01-25-10
the reason we sing
A question was posed on twitter:
I don’t think Lane was being combative. I think he was simply asking why we do what we do. When tragedy strikes, why do we come together and sing? Why benefits? Why do we do something so beautiful when life, for some people, has changed drastically? Doesn’t it seem kind of….wrong?
I think singing as a result of disaster is a beautiful thing.
Any time something good comes out of something terrible is a reminder that beauty from ashes is possible.
This guy said it best: “It’s miraculous sometimes what comes out when life squeezes us.”
In disaster, in tragedy, some of us do nothing. Some of us become numb. Some of us feel helpless. Some of us focus on the negative and try to tear down anyone trying to do the right thing.
But some of us give money. Some of us go and help physically. Some of us watch telethons and hope to talk to a celebrity when we call to give money. We create and donate the proceeds. Some of us sing, and some of us pay money to go hear people sing. We desire use our talents for good. [And for the record - one of my talents = ministry shopping, as I got to do Saturday night for my church 
]
Giving, creating, singing, shopping – whatever the case may be – in times of crisis, some of us try to do our best to help in whatever way we can. I think that’s how it should be.
11-04-09
let the revolution take its toll
i’m really glad i took this picture last year.
it’s been one year since we elected barack obama into office. some people aren’t happy with his decisions. some people are still big supporters. some people think he should have done more by now. some people think he’s a socialist. some people think America made the wrong decision. some people are waiting for the change he promised. some people still have hope. some people are angry. some people think we would have been better off with mccain/palin.
i’ve made it a policy not to discuss politics…both here on my blog and in real life. we probably don’t agree on everything, and i would like to keep my friends and readers. however, i will say this:
+ Barack Obama is our president. We should respect that.
+ We are encouraged to pray for our leaders. Do it. Even if it’s hard for you, do it.
+ Change was and still is necessary.
+ If you’re going to discuss politics, make sure you know what you are talking about. Both sides of the issue, please.
+ You’re not going to agree with everyone on everything. Better get used to it and learn how to deal gracefully (Confession: I need to take my own advice sometimes).
That’s all I have…without going into specifics Anyone out there have any more advice?
(title song: from ‘uprising’ by muse. oh yes.)
05-02-09
introducing….
Stella from India!
She’s 9!
I chose her because I love her name and I love how annoyed she looks in this photo.
05-01-09
poverty.
one of my favorite things about traveling is the people i get to meet and, in turn, the stories i get to tell.
some stories are funny, some are just neat, and most have an ending i can wrap up for you in a package with a nice bow.
unfortunately, some stories don’t seem to have a happy ending. they’re hard to write about, to talk about, to even think about.
this is why missionaries have to “debrief” (to use the southern baptist terminology). this is why, when people ask me how [insert country here] was, all i can say is “amazing” or something of the sort, and hope my smile is genuine enough to portray my gratefulness for getting to go and be part of something so…well, amazing. this is why i still haven’t written all that much about Africa – i’ll be processing it for the rest of my life.
when we pulled up to the project site on our first day of merry everyday gift giving, the children were in line to receive their Christmas presents from CHI. as i got out of the taxi, i realized that their presents were a large vat of cooking oil and a large package of noodles. Such a contrast to the clothes, toys, books, crayons, bikes, etc. that we give and receive here, huh? Most of these families eat because their child is sponsored by Children’s Hope International’s Greatest Need Project. Through donations they are able to provide shelter, medical care, and other critical resources to Ethiopia’s orphaned and at-risk children.
the woman pictured above is the mother of two grown women and the grandmother of two beautiful children. They live in a “house” that is essentially…well, a shack. It is no bigger than my current bedroom, but 5 people reside there. Their “kitchen” is a small fire pit just outside their “door.” The grandfather is long gone, and the father died of AIDS – though, thankfully, neither the children nor their mother contracted the disease.
I have seen the face of poverty, and it is suprisingly beautiful.
I’ve been following the journey of the Compassion bloggers in India, and have struggled to keep my heart hardened to their stories. As much as I want to read them, I don’t want to be moved. I don’t want to be changed. I like my life just like it is thankyouverymuch. And I’m quitting my job soon and moving without the guarantee of another job. And I’m going back to school and will again be a poor college student. And I don’t have an extra $30 a month. And I already sponsor a child through World Vision – that has got to be enough! And…and…and.
No. it’s not enough. I read this story this morning and God spoke loud and clear (and of course I cried on the bus, which is something i seem to do a lot). Admittedly, the thought of helping just one child overwhelms me, because there are so many who need help. But God spoke: One at a time. One day. One child. I think i can handle that.
Confession: Last night I spent $15 on a concert and then $16 on a cab home, totaling $31. For that small amount of money i could have released a child from poverty. Reread that sentence…if i stayed home ONE night, i could have provided some basic needs for a child living in conditions no human should ever have to endure.
So where does that leave me? I’m going to sponsor a child in India. I’m going to write her (a girl, because I already sponsor a boy) letters and tell her she is loved. I’m going to pray for her. I’m going to get to watch her grow up. I am going store up treasures elsewhere – and by ‘elsewhere’ i don’t even mean Heaven, i mean India.
Join me.
01-27-09
new.
i’ve been back in the States for 2 weeks and i feel like maybe i can start to put my time in Ethiopia into words. maybe.
The only other country (besides the US) i can compare ET to is China…and the similarities begin and end at the super long plane rides and the overpowering smell of pollution. Even the plane rides were different – the trip to China was quiet for the most part. People didn’t really talk to each other unless they were traveling together. On the way to ET, everyone walked the aisles, hung out with each other like they were family, and children were screaming (The. Whole. Way. There.) Imagine chaos and you’ve got the flight to and from Ethiopia. Yes, it annoyed me, and no I couldn’t sleep, but I couldn’t help but notice and appreciate the difference in cultures.
The first day we were in country we spent time at the House of Hope. The HOH is kind of like a halfway house for children who have been matched with a family. They leave their orphanages and stay there until their family (from another country) comes to pick them up. The anticipation, at least amongst the older kids, is palpable. They have been chosen! They are going to be adopted into a new family and get a new name and a new life and a new home!
While we were playing with these SUPER CUTE kids all i could think about was their impending adoptions and how like God it is to take a life that was headed in one direction and make it new. The Bible talks about adoption in several places but i’m not sure i understood it until that day in Africa. Not only was I chosen (Eph 1:11-12) but I was (and am) transformed! I got a new life and a new (eternal) home.
The part that struck me the most about adoption was that the children are given a new name. It’s such a spiritual concept. I LOVE this about God! In Isaiah 62, Isaiah prophesies that, although Jerusalem was spiritually corrupt, one day they would be restored to glory. The people of Jerusalem were familiar with feelings of desolation and abandonment, but God promised that the days of war and destruction would pass and they will know how much He delights in them. He even promised to change their name (vs. 2)to reflect their transformation.
All our lives we are labeled. As children we are called names on the playground and as we get older we start to believe the lies that we are told. We believe we are too much or not enough, that we are too fat, too skinny, too [fill in the blank], that we are annoying, that we’re ugly, that we just can’t live up to expectations. But we have to trust that God absolutely did not intend for us to live our lives as if these labels belong to us, to claim them as if they’re our own.
Instead, He has changed my name! I am no longer called insecure, anxious, fearful, ashamed, or worthless, but instead a crown of splendor, a royal diadem, delightful, worth rejoicing over!
The children at House of Hope eagerly wait for their adoptive parents. Because they were chosen, they believe that rescue is coming. They will be given a new name. And with this new name comes the faith that what once was ashes will become beautiful.
12-15-08
advent.
i wish i could take credit for this but i can’t.
my friend ellie of merry everyday fame, as well as my partner in all things adventurous, wrote about advent on gloryology the other day, and it was so good i wanted to share.
(i apologize in advance if it makes you cry, because it makes me cry every time i read it!)
I’ve stopped several times over the past couple of weeks in an attempt to gather and form these thoughts into words. The season of Advent is unfamiliar territory to me (I admit I’m a tad ashamed). I remember lighting the candles each Sunday leading up to Christmas; I’ve heard the term Advent; but I can’t confirm that I’ve ever really grasped the larger concept or how it applies to daily living. So this Advent season I’ve been reading a book called Watch for the Light—I highly recommend it!
When I first started reading the book, I looked up the word advent and this is what my dashboard dictionary told me: advent, the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event. (Now that sounds like something I want to celebrate—how royal and noteworthy, and to think its something I believe!)
That suffices as a functional summary—in the least a foundation on which God has gradually been building the concept of Advent for me. Here is where I’ve been:
1. We annually celebrate Advent as the season leading up to Christmas, the birth of Jesus, the arrival of our Saviour, the reminder that He will come again.
2. Advent is largely a season of waiting. A season leading up to the arrival of something or someone constitutes waiting and likely for an unknown time. Sometimes we know what we’re waiting for, sometimes we don’t though it does seem we’re always waiting for something. So Advent happens over and over again in our lifetime.
3. How we wait is important and fairly indicative of our faith (see Luke 1, Zechariah vs. Mary).
4. Jesus is coming continually into our hearts and lives. He came from the womb of Mary. He arrives in our hearts when we begin our personal relationship with God. He graciously reveals Himself daily if we are diligent to watch for Him and sometimes even when we’re not. And I believe He beckons us out of our commercial holiday, not to refuse the celebration, but to acknowledge His presence, to behold His power, to give thanks for His grace, to be mindful of Him, to have our priorities reorganized, to prepare our hearts to receive more, to give us a glimpse of what is to come, the list goes on.
5. We wait for Him still.
I will fail to capture in this small space my witness to His coming. But I’ll try. We began our season of waiting earlier this year. There were highs and lows, but by far we refused to make M.E. happen on our own accord. We waited for God to unveil His marked path and determined the course accordingly. Had I thought to watch earlier I would have taken better notes.
I’ve seen Jesus come…in the first excited donation we received months ago before a stocking was ever mentioned, in the lady who even in a struggling economy staring job loss in the face has purchased more stockings for us with the arrival of each paycheck, in the family praying diligently for our trip while wishing with broken hearts that their own Ethiopian baby was home with them, in the family who not only opened up their hearts and home to their own adopted children but send a family’s worth of stockings to those who remain in orphanages, in the ones who give though they live on their own raised support, in the loyal friends who have followed the blog and participated though we haven’t communicated in months, in the couple who gave big not knowing the need, in the one who turned that gift into four boxes of shoes and then some, in the tiny church community who so generously gave us a place to lay our heads in Africa, in the youth groups and family and corporations and non-profits, and in the ones who used their spare change to buy my junk. Oh, I’ve seen Jesus! And there are others to whom I’m grateful. There are people on this continent I’ve never met who are wearing a red wristband and praying. And I am truly awestruck that this is only the beginning. Because it is not about the gifts or the stuff or the money or the givers or the planners or the go-ers. This all simply rests on the arrival of Jesus, His faithfulness to show Himself to those who believe, and His love extended to us even when we don’t.
So more than I want to offer a meager thank you (and we do Thank You), I just want to encourage you to watch for the Light.
11-07-08
i probably don’t tell the people around me that i believe in them. i consider myself blessed to have friends who are so talented, beautiful, and smart. i believe they are all changing their small piece the world in a big way.
to my friends [you know who you are]:
i believe in you.
i believe that you will make the world a better place for millions of children.
i believe that you will change the face of the Church (Isaiah 58).
i believe that you will create fashion that revolutionizes the world.
i believe that you will compel all of America to laugh.
i believe that you will use your skills to help create community.
i believe that you will tell your story and it will change perspectives.
i believe that you will find deep rooted joy.
i believe that you will earn a living doing what you love.
i believe that you will save lives.
i believe that you will love and be loved.
i believe that you will figure out where you belong.
i believe that you will have a great marriage.
i believe that you will raise amazing children.
i believe that you will get through the hardest year of your life.
i believe that you will because He is.
love,
elizabeth
08-13-08
correspondence wednesday (cont’d)…
bella and edward forever,
made for the beach,
08-07-08
merry everyday.
Commentary: Our tragedy and God’s love for orphans by Steven Curtis Chapman
FRANKLIN, Tennessee (CNN) — According to UNICEF, there are 143 million children in the world who have lost one or both parents.
In America alone, there are half a million children in foster care, and approximately 120,000 of these children are waiting to be adopted. In many countries, children are too often orphaned or abandoned because of poverty, disabilities and disease; every 15 seconds, a child loses a parent because of AIDS. These are staggering facts that can seem overwhelming and discouraging, but I believe that God has a loving plan for each child, and that plan is you and me.
Caring for these children is not the job of governments or institutions; instead, it is the job of families, people and communities. As Christians, our compassion is simply a response to the love that God has already shown us. Mother Teresa would constantly remind those who worked with her that the Bible clearly teaches that whatever we do for the least of these, we do for Jesus. So in a very real sense, caring for orphans is a chance to meet the person of Jesus in “the guise of human suffering.” This is an invitation from the heart of God to know him and to experience his love.
the part that struck me is this:
“If only 7 percent of the 2 billion Christians in the world would care for a single orphan in distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. If everybody would be willing to simply do something to care for one of these precious treasures, I think we would be amazed by just how much we could change the world.
We can each do something, whether it is donating, adopting, fostering, mentoring, visiting orphans or supporting families that have taken in orphans. You can change the world for an orphan.”
let’s change the world for orphans.