$38

$38

What is $38?  To you, $38 might be:

• A nice dinner for two (at least, for my husband and I, that would be a very nice dinner).
• Three or four new books to read.
• Two movie theater tickets or two new dvds.
• $1.27 per day - probably less money than your daily cup of coffee or that soda you buy from the vending machine at work every afternoon.
• One dinner for your family of four at a fast-food restaurant.
• What you pay for a month of high-speed Internet

But to a child living in poverty around the world, $38 is so much more.  $38 can change the world for a child.  To a child living in seemingly hopeless situations, $38 means:

• Medical care - both basic instruction in personal hygiene and medical attention to treat illnesses for the child and their family.
• Education - the provision of school supplies, school fees, literacy programs, possibly tutoring - all things that the child would not be able to receive or would only be able to receive for a short period of time
• Food for the child and their families to prevent them from starving
• Individual attention and love through a local church and their volunteers
• Training in social skills and the chance to develop self-confidence
• The chance to be told the good news that Jesus loves them, died for them, and wants to be their Lord and Savior
• Hope

Do you need tangible proof that this is even possible? Good - because I can show you!

$38 a month can radically change the life of a child and their family.  Will you consider sponsoring a child through Compassion International?

You can change the world.  You can start by changing it for one child who needs you.

If you can't sponsor a child, will you consider going to the Compassion Sponsorship page and praying over the children found there?  Perhaps you get overwhelmed by the enormity of the need.  What can you do?   Here are a few thoughts:

1) Search for a child whose birthday matches yours or one of your children, and pray for that child whenever you pray for your own child or whenever you think of your birthday.

2) Go to the Sponsorship Page and read about the lives of the children who are waiting for sponsorship.  Explain to your children or grandchildren or siblings what these children's lives are like.  Use this to teach the children in your life about poverty, compassion, and what it means to love others and to be grateful for what God has given you.

3) Learn about what Compassion does for children around the world and pass on the information to your friends, your family, your church.  Share God's love for these beautiful children.

Jesus said, "Let the children come unto me."  Can you give up $38 a month to give one child hope and a future?  Will you love these children on behalf of our Lord Jesus?

Please go, look at the faces of the children God loves, and pray that God would provide someone to love them.

Who is God, part 2

A long while back, I wanted to start a series of posts about who God is.  You might recall I had one post talking about how we can know anything about God, followed up by a post on why we as Christians believe the Bible is the holy, inerrant Word of God given to us for our instruction and faith.

Today, I want to focus on the first of many attributes of God: His Sovereignty.

First, let's answer the question: What exactly does "Sovereignty" mean?
* For something to have sovereignty, that thing contains the absolute or supreme power or authority in the system.  It is the ultimate authority, the ultimate power, the one who sets the agenda and can exercise independent decision making. 

* For God to be sovereign, it means that He is the ultimate authority.  He is fully and wholly in charge.  It means that He is the one who orders and designs the universe.  He is the one who makes the rules, because He alone has the authority to make them. 

Let's look at some verses that declare and demonstrate God's sovereignty, and then we'll consider what this means for us. 

Flippancy and Fear

My husband and I both enjoy sarcastic humor.  I've always had a sarcastic streak in me, though over the years I have worked on keeping it in check so as to not hurt people by being unfeeling.  But both of us can appreciate sarcastic humor, satire, and irony.  In itself, I don't think there's much wrong with that.

But...

Love of books

I absolutely love reading.  When I was a child, I often got in trouble for staying hidden in my room reading instead of coming downstairs for lunch or dinner.  I used to make tents in my room with old sheets and blankets, throw a pillow on the floor, and read all day (once my chores were done, at least). 

One of the things I have been so thankful for over the past 14 months has been the amount of reading I've been able to do.  Beginning the week before our wedding, I have been keeping track of the books I've read.  So far, in 15 months (minus a few days), I've read 94 books. 

Some of my favorites have been:

Joni Eareckson Tada, A Lifetime of Wisdom: Embracing the Way God Heals You
* I first read Joni's autobiography when I was a kid.  She broke her neck diving in the Chesapeake Bay at age 17, and since has become one of the foremost Christian speakers, advocate for people with disabilities and other challenges, and overall in trusting God's sovereignty. This book is a recollection of what she has learned about God's grace, mercy, and sovereignty in the 45 years since her accident.  Reading this book encouraged me to go back and re-read her autobiography.  Joni has survived much, including breast cancer over the past few years.  She is a living testament to how much God really loves us.

Susanna Foth Aughtmon, My Bangs Look Good & Other Lies I Tell Myself: The Tired Supergirl's Search for Truth
* I'd never heard of the "Tired Supergirl" before; I bought her book on a whim.  Susanna is a wife, mother, and - even more pressure-filled - a pastor's wife at that.  She is brutally honest about the things that she struggles with, but speaks the Truth of God's Word.  If you feel inadequate as a woman or as a child of God, this book will speak to your heart.  And make you laugh - she has a wicked sense of humor. :-)

James Kalikos, The Physics of Superheroes, Spectacular Second Edition
* I know.  I'm a nerd.  A big one.  As someone with degrees in Spanish and History, I'm not supposed to like math and science.  But I have a secret love affair with physics.  I don't know why, but I love physics.  Over the past few years, I've read a number of books on physics.  This one is all about superheroes.  You get to learn things like why Spiderman couldn't have saved Mary Jane unless he first matched her velocity, then caught her, and then slowed down.  Or how many calories the Flash would have to consume to keep up his phenomenal speeds.  It is enjoyable, funny, and teaches you a lot of fascinating physics.  It's not as hilarious as Chad Orzel's How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, but a great read nonetheless.

Madeleine Albright, Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948
* I have this odd fascination with Czechoslovakia and Budapest.  Albright - the former Secretary of State - was born in Prague just before WWII broke out.  Only as an adult, in her 60s, when she was being vetted for the Secretary position, did she learn that most of her family had died in the Holocaust.  This book is not just a personal family history about Albright's parents and grandparents.  It is also a well-documented, intricately woven political, social, and cultural history of the complex web that was Czechoslovakia in the years before, during, and after the war.  It kept me interested from page one, and I would seriously consider assigning it for my students to read in the future. 

Elizabeth M. Bonker and Virginia G. Breen, I am In Here
* This was one of a number of books I read by parents about their children who live with Autism.  I have a special place in my heart for kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder, having worked with them for three years until the program I worked with ended due to budget cuts.  The amazing thing about this short book is that the daughter in question is entirely non-verbal.  But through an innovative and somewhat speculative therapy, this mother suddenly learned that her daughter understood everything.  A great amount of the book contains the young girl's poetry that she writes.  She reveals herself to be aware of everything around her, and filled with a deep love of her family and her God.

Emily Colson, Dancing With Max: A Mother and Son Who Broke Free
* This was another of the books I read about children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.  Emily Colson is the daughter of the late Charles Colson - yes, of Watergate fame and the founder of Prison Ministries and a number of other international ministries.  Emily Colson tells the honest story of her marriage falling apart, her struggle to get her son the therapies he needed (and keep him out of institutions when public schools and state therapists expressed no desire to help her son), and her complicated relationship with her father and God.  This was especially poignant for me because only two months after I read this book, Charles Colson passed away. 

Kim Meeder, Hope Rising and A Bridge Called Hope
* These two books are by a woman who, along with her husband, run a ranch for rescued horses and minister to kids and adults with all sorts of needs.  Meeder writes about the founding of the ranch, the rescuing of horses from all kinds of horrific situations, and the many ways that those horses bring healing to people with emotional, spiritual, and physical struggles.  I was so encouraged and so touched by the stories she related in these two books.  God has truly blessed their ministry, and the books are a breeze to read (I read them in only a few nights each). 

So there you have it, world.  A few of my favorites of the 94 books I've read since June 2011. Hope you enjoyed it!

Changes

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Solomon - the presumed writer of the book of Ecclesiastes - was a wise guy.  No, not a funny guy; at least, not that we know of.  But a wise one.  God offered to give him whatever he asked, and he asked for wisdom.  God gave him that and riches and power and success beyond his imagination (see 1 Kings 3 for the whole story).  He knew that, in God's ordaining of our lives, there is a time for everything. 

Solomon understood that things never stay the same.  Things always change.  You are born, but then you die.  You plant, then you harvest or uproot.  You maim and then you heal.  You tear down and then you rebuild. You weep and mourn, but eventually you turn to laughter and dancing.  You are silent until you speak up.  You go to war, but eventually turn to peace.

If you're like me, your life has been constantly changing this year.  Perhaps too much so.  I often joke that over the past few years, I probably could have checked "yes" on almost every one of those "stress-inducing items" on the old psychological survey to see how much stress you are under.  Remember those?  I first had to take it in my high school psychology class.  You check whether or not you have endured things like changing jobs, moving, the death of a friend or family, new relationships, pregnancy, etc.  In the past two years, I have moved twice, gotten married, merged my life/things/cat with those of my husband, changed jobs twice, worried about money, found a new church home in both places I lived, endured the death of both family members and very dear friends, helped my husband through a job search and transition into his new career, etc.  Three weeks ago, we found out our pastor is leaving at the end of the year to be a church planter again; one week ago, we learned that our music minister is leaving after Sunday's services to work in a new church plant here in our area; and last night I sat in a meeting for the music ministry and learned that much is going to be changing beginning immediately.

My first reaction is: "NO!!!" I don't particularly like big changes.  I want my routine.  I want to feel safe.  I want to feel comfortable.  Most of us, when we're being honest, would say the same.  (Unless you're one of my crazy friends who thrive on adventure and excitement and the unknown, that is!) I don't always take to the changes very well.

But here's the thing: Our lives were never meant to stay the same. 

Scripture (through the Apostle Paul) says this about our lives in Christ:

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. ~ 2 Corinthians 3:18

The Greek word that the NIV translates as "being transformed" is metamorphoo, where we get our word, "metamorphosis" - changing into another form. 

Interestingly, that same word is used in three other places in the New Testament.  The first also comes from Paul's writings:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. ~Romans 12:2

But the other two times this word is used is in reference to Christ Jesus:

After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. - Mark 9:2

There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. ~ Matthew 17:2

Our lives in Christ were not meant to be stagnant.  We are to be transformed - transfigured - into something new.  A new form, a new creation - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17) In church, we often call this "spiritual growth."  We seek to become new people - people whose lives, inside and out, are more and more like Christ. 

Change is not always comfortable.  Sometimes it's not even remotely pleasant.  But we are called to be constantly changing.  Renewing our minds.  Transforming into the image of Christ.  Changing from the inside out, and living our lives in response to those changes. 

But lest you fear that nothing stays the same, remember this:

God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. ~Numbers 23:19

He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind. ~1 Samuel 15:29

I the LORD do not change! ~Malachi 3:6a

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ~James 1:17

In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.   They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.   But you remain the same, and your years will never end. ~Psalm 102:25-27

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. ~1 Corinthians 12:4-6

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. ~Hebrews 13:8

So if your life is like mine right now - changing more than you'd like - hold on to the Scriptures above.  Remember that God is constantly working to transform you into a new creation, His child.  But He, Himself - He never changes.  Hold onto that when life seems to be a whirlwind surrounding you.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Nehemiah Recap

Earlier this past week, I finished my six-week study of Nehemiah using Kelly Minter's, Nehemiah: A Heart That Can Break.  As I mentioned earlier, I was doing this along with Beth Moore's Living Proof Live Blog - Siestasville, as we call it.  Hundreds of women took part either on their own (like I did) or in groups and shared what we were learning as we went. 

If you've never studied the book of Nehemiah, here is some background:

The people of Israel had divided into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom of Israel, made up of 10 tribes, broke away under Jeroboam during the civil war during the reign of Rehoboam, son of King Solomon; the southern kingdom of Judah, made up of 2 tribes, remained under the heirs of King David.  The northern kingdom of Israel immediately rejected the LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and eventually was taken captive by the king of Assyria.  The kingdom of Judah thought they would never be that bad, but they continually flip-flopped between obeying God for the most part and utterly rejecting Him. 

After decades of warning, God finally allowed the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar, to defeat Judah, burn down the Temple of Solomon, tear down the walls of Jerusalem, and take most of the inhabitants of Judah into captivity back in Babylon.  To fulfill the prophecy spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, the people of Judah were in captivity for 70 years, until King Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon.  Cyrus issued a declaration that God had put it on his heart to rebuild the temple to the LORD, God of Israel, and allowed any Jew who wished to return to Jerusalem to begin rebuilding the Temple.  This happened under the management of a scribe named Ezra.  Around 40 years later, an Israelite who was serving as the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, named Nehemiah, heard about how disgraceful Jerusalem was without its defensive walls, and how the people of Israel suffered there.  He prayed for months until, finally, he asked for permission to rebuild the walls. The king granted his request, and the book of Nehemiah recounts how Nehemiah - with God's blessing - organized the people, rebuilt the walls, re-instituted the Law of God, and defended the city and its people from their enemies.

On the face of it, Nehemiah reads like an administrative book, recounting the names of those involved in each part of the rebuilding.  But it has so many gems of wisdom if you look closely.  Here are the most important things God has taught me over the past 6 weeks:

1)  I am terrible at waiting on God. 
I could have told you this already.  I was the kid who, knowing someone was due to arrive at our house, would spend an hour in the living room looking out the bay windows in anticipation, playing piano to keep myself busy but constantly glancing outside to see if I could catch a glimpse.  Even as an adult, I get terribly antsy when I am waiting on someone.  So it's no surprise that I, naturally and in my own power, am almost incapable of waiting on God and His timing.  I tend to rush into things, dreaming big and planning fast to make something happen.

But here's what God revealed: Nehemiah prayed for over 4 months about the condition of Jerusalem and about his desire for God to bring the city back out of disgrace.  For months, his heart broke over the slavery of his people, the utter vulnerability of the city that once held the very Temple of the LORD God is Israel.  But he prayed. 

God kept telling me: "You are not like Nehemiah. You rush forward without me, then wonder why I close doors and why you endure hardship meant to bring you back where I wanted you in the first place. This time, pray. And if I don't answer, pray some more.  And if you still don't know what I want of you, pray some more.  Eventually, in my timing, I will show you what I want of you."

I wrote before about all the closed doors and the "No" answers I've been getting. I am still struggling with this idea of patience and waiting, but I am committing to pray and asking God for help in the waiting.  For someone who likes to be actively involved, it's hard to remember that you can be just as faithful while waiting on God as you can be while moving with Him.  But I'm trying.


2) There can be no obedience without repentance.
Nehemiah started by confessing to God how the people of Israel, his own family, and he himself had failed to live up to God's standards.  And when the walls were finally rebuilt, and the singers were proclaiming God's goodness, the entire population of Jerusalem stood for hours and confessed their corporate sin. 

Would the walls have been rebuilt if Nehemiah had not returned to the LORD and brought his people with him?  Possibly.  But what blessings those people would have missed.  They would not have been part of the rebuilding project.  They might have been left on the outside, only hearing about what God was doing rather than experiencing it firsthand. 

I don't know about you, but I generally think of myself as a good person.  I don't do anything "horrible," I try not to intentionally break most rules, and I try to care for others.  On the days when my pride tells me these lies, I don't necessarily feel the need to confess and repent (return to God).  But they are lies.  God tells us,

• If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.  For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.   ~James 2:8-11

Catch that?  Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.  God doesn't say, "As long as you don't stumble on the big ones, like murder, you're good."  He says that if you break even one part of the law - no matter how minor - you are guilty of breaking all of it.  So even if I've only done what to me is a "little" wrong, I still need to confess and repent.  It is impossible to obey God without repentance, and it is impossible to love God without obedience.  (Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. ~ John 14:21)

The good news is this: God, in His mercy, has provided a way for us to meet the requirements of the law.  It is through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the law and accepted punishment for all sin in His death, burial, and resurrection. 

3) Sometimes, the most important thing is to be willing - willing to serve, and willing to be broken.
Nehemiah was the leader God chose to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem because, ultimately, he was open to brokenness and open to being used.  He felt compassion for those in disgrace.  He felt broken for the disgrace the Name of the LORD endured because of the disgrace of Israel and Jerusalem.  And He was willing to do whatever necessary - even to transform a cupbearer to the King, with all the privileges of a high, trusted political position, into a wall builder, defender of the powerless, and enforcer of the Law of God. 

I still don't know what God has planned for me and my husband in the future.  I don't know if anything will come of the three or four places we have contacted in the hopes of trying to meet some of the physical needs of the poor in our city.  I don't know if anything will come of the attempt I made to reach out to the leaders of the women's ministry at our church because I have some ideas and leads on things in which I hoped others might be interested.  I don't know if I'll ever have the opportunity to work in a job where I make an actual living wage  - you know, one that earns more than a kid working minimum wage. 

But what I do know is this: I want to be willing.  I want to be open to whatever God has for me.  I want to say with Isaiah, "Here I am, Lord, send me."  I want to lay down at the feet of my Lord and offer myself for whatever He has planned - even if it's not at all what I would choose for myself.

The book of Nehemiah is so rich in pearls of wisdom.  I encourage you, if you have never read it before, to delve into this book and see what God will show you. 

Water, water, and ne'er a drop to drink

If someone were to ask you what the leading cause of death is around the world, what would you guess?

Cancer?
Heart disease?
Accidents?
Homicide?

Would you believe that, according to the United Nations, the answer is diarrhea?  The UN states that 88% of diarrhea-related illness and disease is due directly to a lack of proper sanitation and clean water for consumption and sanitation.  Over 2.6 billion people around the world lack even the most basic sanitation.


*Image from water.org

Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a direct consequence of improper sanitation.  That's over 1.5 million preventable deaths every year.  Children under age 5 represent 90% of diarrhea-related deaths (see UNICEF's Child Info.org).

What would you do if you couldn't provide clean drinking water for yourself and your children?  What if you couldn't go to the store and buy bottled water, but had to bathe and drink in dirty, feces-filled water? 

This is not just a rhetorical exercise.  This is daily reality for millions of people around the world.  What if you could make a difference in the life of a community?  A family?  A child? 

What if you could help provide safe drinking water for a lifetime for a child and their community? Here's the good news: you can! Through Compassion International's Water For Life program, you have the opportunity to provide water filtration systems to families around the world.  Compassion's filtration system has been tested and approved by the United Nations, is simple to construct, easy to maintain, and can radically change lives.

For $55, Compassion's Water For Life will enable a local church to distribute a bucket & filter system that can provide up to 1 million gallons of water. 

The average person consumes around 15,000 gallons in a lifetime.  This system, then can provide safe drinking water to somewhere around 66 people for their lifetimes.  An entire community could be transformed by this simple gift.

The next time you get a drink from your kitchen, please consider: would you give $55 to save lives?