We experience joy… God receives the glory

Earlier this week I was speaking with an elder who made a comment I found profound. Talking about our need to celebrate our rice and beans offering outcome this Sunday (today), he said, "We experience joy, as we give God the glory." Yes I thought that's it. We experience joy, as we give God the glory.

 

This morning during worship we concluded our rice and beans challenge receiving a final special offering to build a greenhouse in Jos, Nigeria. And what an offering our church gave; adding today to last week we crossed the $12,000 mark exceeding our goal by over $2,000. I was speechless.

 

A couple minutes after sharing our total with the church family, we placed a call to Peter Fretheim, our missionary in Jos, and pipe the conversation into the PA-system so everyone could listen in. What a joy it was to tell Peter that our offering will cover almost two complete greenhouses! To hear Peter's excitement brought smiles and joy to everyone in worship.

 

Our rice and beans challenge concluded as we prayed for Peter the ministry in Jos and then Peter for us… we both prayed that God would receive glory as children are rescued, lives changed, and heaven is populated as people in Nigeria and CT give their lives to Jesus.

 

Yes we experienced joy and God, I believe, received the glory.

 

The beauty and value of children…

Yesterday was a lost day, whatever I have in the way of sickness just zapped me of any energy. I didn't even have enough energy to put thoughts into a blog. Basically I was a lump all day. No fun when your family is home for only a couple of days?!? I wondered how do people wracked in poverty do it? I mean if you can't scavenge for food then there is nothing to eat, so when they are sick and not up to it what do they do? Not eat and get weaker? Push themselves to work and get weaker? It seems to me it is a loss either way???

 

I said I would return to thoughts on the book "Too Small to Ignore." I am finding it more difficult to highlight than anticipated. Earlier in this blog I offered my reaction to the Part 1 of the book. I remember writing I wish I had read it before becoming a dad; I might have made some changes. In part 2 Wess trumpets a call to make children a priority. Not only international children in need, but children everywhere… children in our homes, families and extended families, in our churches, schools and throughout the world. Wess helped me see the innate beauty and value of children as they are, not merely as potential adults.

 

His view continues to shake my very core. And the wonderful thing for me is that Wess did this without playing the guilt card. I don't recall one "you should have" in the entire book. Like an artistic master, Wess brushes and layers stories and thoughts of varying hues and textures creating an exquisite portrait valuing children. His portrait is inspiring me.

A Thanksgiving to remember, I hope…

I am up early today -Thanksgiving Day- still not feeling well, but thankfully no flu. First thing I put the turkey giblets on the stove to boil; I want to fill the house with the aroma of cooking.

 

A thought streaks through my mind, so many celebrations and special moments of life involve food. I never wondered this next thought before… Does hunger rob the poor of celebration too?

 

Later today I will sit around a grand table with family, friends and a new couple in town and we will laugh, tell stories, eat and enjoy life. Rice and beans week seems so long ago. And yet there is in me a continuing appreciation for what I have been given (amazing isn't it, what a little sacrifice can do in one's soul)… family, health, education, riches, employment, faith, the list seems endless. I have a feeling that this will translate into a different feel for me at the table today. I pray it translates into a deeper thanksgiving… to God for His undeserved graciousness to me.

 

Words and thoughts continue to spill from my heart; I hope and pray too that with this deepened appreciation and thanksgiving is accompanied by a deeper understanding of the responsibility that comes with all these graces. "To whom much has been given," spoke Jesus, "much is required" (paraphrase of Luke 12:48).

 

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

What do you do if when you are sick?

Yesterday, Tuesday, I received a text yesterday that our church administrator wouldn't be in; she had a 103 temp and was heading to the doctor. Turns out she has H1N1 flu and is out for the week and worse contagious for the Thanksgiving holiday… some holiday! Truth is she will be fine in a few days.

 

Today, my head feels like it will explode, I can barely talk, have a cough and… (you don't need the particulars). I'll head to the doctors as soon as they open. I doubt I have the flu more likely a sinus infection. If I am correct, I'll get a prescription and be feeling better by Friday, a nuisance the day before Thanksgiving but insignificant on the road of life.

 

I wondered what it would have been like for ether of us to have developed these illnesses last week? Would I have stayed the course eating only rice and beans? Or would I have abandoned that subsistence diet for a healthier one to help fight off the infection? Two guesses where my thoughts went next… (you should only need one).

 

I wondered what it would be like to come down with either of these sicknesses when my body was already in a compromised health state from lack of nutrition and when I had no choice but to eat a meager serving of rice and beans. I wondered what it must be like to have your head pounding or a 103 temp and no doctor to see, no pharmacy with antibiotics, not even Advil or Tylenol in a medicine closet. It is no surprise that someone dies of poverty related causes every 5 seconds.

 

My concern is that until my rice and beans week, until I read "The Hole in Our Gospel" and "Too Small to Ignore" I never really thought about these things…

 

Literally as I was typing the last word above, my wife said, "Have you seen this?"

 

"Seen what?" And she began to play a YouTube video she just found on a friend's Facebook… I watched. It made me think some more about what I had just written about… I love God's timing. Check it out if you have 2 minutes and 39 seconds. It's called the Advent Conspiracy.

 

Who I am deep within…

I have been thinking about those two nights of angry dreams I had last week. Those were ugly nights. I said things to people I would never consciously say. I hit. I lost control. One time I woke, not in a sweat, but my heart was racing and I needed to calm myself down before I could fall back asleep. It was UGLY. I felt slimy.

 

I have been thinking about what those dreams were all about. I have only experienced dreams like that a few other times in my life and the two times I remember were when I was on multi-day fasts.

 

What was going on, I wondered. As I pondered this, it was as if a Polaroid picture developed before my eyes and my understanding grew clearer and clearer.

 

My sense is that those dreams gave me a glimpse of who I am at my very core. I hate to admit this but I believe the dreams show that I am extremely selfish deep down inside. When I am comfortable and well fed, I have the ability to control my deep selfishnesses –probably through personal discipline and will power since I have been able to do this all of my life even before I trusted in Jesus.

 

During my rice and beans fast and other fasts this inner self leaked out past my well developed defenses during my dreams. Is this making sense for you??? I often think of myself as a relatively good person, these dreams showed me I am not nearly as 'good' as I like to tell myself I am. Those dreams showed me who I am deep inside. And they reminded me why I so desperately need a savior, Jesus.

 

Even though I don't like admitting all of this, it has increased my love for and my dependence upon Jesus. He knows who I am on the surface and deep inside and he still loves me and is delighted to live in relationship with me…

 

I never expected any deep introspection like this from my week of rice and beans…

A wonderful day…

Sunday was a wonderful day, I broke my rice & beans fast with a cup of yogurt and cottage cheese mix… 200 calories, which was almost 40% of what I had been eating daily for a week. Worship was wonderful. It felt right to break the fast on the Lord’s day…

I took a cue from church history. Let me explain. The church season of Lent is a 40-day period from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday (the day before Easter). But if you were to count the days from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday it would equal 46? No I didn’t count incorrectly. The church said that Sunday’s shouldn’t count since every Sunday is a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, Christ’s followers should not fast but celebrate. Anyway, it was because of this tradition that I thought we, as a church, should break our fast on Sunday. And at least for me, it turned out to be a wonderful decision.

I loved hearing other peoples stories as we shared experiences during and after worship.

The week of rice and beans had two aspects. There was the personal sacrifice, which I wrote about all week. And then there was a special offering. I asked people to eat rice and beans and to donate in a special offering what they would have spent on food to help build a sustainable greenhouse in Jos, Nigeria. I can’t wait to see how much we raised. Each greenhouse costs $7,000, I hope to raise $10,000 to build one greenhouse and the supply other needs for the care centers in Jos. The special offering is open through Sunday Nov. 29, so I’ll report the offering after that date… pray with me that we can build at least one greenhouse.

These greenhouses are incredible… if you have 5-minutes check out the YouTube on the gonigeria website, click here, you will be inspired.

Rice and Beans Days 6 & 7...

It is early Sunday morning and my week of rice and beans is over. After I finish this blog I will eat a cup of yogurt for breakfast, the first breakfast and the first food other than rice and beans that I have eaten in a week. I might even enjoy a cup of tea with honey. I am looking forward to today…

Aside from the angry dreams I had my sleep Friday night into Saturday morning, yesterday, my last rice and beans days, was a good day. I felt alert, had energy and generally had a positive outlook on the day. I don’t think anyone watching me would have known that I was concluding the final day of 6-day subsistence living fast eating only 500 calories a day and drinking only water.

I have so many thoughts and reflections running through my mind:

• Breaking the fast on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, was intentional and has deposited a joyous spirit within me…
• Angry dreams, very unusual for me; what might be going on underneath the surface and thoughts God seems to be sharing within me about it…
• The gift of food and delight of variety, I have a better sense of why the Israelites might have grumbled in the desert. I am hoping that Thanksgiving Day has a different, more truly thankful feel to it…

I will flesh these thoughts out possibly today and certainly later this week as I continue this blog for a while. But for now I want to savor my yogurt, send my time in devotionals & prayer, and prepare for worship in a few hours…

Blessed be the name of the Lord,

Blessed be the name of the Lord,

Blessed be the name of the Lord, most high!

Friday, Day 5 of Rice and Beans Week…

Newsflash for Greenwich locals, copies of the book, Too Small to Ignore, will be available at the PCOG Women’s Christmas Tea, Saturday Dec 4^th… Tremendous read on many levels. I will return to more thoughts on the book after chronicling my rice and beans week.

I think I spoke to soon, when I blogged yesterday. Today, Friday, did not continue on the high of yesterday. In the middle of the night, my wife who is also enjoying the rice and beans diet woke up not feeling well. And for the next whatever minutes I lay there wondering if it was from the diet, that clicked over to a trail of thoughts about what parents or spouses in hungry malnourished households dream about. I lay there wondering how I would feel if I couldn’t provide enough food for my family. It was not a restful time…

I woke tired and I felt a little light headed most of the day. I accomplished my days to do list, but I could tell that I wasn’t sharp. Living on subsistence diet even for 6 days is tougher than I anticipated.

I managed a light workout after work, which went fine, but I didn’t come close to pushing myself. Back home, I was hungry. Dinner dampened my hunger, but the lack of variety, no fun. I still was feeling a little lightheaded.

Later that evening I sat to watch a little TV, and I wished for some popcorn and something to drink other than water. I guess I am spoiled, I like variety.

Only one day to go… hooray.

Thursday, Day Four of Rice and Beans Week…

Before I write about my yesterday, let me point you to a list of scriptures that I have compiled revealing God’s heart for the poor (click this link for verses)

Wednesday seems as if it was hump day. I felt much better on Wednesday than the two days before. The gnawing hunger seems to be satiating. I felt good at the gym and did a complete workout - I am still loosing weight down 4-5 pounds now. And I don’t think this is water weight loss because I am drinking much more water than normal.

Throughout the day, I continued to feel good. I was able to concentrate at work and accomplish much. I suspect that my experience is similar to those who have been on extended fasts. Apparently, around 2-3 days into a fast you cross a line and your body resets to another normal.

BTW I am in no way advocating this kind of a diet or a fast for weight loss. That would be incredibly unhealthy. I am trying to image what happens when people do not have enough food. At first, assuming you are healthy before your food source disappears, the human body sustains its life on its stored up reserves. But once those reserves are gone malnutrition and all manner of related health conditions set in. I just keep thinking 800 million people, half of them children, live on a diet that is less than what their bodies need…

I keep repeating Bob’s Pierce’s prayer: Lord break my heart with the things that break yours.

Surely preventable poverty is a heart-breaker for God.

Wednesday, Day Three of Rice and Beans Week…

Yesterday was day 3 of this crazy subsistence diet. I felt so much better after my 9-hour night’s sleep. Up at the normal time and after putting our beans for Thursday – Saturday in the Crockpot I headed to the gym. My work out started well. I felt strong… but by the end I was exhausted. I couldn’t complete my final cardio workout. This is highly unusual for me.

Could a subsistence diet affect strength and endurance after only two days? If it did, how do the millions of chronically hungry people work? (Stepping on the scale I have lost 2-3 pounds... maybe it can affect your strength and endurance that quickly.)

The day was mostly uneventful, but there was lots of food talk in and around the office and at staff meeting… It seems that this subsistence diet has many of us thinking about food more than usual.

Then as if God wanted to inject a little levity into my life, I spied a post from my son in Germany on his Facebook page: 7 euro for all you can eat at Burger King... I ate 2 double steakhouse burgers, 1 whopper, 3 king chicken nuggets, 2 king fries, onion rings, an ice cream and 3 cokes... gained 2 kg (4.5 lbs)... and feels great!

I couldn’t resist, I went to the Burger King website and calculated the that he ate 4620 calories not counting the ice cream!… 1600 more than I will eat all week!

By the time dinner rolled around at 7 pm I was HUNGRY!!! Although bland, the beans and rice satisfied my hunger and I enjoyed a movie with my wife. A good day all in all.

Tuesday, Day Two of Rice and Beans Week…

The day didn’t start very well. I have been exhausted the last few weeks so pushed snooze and slept in an extra hour and a half, skipping the gym. Unfortunately I had some wild dreams that caused my extra sleep to be restless. I don’t recall the dream particulars (probably wouldn’t tell if I did) but I will admit that I was angry -very angry- in my dreams. I can’t say that minimal food for one day caused my angry wild dreams, but it does make me wonder…

The day itself was pretty normal, although I must admit that there is a LOT more food talk going on with those of us on the Rice and Beans diet. I am thinking that food is on our minds more than usual.

My wife and I had dinner together about 5:30… hmmm rice, beans and water. We did, however, enjoy some good conversations about things other than our food.

I planned to do some house chores that evening while my wife attended a meeting. But I was so tired. I bagged the chores and took a hot tub instead. Ahhh. I read for a bit and then slipped down into the hot water… there are 45 minutes I cannot account for. I suspect I fell asleep. I went straight from the tub to bed. I never heard my wife come home, which was only 15 minutes after I climbed beneath the sheets.

Is anyone else feeling more tired that usual?

I wonder if my 500 calorie/day diet is behind my tiredness, or is it exhaustion from my last two weeks, or no caffeine? I don’t know, but it has me thinking…

Day One of Rice and Beans Week…

Day 1 was a bit harder than I anticipated. First thing I did was to remove as much temptation as I could. I cleared our kitchen counters of fruit, which I froze; all other items were squirreled away in our pantry hoping out of sight meant out of mind.

Then I set to cooking the beans, which had been soaking all night in our refrigerator per instructions. Now they needed to be rinsed and cooked… 4-6 hours in a crockpot! I never realized it took so long to cook beans. I tried to imagine how much more work it would be if I were cooking them over a wood fire! I cooked our beans for the first half of the week.

Next I measured out 1.5 cups of rice, the daily portion for 2 people, and cooked it. Easy 20-minutes and ready to eat. Then came my first emotional disappointment. My wife and I reserve Monday as our day and we typically begin with a leisurely breakfast. Somehow rice a small dollop of rice changed the entire meal dynamic.

As Monday continued I found I was thinking about food much more than usual, wondering how the week would go and what it would be like by Friday eating only rice and beans all week. It wasn’t so much that I was hungry, it was the loss of variety that I was thinking about.

Lunch and dinner meal times were virtually nonexistent, since it only took 5 minutes to eat the small bowl of rice and beans.

Looking back over my day, I missed mealtime connections with my wife. Monday escalated this learning for me since we routinely eat leisurely meals and talk about everything. I was surprised how important the actual meal is for me in setting the atmosphere for these connection times.

A bit of laughter…

Yesterday ‘Rice and Beans’ Sunday came and about 80 PCOG-ers picked up their bags with 4.5 cups of rice and half-pound of beans for the week. Hmm... rice and beans for the week!

Susan picked up our two bags and suggested that we go out for lunch. We met at Panera Bread about 45 minutes later. As we cued in the line, I ordered a cup of soup and a half-sandwich… I scanned the list and choose black bean soup… ?!?

When I picked up our meals and sat down my choice of lunch hit me… I had ordered beans! Black bean soup, what was I thinking? All I could do is sit there and chuckle…

A journey worth taking…

I am about two-thirds through Too Small to Ignore. Almost immediately I was thinking, “Wow, I have to get this in the hands of everyone who works with children. What an incredible message... about raising, loving and inspiring children.” I even found myself thinking, “I wish I had read this before I had kids…” A wonderful mix of boyhood adventures growing up in a West African village skillfully woven into a call to make children a real priority in life.

The book is far more than tales from afar. It is full of challenges applicable to rearing, raising and educating children. Wess Stafford writes, “I am championing a set of four freedoms … that every child deserves:
· Freedom from drivenness, time pressure and hurry
· Freedom from materialism -the obsession with things
· Freedom from corrosive competition
· Freedom from daily fear
These are among the most vital gifts we can bestow upon the coming vulnerable generation. Without them, they will be forever stunted, misshapen, and thrown off stride in attempting to reach their full potential."

I resonated with his challenge regarding drivenness, time pressure and hurry and with his word about materialism (my own mistakes in these areas not withstanding). I chaffed some with his words about competition; but after letting his words sit a while, I must admit I found much wisdom in his thoughts. “Good stuff, positive, encouraging, upbeat,” I thought. “I have to get this book into the hands of parents and others who work with kids.”

After my first post on the book a friend commented on Facebook: I read that book two summers ago. What a compassionate man Wess is! I won't spoil the story but it has twists and turns you won't expect. Was she ever correct!

There were times during my reading when I smiled with delight and other times when rivers of tears streak my cheeks dripping onto my shirt (literally). I was not prepared for the some of Wess’ experiences. I offer no detail; it is a journey you must take for yourself.

Too Small to Ignore...

The introduction of Too Small to Ignore opens like this:

Late one evening D. L. Moody, the premier American evangelist of the 1800’s arrived home from speaking at a meeting. Emma, his wife, was already asleep. As her exhausted husband climbed into bed, she rolled over and murmured, “So how did it go tonight?”

“Pretty well, “ he replied. “Two and a half converts.”

His wife lay silent for a moment pondering this response, then finally smiled. “That’s sweet,” she replied. “How old was the child?”

“No, no, no,” Moody answered. “It was two children and one adult! The children have their whole lives in from of them. The adult’s life is already half-gone.”

* * *

I have to ask you, what mental image came to your mind when you read “two and a half converts” just now? Did you picture what Emma Moody pictured: two grownups standing at the front of the auditorium with a little child beside them? Be honest.

If you did, don’t feel bad -you’re in the overwhelming majority. In fact, I’ll be honest too. I had worked with Compassion International, a child-focused organization, for ten years when I first heard that story, and even I sat there imagining two adults and one child.

I don’t anymore…and that’s what this book is all about.

With that opening, Dr. Stafford raises his battle cry to make children a priority in every area of life.

Dreams and Doubts…

I haven’t written for a couple of days. Busy and wrestling. It has been a busy few day and I haven’t made time; plus I have been wrestling inside. The ‘what should I do’ thought continues to steep a deep brew.

Beyond that two competing thoughts battle within. Am I nuts? Do people think I’m off my rocker for this entire project… self-doubt. This alternates with thoughts that a week of rice and beans isn’t enough. Maybe as a church, a collective, we could pool our resources and abilities and make a BIGGER difference… found a not-for-profit company that digs bore-hole wells or simple solar for electricity or water purification that could serve missionaries and communities throughout Africa. Maybe we could partner with Peter Frethein and City Ministries could train the people to run the business in Nigeria. Maybe...

And so dreams and doubts flow within me… more like the white-caps of a storm rather than the gentle flow of the tide. I wake early with one thought or the other, sometimes both, pounding the surf of my mind and so I pray…

Only time will tell which one, if either, warranted any mind-time!

I started reading another book, Too Small to Ignore Why the Least of These Matters Most by Dr Wess Stafford, President & CEO of Compassion International. Many similar themes, yet a largely different read. More in coming blogs…

Lord, what would you have me do?

I finished the Hole in Our Gospel yesterday and I am still chewing on the book, wondering, “Am I doing what I can? Am if fulfilling my Christ-desired responsibility?” My gut feels like I can do more than eat rice and beans next week… If you know me, you realize that I need to think and stew and ponder… I am not a person who generally acts quickly.

To give my mind space to deliberate and to reinforce some of the key points of the book, I decided to collect one-liners and short quotes from the second half of Stern’s book.

We’ve drifted away from being fishers of men to being keepers of the aquarium -Paul Harvey

Baseball is like church. Many attend, few understand -Leo Durocher

Our greatest power to change the world is released when we come together in collective action to organize and focus the resources of the whole body of Christ.

A church that lives within its four walls is not church at all -Morgan Chilulu

If you look at the “power lines” that flow through our society and our world, money is the current that flows through them. So, to better understand the spiritual priorities of our churches -and ourselves- we have to do what any detective would do: “follow the money.”

Our checkbooks speak more honestly of our priorities than our church membership -R. Scott Rodin

Obedience to the Great Commission has more consistently been poisoned by affluence than by anything else. -Ralph Winter

Actions springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. -Detrich Bonhoffer

Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. -Billy Sunday

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. -Margaret Mead

We have, in fact, reduced the gospel to a mere transaction involving the right beliefs rather than seeing in it the power to change the world.



The difference between pre- and postresurrection disciples was astonishing. Fear became courage; timidity became boldness; uncertainty became confidence as their lives were given over to the revolution that the gospel… envisioned.

God has created each of us with a unique contribution to make to our world and our times. No other person has our same abilities, motivations, network of friends and relationships, perspective, ideas, or experiences. When we, like misplaced puzzle pieces, fail to show up, the overall picture is diminished.

God never asked us to give what we do not have… But he cannot use what we will not give.

Be the change that you want to see in the world. -Mahandas Gandhi

My faith demands -this is not optional- my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference. -Jimmy Carter

That bread which you keep belongs to the hungry; that coat which you preserve in your wardrobe, to the naked; those shoes which are rotting in your possession to the shoeless; that gold which you have hidden in the ground, to the needy. Wherefore, as often as you are able to help others, and refuse, so often did you do them wrong. -Augustine

“God can’t steer a parked car” (Earl Palmer). If we sit in the parking lot with our engines turned off, just waiting for a voice form the sky, we’ll never get anywhere in our quest to solve the world’s problems. We need to at least “start our engines.”

Make your life a mission -not an intermission -Arnold Glasgow

There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why… I dream of things that never were, and ask why not? -Robert Kennedy

We can do no great things, only small things with great love -Mother Teresa

Lord, what would you have me do? What would you have us do???

What can one person do?

When faced with big problems, like hunger, AIDS, malaria or lack of clean water, many of us throw up our hands saying, “But what can I do???” 9-year-old Austin Gutwein thought, “Hmmm I can shoot free throws.” His story amazes me…

In the spring of 2004, I watched a video tht showed children who had lost there parents to a disease called AIDS. After watching the video, I realized these kids weren’t any different form me except they were suffering. I felt God calling me to do something to help them. I decided to shoot free throws and on World AIDS Day, 2004, I shot 2,057 free throws to represent the 2,057 kids who would be orphaned during my day at school. People sponsored me and we were able to raise almost $3,000. That year, the money was used by World Vision to provide home to 8 orphan children.

From that year forward, thousands of people have joined me in a basketball shoot-a-thon called Hoops of Hope. By doing something as simple as shooting free throws, Hoops of Hope participants have raised over $500,000. The children left behind by AIDS now have access to food, clothing, shelter, a new school and finally, a medical testing facility.

Last year, our goal was to raise $150,000 to build a medical testing lab in Sinazongwe, Zambia. This lab will enable medical staff to test parents for HIV/AIDS prior to administering medication for the disease. The medication will allow parent suffering form HIV/AIDS to prolong their life and keep their children form becoming among the 15 million children already orphaned by this disease.

No only did Hoops of Hope participants raise enough money to fund the building of the lab, they also supplied the lab with 1,000 medical Caregiver Kits. This ill allow those caring for HIV/AIDS infected moms and dads to have the basic supplies they need. We also were able to furnish the 2006 Jonathan Sim Legacy School.

In 2008, we would like to build a second medical lab in Twatchiyanda, Zambia (also the site of the 2006 Jonathan Sim Legacy School), provide Caregiver Kits and provide bicycles for caregivers to ride. The lab combined with Caregiver Kits and bicycles will help to keep parents healthier and alive longer so they can provide for their children. …

In Him, Austin

Rich Sterns adds, “Austin has thousands of kids in two hundred different locations ding “hoops for Hope” in most of the fifty states and in other countries around the world. His cumulative fund-raising is approaching one million dollars. Think of it: a million bucks –for shooting hoops. Talk about using your talents to change the world!” (Hole in Our Gospel, 265-66).

(Austin's inspiring story can be viewed on YouTube video or at http://www.hoopsofhope.org/how-it-all-started.html.)

What can one person do? A lot when we offer our gifts to the Lord…

What is my responsibility…

I think my previous post -all the one-liners- was a moment of avoidance. To say it more positively it was a moment for processing.

The middle chapters of The Hole in Our Gospel were tough reading for me. Tough because they took me on a painful journey into the lives of billions (billions with a ‘b’) of people in my world who are barely eking out a living, if you can call their life a living.

And if reading the stories and statistics weren’t enough… I received a dvd from World Vision Tuesday. The 14-minute video chronicled 5-days in the life of a family from drought-stricken Turkana, Kenya. Sensitively portrayed, yet powerfully honest.

I can't shake the thought that God wants me to do something.

Writing that last line reminded me of a quote from Rich Stern: It is not our fault that people are poor, but it is our responsibility to do something about it.

My insides cry, “what is my responsibility…”

Piercing lines…

I am a little more that halfway through the book. And I thought I should collect the one-liners and short quotes from the book that carried a punch for me, so I don’t forget them. Here’s my list so far …

Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God. -Bob Pierce

Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now. -Saint Teresa of Aliva

God’s love was intended to be demonstrated not dictated.

Are you willing to be open to God’s will for your life? -recruiter

If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to posses wealth, as that may be said to possess him. -Sir Francis Bacon

There is no “whole gospel” without compassion and justice shown to the poor. It’s that simple.

It’s not what you believe that counts; it’s what you believe enough to do.” -Gary Gulbranson

Every follower of Christ was made for a purpose and that our most important task is to discern what that purpose is.

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. -Mother Teresa

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity. -George Bernard Shaw

It is not our fault that people are poor, but it is our responsibility to do something about it.

In justice is often the “cause behind the cause.”

In Africa they don’t say that water is important to their lives; they say that water is life.

We can be the generation that no longer accepts that an accident of latitude determines whether a child lives or dies. -Bono

Don’t fail to do something just because you can’t do everything. -Bob Pierce

It is not about charity. It’s about justice. -Bono

Are you willing...

I settled myself into a comfy reading chair at the local library and waded into Rich Sterns book yesterday afternoon. Over the next two hours, Rich reached into my life and tugged at my heart.

Questions always have a particular way of getting past my barriers and borrowing under my skin. They tend to work on me imperceptibly at first, like a quality tea they steep in the back of my mind.

Early into my read, Rich shared the account of a headhunter’s appeal recruiting Rich to consider the World Vision CEO position. Rich was a tough sell, but the recruiter landed a major blow when the recruiter ask this question, “Are you willing to be open to God’s will for your life?” That question registered the first ‘click’ as God began to unlock, one tumbler at a time, Rich’s safe, guarded and sheltered Christian life.

“Are you willing to be open to God’s will for your life?” Thanks to my afternoon read that question now sits steeping in my mind. Where will it lead? I don’t know. That is part of what this journey is about for me...

Let me repeat it one more time for good measure, “Are you willing to be open to God’s will for your life?”… Are you???

Yesterday I mentioned that I received a couple of emails, etc. responding to the book I gave out. I received permission to post the content of one email. Check this out…

Good morning Bill,

I picked up Richard Stearns' book from PCOG yesterday afternoon...Oh my! Is his message dead on or what????

This morning before work, I read some of his book at Starbucks. A woman saw the cover, came over, sat down and humbly asked if I would describe the book to her. She is an administrator from Yale Divinity School. We spoke about God, the Gospel, our relationship to Him and what that means for about 20 minutes or so. Both of us prompting one another to examine Christianity a little bit more and then work it out publically as Richard Stearns' prompts his readers to do. It was a great conversation. My mind continues to swirl and swim.

- Sandy

I just love to watch the way God works…

So I started reading Stern’s book, and was immediately captivated by the idea behind the book. This excerpt says it well (from pages 2-3)

The idea behind The Hole in Our Gospel is quite simple. It’s basically the belief that being a … follower of Jesus Christ requires much more than just having a personal and transforming relationship with God. It also entails a public and transforming relationship with the world.

If your personal faith in Christ has no positive outward expression, then your faith -and mine- has a hole in it. … The apostle James felt strongly about this type of person. “Show me your faith without deeds,” he challenged, “and I will show you my faith by what I do” (James 2:18). In other words make your faith public.

Embracing the gospel … proclaimed by Jesus is so much more than a private transaction between God and us. The gospel itself was born of God’s vision of a changed people, challenging and transforming the prevailing values and practices of our world. Jesus called the resulting new world order the “kingdom of God” (see Matt. 12:28, 19:24, 21:32, 43; and Mark 1:15, among others) and said that it would become a reality through the lives and deeds of His followers. Jesus asked a great deal of those who followed Him. He expected much more from them than just believing He was God’s Son. He challenged then to embrace radically different standards, to love their neighbors and their enemies, to forgive those who wronged them, to lift up the poor and downtrodden, to share what they had with those who had little, and to live lives of sacrifice. …

This is not easy stuff. Anyone who has tried to follow Jesus knows that the journey is fraught with setback, challenges, and failures… those who choose to follow Christ have struggled since the very beginning to live differently in a world that often rejects their values and mocks their beliefs. The temptation to retreat from it and to keep our faith private had befallen every generation of Christians.

Yet we are the carriers of the gospel -the good news that was meant to change the world. Belief is not enough. Worship is not enough. Personal morality is not enough. And Christian community is not enough. God has always demanded more. When we committed ourselves to following Christ, we also committed to living our lives in such a way that a watching world would catch a glimpse of God’s character -His love, justice, and mercy- through our words, actions, and behavior. “We are…Christ’s ambassadors,” wrote the apostle Paul, “as though God were making his appeal through us (2Cor 5:20). God chose us to be His representatives. He called us to go out, to proclaim the “good news” -to be the “good news”- and to change the world. Living out our faith privately was never meant to be an option.

That’s a mouthful, I am bracing myself for a challenge…

I handed out 5-dozen copies of Rich Stern’s book, The Hole in Our Gospel, last Sunday and I wondered, “Lord, will this book impact others like it did me?”

I don’t have a large sampling yet but I have received two emails, a phone call and a request from one family who forgot to pick up their copy and wanted one. Not bad for one morning in the office after the distribution. Time will tell but I can’t imagine the book not having an impact!