we are all the same or that we are all able to do the same things as that is just not true but, I do believe that the major of things that people can’t do is because they have been told they can’t and therefore as a result believe just that, I realize that this does not apply to everyone and there are some people how truly can’t do something either because of some medical complication or do to an accident that has left them with the lack of the ability to do something or something’s. However, I don’t believe that if one says they can’t they rely can’t do it at all rather right now in this moment it may be hard for them to do or they have yet the skills or training to do it , However, after working on it they will at some point be able to do it. Yet, the sad part is that many people who have some kind of disability our told that they will never ________ (fill in the blank) and therefore becomes of this negativity the belief that they will never ___ becomes true and therefore they will never be able to do it just as they were told. Now I realize that something just will never happen for some people and this realty needs to be part of our lives but, I do believe we can do anything that we set our minds to do. I am one of the lucky ones; I grew up with a number of disabilities and never rely did all that good in school because of them. However, over the years I have been able to overcome many issues and yet, I still have the same disabilities in most cases if you did not ask me about them you would have no idea. Over the years I have been in and out of special education classroom, some not so good and other that should be highlight as how special education should be. Yet, as no one learns that same and no one things the same; How is it that the education system expects children to sit in a classroom with other children and for everyone to learn the same thing. This conformity rely works and in the events that it has some positive outcome there is very little gain in the end. I realize that the public education system is not perfect nor is any education for that matter and that it would cost too much money to education each child differently yet, how much better would children be if such a system was in place?
I feel that many of us who have a disability are in a way a “slave” although we cannot be bought or sold like in the old days this is a new form of “slavery” we become slaves to a system that we don’t understand and that we have little say in what happens with in it and because of our lack of education we also lack an underrating of the system and therefore because of this we also lack power as the power is in the hands of the one who has the education to understand. Although many of the people around us say that they have are best interested in mind ; I ask what do they rely mean and if what they say is true , then I would like to know how much money they are getting to have our best interested in mind. It’s all well and good that we are told we have rights but, if we don’t understand what they are or how to fight for them then they are useless. Knowing is power and just like the slaves of old, the slaves of today our in many ways as they lack the Education they need to fight back and there are lots of people in our big mean world that would like to keep people who have a disability out of the loop as much as possible so that those who don’t can have power over them. Now I’m very blessed and lucky that I grew with one parent who wanted to fight agents that kind of power war and who wanted me to be become all that God had created me to be. On the other had I had one parent who rely did not care that much and all thought, one would think that that would have had a negative impact on me it in true had the opposite effect. From the time I was very young till now I have been fighting for a world where everyone one would be equal in spite of our differences yet, although that will only happen in a perfect world a world I nor yourself will ever see ; I believe we can each do are part to help created such a world. My passion is helping children / youth to become all that God has created them to be and this passion comes from not only my own past but, out of my love for Jesus and a desires to create a little heave here on earth. Now it agrees me to the bottom of my heart when I hear stories of people who have just become a number in a system that is meant for those among us who tartly can’t do daily task because of their medical condition yet would otherwise be able to go on to do great things become more disabled then they rely are simply because of this crazy system of power that over time takes over and the person becomes a slave to the system for lack of a better term. It is my pray that this power can for those who can truly use it will be able to gain back the control and in turn become everything that they have every dreamed of becoming. It is also my pray that those who need some support can get that support without losing their power and control of their life and that the support will be just that and nothing more. Over the years some have told me that I was crazy to not accepted some of the things that I was begin offered yet, although some of these things might have been of some help I always felt that if I were to accepted such offers that I would lose all control of my life and that was something that kept me from accepted such assents and even to this day I am very hesitant to accepted an offer for something until I have learned everything that I can about something before accepted any kind of offer for anything. I have had many people tell me “You can’t …..” and well as much as I would love to tell each of them that they were wrong that is just something that I rely can’t do as it’s just not practical but, I can say this they were wrong.
6 years ago if someone had said that in the year 2010 that I would have graduated from a Christian University with a BA in Youth Ministry and that I would also have a minor in Spanish and that I would be bilingual, that I would be living in Mexico city and that I would be able to thing on a global level. I would have thought you crazy because at 19 I rely did not think that I would be able to get through university and that graduation day would never come yet, at 19 I also had no idea what the Lord had in store for me and that in a few years I would find myself sitting in a classroom in a language school in Costa Rica and then two years later that I would get the opportunity to hang out with Mexico’s youth and be part of a wonderful local church in a wonderful community. What’s next I don’t know this but, I do know that each day is a new day and each day is a day for learning and exploration and until the day when I stop learning I will fight for a better world for the day I stop learning I will be dead and it will be my time to move one to our fathers hours yet, that day is many years away and there is lots of work to be done. So I ask will you join me in any way you can. Don’t worry about how big or small the things you think may seem as everything we do big and small play a major part in changing a corrupt system. Someone told me once that the only way to change a system is by doing little things as if we tried to do big things nothing would every happen yet as we do the little things the big things happen on their own and the changes douse not seem as big as it rely is.
Blessings and Peace
Chris
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An update
CWM (Covenant World Mission) as most of you guys know by this point I applied to CWM a few months back and the communication between them and myself has well not been very good as they claim to have send me emails/ voice messages and yet these so called messages have for one region or another have not found me at all or in time for me to respond to them in the way that I would have liked to. However, I am not saying that I do or do not want to be a member of a CWM team either here in Mexico or anywhere else in the world as I feel that they are an awesome origination but, at this time I don’t know if my application to be part of their team is going to go any feather then it all ready has. No matter what the outcome is I will keep supporting the work they do as they are doing some awesome things for the Kingdome. It is my pray that I will be able to determine when the time is right to have the conversation I need to have with the people I need to have them with and to be able to see if there is an open or closed door in front of me.
LAM (Latin America Mission) as a few of you may know that about two months ago or so I sent in a per application for LAM and just the other day a real application showed up in the mail at my home address ; I have yet to get the application as it is in the mail to me here in Mexico but, I have seen the application as a copy of it was send to me via email and well it’s a bit long and crazy yet, as I have seen a number of application for missions organization it was of no real surprise. At this time I’m going to start working on putting some of the stuff together that the application ask for and it is my hope that by the time I get the paper copy of it I will be able to fill it out and get it back to them ASAP as I said above I do not know what is going to happy with CWM but, in the event that the outcome is not what I am hoping and praying for then at least I will have another shot of doing what I want with LAM and maybe LAM might be the better option yet, I rely don’t know at this point but, my experience as of this moment with CWM is something I wish could be said was on a better note but, that’s all I’m going to say as I rely don’t want to talk about it at this time as I don’t want to say anything that might get back to me in a way that I would need to explain something that was taken in a way that I rely did not mean and so on so for now I ask that you pray for peace , time , and the ability to see what God wants me to do in the mist of all the craziness.
Thank you again for your prays and all of your support as I explore the world and as I let God lead me to place where he want me to go.
Blessings and Peace
Chris
Ps. If you feel that God is putting it on your heart to help me out finically during this time of exploration then feel free to click on the “donation” button that can be found around my website if you don’t feel good about sending me money via the internet then feel free to contact me and I will be happy to give you an address where a check can be set to. Note When giving online via PayPal keep in minded that I am charged a small fee for all transaction that come from a credit / debit card so I would ask that you give a min of 5 USD If you want to send me less than 5 USD I would ask then you do not use the donation button but, rather send me an email and I can tell you how to do it right through PayPal so that there is no fee to be paid. Thank you again and as always if you have any question or if you just want to chat feel free to send me an email or you can go to my contact page to learn of other ways of how you can get in touch with me.
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God’s Time
God’s time is the Alpha and the Omega; it was, it is, and is to come. God’s time is also full of Love, peace, joy, compassion, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, unlike our time which has a begging and a end , our time is short , our time is limited , our time is not always filled with love, peace , joy , compassion , patience , kindness , goodness , faithfulness , gentleness , and self-control ; our time is not equal to God’s time and it never can be. However, we are each given the gift of time from the LORD who gives each of us the same amount of it. However, although we are each given the same gift of time from the LORD we all don’t use our time the same way and there has been many how have had this gift taken away from them early due to the hate in the world in which we call our “temporary home” (earth). As we thank the LORD for the gifts he has given us we need to also thank him for the things we do not have for if we had everything then there would be no need to be thankful at all as we would have everything and it would be imposable for us to know any different. However, if we don’t have everything and we can’t get everything then we have no idea what it is like to have everything and therefore when we do get something we can be thankful for it. In a resent conversation with a very good friend of mine and a sister in Christ we talked about God’s time and how each of us had been learning a lot about God’s time the past few months or so it’s interesting that although we are living / serving in two different worlds we are still learning together, as we chatted about time it got me thinking about how we use time / misuse time and as the thought ran through my head it became apparent that as people we misuse are time more often then we use it for what it was given to us for and that is to give glory to the LORD. A few years ago back during the summer of 2007 or somewhere around then don’t fully record the date yet, the date rely douse not mater as the words themselves have more value. “Many good Christians spend lees then 5 minutes with God a day and some pastors spend less than a minute with God a day” no idea where this information came from or how much truth is behind it but, if it does have some truth to it and even a little it is very shocking. How can we say that we have a relationship with the LORD if we don’t spend any of our time with him? How can we say that we know the LORD if we spend so little time with him? How can we say we understand his love if we never give him the time to love us?God’s time is funny as it interacts with our time as too often we think that we can read God’s time when the truth is we can’t ; often people say “the time is right , I know because God said so” well in some cases this may be true but, more often then not the time may be right for us but, in God’s time it is not time and therefore it is not “the time is right” as it is not time in the eyes of the LORD. Sometimes it is time for us to find rest and peace in the LORD as he picks us up and holds us in his arms, and other times it is time for us to walk in the hot dry sun as we learn the things the LORD whishes to teach us. It is not always easy to let the LORD carry us but, we most remember that we most let him do so for he is our father and we are his children and as children we most let our farther take care of us when the time is right.
Little things = Big things for the Kingdome of God
It does not matter if you’re a teacher, if you’re a student, a doctor, a hurting teen, or a newborn seeing the world for the first time. Each of us plays a role in one of the biggest shows on of the biggest stages in our universe; the show is called “Life” and the stage is “Earth”. We each play a role no matter how big or small we are and as we grow older our role in the show of “Life” changes and even though we play some roles for longer times then we do others each still is very important as if we where to skip a role and not play are part the show of “Life” would not be what it was meet to be. As young children we are meet to explore and learn , as we get older and as we learn more we can play parts that require more of us and the roles in the show of “Life” get harder and harder as we grow old and as we learn. Over the years it may seem that our interaction and the things that we have learned have little or no value yet, everything in this world has a value it may be big or it may be little but, everything is worth something. Although we may think the things we do and say have little meaning and or value they do in fact have value and therefore no matter how little or big we may thing something we do is it has an impact on those around us it may be big or small but never the less an impact is made. It may be hard to see that our little actions have had any impact at all but, if we can plant a seed then that seed has a changes to change the world but, if we just put the seed on the ground and do nothing with it then we have done more harm than if we had done nothing at all.
Blessings and Peace
Chris
Let us remember that Jesus came to server us and not to be served, let us give thanks for the things we do not have and let us give parse to the LORD for today is a new day and everything in it is a gift from the LORD.
Ps. An update from Mexico City along with some bible reflections coming later this week; so get ready it’s going to be a busy week on this site.
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Help haiti
check out this website to get Facebook and twitter images to use on your profiles to help out. No one has asked me to share this link and I’m not getting paid to share it , rather I am sharing it for it is the lest that I can do. I know there our lost of other places to give online to help and if you don’t want to help compassion then find an organization that you want to support or if your like me and have little money then pray pray pray and share links to help its the lest we can do and in doing so as a community we rely can make a difference.
Or to donate online to compassion click here
Blessings and Peace
Chris
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A quick update
Sisters, Brothers, Friends, and Family;
It’s my prey that each of you had a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year. This post is fourteen days late but, who counting LOL. The past two weeks have been crazy and as much as I would love to explain all the craziness here it does not fell right to do so and therefore I won’t be but, I can tell you this the time has come to search for a different organization to work for and as much as I would have liked to work for Covenant World Mission it’s become clear over the past few months that at this time things between myself and them our just not going to work out. After much pray it has become clear that it’s time to start the sear for another organization to work with a process that began about a week or so back and at this time seems to be a process that is going nowhere fast. So this is where each of you comes in please pray for me as I search and talk to people.
In other updates if you like my blog / photos / other parts of my website then you should be aware of the flowing as of March 28th 2010 this blog may no longer be available here at cdavignon.com as the site might need to be taken down due to the cost of keeping it online. At this time I don’t know what will happen to this site as of the 28th of March as I’m not sure where the founds will come from to pay for the months / years flowing March but, if I were to move to a free blog serves I’ll let each of you know in advance before doing so. If you would like to know more about what kind of money is needed to keep all of cdavignon.com online then please fell free to call or email me and I’ll be happy to tell you more about the needs for this site.
I pray that each of you have a wonderful two weeks;
Blessings and Peace
Chris
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Feliz Navidad / Merry Christmas
Feliz Navidad y Merry Christmas ; Sisters , Brothers , Family , and Friends ;
I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas may you find joy and peace as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessings and Peace
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Update your subscription today ! Or you won’t get updates!
If you have a subscription to my RSS feed please click on the Subscribe button again and enter your information or click on the reader you would like to use otherwise you will not receive any new updates to the RSS feed ; if your useing an offline reader then update the feed URL in your reader. The old RSS feed had some issue with it so I have created a new one – If you have any question about my RSS feed please send me an email and I will do my best to try to help you.
Blessings and Peace,
Chris
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Suicide : A Research Paper
Intro of Paper : Click on link above to download in PDF. This paper was written my SR year at North Park University in Chicago.
“Suicide is the third leading cause of death for adolescents 15 to 19 years old.” (Suicide and Suicide Attempts in Adolescents , 2000)
In order to help youth with any issue regardless of where it falls on the important scale; it is very important to keep our ears open and we should always be welling to dig deep to find the root of the issue rather than assuming that there are no or few events that have lead to the point where the young person has come to us for advice or help. I have noticed that in and even outside of Christian circles there has been a lot of talk about a verity of different issues regarding youth such issues of gang violence, gun use, killings of young children and teens fill the pages of the papers on numbers accessions and form time to time we talk about depression, and family issues and yet theses issues are important as they can play a major role in the life of today’s young people and other issues can arises if they are not addressed but, there is one issue that I know I don’t hear much conversation about and I find it interesting that it is the third leading cause of death for adolescents.
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2 Samuel – exegesis
Establishing a temple for the LORD here on earth and The establishment of a place in heaven for David and the people of Israel. The word of the LORD came to Nathan telling him to go tell David ‘this is what the LORD says :Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in ? I have not dwelt in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. (V5-6a) The LORD goes on to ask David when he had asked why has no one built a house for me. Rather The LORD tells David that he has been with him everywhere he has gone and now The LORD will make your name grate. Although David what’s to make a place for the LORD the LORD douse not want him to because, David douse not understand that the LORD’s place is not here on earth but, rather in Heaven. In verse teen The LORD says that he will provide a place for his people Israel and will plant them so they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. The LORD also tells David that he will establish a house for him when his days are over. The words O LORD and LORD are repeated many times thought out the text . There also seams to be a them of a promos from God that God will make a place in heaven for his chosen people.
Chris Davignon , North Park University Spring 2009 : Hebrew Bible Prophets class
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Joshua 2 – exegesis
Joshua 2
Joshua son of Nun send out two spies secretly to investigate the land of Jericho. Then we are told that they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and they stated there. (v1) Verse one sets the foundation for the rest of the narrative. We learn in verse two that the King of Jericho was notified that some of the Israelites where there that night to spy out the land. However, in verse three we are told that the King sends a message to Rahad. The text dos not tell us how the king knows that the two men are at Rahab house or who told him such information but, we do know that someone told him. Yet Rahab hid the two men and when the massager came to her and asked her to bring out the two men that had entered her house she told them that they had left at dusk when it was time for the city gats to close. Verse three revels that there is more going on in the narrative then the eye can see it is clear that Rahab knows why the men are there and she also know that she needs to help them. Throughout the rest of the narrative a number of things happen and we learn that she know that the LORD has given the two men the land and she asked them to save her and her families lives for she showed kindness to them. Joshua 2 plays off the theme of the establishment of I serial in the promised land it is clear at the end of the text that the time has come for Iserial to move into the area as “The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands.” V24.
Chris Davignon , North Park University Spring 2009 : Hebrew Bible Prophets class
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