Invisible Children

Nothing really earthshattering to share tonight. Just a cause that has grabbed my attention. One of my best friends told me about this organization last week that was doing something called "The Rescue", and the organization's name was Invisible Children. That's pretty much all he told me, and I have spent the following week looking up everything I can find on the internet. One of my friends had access to some dvd's, and I was off and running!

This organization exists to bring awareness of and an end to the longest running war in Africa. The setting is Uganda, and the atrocities that have occured are appalling. I want to encourage you with everything that I have in me to check out the website.

www.invisiblechildren.com

This will be tough for you to see. I want to ask yourself why it is tough. Why is it tough for us to see others suffering? For me, it all goes back to a quote I wrote last week, "To be SAVED costs us nothing. To be a DISCIPLE, costs us everything!" If I truly want to be a DISCIPLE of Christ, then I will care about those that he cared about. I will care about the poor, downcast, outcast, sick, needy people of this world. Actually, I will go a step further than caring. If I am truly a DISCIPLE of Christ, I will do something to alleviate their suffering.

We all have seen that bumpersticker which reads "He who dies with the most toys, still dies." I am not saying to put your family at risk. However, I am asking you to question what your purpose is in life. Is your main goal to live a safe, trouble free life? Is that the kind of life that Jesus lived?????? Now, before you begin to tell me some things you will regret later, think on this:

Jesus promised us that He came to give us life to the full.

If we are true DISCIPLES of His, we will love God and love people.

Do you trust Jesus that life to the full is found in loving God and loving people?

No, you can't possibly help everyone. But I'll bet we can all do more than what we are currently doing.

I came across an interesting, yet sobering website tonight. Check out www.globalrichlist.com and see where you rank. My family's annual earnings put us in the top 1% in the world as far as monetary wealth on an annual basis! I mean, that shatters all the excuses that I don't have much to give. If I, who is in the top 1% in the world, don't give, who will? If I don't help, who will? Yes, my standard of living is higher, but whose fault is that? My family certainly doesn't have to life the lifestyle that we do. Just because it falls within our financial means, doesn't necessarily mean that we should.

A good friend of mine, the same that told me about Invisible Children, counseled me with something that was told to him. "You can't give answers to questions that people are not asking." I realize that for many of you, this may be the farthest thing on your minds right now. You may not care or even think about what goes on in Africa. You may not think or care that 1,000 people die in displacement camps in Uganda every week because of a lack of basic necessities. You may not care that over 20,000 children have been abducted and forced to be child soldiers in Uganda over the past 20+ years. You may not care that countless thousands die every day for lack of food.

However, at this time in my life, I am beginning to care. And while I can't help everyone, I can help to create more awareness. I can encourage people to join me, and to pray with me.

There's a quote in Spiderman that goes something like this. "With great power comes great responsibility." I'd say that being in the top 1% of the world in wealth equals great power. And we all must answer to Christ some day as to what we did with that power, that influence, that ability to make the world a little better. YOU hold the key to changing life for a person TODAY!

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

I guess this was earthshattering, who knew?

www.invisiblechildren.com

PRAYER

Ok, so for those of you who don't know, I raise money as a missionary to provide for my family. It's a tough thing, especially in these times of people worrying about the economy. HOWEVER, it also provides a great opportunity for us to develop our trust and faith in God. Never have we gone without, never have we not had our needs, and many of our desires met. Yes, it gets tough we I haven't received a paycheck for a month, or month and a half. And yet, the faith that we've developed as we've watched God meet our needs time and time again has been huge!

What I really hate, is when people get defensive towards me and their first response is that money is not the only way people can help.

Um, thank you for very plainly and openly saying that you don't care. Thank you for your bluntness! Thank you for your concern and caring spirit.

CONFESSION TIME. I've had many daydreams of punching people in the face. I know, I know, money is a touchy subject with people. Sorry, got off track there.

The point is, prayer is a huge weapon that most of us fail to utilize..............EVER (unless we personally need something). We cannot each of us individually conquer the worlds issues on our own. I do not have enough money to end world hunger. However, I love a quote I came across by Robert Kennedy where he says "Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of the events, and in the total of all these acts will be written the history of this generation.....Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.......But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly."

The past few months my eyes have been opened in an extreme way to the plight of people across the world in need. While I can't meet every need financially, I do what God moves me to do. With the rest of the need that moves my heart, I have decided to dedicate each day of the week to praying for a ministry or organization that is working around the world. So, here is that schedule....

Sunday>24-7 Prayer (www.24-7prayer.com)

Monday>XXX Church (www.xxxchurch.com)

Tuesday>Team World Vision (www.worldvision.org/team)

Wednesday>Blood:Water Mission (www.bloodwatermission.com)

Thursday>One (www.one.org)

Friday>Invisible Children (www.invisiblechildren.com)

Saturday>Compassion (www.compassion.com)

I encourage you to get involved in ministries and organizations around the world. Do your homework, read up, watch videos, and then prayerfully get involved. Give money. Give money. Give money. (You can do without one coffee a week, one meal out a week, etc. I promise you will survive!) With the rest, seriously devote time to prayer. PRAY. PRAY. PRAY. (You can do without that extra hour of sleep every morning. I promise you will survive!) Get involved. DO SOMETHING!

Rich Mullins

"Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you've done it to me. And this is what I've come to think. That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor. This I know will go against the teachings of all the popular evangelical preachers. But they're just wrong. They're not bad, they're just wrong. Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken..."
--Taken from www.wikipedia.org


I've lots to say about this quote, but am choosing to go another direction than I thought I would this morning. As I was typing this quote out, the sentence "They're not bad, they're just wrong." really stood out for me. I have had some pretty serious disagreements the past few weeks with some people, and constantly felt prodded by God to make sure I don't treat them as enemies. I realized how many times I pray against other Christians that I simply disagree with, and that's just wrong. Fellow believers that we disagree with on non-essentials should never be treated as an enemy! How foolish I've been all these years. While I may disagree with someone, we are all still on the same team (those of us that profess Christ as our Lord and strive to live like Him every day). The Bible says that the world will know us by our LOVE for each other, not by our bickering back and forth. Open, honest, respectful dialogue is good and beneficial. Degrading, hateful arguments........not so much. I need to be better about how I express frustration with people, good people who may just think a little differently on some topics.

"They're not bad, they're just wrong."

Definitely not a P.C. statement. But I love the perspective.

So, how many of us actually love like Jesus loved? How many of us even try? Why is that do you think? Is it because of fear, because it will cost you something?

NEWSFLASH!!!!

Giving your life over to Christ does cost you something! I recently came across a quote that says "To be SAVED costs us nothing. To be a DISCIPLE costs us everything." When you become a Christian, your life is no longer your own (we hear this all the time). What that means is, we now strive to do what Christ did. We strive to follow the guidelines God has clearly marked out for us in Scripture. WHY? Not because God is a jerk, but because He knows the best way to live this life that He created.

Why do we second guess God so much? We can't follow him and live life by our own selfish ways. The ironic thing is, that if we follow God with our entire lives, the life we get in return will so far surpass anything we could achieve on our own power.

Let's love like Jesus loved today. Let's live like Jesus lived!

More Mark Batterson Brilliance

Here's another quote from In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day.


"Maybe prayer is much more than a combination of the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet into words? I love Ted Loder's perspective in Guerillas of Grace:

'How shall I pray?

Are tears prayers, Lord?

Are screams prayers,

or groans

or sighs

or curses?

Can trembling hands be lifted to you,

or clenched fists

or the cold sweat that trickles down my back

or the cramps that knot my stomach?

Will you accept my prayers, Lord,

my real prayers,

rooted in the muck and mud and rock of my life,

and not just the pretty, cut-flower, gracefully arranged

bouqet of words?

Will you accept me, Lord,

as I really am,

messed up mixture of glory and grime?"

SIMPLE

FOOD

FOR

THOUGHT.

ENJOY.

Who's The Boss?

I am loving how Mark Batterson's books have been challenging me these days. Today I was reading from In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day and came across this quote on page 82.

"Here is one of the biggest mistakes many of us make in our relationship with God: We focus our energies on telling God exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. In fact, we repeat ourselves over and over again just to make sure God didn't miss any of the important details. But what if, instead of spending all of our energy making plans for God, we spent that energy seeking God?"

We all do this don't we? I mean, I can see this in almost every decision I've ever made. I see a house we want, so I pray for favor in getting that house. I find a car that I would love to have, so I pray for favor in getting that car. I see this, and I see that. I want something to happen a certain way, so what do I do? I pray that God would make things happen that way. I ASSUME that my ways are His ways.

DANGEROUS!

SIRENS SHOULD BE GLARING, RED LIGHTS TURNING ON AND OFF ALL OVER THE PLACE!

So many times we relate to God as if He is following us around, holding on for dear life. Friends, it should be the other way around. First off, God doesn't follow us around like that. Second, when we try to tell God what's best, it's like the blind leading those who have 20/20 vision.

It's a slap in the face.

When is the last time you SOUGHT God on anything? This is how the Christian life ought to be lived. After all, man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart right? God's ways are not man's ways. We have no idea what God may be up to in our lives, where He would love to take us, which stops He wishes us to bypass, etc. Let's start purposing to seek after God, and what He has in store for us instead of telling him what we have in store for ourselves!

Maybe then, our lives will begin to turn out for the better, will begin to make sense, will be worth living.

DISAPPOINTMENT

Ok, so it's Easter Sunday. Many Christians recently have enjoyed calling this day Resurrection Sunday. Whatever title you chose to give it, the fact remains that this is a special day.

A day to celebrate Christ rising from the dead.

A day to show appreciation and thanksgiving for the awful torture Christ went through for us.

A day to remember all Christ has done for us, in spite of all our shortcomings.

I had a difficult time with all of this today. I am frustrated. I am angry. No, I am pissed! I am tired of people living in fear. I am tired of people making decisions based on what ifs! I am tired of people backing down from decisions they've already made. I am tired of people who are wishy-washy.

Phew. My blood is still boiling. I could go on and on, and have done so in my head all day. However, the simple fact is that this accomplishes nothing. It doesn't matter that I think I've been wronged. It doesn't matter that I think people are going to miss out on huge opportunities because of decisions that have been reversed. It doesn't matter why I am pissed, angry, frustrated, and upset. All of this pales in comparison to how I have treated Christ throughout my life, and yet he still suffered horrendously for me. He endured evil itself, unnecessarily, to save me from an eternity apart from Him, knowing that I might very well reject this gift.

I wasted an entire day today, stewing over things that are out of my control. I could have spent this day worshipping my Lord, my Savior, my Friend. And yet, I didn't. I acted selfishly. I acted like someone who does not know or follow Jesus.

Are my frustrations valid? I think so. But I let them get in between me and my Friend, me and my Savior, me and my Lord, me and my God! THAT SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN!

Father,
For that I am sorry.

Dangerous Questions/Prayers

Do you ever find yourself getting into one of those ruts in life, you just do the same thing, have the same routine, etc? This happens to me from time to time, and I have learned over time some helpful ways to get out of this rut.

One of those ways is to begin asking God some dangerous questions. What do I mean by dangerous? By dangerous I mean something that will drastically change your current way of living.

A dangerous question is one that will break that status quo you are in.

A dangerous question is one that will propel you closer to God, provided you are open to however God wants to answer that question.

A dangerous question fights to get below the surface level, to the heart of what God wants to do in your life.

Almost a month ago now, I came across a phrase in a song by Hillsong that I have turned into a prayer for my life. In the song Hosanna, I found the phrase, "Break my heart for what breaks Yours" and it completely captured my attention. I began praying this dangerous prayer and have had my life completely wrecked by God in the process.

My heart has been captured by the plight of people in third world countries who are experiencing extreme poverty. Now, I work with people who are less fortunate than most in this country. However, if you look at the rest of the world, even our poor in the U.S. often times are much better off than most of the rest of the world. Most people in our country have no idea about true poverty, life ending poverty. It's an outrageous disgrace that there are literally thousands of people dying every day simply because they lack access to clean water! In this country we cry and moan if we can't have the latest style of clothing or newest electronic gadget when they first come out. Honestly, we are spoiled brats! Is that harsh? Tell that to the child who's parent just died from a HIV/Aids. Tell that to the parent who just lost their child because of a disease picked up from a contaminated water source.

I am as materialistic as they come. I have fought this most of my life. The last thing on my mind is to make people feel bad for having more things (toys) than they need. I certainly fall into that category. I simply want to challenge the way we think here in America. We don't have to take on a vow of poverty to change the world we live in. If each of us were to perform one small act of kindness (child sponsorship, donate towards clean water initiatives, etc.) this world would see a drastic change. Statistics show that in villages where clean water is introduced the mortality rate is cut in half! Simply from adding clean water!

As professing Christians, something must change in us. We cannot continue along this path, where we hoard all the wealth while people starve to death, die from preventable illnesses, die from things that could easily be prevented. How can we as Christians continue to find this acceptable when God clearly cares for the poor, and has a heart for them as we see in His word? The Amplified Bible states in Deuteronomy 15:11 "For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hands to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor in your land." How many of us can say our hands are open wide to the needy? How many of us can simply say that our hands are even open a little bit to the needy?

As you can tell, my dangerous question/prayer did some major damage in my life. I am not yet sure exactly what purpose God has on this journey He is taking me, but I do know that I am walking closer and closer to Him every single day because of this. I have gained a new weapon against my sinful struggle with materialism, and that's remembering, praying for, and doing whatever I can to help those in need.

What dangerous questions have you been asking lately? Have you been asking any? Take this leap of faith, and watch your passion for God explode in the process!

Relax and enjoy My Presence

More than anything, I've needed this lately.

More than anything, this has been so difficult lately.

Do you find that to be true in your life very often? The very thing you need, or the very thing you feel God asking you to do, is the very thing that the enemy attempts to thwart with everything in his power. I am rereading John Eldredge's book Walking With God, mainly because I know I need to spend more time sitting quietly and listening for God. I love how Eldredge inspires me to do exactly that through his book. So, I am reading it again.

Early this week, as I sat quietly before God, I simply asked what He wanted to say to me. What I've heard all week is "RELAX AND ENJOY MY PRESENCE." I have yet to be able to do this. Wednesday in particular was a really tough day, and I knew that more than anything, I needed to do this. However, it just never happened. I was so distracted with what was going wrong, what needed to get done, who was counting on me for help, etc. Nothing should ever get in the way when God is prompting us. Now, I didn't feel like I had to get away for half a day or anything, just needed a few minutes in His presence, relaxing, so that He could rejuvenate me, and then get back to work. I failed to follow His leading. Do you know what happened next?

God kept pursuing me. I love that about God! He doesn't give up on us because we screw up. He keeps chasing us no matter how many times we hurt or disappoint Him. So, as I decided to sit and take a bath last night, I felt Him calling once again, whispering "RELAX AND ENJOY MY PRESENCE". I tried and tried and tried. It was such a struggle to turn my brain off. A Hillsong United song kept pouring out of my brain, and I couldn't find the off switch. The breakthrough was that I tried, however the time was not quite what I needed.

This morning I went out to run in winds of 20-30 mph with gusts of up to 35 mph. I quit after a little more than a mile and came back inside. And you know what, I feel God calling to me again, chasing after me with "RELAX AND ENJOY MY PRESENCE". I think I am going to go work on this some more.......