Picture attempt

I'm going to attempt to post a picture by emailing it attached to this
email. It might not work.
Also, the main video page is:

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=shawncuthilldotcom I add videos
to that page, then assign them to playlists to organize them so you can
watch them all together as a group.

Muharram videos : http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=EBBAC84A3BB90856
Muharram pictures: http://bbc.quist.ca/pakistan/muharram/
**Warning: graphic content. Viewer discretion advised**

This is my house!!

Today is the Shia Muslim festival called Muharram. If you are not familiar
with this festival I will let local cultural guru Matt give you a run-down:

Matt here! So, way back in the day Muhammad died, as all men do. After he
died they needed to pick a successor to lead the Muslim community. Most
people wanted Muhammad's friend Abu Bakr to take over. A small group of
people called <em>shi'a</em> wanted Muhammad's nephew, Ali, to take over.
After Abu Bakr another Caliph was chosen. After him there was another and
after <em>that</em> one Ali took over. Unfortunately Ali was martyred
shortly thereafter. The Shi'as were distraught. Since then the Shi'a
people have a tradition of holding a solemn festival to remember his death.
They hit themselves with knives and metal whips on the tenth day of the
Lunar month of Muharram. The culminaion of the whole thing takes place
right outside my door!!

So there you have it. You can also check the wikipedia article -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muharram

Watch for *loads* of videos of us attempting to be CNN reporters over the
next little while of the actual festival happening right outside Matt's
front door!!

Re: More Videos

I made a mistake with the link in my last post. Here is the link to the
playlist - http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4561D924B1C602F0

More Videos

More videos on the "Pakistan" playlist. Watch them one at a time, or click
"Play all videos" to watch them all together. Here's the link - >
http://www.youtube.com/my_playlists?p=4561D924B1C602F0
Keep checking back for more. Pictures might be a bit more tricky

Tomorrow is the festival with people whipping themselves so I should get
some good ones. Pray for Matt & Ruth as they have such a good rep in a very
needy community (Joseph helps alot too :)

I'm uploading some pictures to my webspace at http://bbc.quist.ca/pakistan/

Also, uploaded a video to YouTube!! ->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfDrI1UMm7Y

I'll post the code here incase I can imbed it:
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie"
value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AfDrI1UMm7Y"></param><embed
src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AfDrI1UMm7Y"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600"
height="350"></embed></object> (if not this will look like jumbled script)

More soon!

Pakistanization

Hi everyone!! I'm here at Matt & Ruth's place and lovin it. I can't get to
blogger.com or Facebook.com so I'll slowly be uploading pictures and videos.
This morning we took a walk though Kunri. Stopped at the local "Tim Hortons"
for a tea with Matt's very friendly friends. We had breakfast and met an
afghan boy who also gave us free tea. Walking through these streets makes me
realize how unfounded our fears of Mulsims are. May fear never keep us from
bringing light to these people. I brought the MacLeods webcam so if you
catch me on MSN I can give you a tour of their place!!! Videos are being
uploaded as we speak - brb

Vote for Jesse!!!

My friend "Jesse David" has entered the Mix 99.9 contest and is one of the 5 finalists. Please vote for him (help him get played on Toronto radio and help him win 10,000 bucks!) by clicking here selecting "Jesse David - Bloodshed in our streets" and clicking "vote" at the bottom.

Hi from Dubai!!

Hey everybody, it's 3:39AM local Dubai time (6:39PM Toronto time) and I just got in from London, Heathrow. I'll be taking off at 7AM for Karachi! Not much battery power so I'm going to throw this post up and try to find a plug.

Hell-ifax

Well folks I'm writing this from the airport in Halifax. My flight is
delayed from 10:55PM to 1:30AM. Burger King is closed. Not all is lost. Tim
Hortons is open and there's free internet! Yeehaw. If all goes well I'll be
in London tomorrow morning, then on to Dubai, then Karachi. Matt has
mentioned on his blog that the Pakistani government doesn't like blogger, so
I'm attempting to get past them by emailing this blog post. Thanks for your
prayers. Let's hope this works.

Need a title v 26

Pakistan - Day 1 - Muharrum

Seems the first day I arrive in Pakistan there will be a Shia festival called Muharrum. This festival mourns the death of Ali, Muhammads grandson and Shia's flood into the streets to mourn by beating themselves on the back with metal whips!! Click on the picture to enlarge or Click here for more pictures

Wednesday prayer requests - Pakistan!

Hey everybody, just got in the door from 3 days away with Hayley! We stayed at the Corkinview beach house on Point Prim. Today I'm getting all ready for my trip tomorrow to Pakistan!! Please pray as I travel across the world. I will try to check in along the journey so keep checking in. Also pray for my wonderful hosts - Matt & Ruth Cook!. You can tell I'm excited cause I'm overdosing on exclamation points!!!!

Happy Birthday to SimpleGathering.com!!

Today marked the 2nd anniversary of a little website called SimpleGathering.com. Last year we were at 11913 posts and this year that's been doubled to 22031! Users have also increased from 262 to 473. Thanks to everyone their contributions!

Monday's hot topics - Defrocked Volume 2

A fairly heavy topic for us over the past month has been "What happened to you guys?". We have appreciated the prayers and support of many of you during our time at Bridlegrove, and many have been confused as to why things had to end. We have asked ourselves this question as well. Thanks for understanding that things aren't easy to process or explain. Part of the process for us is evaluating what went wrong and taking time to heal. Along with my first post about being "defrocked", I'll attempt to put together a sort of ongoing therapy session over the next few weeks and months to help me deal with some of the trauma.
On the forum, someone even brought this up - click here - and I have gone into a little more detail about why we aren't at Bridlegrove anymore....well we are still members...but...well see for yourself.

Video of the Week - My Rock star sister-in-law

Here is the first video from my rock-star-sister-in-law Cindy Davis.
Does anyone else think she sounds like Jewel? :) Here is Cindy's Myspace with all her awesome songs!! For those who don't know she is married to my rock-star-brother-in-law Ryan - here

Hovind gets 10 years

As I reported back in November Kent Hovind was convicted of 58 counts of tax evasion. Yesterday he was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Here is the article with the details

Random Minisitry pics - Derek got baptised!!!

You may remember our friends Maggie & Derek that we asked you to pray about oh so long ago - here. Well recently Derek got baptised!!! Please continue to pray for them as they grow in their faith. Here are the "before" and "after" pictures :)

Wednesday prayer requests - on Friday

alright, this week is bonkers and it's only going to get crazier so here are the wednesday prayer requests!

First - I booked my Pakistan tickets so looks like I'm leaving next Friday!! Wahoooo!!

Also I got an email from my friend Anita who is moving to Kenya for 2 years to help at Rift Valley Academy! Here is Anita's awesome MAC page with all the details.

In Montreal : The Windshiled wiper that got me this room

I'm typing this from a hotel room in Montreal. Got nice and stranded waiting for a flight today. It was my best airplane day ever. Let's review:

1. Flight at 10AM = cancelled
2. Flight at 1PM = cancelled
3. Flight at 3PM = cancelled because windshield wiper is broken on plane.
4. Flight at 4PM = line up and wait to see if name called....full
5. Flight at 5PM = finally boarded, then hear "Sorry the pilots will be one hour late please get off the plane". Get off. Wait. Board at 6PM. Wait. Announcement. Wait. Pilots arrive. Wait. De-ice. Wait. On runway. Take off at 8:15PM. Arrive in Montreal at 9:15PM. Miss connecting flight to PEI. Book flight next day at 3PM to PEI. Get free room at Ramada because of that little windshield wiper.

Did you know that if your flight is cancelled because of "weather" Air Canada won't pay for your room? I was pretty upset about that (considering I had waited, oh all day, for my flight only to be told that I had to pay for a room), so I went to the customer service desk and since my 3PM flight was cancelled for "mechanical" reasons I got a room. So here I am. 1AM. Blogging. Hopefully I'll get on my 3PM flight to PEI tomrrow.

So to review:
1) Weather delays = no room
2) Mechanical delays = free room & meal vouchers!

Monday's hot topics - Happy Martin Luther King Day!

In God's providence I was down in Atlanta at the Martin Luther King memorial just last week. It was quite a moving experience, similar to the holocaust museum in Israel. I was overcome with feelings and thoughts that I had never experienced. "How did this happen", "Why", "Who would do something like that". I had experienced these all before but one emotion came up that I hadn't felt before, "Lord forgive me and my ancestors for my our attitude of collonial domination". I'd never really thought of how we as white, euros EXPECT things we don't even realize. We think we are civilized. We think we are the best. We think others need to become "like us" instead of "like Jesus". We came to Canada and booted the natives cause they were "not like us", not "people". The land was "uninhabited". Disgraceful.

Same with slavery. While we here in Canada have abolished slavery a long time ago, I saw things at the MLK jr. memorial that happened in very recent memory. Walking through the memorial I saw a picture that i will never forget - click here for my pictures. It was a picture of a lynching in Atlanta. A black man hanging. Whites all around. Little children watching. The thought that struck me was that the little children in that picture would still be alive today. Racism exists and we need to ask God's forgiveness for how it has affected our lives.

I didn't think it existed till I started at Bridlegrove and moved to Scarborough. People would say to me "Oh that's the black church"....Huh? Pardon? I felt like saying on many occasions "Do you attend a 'white's only' church"? I'm not saying that people do this on purpose but examine your heart to see what's inside.

So what are you doing to end racism? Do you live in a nice white picket-fence community? Are you segregated? Do you have friends of other ethnicities? Do you intentionally seek to break down those barriers? *Click here to post your thoughts on the forum

May God remove all racism, expressed or hidden, from us this day - Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2007

Facebook vs Myspace

Who would win in a boxing match? Which is better and why is everyone telling me to sign up for them?

Question of the day...

Got this in an email:

u know how in the bible it says that during the great flood all the humans and animals died except for noah and the animals in the ark, what about the fish? did they have some in the ark or did they survive outside of the ark?

Answers anyone?

Howdy y'all from the South!!

Just blogging here in Atlanta, Georgia!! I'm here at 'The Urban Forum' with people from around North America who are hacking it out in the ghetto for Jesus. The conference is being held at the Salvation Army conference center/seminary - more details and bio's on the speakers at the 614 blog.

The cool thing about being here is that everyone is living/working in the inner-city. It is the first conference I've been at where people don't look at me and say "you live where?? oh dear, that's dangerous". It's quite refreshing to hear from others, wether they've worked in AIDS hospitals in South Africa (my room mate Doug), homeless shelters, ex-muslims who are now following Jesus, etc. etc.

Yesterday we went to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial/Museum - click here for pictures which was quite moving. It was appauling to see pictures of the way blacks were treated as recent as 50 years ago. As a group we said prayers of repentance and reconcilliation. It was also sad to think that today hidden tones of racism and segregation still exist within society and even the church. Tonight we are going to hear from Shane Claiborne of "The Simple Way" - www.thesimpleway.org/. Right now it's supper time so I'll catch ya later.

Little Mosque on the Prarie

Last week I saw a promo for a new show on CBC called Little Mosque on the Prarie. It's a comedic attempt to show how Eastern Islamic culture blends with Western Canadian culture. Starts tonight. Should be interesting. Check it out. Pray for Muslims.

Monday's hot topics - Iraq War & US foreign policy

Well now that Saddam is dead, let's move the discussion on to the Iraq war. Isn't it time it was over? It's been over 3 years now and I can't say I'm all that confident it will end well. I made some comments on the forum about this, showing my displeasure and got quite the response from my American friend who goes by the username Itry:

Your comments seem like nothing more then an anti-American rant to me. Maybe soon we will see Shawn Cuthill burning American flags? If you wish to appropriately complain that Bush was hasty in assuming that we could rebuild Iraq that would be an appropriate comment. You seem to be more interested in painting a picture of America as "the great evil empire." Such an attitude is astonishing to me when the only boarder Canada has is with the USA and that border is nearly completely unprotected. I am not suggesting Canada militarize the boarder, but their attitude of Americans as the "great evil empire" does not square with their lack of fear of America.

What do you think about Iraq? Are you a flag-waving American, or a flag-burning Canadian :). Click here to post your thoughts

Random ministry pics/video

I was back at Bridlegrove today, missing all my little homies. Sadly I didn't see any of them there. Here's a picture from a much happier time in the summer of 2006. Also a video of the same day in church:
I did have a great time with the young people who were there! They were asking about those funny guys with name tage called Mormons. What they believe, what they don't believe, who Joseph Smith was, how Mormonism is a cult and different from biblical Christianity. I left the young people with a challenge and so I thought I'd put it out there to you to - > Order a Mormom.
To your house, to someone you love. Give a Mormon missionary a challenge. Show them that you know your stuff. Click here to visit the Mormon.org website and sign up to have two friendly folks with name tags arrive at your front door. I dare you. Lemme know if you take the challenge and how it turns out.

Lego Bible updates

Check it - > David & Goliath updates here

I'm a wimp for Jesus!

Last month I mentioned Geoff Ryan and his network of 614 churches. They have a reputation of being sold out for Jesus, gritty, inner-city and incarnational to the core. That means 614's pop up in the worst areas of Canada and the world and live out Jesus to the lost, last and least. I'm actually going to an inner-city "Urban Forum" conference next week in Atlanta, put on by Geoff & the 614 crew, to learn from others who've been in the ghetto longer than me. You could say that the 614 team are the most wild bunch in Canada, intentionally moving into ghetto's across the country to share and show Jesus' love.

But reading over their latest entry on the 614 blog made me feel like a complete wimp when it comes to the small sacrifices I've made for God. Here is the text about the "Back to Jerusalem" movement in China:

One portion that I found especially encouraging is found on page 290....

Every Back to Jerusalem missionary receives training in several main subjects. These include:

1.) How to suffer and die for the Lord. We examine what the Bible says about suffering, and look at how the Lord's people have laid down their lives for the advance of the Gospel throughout history.

2.) How to witness for the Lord. We teach how to witness for the Lord under any
circumstance, on trains or buses, or even in the back of a police van on our way to the execution ground.

3.) How to escape for the Lord. We know that sometimes it is the Lord who sends us to prison to witness for Him, but we also believe the devil sometimes wants us to go to prison to stop the ministry God has called us to do. We teach the missionaries special skills such as how to free themselves from handcuffs, and how to jump from second-storey windows without injuring themselves.

This is not a 'normal' seminary or Bible College!
If you ever visit one of the places where we are training our Back to Jerusalem missionaries, you will see how serious we are to fulfill our destiny in God. You may see people with their hands handcuffed behind their back, leaping from second-storey windows!
Nothing less is required if we are to break down the walls that separate Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists from knowing the sweet presence of Jesus."

Gulp

Question of the day...

hey shawn, i was wondering if u would have the time 2 answer this question also. when the flood started, why didn't people just grab a bunch of food and jump on a big piece of wood that would act like a raft or something?
Answers??

Wednesday prayer requests - the broken hearted

Jesus' mandate was to "bind the brokenhearted". Today someone sent me a poem that expresses some of the pain associated with a broken heart. As you read this, pray for someone you know that has a broken heart. Think about sending them this poem to show them that it's OK to mourn and hurt and heal.

When the heart
Is cut or cracked or broken
Do not clutch it
Let the wound lie open

Let the wind
From the good old sea blow in
To bathe the wound with salt
And let it sting

Let a stray dog lick it
Let a bird lean in the hole and sing
A simple song like a tiny bell
And let it ring
(by Leunig)

May our ears be attentive to the song of the broken hearts all around us.

Choosing Bible over bling in Toronto

A month ago I reported on the "hip hop church" phenomenon sweeping the inner-city in the United States. I sent the article to my friend ROCK (see CRUX video) and then the next day the Toronto Star called him about doing a similar story about hip-hop churches in Toronto!! (no connection just freaky coincidence)

After the interview ROCK sent me this link to the article:

http://www.thestar.com/artsentertainment/article/164830

a movement to redefine musical styles often associated with drugs and violence, and bring the word of God to youth.
By Leslie Scrivener
December 24, 2006...

Stephan Wright, whose stage name is R.O.C.K. (Representative of Christ the King) is a youth pastor at Bramalea Christian Fellowship Church, and uses hip hop in almost every service. He's practical and knows that most young people aren't interested in listening to earnest sermons early on Sunday morning – so youth services are in the evenings, often on Fridays.

"Events like this are entertaining and fun, but there is a message behind it," says Wright. One of the messages is that God is in everything. "After the music stops they are encouraged to live a life for Jesus, instead of day to day."

Looks like rapping for Jesus is here to stay...and coming to a town near you!

Saddam Hussein hanging video

Has everyone seen the Saddam Hussein execution video yet - click here? I sat and watched it with the family on New Years eve and it just seemed so odd and rushed. Hayley's grandpa, who is 99, could still remember the last hanging in PEI.

I got to thinking "Why exactly did Saddam Hussein receive the death penalty"? The official reason given is:

the murder of 148 people, torture of women and children and the illegal arrest of 399 others.

Is it just me, or does it seem a little strange that the US is not going after other dictators? If the issue is "crimes against humanity" (which are horrific, that's not the issue) then why isn't the US dive-bombing North Korea right now? Why didn't they do jack in Rawanda? Seems like the US just likes to pick and choose which dictators are a "threat". The whole execution of Saddam smacks of retaliation - considering Saddam was best buds with Rumsfeld in the 80's. Maybe Bush knew he had weapons of mass destruction because the US gave them to him to fight Iran! I haven't really done my homework on this, but it seems that there are more people dying in Iraq today than when Saddam was around. Or at least that's what THIS coffin maker is saying - click here

Before the war, we were making about two or maximum three coffins a day for people who had died from diseases or car accidents. But today we make at least 20 a day for victims of the violence....
I remember a day, some four months ago, when I and my colleague had to make 50 coffins. Soon there will be no more places here in the cemetery to bury so many bodies...
It is very sad to see Iraq like this today. I hope that my children one day will live in a better country without violence but in a country filled with happiness and dignity."

So let me get this straight, there were no weapons of mass destruction, Saddam still got the death penalty, and violence is now rampant and bordering on civil war. Seem strange to anyone?

The athenBLOG happy new year translator....

Are you hoping to pass on New Years greetings to a friend who speaks a foreign language but not sure how the translation will work? Hope no more, here is your athensBLOG Happy New Year translator!

(Leave a comment and let us know how many of these you can speak and if you can offer any help on the pronunciations)

Afgani: Saale Nao Mubbarak
Afrikaans: Gelukkige nuwe jaar
Albanian: Gezuar Vitin e Ri
Armenian: Snorhavor Nor Tari
Arabic: Antum salimoun
Assyrian: Sheta Brikhta
Azeri: Yeni Iliniz Mubarek!
Bengali: Shuvo Nabo Barsho
Bulgarian: Chestita Nova Godina
Cambodian: Soursdey Chhnam Tmei
Catalan: FELIÇ ANY NOU
Chinese: Xin Nian Kuai Le
Corsican: Language Pace e Salute
Croatian: Sretna Nova godina!
Cymraeg(Welsh): Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
Czechoslovakia: Scastny Novy Rok
Denish: Godt Nytår
Dhivehi: Ufaaveri Aa Aharakah Edhen
Dutch: GELUKKIG NIEUWJAAR!
Eskimo: Kiortame pivdluaritlo
Esperanto: Felican Novan Jaron
Estonians: Head uut aastat!
Ethiopian: MELKAM ADDIS AMET YIHUNELIWO!
Finnish: Onnellista Uutta Vuotta
French: Bonne Annee
Gaelic: Bliadhna mhath ur
Galician: Bo Nadal e Feliz Aninovo
German: Prosit Neujahr
Greek: Kenourios Chronos
Gujarati: Nutan Varshbhinandan
Hawaiian: Hauoli Makahiki Hou
Hebrew: L'Shannah Tovah
Hindi: Naye Varsha Ki Shubhkamanyen
HongKong(Cantonese): Sun Leen Fai Lok
Hungarian: Boldog Ooy Ayvet
Indonesian: Selamat Tahun Baru
Iranian: Saleh now mobarak
Iraqi: Sanah Jadidah
Irish: Bliain nua fe mhaise dhuit
Italian: Felice anno nuovo
Japanese: Akimashite Omedetto Gozaimasu
Kabyle: Asegwas Amegaz
Kannada: Hosa Varushadha Shubhashayagalu
Kisii: SOMWAKA OMOYIA OMUYA
Khmer: Sua Sdei tfnam tmei
Korea: Saehae Bock Mani ba deu sei yo!
Kurdish: NEWROZ PIROZBE
Lithuanian: Laimingu Naujuju Metu
Laotian: Sabai dee pee mai
Macedonian: Srekjna Nova Godina
Malay: Selamat Tahun Baru
Marathi : Nveen Varshachy Shubhechcha
Malayalam : Puthuvatsara Aashamsakal
Maltese: Is-Sena t- Tajba
Nepal: Nawa Barsha ko Shuvakamana
Norwegian: Godt Nyttår
Papua New Guinea: Nupela yia i go long yu
Pampango (Philippines): Masaganang Bayung Banua
Pashto: Nawai Kall Mo Mubarak Shah
Persian: Saleh now ra tabrik migouyam
Philippines: Manigong Bagong Taon
Polish: Szczesliwego Nowego Roku
Portuguese: Feliz Ano Novo
Punjabi: Nave sal di mubarak
Romanian: AN NOU FERICIT
Russian: S Novim Godom
Samoa: Manuia le Tausaga Fou
Serbo-Croatian: Sretna nova godina
Sindhi: Nayou Saal Mubbarak Hoje
Singhalese: Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa
Siraiki: Nawan Saal Shala Mubarak Theevay
Slovak: A stastlivy Novy Rok
slovenian: sreèno novo leto
Somali: Iyo Sanad Cusub Oo Fiican!
Spanish: Feliz Ano ~Nuevo
Swahili: Heri Za Mwaka Mpyaº
Swedish: GOTT NYTT ÅR! /Gott nytt år!
Sudanese: Warsa Enggal
Tamil: Eniya Puthandu Nalvazhthukkal
Telegu: Noothana samvatsara shubhakankshalu
Thai: Sawadee Pee Mai
Turkish: Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian: Shchastlyvoho Novoho Roku
Urduv: Naya Saal Mubbarak Ho
Uzbek: Yangi Yil Bilan
Vietnamese: Chuc Mung Tan Nien
Welsh : Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!