my favorite 7 year old...

I have had such a great time in Rhode Island. I am SO blessed to have an amazing extended family. Today is my last day of this snowy, cold weather...I leave tomorrow for Tanzania! I appreciate everyones encouragement, support, and prayers. We were able to fill up two of those blue containers with lots of fun things for the kids and the missionaries over there!

My aunt and uncle and their two children went to Tanzania this time last year. Cole, was extremely jealous that I was going to the Emmanuel Center without him. Hardly a day goes by that Cole does not talk about going to Africa or those kids... he even tried to sneak into my luggage. :) We were joking with him for about a week before we realized that he thought we were serious. His little heart was so sad when Chris had to explain to him that he could not ride in my luggage. I am convinced if we were to discover Martians on Mars tomorrow...Cole would be on the next space ship ride to be the first missionary there. :) I love his special heart.

Just “skimming” through the news tonight…some pretty heavy headlines.

Quake Kills More Than 3,000 in South Asia

Mudslides, Floods in Guatemala Kill 500

Is it ever hard for any of you to stay focused? It is for me. It does not take much to convince me that there are so many broken people in need of God’s healing touch. Everywhere I look, I see physical, spiritual, and emotional need. I just want to be in the place that God can use me the most to impact his kingdom the most. It is easy for me to get overwhelmed sometimes, to look at all the hurt and pain and know that many will never know the power in God’s touch.

So as I was praying today about what is going on all over the world…from the people closest to me…to those in our country who have lost everything from Katrina, to Guatemala, to South Asia…I began to get discouraged as to how God can use me to reach those individuals who are experiencing incredible devastation right now.

Then I read this amazing passage of scripture…

1 Peter 4:8-11

But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins." Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

That passage blew me away. So what can I do? What can we do?

Be serious and watchful in our prayers.
Above all things—have a fervent love for one another.
Use the gifts God gave us…minister them to one another…
Speak on behalf of God, minister under the ability which God supplies
SO THAT in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
What an intense “crash” the church would become if we did that?

Just wanted to share some precious stories about my cousin, Nicholas.

Last week, Allison, Nicholas, and I were walking down the street in downtown phoenix and a man who seemed to be homeless walked up to us. He asked us for some money to ride the bus. Without hesitating, my eight-year-old cousin reached into his pocket, whipped out his wallet, looked at the man with a big smile and said, “I have money.”

The man looked at him and said, “no, no, kid…I can’t take your money.” And Nicholas quickly responded, “no, its okay…I get $2 a week in allowance”. As we walked away, Nick looked at us and said, “the sad thing is, he will probably spend it on beer…but he still needs it more then me.” I was so touched at his pure heart and his desire to give, without hesitation. It wasn't just that he was too innocent to assume that themoney would not be used on food...he was so innocent that it didn't matter to him what it was spent on, he just knew he had plenty and this man had little.

Then…this past weekend, Nick and I were hanging out and somehow the topic of kids came up…he looked at me with a total sincere heart…there was no doubt in his mind that he would one day do this, but he said, “Dennae, I am going to adopt five kids. One from China, one from India, one from Africa, one from Russia, and one from Mexico that way I have one child from all parts of the world. Then when we go on missions trips, my kids can translate for us depending on the country we are in.” He had this huge smile on his face and was so excited as he thought about it.

His heart is so special. I totally love that kid. The heart that all of my younger cousins have totally blows me away…you always hear about 2nd and 3rd generation Christians who are totally burned by church and turned off to God, but the Lord has gotten a hold of these precious hearts at a young age and I feel like God is constantly speaking to me through their precious thoughts, motives, and big dreams. I long to have that precious child like love, heart, and passion.

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Matthew 18:1-6

just some thoughts...

“The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the Church is famishing for want of His presence. The instant cure of most of our religious ills would be to enter the Presence in spiritual experience, to become suddenly aware that we are in God and God is in us. This would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness and cause our hearts to be enlarged. This would burn away the impurities from our lives as the bugs and fungi were burned away by the fire that dwelt in the bush.”

-A.W. Tozer

I read that in “The Pursuit of God” a few weeks ago and the words keep coming up in conversation and discussion about the church. It seems like Christians all around me are famished for God’s presence and I think A.W. Tozer’s observations hit the nail on the head. What if we entered into spiritual experience? What if w truly understood that we are in God and God is in us. How would that change the way we live our daily lives? How would it change the way we view and serve this world?

It seems like the topic of conversation the past few weeks in my circle has been, “works”. “Works can’t save you” and “you can’t earn your salvation” are concepts the church wants to make sure their congregation really understands. Here is an analogy I have kind of been imaging up in my head as I have been listening to people…imagine your relationship with your spouse. What if you took out the trash, tucked your kids into bed at night, did the dishes, sat and listened to your wife share their feelings/ frustrations, and even kissed them goodbye in the morning because it made you a “good husband/wife”. What if your only purpose in doing all those things were to live up to the standard of what a “good spouse” was, but you had no desire to do it out of your love for the person? You would quickly become burned out and feel a lack of love in your life. That is the equivalent to “doing” just for the sake of “doing” what God requires of you. But what if you did the same things in your relationship with your spouse, not because you had to, but because you deeply loved the person and wanted to pour out as much of your love into their life as possible? The actions might look the same, but the heart would be different. One person is burned out by the action and the other is energized by the action.
I think that is one of the differences between the average Christian wandering through life famishing for God’s presence and one walking through knowing they are in God and God is in them. I really believe a lot of entering into God’s presence and an intimate relationship with Christ has to do with our understanding of what that means…to be aware that God in us means we share his heart…and God’s heart beats for people. He has an intense love for them I believe he wants to pour into our hearts…if the world is perishing for a lack of knowledge of God then I need to do a better job of knowing God so I can share Him with them.

I wish I could do something greater then donate money to help with this disaster...lives are in shambles right now...I just pray that God moves on our hearts and there are people who can go help minster to hearts and lives. Here are some great ways to help a little...

World Vision
Red Cross

I want to continue the train of thought from my last post. You know, my heart and mind seems to be maxed out as far as understanding as much as I possibly can the great need in this world. There are so many physical needs not being met...and while I am so passionate about being an active participant in doing something, anything to at least help a few...I want to make sure that it is ALL being driven out of my desire to meet their spiritual needs.
When I look at pictures, hear stories, and think about lives that are destroyed through this disaster...and lives all over the world that are hopelessly struggling just to survive, something inside of me wants to change that. But it is almost easy to get passionate about that and get on a soap box about being wasteful physically and being so selfishly materialistic and ignore the even GREATER tragedy...being wasteful spiritually. I want to be able to look into the hearts of all those around me and have the same compassion on them that I have for children in Africa or Asia. They are starving spiritually. In some ways it is a little more difficult...because it is harder to see the need...but I pray that my eyes are constantly open and my heart always sensitive to know the need spiritually.

Finding the Balance...

In my last post, I wrote, "I am not so sure what I am going to do with it yet...I just know that the Lord is moving me, more every day, into a place where I am sickened by how much I spend on self and comfort." Well, it has been a week now since I saw Pastor Modekai's face and my thoughts and conversations have been consumed with what I am going to do.

The concept of giving and blessings just seem so backward to me (at least the way I have always heard it taught in church and Christian circles)...

Why do we always say, "give and the Lord will bless you?" or, "if you give abundantly you will receive abundantly?" This is the question that keeps running through my head, "how much more do we want God to bless us financially?" I mean, the American living off of minimum wage is rich compared to the third world...they are struggling, but they are still blessed.

Give more to be blessed more? I don't think Christ intended for my giving to be about me. What about give more because God can use it to reach the hearts and souls of people? Or give more because kids in Honduras are dying from a bug bite that would be prevented if they had a tin roof on their houses? Or because a $7 bottle of medicine would cure millions from a disease that causes blindness? What about give more because millions are dying from AIDS, malaria, drought, and famine?

I keep asking myself, "Why have I conformed to the mindset that I should be striving for more things?" Why do we work our entire lives to live "more comfortably?" What is wrong with living comfortably...why do we need more? (I know the answer to that is sin, pride, but it seems like materialism has become an idol that is turning our hearts to everything but God)

The rich ruler came to Jesus and asked, "What else can I do?" Sell it all, give to the poor, and follow me. Who do you think the rich ruler is?

I am. Working at starbucks part time...in America, that is nothing, but to the world, I am wealthy beyond belief. So what else can I do, beyond what I am already doing, to follow Christ?

Sell it. Give it. Follow.

I have often justified my pull to materialism by saying it is okay to enjoy the excess, because God has blessed me to enjoy it...and while there may be some truth to that, there is a line that is crossed where we begin to glorify ourselves rather then God through possessions.

I know that this might seem like I am being extreme. I am not saying we should live below poverty. I am typing this just after I finished drinking my $2.oo starbucks cup of coffee, but I can't stop asking myself these questions because of what I might need to give up. There has to be a balance. What is it? Maybe the church is living way above her means...or right in line with her means, when she could be living way below her means. Please understand that I am not pointing fingers or being judgemental...I am simply asking, "what is the balance?" and "are we living it?"

I know the answer for me is that I am out of balance. I fear to think about how out of balance because I don't want to give up my toys. What if God is calling some of us to radically change our spending habbits and what we spend our money on? What if he is calling some of us to give up something as small as our dish network/ tivo or something as large as downsizing our house? Am I really willing to think, pray, and challenge myself as to what God wants me to do? How radically can I and will I live?

Just the thoughts going through my head...please share what your thoughts are...

their food, our toys...

Pastor Mordekai has been staying at our house this past week. He has been going through the phone book, calling pastors, asking them if he can come meet with them and share his story. We were at a church this past week in Fountain Hills that was serving and reaching out into their community in great ways...the pastor had such a tender heart. They were giving us a tour of their preschool when we came across a room with rice all over the floor.

Pastor Mordekai looked at the room with a very confused look on his face. His eyes wandered to a table...filled with rice and toys. "Is this a toy?" he asked the pastor, stunned. The pastor replied with an I-know-what-you-are-thinking, "yes". Pastor Mordekai lost it...his eyes filled up with tears and a look of pain came acros his face. He just groaned and paused, then said..."You Americans..." he continued to stare at the table filled with rice. "In the villages in my country...this is their food. Their only food. The children, the families, only have enough to eat twice, maybe three time a week. And your children are playing with it...throwing it all over the floor. Ughh...you Americans."

He wasn't disgusted, he wasn't angry...but I think his heart hurt...as did mine...as did the pastors. I haven't been able to get the facial expression he made out of my head or heart all week... I am not so sure what I am going to do with it yet...I just know that the Lord is moving me, more every day, into a place where I am sickened by how much I spend on self and comfort.

On those lines...if you haven't read Dale's post and article about the 600 million children living in poverty...please take the time to read it.