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Thursday, September 27, 2007

finding fish

A book by Antwone Quentin Fisher. It's a memoir of growing up as a ward of the state of Ohio in foster care. It's a heartbreaking story of the power of words, both to build up and tear down. Antwone was torn down by them for years and ended up writing to escape that abuse.

But not just mental abuse. He was beaten often and once spent over 24 hours tied to a pole in the basement with his foster brother Dwight. The authors words about his foster brother Dwight: "If ever a person needed one thing from this world it was Dwight, and his need was love. There were many things I longed for that Dwight could have done without. Not Love. He was like a huge, intricate human mechanism with its one missing gear that kept it from working. With love, Dwight could have been someone to impact on the whole society. He was that special and that smart, like any one of those enlightened individuals who come from the most meager of conditions (emphasis mine). But without love, Dwight didn't work, and I believe everyone lost out."

The emphasis is because this makes me think of the kids I have met in Ecuador and Peru who are sponsored through Compassion International. If one of them does not grow up and do what God planned for them, the whole world loses out.

A nugget of wisdom from the author about homelessness: He writes it because he chose to leave the YMCA shelter and live on the street at the age of 17 because a couple of guys tried to force sex on him. "I passed Homelessness 101 and learned the first lesson about why you become homeless. Not necessarily because of hunger or lack of shelter, but because sometimes outside is less terrifying than inside.......homelessness has made me feel unworthy even to dream."

And that reminded me of something my friend and missionary in Ecuador, Shirley Brinkley, said about the poor children she serves in La Comuna: "My dream is for them to dream."

Me too Shirley. Me too.

May the over 1,000,000 kids in this world that do not have a bed to sleep in tonight find a way to dream.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Viola

My church, RiverTree Christian, is not having services this weekend. We are in the middle of a sermon series called iServe and this weekend, instead of hearing a message about serving in the community, we are supposed to go out and do it.

So today my family went to a home, along with some others from RiverTree, to hang drywall. We were partnering with an incredible ministry called Hammer & Nails (http://www.hammerandnails.org/). And as I always seem to forget, serving is way more about people than accomplishing a task. We met Viola and her son Alex. By the end of the day we learned about Viola and her family, about the passing of her husband last December, about how frightened she is without locks on her doors, and she shared her faith with us and invited us to church Sunday night.

So we got Viola's phone number and will return to install locks later this week.

Again and again, whether it's right here in my community or somewhere in South America, the lesson of ministering to people rings loud and true. I think the task is just a way to open the door to being truly involved in people's lives. To not view them as someone you've done something for, but as a friend and fellow traveller.

Oh yeah, and we hung some drywall. And Viola smiled.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Ungrace

So I'm getting in my truck after going to the store and I see a guy approaching his car a few rows away from me. And he is parked in a handicapped spot............and he doesn't have a permit thing hanging from his rearview mirror............and he's not limping and he has all his limbs.........so I think nothing more of it and drive away, right?

Wrong!

My mind gets judgemental in a hurry so I sit and watch him. And he gets to his car and opens the door and..............pulls out a receipt or something from his pocket and starts reading it! Now if you were parked illegally like this wouldn't you at least be in a hurry to leave? Not this guy. He lingers. And with his car door open as if to draw attention to himself. I'm starting to feel uncomfortable for him. So of course I have to watch and see what happens next.

He finally gets in and drives away. I watch a little longer and get ready to drive away myself and I see him heading towards the store. And he gets out and helps an elderly lady in a walker into the passenger side of his vehicle.

And God molds me as I realize that I, as the church, should be the first one to offer grace. And too many times like this I offer the opposite.

Ungrace.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Two Random Thoughts

I noticed driving to work this morning that I almost never see MORE than one person per car and in Ecuador and Peru I almost never see LESS than one person per car.

On another note there is a lot of talk in the media lately about keeping illegal aliens out of the United States and even sending back the ones that are here. I honestly do not understand this issue. Why are they "illegal"? Is it too expensive for them to try to come here the legal way? And if so can you blame them? Anyway, the real reason I bring this up is one of language. I also hear a lot about how they should learn to speak English if they want to come here. Well chew on this awhile and tell me what you think:

"A persons natural language...is the electricity of his or her soul, and to disconnect it is to shut them down." - Antwone Quenton Fisher

Monday, September 3, 2007

Genocide

Hitler and the Nazi's committed it against the Jewish people in the 1940's and it took the world years to get involved and end it. And I'm sure the world vowed it would not, could not, happen again. But it did. In the early 1990's. In an age of incredible technology when communication worldwide can happen almost instantaneously.

The story and history of genocide against the Tutsi people of Rwanda is told in The Bishop of Rwanda by John Rucyahana. 1,117,000 people were killed in a period of 100 days. Incredible. Here is a quote from the book that may help explain how this can happen, and in the age we live in:

"In modern society, if a catastrophe isn't shown on the television news, it doesn't exist."

Rick Warren used the word "hope" several times in the forward of this book. And that alone made me eager to read on. I am awed by stories of God turning despair into the divine, the hardships of today into hope for tomorrow. What follows is a quote from Rick about Rwanda. But I think this quote is timeless. In my limited travels I have seen this hope he talks about in the eyes of the children in Ecuador and Peru:

"It is miraculous that in the place with the most reason to despair, you find the most hope, the most energy, and the most cooperation."

I have seen this hope in the work of Compassion International project directors. I have seen it in the Compassion kids that my wife and I sponsor.

The author is a Rwandan Tutsi who escaped to Uganda with his family during this bloodshed. He had a thriving ministry in Uganda and had even been granted citizenship. A rare thing for a refugee in Africa. He had a very good home and owned land. His children were going to good schools. He says he "had everything that a man wants to be firmly established in a place." But he soon sensed God wanted him back in Rwanda to be part of the healing of that young nation. Going back to Rwanda would be dangerous. As a man of the church especially since the church had facilitated and even participated in some of the genocide ( incredible but true - read the book ). Does he take his family to a place of violence? There were risks and the risks gave him doubts. Here is the authors word of wisdom about doubt:

"Moments of doubt are part of life, and they are part of the Christian walk as well. It's what you do with them that matters."