blessed to be a blessing

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

22,000 children die each day due to poverty. They die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death. 

Every 21 seconds a child dies of diarrhea. 

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than seventy five percent of the people in the world.

824 million people in the world do not have enough food to eat today.

It costs $0.25 to provide a child with all the vitamins he or she needs in order to grow up healthy. 

If you can attend a church or synagogue meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are more blessed than three BILLION people in the world.

If the entire USA stopped eating ice cream, world hunger could end within one year. 

Two children are sold into slavery every 60 seconds. That's 2,880 children per day. 

Feeling sympathetic? 
Feeling bad for these people and children? 
What are you going to do about it? 

Sympathy without action means nothing. Jesus was compassionate. Compassion moves you into action. It may start with a feeling, but it's much more than that. Jesus met the needs of the people. He gave food, medical care, water, and life. He was practical and got down to their level. He never walked into a room of hungry people and started talking about Himself without first giving them food. James 2:15-16 says, "Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed', but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?"

So, where is the justice? Does compassion produce justice?
No. Compassion brings hope. The reality is- we live in a world that is always going to have injustice and issues. Compassion brings change, healing, life, and HOPE. Compassion brings the freedom to dream, the hope of tomorrow and a future. Hope is contagious. Compassion produces agents of hope. 

This is the world we live in, ladies and gentlemen. If these are just numbers to you- we're doing it wrong. These are real people living in the very same world as us. Breathing the same air and having the very same needs. God created each one of these lives- they aren't accidents. Each life has purpose and was created fearfully and wonderfully by a loving God. These are His children; His people. 

"If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be that person?" -1 John 3:17. 
My God doesn't beat around the bush, eh? Straight to the point. Jesus LOVED. Love is a verb, people. Love moves. Love has hands and feet. Love is named Jesus Christ. 

Now, if you have ever wondered where God was when you were crying out to Him- He was probably with the millions being raped and sold right now as you read this. He might just be with the 1000 children today who will die because no one ever taught them to wash their hands. He probably is with those on the verge of dying from preventable causes, with the widow, the prostitutes, the orphaned, and the broken. Those are the places where my God abides. These are the places we are called to go. And if you can't go yourself- support someone who can. There are innumerable organizations and opportunities to give. 

Do you believe God is big enough to do miracles? Do you have faith? Well, let's do something. Faith without works is dead. 

"If anyone is poor among your fellow Isrealites or in any of the towns of the land the Lord your 
God is giving you, do not be hard hearted or tight fisted toward them. Rather, be open handed and 
freely lend them whatever they need."

Deuteronomy 15:7-8

"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." -John 8:32

Hey, outside world. I'm sorry I suck at remembering to write blogs. Life is busy and there's so much to do! It's also overwhelming writing because I never know where to start. I guess I can start by saying my God is so awesome- as usual. I have been learning more than I can possibly write down or describe.

Little update on outreach:
There has been a lot of fighting going on at the border between Haiti and the DR. People are being killed and it doesn't seem to be improving. As we have a few Dominicans on our team, the fear of this fighting is very real. As scary as this is for us North Americans, the reality for them is a lot more frightening than it is for the rest of us. The history of the fighting going on right now goes back hundreds of years. Pray for resolution. God seems to be closing doors and our options in Haiti suddenly limited. God has other plans for us. In Haiti, our plan was to be working with Justice Water which is an awesome movement that we are learning about all this week. As it stands now we will not be entering Haiti, we will be going with Justice Water to another city in the DR called Barahona. So ours plans have changed, but our God hasn't. We are excited and know that God will move where ever He takes us. His thoughts are higher than ours. (:

On January 8th we will be flying to Brazil. There we will be staying in a Favela in Rio at an orphanage. We are going to be working with street kids, with the local church, and with ministries there. We will be there for a month. We have spent time looking into the culture, what they believe and why, and their government issues. There is so much corruption and injustice and so much goes unnoticed. Only to the world does it go unnoticed- God sees, knows, and created every life in that city. I am praying God gives me His eyes for the people in every place we go on outreach. I know He loves them so much and is broken at what is going on there.

As far as teachings so, there has been way more than I could ever write down! We had one week called the Divine Plumbline based on Amos 7:7. We talked about the importance of knowing the TRUTH and how it sets you free. Each one of us have had words spoken over our lives- whether words of life or words of death. It is so important to know where the truth is and if there is no truth to be found in the words of the people around us- do not let those things take root in our hearts. God revealed so much to us and we really dug deep into our hearts that week and spent time searching for God's truth. The reality is there is a war going on around us- but fear of that war is a choice. Satan wants to run our lives by guilt and shame. Shame says, "I made a mistake." Guilt says, "I am a mistake." Shame says I don't like who I am; guilt says I don't like what I do or what I have done. The truth is, God forgives our wrongs and He doesn't make mistakes. We talked about the importance of humbling ourselves and how the world looks at humble people as less. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Let's be humble. None of us are good enough anyway. Only God can judge.

The next week was awesome as well. We had team building. It was probably one of the hardest weeks so far, but we definitely came out much stronger as a team. Our speaker Tim on the last day said, "My job is done, but your guy's job is just starting." It's true- we've got two months of outreach left! Trust is the foundation of a team. My generation is the most judgmental and critical generation yet. At the same time we desire to be accepted and loved and feel part of a family. Another huge problem with my generation and with Christians as a whole is we don't know how to say "I'm sorry", "I don't know", or "I was wrong." We are so prideful. We struggle with taking responsibility and we blame everyone around us. If you don't like what you've done in the past; take responsibility and change it for the future. Each one of us has a past, but by the grace of God we don't live there anymore. Life moves forward.

If we continue to bring our past into our present, we put out future at risk.

I'm ready to move forward, who's with me?

Just amen.

And this is my favourite song :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hymsg5IfXU

God bless! Hugs.