Black Friday

The idea of "Black Friday" makes me think of this story.We spend a few moments one day a year in rememberance of all God has done and hours planning a route to all the best sales. Kind of like the 9 lepers who ran off to enjoy life after Jesus healed them.
Monday, November 19, 2012( http://www.blackaby.org/devarchive.asp )

                                                                                 Thanksgiving

                                                                                 by: Henry Blackaby

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. (Luke 17:15-16)
Thankfulness is foundational to the Christian life. Thankfulness is a conscious response that comes from looking beyond our blessings to their source. As Christians, we have been forgiven, saved from death, and adopted as God’s children. There could be no better reason for a grateful heart!Lepers in Jesus’ day were social outcasts. Their highly contagious condition ostracized them from those they loved. When ten lepers encountered Jesus, they desperately implored Him to show them mercy. Jesus sent them to the priest. As they obeyed, they were healed! These ten men had been forbidden to enter their own villages, to live in their own homes, to work in their own jobs, or even to touch their own children. Imagine what unrestrained joy must have filled them as they ran back home again!One of the lepers, a Samaritan, stopped and ran back to thank Jesus. Samaritans were normally shunned by the Jews, but Jesus had healed him! Jesus asked him, “Where are the others?” Ten lepers had been healed. Ten lepers were reveling in their newfound health. Ten men were joyfully rushing to share the good news with those they loved. But only one considered the Source of that blessing and stopped to thank and worship the One who had given him back his life.We, too, have been healed and made whole by the Savior. We are free to enjoy the abundant life the Savior has graciously given us. Could we, like the nine lepers, rush off so quickly to glory in our blessings without stopping to thank our Redeemer? God looks for our thanks. Our worship, prayers, service, and daily life ought to be saturated with thanksgiving to God (Phil. 4:6).

What Would Jesus Do With Humanitarian Aide?

I work in a social orphanage. The kids lead a rough life and don't have much.You would think it would be a good thing for groups of foreigners to come in a give them boxes of goodies. And to some extent maybe it is but, during the course of this school year, I have seen the aftermath of those visits. All those toys and trinkets so gleefully gleaned from The Dollar Store and packed up to bring joy to an orphan quickly become the cause of fights and eventually end up as so many pieces of shrapnel littering the hall floor.

It is clear in the Bible that Jesus helped people. He fed the 5000 ,he healed people of their sicknesses and even raised Lazarus from the dead. But ,it seems to me, each time he "gave" something it was with the direct intention of bringing glory to himself. I can't find any example where he just lavishly bestowed material gifts on people. 

We learn in Matthew 25 that we are to feed the hungry,clothe those in need and care for prisoners. Nowhere are we instructed to give gifts just because we can. I know that sounds harsh. But, ultimately the greatest gift we can give someone is the love of Christ and I am sure no one would willing want to prevent that. So am I saying don't donate to these kinds of programs? No,but please stop and think as you pack your box. If you wouldn't want  your kids running through the house with a whistle, don't send one into a classroom where the teacher already has 25 kids with every kind of psychological damage too deal with. If something seems really "nice" then it is probably too nice. Only the strong survive and if a younger,weaker kid gets the nicest toy, he will become the target of the stronger,meaner kid who wants it. Follow Jesus' example,stick to the basics .

An even better way to meet the requirement to help others is to invest. Invest your self in caring. It not as easy and sanitary as donating a few items but its what Jesus did. He talked to them, got to know them and their needs. Mother Teresa said "Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat." 

Look Before You Leap

I couldn't help but notice the new viral video spreading through Facebook, Kony 2012. According to wikipedia.com:

Kony 2012 is a film created by Invisible Children, Inc. which became a viral video.^[2][3][4][5] The film's purpose is to promote the charity's 'Stop Kony' movement to make indicted Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony internationally known in order to arrest him in 2012.^[6]

The film has spread virally.^[7][8][9] As of 9 March 2012 (2012 -03-09)^[update], the film currently has over 15.5 million views on Vimeo,^[10] and over 65 million views on video-sharing website YouTube,^[11] with other viewing emanating from a central "Kony2012" website operated by Invisible Children. The intense exposure of the video caused the "Kony 2012" website to crash shortly after it began gaining widespread popularity.^[12] The video has also seen a number of celebrities endorsing the campaign including Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Christina Milian, Nicki Minaj, Bill Gates and Kim Kardashian.^{[8][13][14][15][16]} On April 20, 2012, as part of the campaign, supporters will put up posters promoting Kony 2012 in their home towns. Invisible Children offers posters from an online shop in an attempt to gain wider recognition on the issue. They have also created action kits that include campaign buttons, posters, bracelets, and stickers to help spread awareness.

I was surprised to see that, among my Facebook friends, opinion was divided as whether this a good thing or not. So, I decided to watch for myself. After watching ( most of the film) I don't really have an opinion as to whether its a good or bad idea. Hopefully, the film has made people,especially Americans, aware that there is whole big world outside of their normal comfort zones and that evil exists even if we choose not to look.

The one scene that stood out to me was when the narrator promises a young boy that he will stop Kony. Thats the point in the film where I have a problem.  I work with hurting children ,many of whom have or will experience unthinkable evil in their lives and, as much as I would like to, I can't promise to stop it. The only thing I can promise them is that God loves them. I have to admit that I don't understand why God allows horrible things to happen to children, but He does and he is God and I'm not.

Even if the stop Kony campaign is sucessful, not much will change for these children. There are plenty of evil people in line to take his place. A wonderful, no cost education system will not suddenly appear. Abundant food will not suddenly fill their tummies. So what exactly does that promise mean?

I believe in giving money to causes. I'm a missionary my life depends on donations and I know first hand the blessing of abundant funds and what can be accomplished with them. I also know all to well the struggle and frustation of not being able to do the programs I want to do because of lack of funds. I can't stand it  when people invest more in their morning coffee than they do to help others. So, if this film moves you to donate your time and money--great. But, please think long and hard about where you send your money. Will plastering posters across town really make life any different for these children? What about all those other missionaries and aide workers who invest  their funds in actually helping someone else and can't afford professionally produced videos?

It is His work. I am like a little pencil in God's hand. That is all.
He does the thinking. He does the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it.The pencil has only to be allowed to be used.
Mother Teresa

So, I have decided to join the world of blogging. In my daily life I see things, God at work, and I think "I should really write this down. I chose the words of Mother Teresa for several reasons. It wasn't my first choice-most of those were already taken.  I spent most of two days trying to decide on a witty tittle with out  much luck being original. Then out of the blue this quote ran through my head. It seemed most appropriate. There is nothing I can write here that can be anything but what God had orchestrated for my life. I also find it fitting that it was said by Mother Teresa. While I am not Catholic, I have learned much from her. When we first moved to Ukraine, I was feeling more than inadequate for the task at hand until one day in my daily devotional reading, I came across another MT quote that said , "We can do no great things, only small things with great love.". At that moment I began to understand more specifically what God expected from me. Now, more than six years later, here I sit still trying to write God's story in L'viv and beyond.

Check Please!

For the last few days, Tim and I have been house and dog sitting for some friends while they are away applying for visas. Our friends live  in a small village outside the city limits of L'viv. The house is located about a mile from a main road. They left us the keys to their car but driving in L'viv,even under the best of conditions is always an adventure, and yesterday the weather turned to almost blizzard like conditions so we really haven't been motivated to leave the house. We have spent a lot of time watching tv. Fortunately, our friends have a satellite tv package that includes several Christian channels. This morning I was blessed to watch Beth Moore and Joyce Meyers. I truly enjoyed and learned something from their teachings. After the messages, both programs included a portion asking for funds to finance the ministries. At this point, I caught myself heading for the kitchen or bathroom.

Later, I was hit by a huge wave of guilt. I KNOW ministries need funding and we do actually try to support other missions. But, if I --someone who knows first hand what it is like to fund a ministry--walk away from the appeals of other missions, how can I expect people ( you) take my pleas for support seriously?

The Bible is full of scriptures that command us to either go or support missions. No one is exempt from doing something. That doesn't always mean something big like moving to another country or donating thousands of dollars. God is most often  found in the small things.( Remember the story of how Jesus fed 5000 people from a young boy's small lunch?)But, the point is none of us is exempt. When we read or watch the fruit of some one's labor and think about how great it is that God is working through that ministry and then our eyes glaze over,our hearts harden, and we walk away from the financial needs to keep that work going its the same as going to restaurant ordering a meal, eating, and enjoying the product of someone  else's labor and then walking away without paying for the meal.

Even Jesus and the disciples had people who made the ministry possible and today we are still reaping the benefits of that ministry. The Bible is very clear,though, that we are to "pay it forward". How you do that is between you and the Holy Spirit.

Something

I often find it difficult to understand why God allows people and especially children to suffer. The World Orphanage Project states:

• Ukraine has over 100,000 orphans.
• Only 10% of these are orphaned due to death of a parent; the rest are social orphans – due to alcoholism, abandonment, or imprisonment of parents.
• Many social orphans have experienced abuse and violence from parents who were drug addicts or alcoholics
• Orphans typically grow up in large state-run homes, which may house over 200 children.
• Many children run away from these homes, preferring to live on the street.
• Children usually graduate from these institutions between 15 and 16 years old and are turned out, unprepared for life outside the home.
• Many girls will end up in prostitution. Those who run prostitution rings target orphaned girls, who are especially vulnerable due to their lack of options and lack of people who care what happens to them. Though promised good jobs, they end up on the streets and brothels of cities across Europe.
• Most of the boys will commit crimes once leaving the orphanage. Many of these will die young of violence or end up in prison. Most inmates contract TB in prison.

(http://www.worldorphanproject.com/statistics.html )

I have also read that a study of 3500 orphans age 18-25 that  showed:

-the suicide rate is 10%

-70% of the females are or have been involved in prostitution.
-60% of males are or have been in jail

Every day as I stand in front of my classroom, I feel overwhelmed knowing that as many as seventy percent of the kids looking up at me are facing such a grim future. Overtime my prayers have changed from "Why,God?" to "Ok, I know you put me here but now what am I supposed to do?". And today God replied "Something".  Yes, I heard God speak. Not in loud thundering voice or even in a small quiet voice but in a devotional I was reading.

A popular song by Casting Crowns asks:

 But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?

And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them
There is a way? There is a way?

Most of us are familiar with the example given in 1 Corinthians 12 .( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians+12&version=NIV )

We are described as parts of the body of Christ and verse 18 says, " But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.".Bodies move, breathe, think and feel. Even if a person is sleeping the body doesn't stop fuctioning. There is always "something" to be done. God is not just sitting back and watching the children suffer. He is waiting for his body to get up and do something to stop it!

So, I'm here-where God put me. I will do "something". I will reach. I will teach. I will show love. Can I change the future for these kids? I don't know. I do know I can't do it alone. I am just one body part. I need help. Feet don't walk on their own, hands don't reach on their own. What part of the body are you?