Monday, February 1, 2010

IT JUST HURTS (Compassion International Blog)

As I read this blog from Compassion International (compassion.org) my heart hurts for the people of Haiti, for the thought that my friend lost his life doing what he did best and loved to do to show the rest of the world how the people of Haiti hurt and that the people of Haiti are no longer front page news worthy.

The hurt in my heart is deep and I will take it to God so he can soothe the pain but I never want it to go away totally....I want to remember this hurt so I can remember that God has called me to help those who are hurt and down trodden in life...to be the hands and feet of God's love and mercy. I also want the hurt to stay with me so it can remind me to remind others in the body of Christ that we are to help those who are hurting and down trodden.

Life in Haiti After the Earthquake: It Just Hurts

Posted: 01 Feb 2010 07:59 AM PST

Received from Scott Todd, our Senior Ministry Advisor, who is leading our medical team in Port-au-Prince.

Saturday, Jan. 30 – We had the chance to meet eight leadership students today. We sat in a circle in the parking lot listening to their stories as ashes drifted like snow upon us and the smell of burning plastics scorched the air.
They spoke of how important Compassion’s work has been in their lives. Some shared with tears about being selected for the Leadership Development Program. I don’t know whether the tears flowed from joy, gratitude or something sad.
Like the dream that almost came true. They had climbed so high. From the slums to the universities. But when we asked how many went to schools which had been damaged in the earthquake all of them raised their hands.
We asked how many had lost friends or loved ones and all raised their hands again.
At one school 90 percent (180 out of 200) of the students were killed. With buildings collapsed, professors and administrators dead, its hard to imagine how those dreams can come true now.
May God have mercy on us if we fail to find a way forward for them. They are Haiti’s future.

I’ve been saying that this disaster is not about the earthquake. It’s about poverty. Most of those who died would have lived if their nation was not too poor to afford rebar in their concrete, too poor to have heavy equipment to rescue the many who were trapped, too poor to provide the needed health care.
And as tragic as this disaster is, an even greater tragedy looms. The tragedy of the American media getting bored, Haiti leaving the front pages and the world forgetting – the American Christian forgetting – this country and her people. Again.
It’s already happening. Mid-week I saw the headlines. No Haiti.
What replaced it as “news”? A controversial gay kiss in a television ad.
That would normally make me angry, but I was hurting too much to be angry. It just hurts.
We must awaken the sleeping giant of the American church. Awaken her to her God-given mission. Her calling.
That she would radiate light in her good works and that rivers of justice would flow from her for the sake of the poor and oppressed.
That she would not be trapped and anesthetized any longer by our culture of… call it what you will… lusts and self-satisfaction.
If the energy with which we pursue our own entertainment and appetites were deployed on behalf of the poor instead, then the world could be a much better place and we would find the life Jesus promised.
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Be Grateful For What You Have

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."
I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it."
Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people that they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have.. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.
When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile Face your past without regret.
Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.
The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling
And even more beautiful is, knowing that you are the reason behind it!!!

Pray For Haiti (You Tube Video)

Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Story Of A Tear (Janelle Spiers, 10 y/o)

My friend Amy’s 10 year old daughter wrote a story for a school assignment. The assignment was to write from the perspective of a raindrop, falling in Yellowstone National Park and journeying to the Gulf of Mexico. Her daughter wrote, instead, from the perspective of a tear..

The Story Of A Tear
By Janelle Spiers
I am a tear. I am a tear welling up in the eye of a girl. She has just gotten word that a loved one is in Haiti. In Haiti, a terrible earthquake has destroyed everything.
I will now begin my journey; it is a journey of sorrow and a journey of hope. As I trickle down her cheek she leans over to say a prayer, and I fall into Yellowstone Lake.
When I fall into the water, I start to sparkle out among the fern. All around me I can see beauty and the evidence of a living God. I think about these things as I make my way out of the lake and into the river.
Days later I reach Yellowstone River. I’m in Montana, which is the name of a popular hotel in Haiti, where many people were trapped. God knows each one by name, and He has not forgotten them.
I go through Lake Sakakawea, the Missouri river, through Lake Oahe and back into the Missouri. I head into Kansas City and join the big, roaring Mississippi river. The roar causes me to think of the people crying out in pain. I shudder at the thought. So many people died. So many loved ones lost - so much agony, suffering, and pain. How can they go on unless they have hope – hope in the One who can turn ashes into beauty. I share their sorrow, and like them I must go on.
I sail down the Mississippi River all the way down to New Orleans. Suddenly, I think about hurricane Katrina, which devastated this city just five years ago. How terrible it was! I realize that the people here are moving beyond their grief and on with life. They’re rebuilding their lives and regaining hope!
I make a sudden sally through the delta and I chatter as I flow right into the Gulf of Mexico!
But my journey doesn’t end here. I make my way toward Haiti to share my grief but also my hopes; hopes for the people too not only survive but to thrive.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous
Right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

HOLDING YOUR HAND

Sitting in church today ...thinking about the word TRUST which in American Sign Language is signed like you are grasping something with both hands I was prompted to write this...

HOLDING YOUR HAND

I am holding YOUR hand when I can't even stand.

I am holding YOUR hand when I don't understand.

I am holding YOUR hand, knowing YOU are near;
Walking beside me calming my fears.

I am holding YOUR hand, I am trusting YOUR heart;
Thank You for being here, never to part

Saturday, January 30, 2010

For my family on the FRIENDS OF DAVID facebook page (you know who you are) :)

Do Not Be Anxious

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [1] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.