I realize that I am not only being cliche, but redundant as I express my shock that so much of the summer has gone by already! So, there it is. Again.

I doubt it will be the last time either.

This season of the year is always a bit of a unique one. A key group that [nlcf] reaches out to are college students, so the start of the fall semester is always a very busy one for us. But busyness isn’t the issue.

The start of fall signals the start of a season where we have very specific goals. Goals that we need God to step into and enable, or we simply won’t hit them. This fall is no different. And that is why this time of the year feels so unique.

This time of the year begs the question, “What if God doesn’t do his part in the way we are expecting him to?” Yes, we have a part to do in all this, but unless God shows up and does the heavy lifting, then we are stuck.

That question then leads to others, “Why didn’t he do his part? Did we misunderstand? Is he trying to show us that we are on the wrong track? Are our hearts wrong?” And a litany of questions like them.

What do we do when God doesn’t do what we thought he was going to do?

This question, like so many we have reflected on this summer, have so many levels to them, so many nuances, that we simply cannot reflect on them all. So, let’s try to go after what we can. There is one that I hear lurking underneath so many of the others in my own heart, but also in the hearts of those that ask similar questions. What does it say about God’s love for me when he doesn’t show up and do what I ask him to?

Not surprisingly, this one runs very deep, so let’s take a look. And let’s start in the chapter that many people — and commentaries — call the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11.

I would strongly encourage you to read the whole chapter, as I am going to pick it up in verse thirty-two. And away we go…

32 “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again.” Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated– 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”

Start out great, eh? The first of the chapter is a list of those that trusted God, and in return, God did amazing things through them. In verse thirty-two the author of Hebrews starts picking up speed and lists a number of people together.

Then we get to the close of the chapter.

It starts with another amazing list. Things that probably all of us would want. “…who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again.”

Who would argue with those results?! Amazing things done that only God could do. Powerful expressions of God’s love, power, and attentiveness; enacted at just the right time. These are the results we all would love to be able to count on.

But the chapter continues on. “Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated– 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.”

Now these? These people had it rough. Tortured, flogged, mocked. Some were homeless. The sheepskins and goatskins they were talking about would have been the castoffs, the pieces that anyone that could afford to would toss out. Most of us would take one look at them and, after we got over our pity, would consider their faith overall a failure. These people would have likely been like us and would have asked for God to remove their situation from them, would have asked him for help in a very palpable way.

Wouldn’t we?

And clearly he didn’t.

But then look at this amazing couple of sentences. 39 “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”

They were commended for their faith. God was doing something bigger. I love the very tender line in there, the world was not worthy of them.

Here is what this section of verses helps me to understand. God honors my faith. Very simple, eh? But true. He honors, he appreciates, he loves, he even in some manner rewards the faith I show in him. My trust of him matters. Not just my trust that he will do what I think he should. Not just my trust that I will get what I ask for. It’s bigger than that.

I think what he values most in our trust is that we have it in him. That just like in those few tough to read verses, even if we don’t get what we want, that he is weaving our short lives into his unfolding story. That, as much as he does love us, if we must go through difficulty, it is important in ways we don’t understand.

Jesus seemed to be clear on that with the disciples. He told them they would be kicked out of the synagogues — something that had many more implications than we would think — they would be hunted, he even told them that some would be killed. Not because they were letting God down, not because they were always doing it wrong.

Primarily because the world is broken, and we are broken in it. And as God is involving us in his plan to bring us back to what he originally created us to be, sometimes he would need to do things that would won’t get. Sometimes things will happen in ways we won’t get.

Our faith, mostly simply put, is our trust in God that he has got it under control.

So, our faith won’t make everything predictable, even though there clearly will be times that God will honor our requests down to the very word. Our faith won’t always happen the way we think it should or on a timeline that we agree with.

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use it! Far from it, God is telling us to use it in every occasion; to ask one another what we are using our faith for, to encourage and challenge one another to use it all the time. To see our faith as the most precious thing we have. Our faith isn’t about playing it safe, only attempting the things that we can handle on our own. Or even that are private enough that, should they not work out our way, we can avoid embarrassment.

Our faith is going to get banged up by our world, it’s going to happen. But it will also allow God to use us in ways we could never imagine on our own. This week, let’s really reflect on our faith.

Reflection
What are you believing God for, this week?
What are you doing that requires God to show up or it will fail?
How have you handled those unavoidable occasions where God hasn’t done it your way or according to your timeline?

Prayer
This week, get together with a few other followers of Jesus, and take a few moments to share how what you are trusting God for in your life right now. Then take maybe thirty minutes and pray. Pray for those things, pray for each other’s faith — that it might be stronger and more used. Please also pray for [nlcf], that we would be a church that individually and collectively trusts God.

Share
Then respond back and let us know what we can be praying for you. If God has been doing anything wild to honor your faith, share that with us too.

Loving this journey with you all!

Faith!
Jim

So here we are.

We are on the verge of July, and while I know this is very cliché, I feel like I am always in disbelief that we have already come through this much of summer.

My family and I are visiting our Virginia Beach Leadership Training program for about a week and a half. I had the honor of speaking to a great group of emerging leaders last evening, very early this morning and then I will do so again tonight. This weekend I will be speaking at all five gathering of Coastal Community Church and also at Fuse. It is a great church and I always enjoy seeing them.

This week I would like to ask a very simple to state but tough to fully answer question.

Ready? Hang on, its coming in just a minute.

“Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach the new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” Matthew 28.18-20 NLT

Likely, everyone that is reading this post has heard this one before. Go and make disciples. And yes, that is the jist of it. But let’s unpack this a bit.

When Jesus spoke to his followers, his learners (that is what disciple means) he had lived his life here on earth without sin, had laid his life down and submitted to one of the most gruesome death processes that world knew, had taken the entirety of the weight of our human rebellion (past, present and future) upon himself and finally, had physically risen from the dead.

As a result, God the Father had given God the Son authority over everything. Jesus had access to all the power of the trinity and had reign over everything.

So when Jesus said,“I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth,” he meant it. It would be like your boss getting a huge promotion at work and they tell you, “I have the power to bring you up with me, and I am going to do it.” They have been given power and they are telling you how they intend to use it.

Jesus is very much doing that. But not to give us a higher salary and a nicer office. If our life right now were all that we will live, then yes, that would be a great thing. If prestige were all that mattered, then great. But Jesus is constantly calling us to realize that our lives are worth more than just as a means of acquiring for ourselves, and our life now extends eternally after death. This life is just the start of what we will experience. James refers to it as a “puff of wind” or a “breath.” We are here just a moment. But even that moment can be filled with incredible meaning.

So, what Jesus is doing is much better than using his pull to just get us better jobs that allow us to drive around in better cars. He is telling us that because of the love he has shown to us through his life, death and resurrection, he is drawing us into what his mission was. Jesus is saying, “I am giving you the chance (really the challenge) to continue what I started.” He is giving us the chance to have more meaning pour out of our lives than we could ever produce on our own.

We already know he has equipped us, because anyone who asks Jesus to guide them through there life and reconnect them with the Father has received God the Holy Spirit. Jesus actually said it was better for him to physically leave earth so that the Holy Spirit could come. Jesus said he will guide us into all truth and strengthen us for the challenges we will face.

So, Jesus laid the groundwork. He showed us what our mission is – by living it. He made it possible for us to join him on his mission – by dying in our place and coming back to life. He has guided us in life to where we can care enough about humanity and the rest of creation to where we would want to live for others – by showing us how it is done and carefully speaking into our souls. And he gave us the ability to accomplish our part of it – by sending God the Holy Spirit into our souls as a strengthener and a guide.

So… the hard work is done. Now Jesus says something very simple. He says that we have the job of living out Jesus’ mission in our world today. To make the mission of Jesus our mission.

And that is the first question. Is Jesus’ mission yours?

Are you living your life according to the Matthew 28 set of verses that were listed before? It was Jesus’ challenge to his learners then and it is his challenge to those of us that follow him now.

Are you approaching your faith in God as a hobby? Maybe even an elaborate one? Something that takes time but really isn’t central to who you are. It is better described as one of the things that you do. Or is it more?

Jesus was focused on accomplishing his part of God’s redemptive plan for our world. And he is calling on us to have the same focus.

The first part is simple. Do you have anyone who is a learner of yours? Do you have any disciples? People that you are guiding in their relationships with Christ and people that you are guiding into a relationship with Christ.
Jesus said, I have been given the authority and I am passing some on to you. Love people enough to help them see that they are loved by the Father and are able to live a life guided by me. Jesus told us to go.

It is a simple question that is hard to answer…. Have you gone?

You don’t necessarily go anywhere different from where you are, it is more your purpose when you are wherever you are. It doesn’t mean that you go up to everyone you see and offer to tell them about Jesus’ love for them, but that as you go wherever you go, you are willing to go to anyone and do that. It isn’t that you you do everything that needs doing in the church, but that you are actively pursuing God about what part of Jesus’ mission you are responsible for.

So, this week. Let’s reflect on Jesus’ challenge to all of us. I would suggest committing it to memory if you don’t already have it in there. It is just a great reminder of what we are really here to do.
Then let’s reflect on the question of what our role in Jesus’ mission is. Now, I am not asking you to know for certainty what it will always be, but rather for the next six months to a year, how are you going to make disciples?  If you aren’t sure, start talking to God about it.

If you still aren’t sure, comment that or email me and let’s chat about how that can happen. If you are more sure, definitely comment or email that back as well so we can see what God is calling you to do.

Every single one of us that has asked Jesus to guide our lives has been given both the challenge and the ability to do our part in his mission. Let’s help one another do it.

Just try to… you physically can’t.

If you find you can, watch the vid, then see.

Ukraine 09 – The Orphans from Robbie Poff | Highland Films on Vimeo.

And remember, they are pronounced,  yee-rohs.  Just helping you to not look lame at a Greek place.

Peace, Jim

To quote CBSNews.com in their coverage of the story… “he has long played a prominent role behind the scenes in the social conservative movement: A member of the founding board of the conservative Family Research Council, Rekers has authored books on how to ensure that children grow up straight.

A Baptist minister and former research fellow at Harvard University, Rekers has testified against gay adoptions and is on the board of National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, which “upholds the rights of individuals with unwanted homosexual attraction to receive effective psychological care.”

So, what do we make of ole George?

To me, there really are three questions that matter here.

1) Is he telling the truth?

2) If he is not, what are the implications?

3) Am I free to come to my own conclusions regarding homosexuality or does the bible speak into it?

As for question one, Is he telling the truth? my natural cynical default becomes a real issue.  Now, realize that I am not calling myself a cynic.  The definition of cynic from thefreedictionary.com -if you can believe anything is really free - defines a cynic as someone who believes that people are essentially cold, calculating and out for their own selfish interests.  By that definition I would be a recovering cynic.   I would categorize myself as more of a skeptic at this point.  I can doubt things and people pretty easily,but it isn’t my default any longer. I am actually learning how to trust more people, more readily.  That skepticism doesn’t mean I never believe anything that is tough to believe, it just means that to do so I need to feel like I have a reason for overriding my doubt.  My doubt-button is easily pushed, if you will, sometimes helping me to see the truth through misleading stories, and sometimes causing me to question or reject what is actually true, just tough to believe.

Suffice it to say my doubt-button has been pushed on this one.  What is tough here is that, in many ways, this feels like former Idaho Senator Larry Craig’s “I have a wide stance” type of story.  A public figure that is caught in a damaging situation and comes up with an explanation that seems too far-fetched to really be true.  Probably all of our doubt buttons were lit up and blinking over that one.

But that doesn’t mean that everything that is tough to believe is wrong.  It just means it is tough to believe.

Right?

Sure, it could be true. Rekers probably does need some help with luggage and whatnot, but getting help from a travel companion that advertises the ways he can help on Rentboy.com?  I, probably like everyone else, look at that with more than a bit of skepticism.

As a follower of Jesus, and as one that hold the scriptures to be an authoritative voice, I am called by God to believe the best of others.  Jesus challenges me to let my yes be my yes and my no be my no in my interactions with others and to try to believe that they are doing the same with me.  That doesn’t mean I automatically take everyone’s word on everything they say (other sections of the scriptures, in particular several in Proverbs, wisely call that foolishness).  So, I try to give the benefit of the doubt, as much as I can.  My goal has become trying to see the world through God’s eyes.  Trying to look more and more at things from his perspective and realizing, after reading this section of Matthew, how different his perspective and mine really is.

1 One day as the crowds were gathering, Jesus went up the mountainside with his disciples and sat down to teach them. 2 This is what he taught them: 3 ”God blesses those who realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them. 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 God blesses those who are gentle and lowly, for the whole earth will belong to them. 6 God blesses those who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for they will receive it in full. 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. 9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. 10 God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 11 ”God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted, too.

That was one of the first times that I realized that, not only could my take on what I am experiencing not be right, but that I might completely miss that it is wrong.  That my perspective was more about self-protection than about truly interacting with those I am around.

Honestly, it wasn’t until I started trying to live in that way that I realized just how little trust I was willing to give anyone.  How much I expected them to be dishonest with me.  As I have been trying to live in a more trusting way towards others, a few things have happened that I didn’t expect.

I have become more accepting of others, regardless of how much we agree about or how well we get along.  My cynicism caused me to have an almost constant internal sneer towards others.  Internally I pitted myself against them, was always looking for their angle, was waiting for the thing they were hiding to come into the light.  As I have walked away from that, I find I am much more interested in the people I am around.  Much more accepting and open to hearing from them and learning from them.

Now, there have been a number of times that I have been taken advantage of as well.  The process hasn’t always been rosy.  But through those and through a continuing pursuit of God, I have been trying to re-calibrate my skepticism.  Not get rid of all of it, we don’t live in a world that allows that, but to allow it to speak into my decisions when it is right to do so and not allow it to drive almost all of them.

All that being said , it seems very hard to believe that nothing was happening.  Either way, I am wanting to pray for George Rekers.  Either he has inadvertantly stumbled into a situation that is almost impossible to believe could be truly innocent, and as a result is suffering for something he never did; or he has just had a part of his life and soul that he clearly has been trying to cover be exposed.  Both would be horrible to live through.

For the rest of us, I suggest we should do four things in the midst of all this.  First, remember to be praying for George and in particular, his family.  Second, to allow this to be a cause for pause.  A time to reflect on how skeptical/cynical we are towards those around us.  Third, to seek to live lives that are fully known.  To have at least a couple of people that we have no secrets from.  And fourth, to only use family members as luggage-hefting travel companions.

Please tell me your thoughts on all this.

In a few days we will discuss what the implications would be for a Christian, reparative therapy advocate to be found to have been involved in at least one homosexual sexual relationship.

Peace, Jim

The first three centuries of the early church’s life saw this trend continue. There were several seasons in those first three hundred years in which those that followed Jesus were hunted, arrested, and potentially taken to the arenas to be killed as entertainment. Obviously, this caused a continued diaspora. Those who were scattered faced the challenges of beginning life again. New jobs, new clusters of friends, new patterns of life. Those who remained behind, faced their own challenges. For them, little had overtly changed, but still much had. They may have lived in the same places, they might have kept their own jobs, but things were different. Many of their relationships had been fractured by the diaspora, their traditions and customs; their rhythms, had to change as well.

When James, started his letter, his greeting was to the diaspora. Peter’s first letter was started the same way.

What happened as a result of this regular spreading and returning, spreading and returning, is those who left, by desire or under coercion, took their understanding of God with them. Those who left after Jesus’ death and resurrection, took their awareness of that.

We are just now beginning a season of spreading in [nlcf]. Obviously we don’t face the dangers that many who have come before us faced, indeed many of us who are leaving or staying are doing so out of our own will. But many of us are now in different places, some are now there for good. For those of us that remain, Blacksburg is a different place. Even if we don’t live in Blacksburg, we can notice the change.

What is interesting is that the letters that were most clearly intended to be distributed to those impacted by the diaspora were very focused on how you live your faith in light of whose you are, not where you are. When you read Peter’s first letter or James’ you hear it again and again; because of your connection with Christ, live a particular way. Whether it is Peter’s concern that you remember the purpose of the difficulty we are all going through and keep it in perspective or his challenge to always be ready to explain why your hope isn’t tied to the difficulty you are going through, or James’s focus that we push away the worldly desire to sit back and watch the suffering of others – especially the defenseless. They remind us that we have been cleansed, we have been forgiven, that we serve a God who is generous and loving.

And that God is calling us to do the same to those around us.

This summer, [nlcf] has been dispersed, we are the diaspora, if you will. Regardless of where you are. We know that the temptation will be great to pursue our own comfort over living out of the covenant that God has made with us. That we can get ourselves settled, get into a rhythm, and not make our relationship with God and those around us a central part of how we go through our day.

Jesus gave us our example. He came from heaven and accomplished his mission. He lived and showed us how to live. He died with the collective weight of all our sins on him. He came back to life because even death isn’t strong enough to keep him under its control.  He walked around and taught his disciples and others to adopt his mission and to keep it after he left. He told them he would send the Holy Spirit to be with them as they lived a life focused on the same mission that Jesus was focused on.

Matthew records Jesus’ call to us this way, “… I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matt 28.18-20
Jesus had lived his earthly mission and now he was telling those who were with him to do the same. Not do more than their part, but do their part. Live out the relationship they have with the Father, through the example and sacrifice of the Son, empowered by the Spirit. This is the mission they had. It is the mission we now have as well.

This summer, we need to live that mission together. Let’s call ourselves the Diaspora and let’s live like those who have been dispersed, that have been sent. Each week, we will focus on reflecting on something together, praying for something together, doing something and sharing our stories.
This isn’t intended to be a huge, time commitment type of deal. Sometimes we might ask you to cluster together if you can. I might challenge you to meet up in the next several days, with at least two or three other people that are part of the Diaspora, if you are near any, and pray for God’s will to be done among those you live around and then to ask him to allow you to be a part of seeing that happen.  Other times we will do other things together, still others will be focused on reflecting on who we are…

The main thing is that we are reflecting on who we really are as sons and daughters of God, praying for God to shape us and to use us to see the mission Jesus was so focused on advance in our lives. To do things together to see that happen and then to share our stories. We will need to be talking about what God is doing to encourage and challenge one another, and it helps us to stay focused on our mission as well.

Sometimes I might ask one of you to guide our reflections, prayer and challenges for a week. It can be nice to hear from others as we grow together.

First steps…
If you are in, comment back here and tell us that you are. You may have heard me share about this group if you come to [nlcf] or listen to the talks on the web. You may have just come across this on my blog or have been referred to it. You may also feel free to invite others to join our little club.  No problem.   The only thing I ask is that if you say you are in, you mean it. That isn’t to say that all of us won’t drop the ball over the course of the summer, but I feel like we can only fully realize what God would have us be this summer, if we are all dedicated to being in.  I don’t care if six people say they are in or sixty. But tell us who you are, where you are living now and what you are doing there.

Second, if you haven’t seen it before, go to iamsecond and watch any two of the testimony videos sometime over the remainder of this week. This is something I want to do each week to remind myself how much God is doing to draw people to himself, and how important our role is in that.

So… comment back and tell us you are in. Take a look at two iamsecond vids. By my next post on this we will have some scripture that we will be collectively reading to guide our reflections. Many of you already have scripture reading you are doing. My goal isn’t to stop that, just to have something that we are marinating in together.

Until then, don’t just focus on where you are, but remember whose you are.
Peace, Jim

And I am about to break another.

The first rule of blogging is that if you want your blog readership to grow, then post consistently. Obviously you want to post high quality content, but you need to do that regularly. Over the past couple of weeks I have just been too busy to post much at all.

The second is that it is best to stay in your own lane. What that essentially means is you are most helpful to the blogospere if you select a couple of subjects that you care about and have some experience in, and stick with those. Unless your blog is intended to be about everything, then scaling it back to a few things can be good.

I say all this because I am about to step into a new blogging area. Don’t know if I will be regularly swimming in this particular pool or if this is just a brief dip. Either way, here goes…

I have been under a fair bit of pressure lately. Not exorbitant, but not light either. I am the husband of a wife that I dearly love and truly enjoy spending time with, and the father of three kids. Noah is thirteen, Seth is eleven and Emma will be ten this summer. Between math, sentence diagramming (thanks Jenna for guiding us through that one,) puberty, soccer, basketball, piano, girls saying mean things about you… It gets busy fast.

Then there is my ministry with [nlcf]. As we enter a different season as a church, several of the things that we will be doing are things that I will be heavily involved in. I love working with this church! I truly do, but one of the hardest things I do each week is figure out what I won’t do that week so that I can live a life of balance.

Then there is Should We Fire God?. I will be honest with you, doing what needs to be done and what I would like to do for the book could easily be a full time job all by itself.

I manage Seth’s soccer team, try to exercise, get enough sleep, have some growing friendships and have a meaningful and growing relationship with my Messiah.

It is a lot to do. Please hear this, I am not complaining and I am not saying any of his so that anyone reading this will feel sorry for me. Everything that makes my life intense during this season is borne out of a blessing I am enjoying. So… let’s be clear with that.

All this run up really just leads me to the reason I am blogging tonight instead of sleeping (or watching Glee.) The speed and pressure of life can sometimes make it easy to pass over moments where I have the opportunity to connect with someone. Tonight I almost missed one with Seth.

Tracy mentioned to me that he seemed more upset than usual and so I stopped what I was doing and went up and talked with him about it. After we dealt with the issue that had made him frustrated, he just kept going and I was privileged to be along for the ride. I got to hear his frustration with a kid in his class, his fears about talking to his coach regarding some things he doesn’t understand, the new type of clothes he likes (Aeropostale), how he is as long as the mattress when we extends his arms, how nervous he is about starting middle school next fall, and why he never gets in trouble doing his morning work.

We didn’t talk about much in great depth, but we talked about him. I loved it, probably that twenty or thirty minute conversation was a highpoint of my day. And I almost missed the chance – had he not been in such a bad mood and had Tracy not been paying attention I probably would have.
The scriptures tell us that children are a blessing from the Lord. Yes, they are a responsibility and yes that responsibility is very heavy at times. Tonight, I just sat in my sons’ room and enjoyed the blessing. I was blessed to hear about his emerging life and I was blessed to be reminded that I can be two feet away from someone and completely miss what is going on in their world.

Here’s to hoping it doesn’t take an abnormally bad mood for us all to have those moments in the future, eh?

Peace,
Jim

Our school lost.  But that isn’t important.  What is important is that the concert consisted of the Jets lip-syncing two songs and then leaving!  My point?  That is how the Westboro demonstration felt.

Please understand, I am grateful that we only had five or six protestors show up.  I am also grateful that the counter-protests at the site stayed very calm and were mostly light-hearted.  Take a look at some of the pics I have stolen from my good friend Franklin…

So, even though the Westboro turnout was low (unfortunately because several protesters shifted plans and were headed to West Virginia to protest at the site of the mine collapse), it was still upsetting.  One of the most upsetting parts was seeing the kids from Westboro holding such terrible protest signs.  Please join me in praying for the children that were a part of the Westboro protest group.  I cannot even imagine what expereinces like they are having must be shaping them.  Always having people yell back and ridicule you must only further serve to drive them deeper into the false theology and world of Westboro Baptist Church.  I am truly afraid for them.

If you are interested and able, I did a short interview with WDBJ-7 (our regional CBS affiliate).  Should be on tonight at six or 6:30.  If I can get a copy of the story I will post it here.  I primarily spoke about how they are misrepresenting the bible for their own purposes.  How they are simply now a protest organization and should be seen as such.  That I believe they no longer (if ever) deeply seek the Lord, willing to do whatever he wants them to do.  I think they find a tragedy, make a sign and then hit the road.

And so, a tough start to what for many will be a tough week begins.  Please pray for all those affected by the shootings, both here in the New River Valley and beyond.   This week, more than most, we need God’s hand to give us peace.

Jim

I wanted to let you know about something that a good friend of mine has been working with for several years.  The organization is called Nuru International.  Nuru is the Kiswhahili word for “light,” and Kiswahili is the language of the Kuria people of Kenya.  My friend, Billy Williams, has devoted himself to this very interesting and innovative organization that is committed to pioneering holistic and sustainable solutions to end extreme poverty in partnership with the poor.  As the national grassroots director, he has the opportunity to see the hope of Nuru spread.  This year, Virginia Tech is hosting a “Be hope to her” fundraiser.  I guarantee it isn’t like any you have been to before, so if you are in the area, please consider coming out and very much becoming a hope to her.  Billy, take it away!

Last year, Nuru International hosted its first nationwide extreme poverty awareness event and campaign. It was an experiential event designed to raise awareness and empathy for the daily routine of hundreds of women and girls in the developing world. We called it “Be Hope To Her.” The event had nearly 1000 people participate on 11 college campuses, and raised over $36,000 that led to the drilling of four deep water wells in Kuria, Kenya and thousands of changed lives.

This year, we are pleased to announce that there are twenty four colleges who are participating in the event (including one in Florence, Italy). We also have three city-wide events happening in SoCal, Seattle, and Pittsburgh.

So what is it all about? In essence, it’s an event about being hope. Over 2.4 billion people go daily without nearby access to safe, clean, drinking water. Women and girls in these communities are usually charged with the task of gathering the water for their families as a daily practice. Imagine spending three hours of your day gathering water so you and your family can have it to drink, to bathe, to do laundry, to wash dishes. Imagine if that water were contaminated and needed boiled before anyone could drink it. Imagine not being able to attend school because you had been charged with this task for the sake of your family’s survival. It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, you can be part of the generation that stands up and says enough is enough, and chooses to make a difference.

Recently, I was reading a blog from our water and sanitation program manager, Nicole Scott, that talked about how life has changed in Kuria since the drilling of wells in the community. One of the stories told was about kids at one of the schools where the wells were drilled. The teachers said that the kids are playing now instead of running into the bush to try to find water during recess. This statement really hit me personally. I started thinking back to elementary school and recess. I can remember running, playing football, tag, and kickball, and just all around having a good time with friends. I remember running myself into a frenzy knowing that at the end of recess, everyone in my class would line up at a water fountain (I think the fountain was in my classroom too), and get a drink of water before settling back into class. What would it have been like if there were no drinking fountains in my school. What if my recess was spent looking for ANY water source near the school? What would my concentration level have been like in the classroom? It seems utterly unthinkable that anyone in the modern era would have to deal with this on a daily basis.

And that’s why we are asking you to join in Be Hope To Her this year. We believe that together we can end extreme poverty. We believe that together we can pioneer solutions for whole communities to not only have convenient access to safe, clean drinking water, but to lift themselves out of extreme poverty for good! Will you join us in this effort?

The first thing you can do is register for the event. This event is going to take place in a variety of locations across the country, so chances are you live fairly close to one of the locations (and if not, road trips are always fun—especially those with a greater purpose!).

Then, invite your friends, relatives, coworkers, and classmates to get involved. (What’s a road trip without friends?) We truly believe we can end extreme poverty, together, one community at a time, and we will work faster and more effectively as we have more people involved in this work. Imagine what it will be like to one day say that WE were the generation who said enough is enough and ended extreme poverty! This goal is within our reach, but it is going to take more than a few getting involved. Be Hope To Her is a great “first step” for folks to take as they join us in this work.

BH20+ 2010 from Nuru International on Vimeo.

After you have registered and started recruiting your friends to get involved, you can begin raising funds for your campus. There was actually a recent blog post on the Nuru website that includes some helpful hints to some FUNdraising activities! I definitely recommend you check it out.
I can guarantee that if you participate in this event, you will NEVER look at this issue in the same way again. And your friends won’t either. Not only that, but you will be offering them a tangible first step in the journey to be the generation that ends extreme poverty!!!

Westboro Baptist Church is coming into town.  The delightful gang that started the godhatesfags website and has recently been picketting funerals of everyone from soldiers who have been killed in action, to those of children that have been killed by cars.  At all of them the theme is the same, “God hates you and what you are doing.  You (or someone else) caused this.”

Seems their schedule is flexible enough to fit us in.  Wonderful.  Here is their itenerary while they are in the area.

So now, those of us in leadership of just about any group are asking ourselves the question, what do we do to respond to what they do?  I have heard great ideas that range from simply being somewhere else and not giving them any audience, to some that are suggesting we aggressively protest them.

The question I have is, what is a thoughtful Christ-like response to thoughtless rantings?  At [nlcf], we are kicking around a number of ideas right now.  In the next few days we will list out what we are suggesting.  I am sure we will also want to be as involved as possible in the local and university’s response to all this is going to be.

So, what do you think we should do?  What would you suggest?  Why would you suggest it?

~~ I have just removed the hotlink to the WBC site at the suggestion of a web-savvy-internet-guru friend named Liz!  She felt it was best to not make it easier/enticing for people to go to the site and essentially help their numbers stay high.

Jim, I really think you should find some more controversial topics to cover on this blog. You’ve really been playing it safe here.

I’m also torn on this topic, Jim. We went through a time of not having enough money to handle health care costs for our family even though we both have college degrees and I was teaching full time (being a teacher was pretty much the main reason we couldn’t afford it!) so I have a little personal experience on “the other side of things.” Most of the people who are making the decisions and the people that are most upset about it have never had to make the decision whether or not to visit the doctor or get the medicine because of money or insurance coverage. Not everyone that struggles financially and has inadequate health care is a lazy bum taking advantage of welfare and government services. On a teacher’s salary in NC, our family qualified for medicaid services for our kids! I know the government is not the answer to all of our woes, but I think that many people screaming for no health care reform are a bit out of touch with reality in some ways.

I don’t have a solid opinion, but I fall somewhere in the middle wanting a balance of government intervention combined with accountability combined with private charitable help combined with good old-fashioned get out there and work to provide for your family. I guess that means I would be a lousy politician since I want a little slice of everything.

But seriously, Jim, let’s hit some serious topics soon…like puppies vs. kittens. Hope you’re enjoying the snow!

The experience of Tracy and I our first five-ish years of marriage was very similar.  I had a college degree and was working with a church, and for at least a few of those years, was WELL under the poverty line.  Please know that my wife and I are hard workers and responsible, I even did a stint as medical test subject for extra money, that is dedication eh?   That is where we were.

I don’t believe it is the government’s responsibility to step in because the job I felt God was leading my into wasn’t supplying enough income.  But I do still very much feel for those that are in the position that I no longer am in.

What are your thoughts on this?