Passions of the Soul

The road to usefulness

I just read a daily devotional item from Dr. Chuck Swindoll.  His closing paragraph linked our usefulness to God with the depth of our hurt and used this quote:  "It's doubtful that God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply."

I can't help being reminded of Wess Stafford, President and CEO of Compassion International.  The hurt he described in his book went so deep that most of his childhood friends, who experienced the same kinds of abuses as he did, went on to live tragic lives.  You can hear Wess talk about how he came to forgive his abusers and turned his hurt into a life of greater usefulness than most of us will ever achieve.

(Hint:  It's the antidote to victimhood.)

More on the Global Food Crisis

This is a link to the Compassion Blog.  It's written by Dr. Wess Stafford, the president and CEO of Compassion, about the Global Food Crisis.

Then, if you and your family have enough, please urgently consider contributing to Compassion's Global Food Crisis Fund.  You can never find another organization that will handle your gifts with more integrity; Compassion's integrity is absolute:  Your money will always be used for the purpose you designate, and Compassion is a 501(c)(3) organization meaning your gift is tax-deductible.

Please.  People are dying for want of food or money with which to buy it.  We feel the pinch of the rising prices; they feel it in the extreme, in their stomachs.  Some of Compassion's children feel something that must be akin to "survival guilt," as they eat one meal each time they are at their Compassion-assisted student center, or project.  They know everyone else in their family is not even getting that much.  Please help!

Remembering those I never knew

Memorial Day was always on May 30 (or was it the 31st?), when I was young, but it was changed, when more 3-day weekends were wanted.  So today is Memorial Day.

I don't think I've ever known anyone, personally, who was killed in a war.  I've known some who came home, damaged in body and/or soul.  At least two of my uncles served in WWII; one of them was at Normandy.  I never heard either of them talk about that war, and I've learned in recent years that that is pretty common.

Yesterday, at the end of our church service, we were asked to watch a video in honor of our troops, past and present, and those who never came home--alive, that is.  The video was simple:  A soldier in silhouette played "Taps."  Actually, I don't know if any other visuals were included, as I immediate closed my eyes, both to pray for our troops and their families, and to restrain the tears that start so quickly, when my attention turns to our brave men and women.

I soon became aware that the gentleman behind me was crying, also, and I wondered which of his family and/or friends had been taken in our present war, or any past.  After we were dismissed, I turned around.  The couple behind me were considerably younger than I, and it occurred to me that he might actually have served, "over there," and watched some of his buddies die.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

It's never enough!

I've been conversing, by e-mail, with a new Compassion friend, Kees (pron. "case") about helping to find sponsors for more children.  We've agreed that, no matter how many sponsorships we help to bring about, it's never enough.

While millions of children are still hungry, foraging in garbage dumps for food, drinking filthy water and getting sick from largely preventable illnesses, it isn't enough.  It's never enough, when so many people are so very hungry, many of them starving to death, that some of the children served by Compassion feel guilty for eating the meal they receive at the project, because they know their families are hungry.  It's never enough, when many Haitians eat cookies made of dirt, vegetable oil and salt, in order to "fool" their stomachs into thinking they're not hungry.  It's never enough, when that is so common that those who can afford to buy the bags of soil, make the cookies not only to eat and to feed their own children, but to sell to others!  And it certainly isn't enough, when the cost of the bag of soil rises so much that fewer and fewer people can afford to buy . . . DIRT!

If I were to find (pick a number) 75 sponsors every year, by my own efforts, that wouldn't be enough--and I'm not even close to that.  There is no number that would be enough!!

Maybe you can't afford to make a $32/month commitment to sponsor a child.  Could you contribute to the Global Food Crisis Fund?  I won't ask if you did, because it's none of my business.  Increasing the awareness of the needs, however, is my business.

 

A different kind of tsunami

Please read about "The Silent Tsunami" Compassion's blog.  How much more would people in developing countries have, if the US government encouraged our farmers to produce all the crops they could, for food, rather than either paying farmers to limit their crops (I don't know if that's still done) or earmarking large quantities of some crops for use in creating bio-fuels.  So much of the world is starving, and we're using food crops to burn in our vehicles?

Have you followed that first link, above?  Did you read the post?  Did you notice this sentence:  Our children are feeling guilty for eating one meal a day.  Will you dare to let you heart be broken?

How many ways can you spend $32 in a month's time?  Could you give up a few little things, eat out one time fewer, to help one child in Bangladesh or Haiti?

Compassion International is not a new organization, having begun 55 years ago after the Korean War.  This organization is run with absolute integrity and works to develop a child in all areas of his or her life.  Your money is always used for its stated purpose.  CI is highly rated by several charity watchdog groups.  I've been to several student centers in one of the countries where we serve, and I can tell you that Compassion is helping to break the cycle of poverty for many, many children.

And yet, the current food crisis is taking a toll on even the children we serve.  If you cannot or don't wish to sponsor a child, but would like to do something to help, go to CI's website and look toward the bottom of your screen.  There you will see an invitation to donate to the Global food crisis fund.  Any amount will be welcome, any amount is needed, and it will be used as stated.  Thank you, and God bless you.

What's in a name?

According to this website, a total of 35 people in the U.S.A. share my first and last name combination.  Middle initials are not taken into account.  However, not to quibble over the URL of the website, there remains only one of me.  So there! thbbbppt!

Okay, I quibbled.  Sue me.

Global Day of Prayer

Until about four months ago, I had never heard of the Global Day of Prayer.  Yes, we have the National Day of Prayer, which occurred 10 days ago (May 1), but the GDOP began more recently.

I'm still a little fuzzy on the details, but I know it began in Africa in 2000, spread to all 56 nations in Africa, and in 2004, an invitation went out to the rest of the world to partner together in prayer.  You can read the full history, as I intend to do, today.  The whole idea is based on one of my favorite verses of scripture, in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and seek my ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

We need to do this in this country, for this country and for ourselves.  I need to do this, for the country and for myself.  And for the world.

Did you know that Christians in Africa pray for America?  They see our materialism, our consumerism, our arrogant self-reliance, the way our society is systematically shutting God out; they see our stressed-out lives, that we don't know peace within our borders or ourselves, and they pray for us.  Thank God.  Somebody needs to pray for us!  We need to pray for us!

You can learn more about the GDOP here, and here, and read the prayer which is being prayed for the world today, May 10, 2008, in any of 39 languages.  And elsewhere on the GDOP site, you can read about the 90 Days of Blessing which will start tomorrow.

Many Christians in Tucson have been building toward this day, probably since the GDOP last year, and began 10 days of prayer on May 1 (the NDP).  The Tucson event will be held tonight, in one of the city parks; I understand that about 3,000 people participated last year.  I cannot be there tonight, because our Compassion Sunday begins, tonight, at my church, and I need to be there.  But two of the advocates on our southern Arizona team will host a Compassion table at the event, which is really exciting for us, too!

So if you're a praying person, there is much to pray for, today.  Our world, our country, and we ourselves are broken, and we need to turn to the Great Healer, our God, our Lord.

Expelled

I've now seen Ben Stein's film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, and I cannot recommend it strongly enough.  It is a documentary and does not showcase the famous Ben Stein sardonic humor.  It is serious, both in tone and in import.  See it.