email signature

Check out my new email signature. Ahhhhhhh yeah.

(I'm posting it here so it will create a URL for it so my Gmail can upload it for my signature when I do email online. Silly Gmail for not allowing an upload from my computer!)

Ahhhhhhh yeah.

Young Life: WV

Sarah and I are truly graced by the steadfastness and heartfelt passion of our colleagues working in Young Life throughout this great state. We met yesterday with as many area directors and other W. Va. staff who could make it to a gathering to plan and pray in Holcomb, WV (yeah, I didn't know it existed either--in between Craigsville and Richwood) atop a serene mountain with a view men probably have literally killed for. (The current owner of the house we met in was a gracious host and a gentle elderly man who, I'm sure, merely paid for the view.)

To get completely jazzed and semi-updated on the mighty hand of God through Young Life in West Virginia, follow our state director Scott Berg @scottbergylwv (go easy on him, he's new to Twitter; plus he works more than he tweets, which is a good thing).

memory

Trying to memorize this. John Piper told me to. (He's hard to refuse.)

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. 2 Peter 1:3-15

MINISTRY UPDATE | APR 2011

Sorry I've been so terrible about keeping up this blog lately! Here's my latest UPDATE/PRAYER LETTER, specifically to inform the amazing donors and adults on my and Sarah's ministry team.

Sign the petition. Save the LRA strategy.

Hey friends! I’ve been asked by the amazing team at RESOLVE (good buddy org of Invisible Children) to get some more friends to sign the petition, which, along with a 1-minute video explaining the situation, can be be found here: http://goo.gl/xW3Dn

Basically, at the end of 2010, we celebrated the release of the first ever U.S. strategy to see an end to LRA violence in the DR Congo and Central African Republic among other countries. (The "LRA" is the "Lord's Resistance Army" that has been active for almost 25 years in several of the most remote nations in Africa, killing, raping, and abducting at will. See my most recent post for Invisible Children's event this April that will help make sure this war won't go past its 25th year.) But now, the hope of seeing concrete action that can save lives is in jeopardy. Congress is threatening to cut the money needed to implement the LRA strategy from the U.S. budget, the very strategy Congress required the President to create.

Thanks for signing the petition! Pass this on to three friends you think might like to sign it.

Sign the petition. Save the LRA strategy. from The Resolve on Vimeo.

25. Mark your calendars: April 25

On April 25th join thousands of participants around the world to speak out without speaking. We are standing in solidarity and remaining silent for 25 hours to resemble the 25th and hopefully final year of this war. Sign up at invisiblechildren.com/​25 to create your personal fundraising page to help raise money for Invisible Children's life saving Protection Plan in DR Congo.

25 Event Details from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

DO SOMETHING NOW

Just wanted to make everyone aware of a gorgeous website for one of the great collaborative social justice efforts of our generation--DO SOMETHING NOW (dosomethingnow.com). Though I'm unaware of the exact origins of that phrase, my interaction with it has been from the unmatched Passion conferences and their GO Center where they showcase dozens of worthy causes that are making incredible differences in the far corners of this planet. (Incidentally, one of my best friends from childhood, Emily Vogeltanz, has been the head designer for the GO Center at Passion for several years now, and she has an eye for the 'look and feel' of an environment that I've not seen reproduced in any other gathering; below are some pics from Passion 2010 that of course only hint at the beauty she creates.)

Go to DO SOMETHING NOW and, well... do something now.

All We Soldiers

Today is February 2, 2011, Groundhog's Day. And the 22nd anniversary of my dad's death. His name was John Dillard "J.D." King III.

I'm certainly sad about this, but the sadness is more of what I would call an 'old sadness,' not one that truly affects me day-to-day. At least not consciously. In fact, most of my memories from childhood are very sunny and warm, like an old photograph. Still, there's a nostalgic sense of sorrow mixed with sweetness whenever I reflect on these periods. So in that way, I am definitely a sentimental person, but quite optimistic, interestingly. 'Old sadness' is kind of a theme of a song I just wrote and recorded as part of a week-long songwriting/recording challenge called Record Time VI (check out the blog here).

While the song isn't specifically about my dad, I incorporated many of the ideas I mentioned above in both the song and the artwork (which is of me and my brother as kids, taken by my father) without really meaning to. It's appropriate that it worked out to be done on Feb 2. Could it be... SATAN?! (A little Church Lady reference for you old SNL fans.) Ha! Actually, quite the contrary: I think God has beautiful and unexpected ways of reminding me He loves me.

Anyway, here's the song. Enjoy!

And here's the lyrics.

CAMERON KING

"ALL WE SOLDIERS"

© 2011

I wonder how far I’ll get walking backwards
I wonder if I care if I’m getting anywhere
Looking back there, everything’s yellow
And looking ahead, it seems the color’s left the air

Walking time in a straight line, so
Part of me is still behind me

Memories and dreams hang around like phantoms
A flash of your eyes, and in the night I hear you call
A moment we shared and you have both gone
So can I be sure that it ever happened at all?

Who I am and who I was, see
One of us is surely dying

Earth is spinning, stars are singing
We’re all waiting while we’re fading
These old days, they’re growing hazy
We’re still fighting, hoping brightly

All we soldiers
Marching onward
Towing all our dreams behind us
They define us
As they blind us

All we soldiers
Marching onward
Holding tightly to what’s rightly ours
Towing all our dreams behind us
They define us
As they blind us
Can’t rewind us