Passions of the Soul

Announcing...

First, my guest post is up at Compassion's own blog.  Reading it is not required, and there will be no quiz.  However, I have it on the authority of my friend Candy, at Compassion, that she laughed, and she cried, while reading it.  (One of my former graduate-school professors would have given me an A on it, simply because a reader was moved.)

Second, and very important, is a bulletin just in from Compassion:  April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.  Compassion's board policy states:

Concern for children is the cornerstone upon which Compassion International has been built.  We are opposed to all forms of child abuse and exploitation and will do everything within our power to ensure that no harm comes to any child registered in our program due to his or her involvement in the ministry of Compassion International.

The bulletin goes on to define some ways in which workers in the field "safeguard children in Church Partner activities from all forms of abuse and exploitation...:

• Providing a positive and save environment for children that enables them to fulfill their potential;
• Engaging the active commitment of caring adults who surround them, to care for children with dignity, respect and integrity at all times;
• Preventing and/or reducing the risks of the incidence of abuse through enforcing policies, strategies and procedures on child protection;
• Educating children on the limits of acceptable behavior as it relates to physical, sexual and verbal abuse.

"As child advocates, our mandate is to ensure that all children in our care as well as those we come into contact with every day enjoy safe, loving and well protected lives thus releasing them to achieve their ultimate potential."

And anyone who thinks this is just a nice-sounding board-room policy needs to read Too Small to Ignore:  Why the Least of These Matters Most, by Dr. Wess Stafford, President and CEO of Compassion International.

Missed opportunities

Being away from home cuts into my blogging and blog-reading.  As a result, I missed--until now--reading Dr. Bob's post on 9/11.  He writes eloquently, as always, and offers a photo essay of the 9/11 massacre of six years ago.

I still miss the national unity that we experienced, for such a short time, as well as the wide-spread awareness of our spiritual needs awakened by the attacks.  That awareness, too, lasted all too briefly.

Warning: Tears may follow!

From time to time, I write about people whom I know to be in special need of prayer, for various reasons.  One of the latest pieces of news is that a Compassion-friend, Karen, has been diagnosed with endometrial cancer and faces a hysterectomy, next week.  The hope--and the prayer--is that, in surgery, the doctors will find that the cancer has not yet spread beyond the uterus.  Karen and Tom also request prayer that there will be no complications during or resulting from the surgery and that recovery will be smooth; for God's peace, joy and strength; and that their lives will reflect God's glory during the coming months.

And then there is little baby Ali, who now lives with effects of Shaken Baby Syndrome.   She showed such great progress in the days and weeks following her brush with death, but apparently still presents as a classic example of this horrid syndrome.  Grandparents Bryon and Susan have been granted custody by the State of California, but they cannot yet take her out of state...say, to the other side of the continent, where they live.  Ali was released by the hospital early this past week; she survived the difficult 6-hour drive to the home of Bryon's sister, where she and Grandma Susan will stay for several months (I think), while therapies continue.

Since the end of April, Bryon has blogged about this journey into which they were all catapulted and continues to post frequent updates, usually with photos.

There are no quick fixes, here.  Every life represented in this story is forever changed.  Please pray for this extended family, including two sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles; Ali's mom, who is also trying to recover from the trauma; and the young father who did the shaking. 

UPDATE 6-18-07:  A friend of Bryon and Susan's sent them a list of prayer requests for Ali, each one intended to overcome the harmful effects of Shaken Baby Syndrome.  Here is Jody's list:

...perfect eyes, to see physically and spiritual eyes to see what many others miss

...perfect hearing, to hear others and more importantly to hear her Father's voice

...perfect peace; she will be still and know that He is her God

...developmental miracles!

...a keen intellect

...giftings in the areas of speech and learning

...a teachable personality

...giftings beyond what we can imagine

...a body that moves gracefully and is able to do everything she was created in Christ Jesus to do.

It seems like a good way for everyone who prays for Ali to fulfill Jesus' words in Matthew 18:19:  "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven."

Ugh

Yuck.  I decided to add another set of links consisting of my favorite posts, although I have only three there, now  I'll probably add two or three more.  Nominations are in order, however, if you have a favorite...if you've read them all.... 

Anyway, then I decided I really had too much stuff for just one side bar, so I changed the format of my blog.  But when I made the left side bar the same color as the other, that was waaaay too much of that blue.  So I've spent far more time on this than I have for it and I don't like it, yet.  Don't tell me to tone down the colors by going lighter; I've chosen the lightest blue and the lightest gray; the only thing lighter is white, and I don't like that.  There are no colors in the very limited palette of TypePad that offer lighter or softer tones.  None.  And my subscription is, I think, coming up for renewal, and I do not have time to waste in going with another blogging outfit and trying to export/iimport.  Fergidabowdit.

So bear with me.  I'll work with it some more, but--if I have any self-discipline, at all--not in the next four or five days.

An excellent read

For a most thoughtful discussion on the nature of compassion, go to "Petey."  It's well worth the time.