United Methodist Reporter Blog

Pedal for Parkinson’s

Steve Quam, a music therapist and member of Saint Matthew United Methodist Church in Greenville, S.C., should be just about finished today with a coast-to-coast bicycle journey he began in July.

Mr. Quam, 64, was diagnosed in 2008 with Parkinson’s disease and tells the Anderson Independent Mail the exercise he gets from bike riding calms the tremors in his hands. So he’s been “putting that to the test by exercising for the last four months,” he says, and in the bargain raising awareness and funds to fight the disease.

He knows it’s only a matter of time before he won’t be able to balance a single bike. When that day comes, he’ll ride a tandem bike and let his wife, Jeanne, take the lead. But during this trek Jeanne stayed at home, keeping in touch with him via cell phone and GPS tracking while he rode the 4,250 miles from Washington State’s Pacific coast to Edisto Beach in South Carolina.

Read the full story at IndependentMail.com, and visit the Saint Matthew UMC site to read the trip diary (complete with photos) or to make a donation.

The World Cup, more than just a game

Who doesn’t love donning red, white and blue, rooting for the home team and seeing how long you can yell, “goaaaaaal!” before turning blue in the face?

Soccer fans have waited four years to see the USA men’s soccer team battle for the title of the best of the best, and already, this year’s tournament in South Africa has captured the hearts of both the soccer junkies and the clueless, yet patriotic, game-watchers.

FIFA, the International Association of Football Associations estimates the cumulative (key word) audience of the 64 matches of the 2010 World Cup will be over 26 billion. Impressive. (If you’re thinking this is impossible, seeing how there are only 6 billion people in the world, check out CBS’s explanation of the calculation.)

And Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, one of the ten stadiums used in the tournament, seats 90,000 fans. This makes for quite the captive audience and United Methodists are taking full advantage of the gathered masses. What better place for the body of Christ to be actively present than at the largest event of the summer--a place full of joy, faithfulness and hope?

The denomination’s Upper Room International Ministries has teamed up (pun totally intended) with The Ultimate Goal (TUG), a Christian evangelism network, to distribute Upper Room resources—including magazines and devotionals—throughout South Africa during the month-long soccer tournament.

And, get this, the Upper Room magazine will even be available to traveling fans in their own languages, including Portuguese, French, Spanish, Greek, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, Arabic and English.

What appears to be a soccer game to some is actually a ministry opportunity to others. Could there possibly be more to the World Cup than just soccer? 

Second chances

I've blogged about Michael Vick before.

I think I will always struggle with understanding the situations, mindsets and whatever other factors that lead people to behave in such ways toward the defenseless -- animals, children, you name it. And I admit I'm struggling with forgiveness in this particular situation. I make a point of being the opposite of Michael Vick when it comes to treatment of dogs (I even helped coordinate the logistics of a rescue this week). And if I were a Philadelphia Eagles fan, I'm not sure I would be one anymore.

Which brings me to some thoughts that the Rev. Greg Cox posted on his blog today relating to Michael Vick, forgiveness, and the NIMBY phenomenon -- sure, we believe in second chances, but are we willing to live it out, and be a part of it, in our own churches?