The Rubber Meets the Road

I’ve been wondering…

What if I put my money where my mouth is?

          What if, instead of just sitting around in homegroups, Sunday services, and youth group meetings talking about the problems of the world, Christians of all ages banded together and started acting like we really believed the WORLD was our MISSION FIELD?

          I do believe Jesus came to heal the sick and love the loveless, those that society has cast aside as unlovable, untouchable, unworthy.

          And I know a lot of people who say they believe the same thing.

          But what I’m wondering is:  do my actions line up with my words?

• Have I shown love to those hardest to love?
• Have I touched the untouchable or have I allowed their condition touch me?
• Have I shown honor and given worth to those deemed unworthy?

Or have I sat inside my nice, warm house, attended my nice, cozy church with others just like me and whined that somebody ought to do something about the injustice in the world?  I think, perhaps, I’ve spend a lot more time talking than I’ve spent doing.  I think I’ve let fear of failure, rejection or ridicule stop me before I’ve even begun!

                                                          Well, NO MORE!!!

Helen Keller said:

“I am only one; but still I am one.  I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.  I will not refuse to do the something I can do”

          and

“I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”

          finally,

“Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all—the apathy of human beings.

          I am convinced that the opposite of apathy has to be hope.  And with that, I would add that Helen Keller also said:

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”

          and

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

                    So…what are we going to do?

                                What can you do?

                                                What can I do?

To answer that, I have compiled a list of websites (see the tabs at the top of the page, to the right of the Home tab) that offer opportunities to get involved, to make an impact in the lives of people you may never meet, but who, by virtue of being on Earth, are part of your life.

And who, after looking as these resources, are now partly your responsibility.

                                “Why?  How’s that?” you say.

Luke 12:48 sums it up pretty nicely.  To whom much is given, much will be required.

          You see, we will not be held accountable for what we do not know.  But once we are education on a topic, we then have a requirement to do something about what we know.  We will be held accountable for what we know and for what we do with what we know.  We are responsible for doing something to make the situation better, or to live our lives in such a way as to draw other people’s attention to that situation.

          I have decided that I will no longer turn a blind eye to the suffering of others.  I will no longer pretend not to see the things that I do not want to confront. 

          The information that I am going to provide on these pages comes from various sources, and all links go to pages that address topics that I feel strongly about.  Maybe you’ll find one that sparks your interest.  Maybe it’ll spur you on to finding your own cause to work on. 

I don’t know where this will lead, but there is one thing I do know:

                                What you do with what you learn is between you and the Lord.

I love you all, lots and lots.  Have a great day!

And, as usual, thanks for your indulgence,

Patty

Stepping Outside Yourself

So, this is the first full week of Lent and today begins our official RELENTLESS ACT:S OF SACRIFICE challenge.

This week’s challenge involves sacrificing our surroundings and we have chosen to sacrifice T.V. for the week.  And during the time we will be writing a letter a day to 5 different people.

This is also my 5^th day of my own fasting coffee and negative speaking.  The coffee has not been the ordeal that I thought it would, though I did really want a cup of coffee yesterday afternoon after church.  The negative speaking, however, has been a much harder challenge.  I do have children, after all.  And with the stuff we’ve had going on in our lives, I’ve had to be really purposeful about what comes out of my mouth.  But, I must admit, I have never been one to shrink from a challenge of this type.  I mean, when my husband went overseas for 18 months, I needed to lose weight, and I chose to join a weight-loss group between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  AND, I actually lost weight over the holidays.  I figure if I can lose weight over Christmas, then I can choose my words carefully, and not speak negatively during a difficult time in our lives.  I think this is also precisely why I felt led to take on this challenge during Lent at precisely this time.  I’ve been feeling very much like a negative person here lately, and not liking it (or myself) that much for the way I have been responding to those around me, simply because I am stressed.  I have been spending entirely too much time focusing on negative things and not enough time trying to find the positive side of things.  

 This simply had to change!!!

As for the LENT 2012 challenge, I was thinking that maybe some of you might be wondering why you should bother or where you should (or could) start.

Well, I’m not sure I can adequately explain why you should bother.  All I can tell you is why I bother.

          See, I was raised in church.  I know all the right things to say.  I’ve known how to behave (Whether I’ve always done it is another story).  But I recall sitting in church during my high school years thinking there has to be more to being a Christian than just getting my ticket punched and riding the train to Heaven.  Not that I thought I had to work my way there, but I felt like I ought to be doing something – to express my gratitude, to show that my salvation meant something to me, or just to show that I was saved.

          Since then, I have come to realize that my everyday life ought to reveal that I am saved and that my salvation means something.  But I do not want to be just another person here on Earth taking up space, not caring about anything outside of my line of sight, not contributing.  I want there to be a void when I’m gone that people have to rush in to fill because Nature abhors a vacuum.  I want to leave a legacy, to leave something behind worth looking at.  I want my eulogy to write itself.  And I want my existence to be something more than really words can express on my tombstone!  I want people to remember that I cared about more than just myself!  That’s why I bother.

                                      BUT, WHERE TO START?

Wow!  Well, that depends on where you are, what your resources are, and what you have access to.

The point behind getting involved is to get your mind off yourself and on to others.

This doesn’t have to involve spending any money, or being some huge celebrity with a large audience – more mouthpiece than do-gooder.

          For instance, you could visit someone in a nursing home.  Nobody wants to be in a nursing home!  Least of all the residents.  How about going to your local nursing home and asking to visit a patient who hasn’t had a visitor in a long time.  It’s free and has nothing to do with you!

          How about writing an actual letter to someone!  You know how nice it is, at Christmas, to get a piece of REAL mail.  Not a bill.  Not a sales flyer.  But an honest-to-goodness hand-written letter that somebody took time out of their day to write.  All it will cost you is the price of a stamp and an hour or so.

          You could pick up the phone and call your grandparents.  Or your Momma and Daddy.  Or your great aunt Suzie, or uncle Bud.  Anybody you haven’t spoken to in a while.  Somebody that had an impact in your life that you wish you could tell.  Surely, there’s someone.

          How about finding out the birthdates of all your family members and sending them cards (they have inexpensive cards at all the dollar stores) or giving them a call to let them know you were thinking about them.  No texts, no emails, but actual connection and contact with a real live person.

          In case you missed the trend here, what I am suggesting means you have to step outside yourself for a bit and do something selfless, something from which you do not directly benefit.

                                                                WHY?

            Because life is not all about you!  Life is not all about me!

If you want things in your life to seem better, if you want to change your perspective on your own problems and issue, or your life in general, try putting someone else’s needs before your own.  Try focusing on someone other than yourself for 15 minutes, a couple of hours, or even a whole day.  You may just find that while you were trying to reach out to someone else and make their day better, your own situation has bettered itself a bit.

     Even Jesus came to serve rather than to be served.  Maybe we could follow His lead.  Jesus knew all His earthly needs were going to be met.  He never owned a thing.  He had no property, no home, no place to call His own to lay His head, and yet, He ate and drank and always had a place to sleep and clothes to wear.

                                                       Just think about it!

What would our lives look like if we spend our time serving others, trusting God to take care of us?

                                         It’s something worth considering…..

Well, with that, I am done.

Thanks AGAIN for your indulgence,

Patty

LENT IS HERE!!!!

Today is the first day of Lent.

The “project” the family is tackling this year can be found on the World Vision ACT:S page, under the Relentless ACT:S of Sacrifice link.Lent 2012 - RELENTLESS ACT:S OF SACRIFICE

Week 1 has us sacrificing what surrounds us by re-creating our physical environment to bring important issues to the forefront of our every day lives.

Starting Monday, our family is going to turn off the television and turn on our writing skills.  We will write letters to individuals that we miss, that are under-appreciated, or overlooked.  The first paragraph will explain what we are doing during Lent and why.  The second paragraph will talk about our daily topic and our third paragraph will talk about how we feel about the individual (what we love the most about them, miss about them the most, etc. – MUST BE POSITIVE).  For Monday, the topic is our favorite family past time and why.

For Tuesday:  “Why you are important to me.”  So, whoever gets the letter that day will learn why they are important to the writer.

For Wednesday:  “What helps you stay a good Christian and why?”  This day, the writer will answer the question, and will provide the recipient the chance to answer as well. 

For Thursday:  “What was the last act of kindness you performed and how did it make you feel?”  Again, this question is for the writer to answer.

Friday:  “How do you know that God is real and that He wants us to come to Him and allow Him to live in our hearts.”  The answers to these questions ought to be interesting, especially from the 8 year old. 

Now, for something a bit more personal:  

          In case you may not have gathered from some of my posts, there have been some hard times in our household over the past almost-year.  For the most part, I have not really lost my resolve.  I keep moving forward knowing that the only way to get past an unpleasant thing is to keep moving through.  Stopping only ensures that I will have to go through the same thing again.  I have questions that only God can answer, and right now, His answer has been, “I got it.”  And not just for me, has that been the answer, but for my husband too.  With all that we’ve been going through, and with all the sitting-on of hands that we’ve been doing, I have taken the position that there is no way that things could possibly turn out any other way than in our favor.  I do not say “why me?” because it is immediately countered with “Why not me?”  There are people all over the world who suffer far worse than what we have gone through for me to whine about our lot.

          That being said, I have been made to question some things about my own faith, my own beliefs.  Many of the prayers I have prayed, I have prayed for the sake of our youngest child.  Whether or not God has deemed it so for me to suffer, I find it impossible to believe that God would jostle the young and impressionable faith of an 8 year old.  I do not think that I would get so mad at God for things going south if it were just me, but there are kids involved here.  I mean, my 8 year old prayed for breeze at the age of 4 and God answered.  Not once, but twice.  And the second time, the breeze continued to blow until we were done needing it.  That is the kind of faith that we have raised him to have.  This young guy, however, has absolutely no idea what’s going on in our house right now, nor does he need to, and I just cannot fathom that it would come to pass that I would have to explain things taking a turn for the worse.  Whether or not God would allow this to come to pass in my own life is beside the point.  I pray that God loves my youngest enough to let this pass over our house.

          Now, however, I am left with a problem.  Does not God love him just as much as me?  Is he not God’s just as much as I?  If I can find it possible to trust that God will take care of me, regardless of what comes my way (this thing included), can I not also trust Him to take care of our youngest child?  I know that, technically, our children are only on loan to us, and I know that His Ways are not our ways, but all I am left to say is “But, come on!  Isn’t enough, enough?” 

          I know I can do whatever God calls me to do, because He will equip me to do it, but where is the justice when a lie could take away my husband’s career, his reputation, and his freedom?  Where is the justice that this lie could mean that our youngest child could grow up without his father? 

          I know that God is sovereign, absolutely.  I know that children grow up without fathers all over the world, and through no fault of their own.  I know that God will take care of us one way or the other, but my prayer that it will be the one way, and NOT the other.  And I pray that God loves our youngest enough to let justice prevail over a lie. 

          I know that the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, so my prayer is that He will not choose to take away the gift that is my husband and the father of our children.

          Now, with that, I have been led to take on another challenge this Lenten season. 

Matthew 5:44 says:  “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”

Luke 6:27-28:  “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Luke 6:35 - But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.

Romans 12:14 - Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

1 Peter 3:9-12 - Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.  10For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. 11 He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer,

          So, from here on, my goal is not to speak negatively about those who are involved in this situation.  It is to pray for them, and to wish them well, and to stop myself (taking every thought captive) whenever I find myself about to say something that would tear them down.

          All I can talk about is what I’m thinking and feeling right now, and right now, I cannot see that I would turn away from God.  I certainly cannot guarantee that I will not get mad at God.  I believe that God’s shoulders are big enough to handle any anger that I may have.  Since I believe it is futile to withhold from Him how I am feeling, I have to believe that I have to be honest with Him before I can get any kind of breakthrough whatsoever, regardless of how this whole situation turns out.  My prayer is to be able to say that common sense and justice prevailed, but if I cannot, then I have to trust that God has me AND MY CHILDREN squarely in the palm of His Hand and that He will take care of us; that he will be a husband to me and a father to my children and that He will provide for us.

          In reality, if things do go south, then God would have to prove even mightier to us than He has ever had to before.  And while I am sure that He can do that, I have to be honest and admit that my hope (my confident expectation) is that this is not going to be the case.

Again, thanks for your indulgence,

Patty

The Challenge!

Remember my last post:  I asked you to check back with me on Monday to learn more about my challenge?

Well, don’t you just hate it when God gives you a holy smack-down, humbling you to the point of tears?  Okay, maybe hate is not quite the word.  But, it smarts nonetheless.

That is precisely what happened to me on Saturday.

     I’ve been feeling a prodding in my spirit for over a year now (probably it’s more like two years) that I need to be doing more here on this Earth than just taking up space.  And I’ve been on the look-out for ways to do exactly that; which is great.  I’ve been sharing Facebook status messages and blog postings on ways people can be involved and make a difference in their communities.  Sadly, however, in my own life, I feel I’ve come closer to being all talk, than I have being all action.

What makes me say this?

Saturday morning, I was browsing the Internet, poking around in websites dedicated to different social justice issues, looking at different outlets online that sell various products that donate their profits to charity and this thought occurred to me:

“Yeah, I could shop at these places, but what if that’s all I ever do?”  

That thought was immediately followed by:  “So what!  Right now, you aren’t even doing that!”

     And I haven’t been.  I could buy more products that “give back.”  I could volunteer more.  I COULD do a lot of things….but I haven’t been doing anything but talking about what I could be doing.

     Those remarks left me questioning what it is I’m really looking for.  What it boils down to is this:

Do I want to DO important things?  OR  Do I just want to be told I’m important?

“What if all I ever am is part of someone else’s support structure?  “

“So what if you are?”  I heard.

So what if I am called to be a leg and not a hand, or the mouth or the head?  Is the leg less important because it doesn’t soothe, or speak, or think?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

And without the legs, can the feet carry the head where it needs to go, the mouth where it needs to speak, the hands where they are needed to serve?

This leads me to my motivational verse for today:

     Matthew 20:28 – “…even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many (ESV).”

On that note:

A while back, on Facebook, I posted that, where my kids are concerned, I need to talk less and say more.  Apparently, where my faith is concerned, I need to say less and do more.  With that, I have taken my initial steps.  First, as a special treat for me (purely motivational, to get me in the spirit – wink, wink, nod nod), I purchased my first pairs of TOMS shoes.  If you are not familiar with TOMS, you should check them out.  (Here’s a link to their website where you can read about their mission and vision: http://www.toms.com/our-movement)

On a more serious note:

Lent is coming up.  Though we are not Catholic, my husband and I always find something to fast for the 6 weeks between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.  It has to be something substantial, something that will make you “feel” it.  My honey gives up Coca-Colas.  I have given up everything from chocolate, to TV, to meat.

This year, we are doing something a little different. 

World Vision ACT:S – http://www.worldvisionacts.org – has a revolutionary idea for LENT 2012, called

Relentless ACT:S of Sacrifice.  They describe is as “a series of creative challenges to explore what it looks like to put others before ourselves in our day-to-day lives.”

I got this from their website:  www.worldivisionacts.org/lent2012 

Week 1 – Sacrifice what surrounds us by re-creating our physical environment to bring important issues to the forefront of our everyday lives.

Week 2 – Sacrifice what feeds us by expanding our worldview through the food and information we take in.

Week 3 – Sacrifice what describes us by re-examining how we represent ourselves and our priorities to others.

Week 4 – Sacrifice what calls us by using our unique talents to fight injustice.

Week 5 – Sacrifice what consumes us by re-orienting our everyday activities to activities that help make change in the world.

Week 6 – Share our sacrifice with others by applying what we’ve experienced to being a creative activist and make issues come to life for others around us.

Have I piqued your curiosity yet?  Want to do something that could change your life?  Want to start doing something that could have an impact in the world?  Go check them out! 

Still not convinced?  Here’s their video.  Take a look and see if something doesn’t stir inside you!

I dare you to watch their videos and not be moved….

Or you can go check them out on Vimeo:  http://vimeo.com/36169568