Support Compassion International

I had signed up with Compassion International and said that I would send a plea out to people for them to sponsor a Child. Once a week I am going to highlight a story I have found or one from the Child I sponsor. Shaun Groves who is a christian artist, blogger, and supporter of Compassion had a story about Eliud that was on his blog. Eliud is an 18-year-old that lost his sister when he was young. By 2007 he had lost both his mother and father leaving him an orphan  alone in one of the most filthy and impoverished slums in the world. Because of Compassion and his sponsor they were able to help him. They purchased a shack that he was renting so that he could continue living there. He was sponsored by a man named Nick. (not me) When they asked if he had letter written to him from his sponsor he pulled out a box full. Here is a video of Eliud telling his sponsor thank you.

 

Written in his shack was a prayer that said...

As I sit here I think about my prayers and how this young man was so thankful. Many times my prayers are asking for things that I could love with out. It reminds me of the lords prayer and how we should pray for our daily bread.

I personally sponsor a child who is 18 now. I did this for a reason, many times we tend to forget about the older ones. I have never met this young man but when I read his story I find it amazing and believe that Compassion is making a difference in his life. The young man I sponsor lives in the Philippines and is in the 10 grade. I pray that God would touch his life because of what Compassion is doing.

What I love about Compassion is that it is all in the name of Jesus. They go through a local church and that child is not only receiving the basic needs, they also receive the love of Christ. Your money doesn't go in a big pot, but a least 80% goes to help that child beat poverty. The child doesn't have multiple sponsors and you do not have to question if that child even reads or receives your letters. When you read up on compassion you find that the letters help them with their education and writing abilities.

I pray that if you have not sponsored a child that you would do so. If you have I would love to hear your story. You can leave it in the comments or email me.

A little over a year

It was a little over a year ago that many things in my life hit the fan. I become tired, angry, and fed up with life in general. I didn't have a clue of who I was and where I was going. It was that that led me to truly blog my true emotions. Closer to Love was the entry that started something that would become away for me to express myself. At that time all I knew was that God was doing something in me different and I didn't like it. It was in December that I made the choice to take two weeks alone and to grow closer to him.

There came a point that after Christmas that I had to go to my pastor and simply say what was going on in my life. It was so routine and I did not have the ability to love God or his people like before. My patience became thin and even sitting with him brought me to a point of simply being nervous and fearful of the truth being revealed. It was stupid, I knew what his reaction was going to me. That morning started something brand new in me. I for the first time in forever began to see God for who he was again. I would love to say it was a quick fix, but it wasn't. I had to really put my actions in-line with what God was saying to do. So what has changed...

•  Success has become less important and simply following God's will is what I find to be important. 
• I talk openly about my convictions that I have about myself and the world around me. 
• God's calling for me when it comes to youth ministry is to not be the best teacher but to direct them to the cross. 
• Reading God's word has become a joy and not a job. 
• Church has become a joy and something that has to be done. 

I could go on and on about what has changed, but the good news is that I am seeing what God has done. I believe it is because of his Grace that I am able to experience the freedom I can only find in Chirst.   

The Story of Clayton McDonald

The first time I ever saw this young man was in a message that Francis Chan was speaking. It was an amazing story of hope. Today for whatever reason I thought about it and I went back to watch the video. I found another one that he did that I will post at the bottom. I encourage to watch the video. The day after the video was finished, Clayton passed away from Leukemia. He had battle the disease for years. I don't want to give away to much because I believe it has a better impact hearing from him...but what I respected the most from this young man was the fact he knew who he was in Christ. Many times we go through this life simply playing the game and trying to be the next big thing. In all reality what we see is our life slip right past us.

God has made us into who we are and it is because of him we are alive. In that life he places a purpose on our life so we can fulfill the will he has put in place for us.

James 4:13-17 ¹³Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." ¹⁴Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." ¹⁶As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.   

Many times we simply do not live for today. Today is the day that matters and tomorrow might never appear here on earth but when it does in heaven how awesome will it be to hear "well done good and faithful servant."

Now I am not mocking about preparing for tomorrow.But I do believe we must consider the fact that all we have is this second and the question is....did I make it count?? My prayer is that God will simply allow me to live a life that is about this second and not just tomorrow. I want to dream and I have goals, but if this was my last day here on earth my prayer is that I could look Jesus in the eyes and him say "well done good and faithful servant. 

Compassion should be given and not earned

In the last couple of years God has taken the what I define compassion as and showed me what he finds compassion to be. Dictionary.com say the following a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. I love how the dictionary defines compassion, but more than that I love how the Bible puts it. John 13:34-35 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  

Psalms 90:12-16 ¹² Teach us to number our days aright,
       that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

 ¹³ Relent, O LORD! How long will it be?
       Have compassion on your servants.

 ¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
       that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

 ¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
       for as many years as we have seen trouble.

 ¹⁶ May your deeds be shown to your servants,
       your splendor to their children. 

I must admit when I read verses like that I tend to get on fire a bit and at the same time feel convicted. I feel many times I fall short. The reason I fall short is because I have difficult time receiving Compassion from the Lord. What I have learned is that compassion is not a pity trip, but compassion is here to save us. This salvation comes from Christ, but at the same time Christ is wanting to save us from ourselves. I heard a great quote from Shaun Groves "The Good News is not what we are saved from, but what we are saved for." When I heard that I went into tears for a minute. Because many times I become comfortable because of heaven. But the Good News is that we are saved by the compassion of Christ to not only worship him and love him. But to take our worship and show the world compassion because of who we love.

Isiah 58:7-11

 ⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
       and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
       when you see the naked, to clothe him,
       and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

 ⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
       and your healing will quickly appear;
       then your righteousness will go before you,
       and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

 ⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
       you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
       "If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
       with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

 ¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
       and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
       then your light will rise in the darkness,
       and your night will become like the noonday.

 ¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
       he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
       and will strengthen your frame.
       You will be like a well-watered garden,
       like a spring whose waters never fail. 

If all that we do is simply live our lives and not understand that we live in a world that is in need of compassion, a compassion that is earned. I am talking about a small light in a dark soul that burns bright and lights up the body of Christ. 

Isaiah 6:8-10

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
      And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

 ⁹ He said, "Go and tell this people:
       " 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
       be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'

 ¹⁰ Make the heart of this people calloused;
       make their ears dull
       and close their eyes.
       Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
       hear with their ears,
       understand with their hearts,
       and turn and be healed." 

So what is my prayer?? Simple I pray that I can be that light in this world. I pray that truly understand what it means to be a follower of Christ. That I not only show compassion when it is earned, but I show compassion when it is not earned. Christ paid for my spot in heaven, it's the blood and compassion he had. He knew the price that had to be paid.  

 

Thank You God (Humor but all true)

Here is a list of things I am thankful for, it's a little different they are all things that could have made my day, week, or even my life horrible. Instead trying to find the Good in it.

1. God thank you that I lose everything and leave things all over the place. For whatever reason I simply don't freak out over it because it is normal to me. Some call it A.D.D. but you call it a blessing.
2. God thank you for whatever reason when I touch something it tends to stop working. Some call this destructive, you call this a blessing.
3. God thank you for copy machines, I seem to have issues with them lately. At work and I found out tonight also at the church. I will be honest with you God, I didn't have a clue on either one. Some would call this Stupid or annoying, but you guess it you call it a blessing.
4. God thank you for that kid who puked his guts up all in front of my office today. I really did try to clean it, but I started feeling sick. Some call this weakness and gross, but you call it a blessing.
5. God thank you for allowing me to go to the Church today and spending two hour trying to put a projector up. Did I succeed? Nope! Some call this a waste of time...but I call it a blessing.
6. God thank you for allowing me to spend a week hunting down a kids number that I thought was not in my phone. You let me find it on Sunday morning to find that it was disconnected...I prayed for a week straight to allow me to have contact with that young man so I could apologize and explain. Today while most thought I was wasting my time, he was up at the church. Now Andrew has my number and he is going to Dallas this weekend. Some would call this rude and sorry that I would lose a number, but you call it a blessing.
7. God thank you for the two kids who came into my office after being hit in the face with a ball. Some would call this annoying, you call it a blessing.
8. God thank you for the 7 year old boy who keep hitting the kids in the face, some would call him rough...you call it a blessing.
9. God thank you for the head cold I have been fighting for a week now. Some would call this sickness, but you call it a blessing.
10. God thank you for all the trials I will face tomorrow...some call this not being faithful, you call it a blessing.

 

2 Corinthians 13:9 We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection.

 

Blessed are the poor

The last few weeks I have been thinking allot bout this and asking God what to do with it.

Matthew 51-12 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

What is the struggle? This seems to be a love letter from Jesus himself, simply encouraging us to keep going. The struggle I have with it is that at times myself and I believe others simply do not believe what we just read. Working with teens I see heart breaks daily. I could post facebook status' that say the following: Need a girl, single, bored looking for something to do, text it, and on and on. You might ask what this has to do with what Jesus is talking about, it's simple we as adults are the ones who teach this to our kids. Really what it comes down to is that have a difficult time believing and we are not honest about it.

I have a young man that has been in my group for a couple of years. He was saved at camp and I have blogged about him a few times and I have also been praying for him. Long story short with out going into details the last couple of months have been not so good for him. Today he was at my office and we were talking about things. As he was talking I had to stop him and tell him that he was blessed. As he goes through these trials in his life it brings an opportunity for him to grow closer to God.

I started feeling convicted because I am amazed at how much I struggle to and that I complain about things that really do not matter. When you sit and think about the that the Blood of Jesus has bought my ticket to heaven and this bad day or trial will not be able to take that ticket and now allow access into the kingdom. WOW! When our life becomes a lifestyle of worship and not just a life of consuming we start to see something change.

I started thinking about the stupid things we say in life... things like, big time christian artist or big time speaker?? Really having a huge following is what makes you big time?? Where in the world do you read that at? I am searching for it and I can find it. Could it be that we simply take what is God and start to twist it around to make it more popular and attractive? When I see the poor and spirit, I must be honest I take pity on them. Am I wrong?? I don't know but from what I can read they are blessed.

I believe there is nothing wrong with success or dreams. At the same time I believe we need to be realistic that success doesn't always look pretty and dreams do not always come true. This is because we live in a broken world and we are in need of a Savior. I NEED a God that says Yes, Not now, and No. I need a God that allows all things to be ripped away from me so I can see that I am in need of him. I need God to show me pictures of Children who are starving, who struggle in the area of education, who have family problems, and etc. Why do I need that? Because God knows that is how he gets my attention. I am in need of a God who loves but allows me to experience this world and the pain that comes with it.

God continue to work in my life and continue to show me who you really are.            

New Youth Ministry Blog

Check out our new youth ministry blog. It is still a work in progress. Go to www.paradoxstudentministry.com

Humanitarian Jesus

Humanitarian Jesus is by far one of the best books to read. I believe it is one that challenges you to really think about the efforts that a person puts in to make this world a better place. It really hits on what our callin is as Christians. What I love the most is how it is not a program based book but a gook that encourages a person to think before they act. Also at the same time it drives home the point that you can pray all you want but if you are not taking action then things will not change. It really breaks down the fact that Jesus didn't come to solve issues, but he came to save souls. But we go in and love people where they are at and help with the issues like lack of food, social issues, education, and etc.

If you have anytime to read I really suggest this book!   

What if NY didn't have clean water??

Brad Ruggles has a blog that I read and he had this post up a couple of days ago. I thought it was worth sharing!

Blog From Brad Ruggles
I shared a few weeks ago about an endeavor I’m participating in along with 30 other bloggers to raise $30k for clean water in the Central African Republic. That challenge is still going strong and the need is still very much there.
With all the “important” stories dominating the news like which rehab clinic Lindsay Lohan is in this week, we sometimes forget that there are 42,000 people dying every week (90% of whom are children) from unclean water and lack of sanitation, But of course those numbers are just too much to comprehend. They just don’t hit home for many of us because we are so far removed from the problem. So let’s bring it a little closer to home. Imagine if New York City’s taps went dry…what would we do? In this great video from Charity:Water, Jennifer Connelly walks to Central Park to get dirty water for her family as millions of mothers in Africa do every day.

Jennifer Connelly in charity: water Public Service Announcement from charity: water on Vimeo.


Please take a minute today to donate something…anything…to help bring clean water to people who need it. 100% of the money you give goes towards water projects – none of it goes to advertising or organization expenses (private donors take care of all overhead)! A $20 donation provides 1 person clean water for 20 years – just stop and think about what that means! When was the last time you spent $20 and got that kind of return on your investment? Like you, I often think of the many needs I have or the bills I have to pay that would prevent me from giving. And yet, if it were my family that was without clean water, is there anything I wouldn’t do to remedy the situation?

When??

Many times in life we are simply not real and we have a difficult time looking past our own needs and desires. Several years back I went on a mission trip to Mexico. While we were there we came in contact with this little boy. He was around 12 and we found out that he lived in a park by himself. It was awesome to watch this little boy while we worked at this church. Our youth group built a relationship with him and it was awesome to see. However with some adults he was simply in the way and would complain about him. I was amazed that teenagers were so accepting of this kid, but shocked that adults would simply rather him be gone. It wasn't every adult but a small group who continued to complain. I watched a group of teenagers get upset because of how this little boy was being treated.

Our last day we went to this park to have some fun. I remember the kids asked if they could bring this little boy and they were told no. When we were gone he went in and took all of our food and cash that we had left there in what we though was a safe place. When the adults found out they threw a fit and kicked this little boy out and shut the gates. I was upset, but yet I didn't say anything. At that point I saw a group of teenage boys cry and become angry because of how this kid was treated. In all reality we are not sure if he did it or not. But at the same time we were there to minister and that group of teens understood that. When the gate was shut you heard the little boys say "you are like all other American's. The group of teens went to that boy and one understood just enough Spanish to communicate with the boy. They spoke about God's love and grace.

So I believe there comes a point to where we need to take one for the team. Do I believe stealing is right? Well no! But at the same time this is all this boy knew. But what scares me the most is wondering if he knew who Jesus was.

Galatians 6^:12-18 Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. ¹³Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. ¹⁴May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ¹⁵Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. ¹⁶Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.
 ¹⁷Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
 ¹⁸The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen

What I saw that day was a group of people taking a stand for what is right. So when do we lay it all out on the table? When someone who is not in the family is being hurt by our actions. In all reality he wasn't stealing from us at all...it was from God. Do I believe we should confront people with this behavior? Yes! But with love. We are so worried about what world sees and not what God sees. It seems like we have a cure or an answer for behavior that people have but yet we simply choose not to love. I never have seen Christ upset with those who were the outsiders. But I read multiple times where he is upset at those who simply no better and then continue to hurt the kingdom.

So I am saying this, we must be careful at how we handle things. Youth ministry has been able to teach me allot on this. When I have a kid who comes to church high, I want to communicate to him this....you are more then welcome to come here anytime, but I want to sit and tell you about someone who is better then that drug you are on. I had a student who could not figure out why his teach didn't send him to the office when he was in the classroom high. You see one of my students turned that kid in, this is before he even came to church. He was busted, but that teacher wanted to pray for him because he knew Christ was he was missing. That young man has been clean for seven months and started coming to church. The kid who turned him in told him at church one day. After being told the young man looked at him and said "thank you for loving me."  His mother does a drug test every two weeks. I am not sure if he knows who the lord is, but he is closer and closer.

The question is When?? It is simple when you know for sure God tells you when! My prayer is that we would seek God first before trying to fix things! That young man I couldn't fix, but at the same time when someone is being hurt by the church we must take a stand for what is right. Both should always be done out of pure love for Christ and his children.    

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