Passions of the Soul

Prayer needs and praises, updated

Reading some information about my friends' grandbaby, I realized I hadn't updated the requests and praises, lately.  So...

Ken is about half-way through his radiation treatments and is doing very well on them, with few of the anticipated side effects.  That's a praise!  He still has the remaining treatments to go, of course, and prayers for his continued endurance, lessening side effects, and gaining strength are needed.

Ken and Jeannine's newest grandbaby, Abigail, is making great strides, better than expected, for one born so darned early.  We praise God for bringing her along as well as He has and is, and pray that He'll keep her from getting any more infections, while in the hospital.  Also, issues of optimal weight gain (without use of a feeding tube) and breathing are factors in when she can come home.  If weight were the only factor, it appears that she would go home very soon, as she is at just under 5 lbs., now.

So many things are possible with a preemie as young as Abby, but God knows how to grow babies to be strong.  I keep hearing that children who were preemies have strong personalities; with a body to go with it, Abby could be one formidable little girl for her mommy and daddy to deal with! :o)

Different family:  Miriam, who was supposed to have had back surgery last Friday morning, was surprised to learn on arrival at the hospital that it had been rescheduled.  At this point, she is to report at some unearthly hour like 5 a.m. this Friday morning!  Please keep her in prayer, too.

Little Allie continues with various therapeutic modalities.  She no longer looks like a little baby, either!  She, Bryon and Susan, and Charity all need continued prayer.

One of the Compassion Advocates on our team is Hans, who is getting ready to graduate from college.  Hans has been fighting a recurring gastrointestinal problem for several months, and it has defied every doctor he has seen.  Please pray that God will heal Hans and given him the strength and presence of mind that he needs to finish his coursework and graduate.

And then there is Kenya.  Compassion's children are scattered all over, so many of them displaced by the violence that has robbed them of homes and belongings.  Compassion Kenya continues as best they can to care for all of the children who can be located, but conditions are even more heartbreaking than usual...which is saying a lot.  If you want to help, you might consider making a donation to Compassion's Disaster Relief Fund; in a comment section, you can specify that you want your funds to be used to help in Kenya, although there are other areas in need of assistance, as well.  And, of course, if you want to change the world for a child in poverty, in Jesus' name, you can do that here.  While you're praying for Kenya, please remember Rebecca, who is in the Leadership Development Program, there, and whom we sponsor.

MORE UPDATE:    I previous wrote about Tom and Karen, and her journey through diagnosis, surgery and treatment for endometrial cancer.  She finished her chemo' treatments sometime in January, I think, or early February.  Tom and Karen like to come to Arizona, now and then to do some hiking on snow-free ground, and this is their weekend to be in Tucson.  They came to church, this morning, so we got to visit a little bit afterward.  Karen looks great, and as far as they know, she is free of cancer.  They will appreciate prayers, however, as she will have a three-month checkup in April.  Praise God for having brought her through treatment as well as He did!

Doing good

"If you can't do the good you would, do the good you can" (Charles Swindoll, in "Insight for Today," Feb. 25, 2008).

The devotional for today is part of Dr. Swindoll's series in Exodus (OT).  He has written about Moses, how he learned of his true identity and how subsequent incidents drove him into the desert.  He ended up assisting a group of seven Midian women who tended a flock of sheep--a far cry from the visions he had had of himself as a great deliverer.  He married one of the women and settled down.

If you have ever had big dreams, only to see them remain unfulfilled, will you please raise your hand?  Sadly, I can't see any but my own hands.  You bet, I have had big dreams.  The first place I ever wanted to travel to see was Switzerland.  That was when I was first reading Heidi.  Haven't been there, yet.  More recently--roughly 20 years ago--I returned to college in order to prepare for teaching high-school English.  That didn't work out, well, although I did teach part-time at our community college, for a few years.  And while I did not earn fame as a great teacher, I did do some things very well.  (Dealing with student apathy was not one of them!)

I have known people, and you probably have, too, who just drifted along, taking whatever job they could get, because they were unable to do the one thing that they claimed was their dream.  A physical impediment kept one man from becoming a policeman, so he sat on his duff.  If he couldn't do what he wanted, he would let his wife work to support him and their children.  He would not hear of preparing himself to do anything else.

Having wanted for more than 30 years to sponsor a child, I finally was able to do that when I encountered a table with child packets from Compassion International.  At the same time, I was given a passion for helping to find sponsors for other children.  Almost immediately, I had great visions of what we could do to promote sponsorship at my own church, the grandest of which did not pan out--or haven't, yet.  And two years ago, I envisioned a great plan for opening the doors to great numbers of churches for Compassion across southern Arizona.  That hasn't happened, either, although I don't think that dream is dead.  Too much needs to be done, I think, before it can be implemented and brought to pass.  Meanwhile, I am able to talk to the occasional church leader within the community, and while that hasn't yet borne a lot of fruit, in terms of sponsorships, I think I can see greater potential than before.  The lesson to me was that, while I could not force the dream into being, I could do the day-to-day task of contacting churches and asking to meet with one or more of the leaders to talk about Compassion.

The irony for Moses, of course, is that his own great plans for delivering his people from bondage seemed to have died with the man he murdered in anger.  But years later, when Moses had been humbled and developed a servant's heart, God sent him back to Egypt to deliver His people from under Pharoah's oppressive hand.

What big dream do you have that you have not been able to fulfill?  Is it your own, or is it a God-inspired vision?  If it's your own dream, is it worthy of your time and attention to take steps toward its fulfillment?  What are the first three steps you can take?  What is holding you back?  What would you do if you weren't afraid?

If you know or believe your dream is from God, remember that His timing is never wrong, even when it seems hopelessly slow, to us.  What steps are available to you as you remain open to further leading, insights and/or development?  What is holding you back?  For me, it's often the 50-lb. telephone on my desk, when I know I need to call a church.  What is it for you?  What one step can you take today, or this week?

"If you can't do the good you would, do the good you can."

Unbelievable and insane!

I just learned today that the house/property where I spent all of my elementary-school years and began junior high (middle school, to most folks, now) is "valued" at somewhere around 3/4 of a million dollars.  That's based on a couple of other properties next door or a couple of lots away.

I have no idea how much my folks paid for the house, when they bought it.  It sat/sits on a very deep lot and was the only home there, at the time.  My dad added on an attached apartment, before he and my mom divorced.  After neighbors on one side built a 2-bedroom house behind their 2-story house, my mom used the same floor plan and built it on the front of our lot.  So--are you following this?--we ended up with three homes on our lot.  When my mom sold, she got about $16,000 for the whole shebang.  That was 1958.

I think the original house, that we lived in, was about 40 years old, when I was maybe 6 or 7, and it was constructed (I think) of wood siding.  My amazement is, first, that it's still standing, and that the price of the whole property could possibly be so high.  Of course, maybe the termites polished it off, or it burned to the ground, sometime, and has been rebuilt.   

The price on one of the properties my sister found has dropped $40,000 in the past 30 days.  That property had last been sold in 2001 for around $250,000.  The new price, of course, comes after several months of falling prices on real property in California.  I just can't imagine anyone paying anything close to $750-$850,000 for any property around there!

UPDATE:  According to my mom (see her comment), she and my dad paid $3,000 for the house--as she says, a lot of money at the time.  I have to think that market values hadn't gone up that much, by the time she sold the property; the additions of the apartment at the back and the house at the front of the property must have accounted for most of the appreciation she realized, at the time.

Persecution of Christians

On one hand, I have absolutely no business trying to write about this; in fact, I'm almost afraid to, because I don't think I have any right to do so.  The worst persecution I have ever experienced, just for being a Christian, was occasional ridicule.  One reason--perhaps the only reason--I am thinking about it, now, is that persecution of Christians is on the rise around the world, and even in the good ol' USA.  That's right:  The United States of America, founded by people who fled England, in part, because they wanted the freedom to worship as they saw fit.  The USA, where the phrase freedom of religion has been twisted to mean freedom from religion.

However, despite my lack of personal experience with serious persecution, I am faced with the growing fact of it through e-mails from friends who tell of fellow believers who are imprisoned or otherwise persecuted in Uzebekistan, India, China, Sudan, Darfur, and other countries.  Last night, I received a mass e-mailing from Focus on the Family, with an article about this very subject.  Finally, as I watch what is going on in the world and in our own nation, I can't help but disagree with those who deny that things will ever get that bad here.  Short of Divine intervention, I can't think of a reason why things will not continue to deteriorate here.

But here's what prompted this post:  Often, in news of Christians who are or have been subject to severe persecution, I read statements like, "All six were forced to deny their faith in Christ, or they would have been killed."

I freely admit that I have never been in such a position, and judging people who are is way out of my jurisdiction.  But I can't help the questions that come to mind:

• Would I want to have to live with myself, knowing that I had just denied the One Who died for me?  Jesus forgave Peter, so I assume He would forgive me, but could I ever forgive myself?
• How do we reconcile a forced denial of Christ (to avoid death) with His statements recorded in Matthew 10:32-33:  "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.  But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven."

But, again, I have never been tortured, and I really don't handle pain well.  Honestly, I hope I never have occasion to find out whether I would remain strong in my faith, even unto death.

Maybe what really eats at me, in these accounts, is recognizing that I could, after all, be brought to a point of denying my Lord, who took on Himself all of my sin and paid the full price of death, in order to reconcile me to the Father.  Maybe, instead of asking, "How can they do that?" I should ask, "Lord, is it I?"

I'm a little behind in the news

I missed the recent reports from Haiti, which describe the reliance of those in extreme poverty on making, selling and/or eating cookies made of dirt, shortening and salt.  Because of the high cost of oil, prices of food have risen sharply, so that many are unable even to afford one meal of rice per day.  In fact, the cost for the dirt to make 100 cookies has risen to $5!  That is more than two days' pay for many of the extremely poor...even closer to five days' pay for some.  I am truly horrified.

Compassion International's Advocates Network chose, a couple of years ago, to sponsor one Child Survival Project, at a cost of $20 per month per participating advocate.  But you don't have to be either a child sponsor with Compassion, nor an advocate, to contribute to other Child Survival projects, or to any of Compassion's funds.  You might, for example, want to contribute $10 for a treated bed net to help prevent Malaria.  But, of course, if you do want to sponsor a child, go here.  It costs $32 per month. 

There are other options.  The worst option you can choose is to sit back and do nothing, while children die and their caregivers get sick from eating cookies made of dirt, or from malaria, dehydration, malnutrition, or other largely preventable illnesses.

If you have ever read the book of James, in the New Testament, you will know that the religion that God considers pure and undefiled includes caring for orphans and widows.  Over 2,000 scriptures in the Bible have to do with the poor.  How we respond matters to God.  It matters to our world.  Please--do something to help.

So I went to vote...

this afternoon.  I had planned to go on the way home from the dentist's office, this morning, but that didn't work out.  When I did arrive, I found a line of people ending outside the building and down the walk, a ways.  My spouse had also had a 15-minute wait, at mid-morning.  The impression on arriving was that we were having a great turnout, but that will not prove to have been the case.

I heard from the dentist that, at his polling place, only one woman was assigned the task of checking people in and having them sign.  Normally, they have two or more people--I think, three or four--with sections of the alphabet, and where you stop at the table to sign in depends on where your name falls in the alphabet.  Not today, and apparently not anywhere in the county.

Step 1:  One woman had a large 3-ring binder with all of the pages of people registered to vote at that location.  She took the ID from one person at a time (of course) and found the correct page, name, and had the person sign in.  She then handed the ID to (Step 2) the next person, who laboriously checked off the party affiliation and something else, and wrote the name; she handed the slip of paper and the ID to its owner.  Step 3--the next person wrote the voter's name on another list, handed the ID back to its owner and motioned him or her to the fourth and final person sitting at the table.  Both of those individuals looked heartily bored and frustrated with how slowly the first two were doing their tasks.  Anyway, Step 4:  The fourth person handed a ballot to the voter.  So out of 8 voting booths, only one (1) was in use, at any given time.  My dentist's precinct had 15 booths, with only one in use at any given time.

Now, factor this in:  They had only half the number of polling places open, so that roughly (or potentially) twice as many people were voting at each one.  That may have had something to do with the fact that only registered Republicans or Democrats could vote, but still....

The result has been slow-moving lines, all day, with a lot of people giving up and leaving.  I hope the county Registrar does better in November!

Leadership Conference

I cannot believe it's been a week (well, tomorrow) since I came home from the Leadership [Advocates] Conference in Colorado Springs.  It was my first leadership conference, and I really had no idea what to expect.  Now I know:  great times of laughter, tears, learning, inspiration, recharging, information overload and more.  I'm always sorry when our conferences come to a close.  They are full, but they are short.  Too short, although many of our spouses and families might disagree.

I arrived in Colorado Springs on Friday, about mid-morning.  I have wanted for so long to get up there and see the U.S. offices (aka Global Ministry Center) of Compassion, and this was a welcome opportunity.  The Advocates Network has been growing so quickly, since August, that on our own Southwest Region's team, we had many new people.  In fact, the growth is unprecedented and cannot be attributed to merely human effort.

I took a lot of pictures, this time, and unlike my experience in August, I took pictures of a lot of people.  This is good.  The pictures are good.  The people are good...although maybe I shouldn't say that, since I'm in several of 'em!

I wish I could adequately tell you what the Compassion conference experience is like, but it's like what I heard an old gentleman say about knowing the Lord:  "It's better felt than telt!"

If you have ever thought about sponsoring a child and want to do that through a Christ-centered, child-focused, church-based organization that you can absolutely trust, please go here.  The lives you change will include your own!