I Dream of You

Today I’m sitting at the spot
I call our secret place
With eyes closed tight I dream of you
The tears stream down my face

I left you here a year ago
It was to my despair
The emptiness within me
Is more than I can bear

Where are you today my darling?
Where are you today my dear?
A part of me is missing
I wish you still were here

Are you perhaps in China
Maybe right down the street
Sometimes I walk right by that place
In hopes our eyes will meet

I left you here my daughter
I left you in this place
Each time I close my eyes at night
My dreams fill with your face

I will always love you
I will always care
Even though I left you here
My dreams are yours to share

Please forgive me little one
There was no other choice
When you close your eyes at night
Your heartbeat is my voice

–Tom Fisher

Until Forever

This morning in China a mother cries
She’ll never forget her daughter’s eyes
Her heart is broken and filled with pain
The tears run down like the falling rain.
She has no choice but to leave her there
The cost of keeping is too much to bear
She hopes her daughter will one day know
True love can be found in letting her go.

This morning in China a baby cries
Hungry and scared as tears fill her eyes
Her mother has left her in this public place
Another lost daughter of the Chinese race.
Someone passing by has heard her soft moan
She’s soon quickly taken to a foster home
It’s here she’ll reside in the care of another
Until she’s adopted by a brand new mother.

That very same moment, in the U.S.A.
A woman cries as she starts to pray
Her heart is heavy but filled with much love
She prays for a daughter she thinks the world of.
“Dear Jesus I ask that your arms would be
Wrapped tightly around the one picked for me
Guard her in China ‘till I make my way
And then in my arms forever she’ll stay.”

Tom Fisher

Sara Groves

Sara Groves, one of my favorite Christian artists, has a new album coming out TODAY! Hear samples of the songs or purchase here. We watched the Nomad DVD featuring Sara Groves last night at our small group. It documents her trip to Louisiana after Katrina and her trip to Rwanda. Her new album has a song inspired by her trip to Rwanda. Here are the words.

I Saw What I Saw

by Sara Groves

i saw what i saw and i can’t forget it
i heard what i heard and i can’t go back
i know what i know and i can’t deny it

something on the road, cut me to the soul

your pain has changed me
your dream inspires
your face a memory
your hope a fire
your courage asks me what i’m afraid of
and what i know of love

we’ve done what we’ve done and we can’t erase it
we are what we are and it’s more than enough
we have what we have but it’s no substitution

something on the road, cut me to the soul

chorus

i say what i say with no hesitation
i have what i have but i’m giving it up
i do what i do with deep conviction

something on the road, cut me to the soul

chorus 2x

your courage asks me what i’m afraid of
your courage asks me what i am made of
your courage asks me what i’m afraid of
and what i know of love
and what i know of god

National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month. For more info and ideas to celebrate follow this link to about.com.

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

During National Adoption Month, we recognize the adoptive and foster families who have shared their homes and hearts with children in need, and we encourage more Americans to consider adopting young people of all ages.

Families who adopt show the generous spirit of our Nation. Every child desires a permanent home, and when parents adopt a child to love as their own, lives are forever changed. For parents, the decision to adopt a child is among life’s greatest and happiest turning points. On November 17, families across the country will celebrate National Adoption Day by finalizing their adoptions, and each one of these homes will be richer for the addition of new family members.

My Administration is committed to promoting adoption of children of all ages.

We are working to bring together more children with loving, adoptive parents through the Collaboration to AdoptUsKids at adoptuskids.org and by providing States with financial assistance through the Adoption Incentives Program. The Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program helps improve care and services to children and families and ensure more young people in America have a caring, secure, and permanent home. Together, these efforts are building a brighter future for our youth. During National Adoption Month, we honor adoptive and foster parents as they raise children of conviction and character. By accepting the gift of these children, parents are helping shape lives and contributing to the strength of our great Nation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2007 as National Adoption Month. I call upon all Americans to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities to honor adoptive families and to participate in efforts to find permanent homes for waiting children.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.

GEORGE W. BUSH

Church=Control, Destroy, Obliterate Every Good Feeling

I usually do not get overly concerned whenever I receive e-mails warning against “anti-Christian” books, movies, etc. I thought the whole anti-Harry Potter campaign was ridiculous, and I still do even with the new information on Professor Dumbledore’s sexual orientation. But after receiving three e-mails on Monday concerning The Golden Compass, my husband and I decided to do a little research on the books because I was planning to let Eli participate in a reading group at the public library centered on the book. My first thought upon receiving the e-mails was “Great! Overzealous Christians are over-reacting again.” But after a little bit of searching on the internet, I believe that there is a reason for caution concerning these books. I would like to share what I have learned just so any parents who read this can make an informed decision about whether or not to let their children read the books and/or see the movie.

The Golden Compass, Northern Lights, and The Amber Spyglass are a trilogy of books by very-talented British author Philip Pullman. The books have won many awards, and a movie is to be released in December. Following are some quotes from Pullman that many Christian parents will find disturbing.

Just a short walk away from the Pullmans’ house is the grave of another Oxford master of fantasy: J.R.R. Tolkien. Comparisons, notes Pullman with a heavy sigh, are inevitable. There’s the Oxford connection, and the invented worlds, and both Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” and “His Dark Materials” consist of one (very) long story in three volumes. But Pullman insists the similarities stop there. “What I’m doing is utterly different,” he says. “Tolkien would have deplored it.”

So, too, would have another famous Oxford fantasy writer, C.S. Lewis, a devout Christian whose children’s series “The Chronicles of Narnia” exemplified his religious convictions. “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief,” says Pullman. “Mr. Lewis would think I was doing the Devil’s work.” (From Washington Post interview in 2001)

“I’ve been surprised by how little criticism I’ve got. Harry Potter’s been taking all the flak. I’m a great fan of J.K. Rowling, but the people – mainly from America’s Bible Belt – who complain that Harry Potter promotes Satanism or witchcraft obviously haven’t got enough in their lives. Meanwhile, I’ve been flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said. My books are about killing God.” From an interview in The Sydney Morning Herald.

“I read [C.S. Lewis's books] when I’d already grown up, and I thought they were loathsome, full of bullying and sneering, propaganda, basically, on behalf of a religion whose main creed seemed to be to despise and hate people unlike yourself.” Author interview at Powells.com

“I don’t say [in The Amber Spyglass], There is no God. I say: There is a God, and here he is dying – and this is what I was particularly pleased with, as a result of an act of charity. And he goes with a sigh of the most profound and exhausted relief.” Interview at ThirdWay.org

“It is [Mr. Pullman's] objective to bash Christianity and promote atheism to kids. “The Golden Compass” is a film version of the book by that name, and it is being toned down so that Catholics, as well as Protestants, are not enraged. The second book of the trilogy, The Subtle Knife, is more overt in its hatred of Christianity than the first book, and the third entry, The Amber Spyglass, is even more blatant. Because “The Golden Compass” is based on the least offensive of the three books, and because it is being further watered down for the big screen, some might wonder why parents should be wary of the film.

The Catholic League wants Christians to stay away from this movie precisely because it knows that the film is bait for the books: unsuspecting parents who take their children to see the movie may be impelled to buy the three books as a Christmas present. And no parent who wants to bring their children up in the faith will want any part of these books.” From Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

An article on Snopes.com says that some reviewers say the books are not anti-Christian, just anti-religion and anti-authoritarian. The reviewer cited quotes a character from the book saying, “Every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling.”

Hmmmm? Wonder how anyone could get that idea about church? Surely not from any of the churches I know of? Strangely enough, I find this to be true of MANY of the churches I know of. This quote alone should be a wake-up call for the churches in our country. This is how many outside of the church see us. Where did they get a crazy idea like this? From us!

Too many Christians have completely missed the point of the church. As the body of Christ our job is not to be the moral police of the world legislating morality to straighten out all of those messed up people. We are ALL messed up people who desperately need the grace of God in our lives. As the body of Christ we are to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the hurting, lonely, desperately needy people around us. We, as humans, cannot change people by telling them all the things they are doing wrong. At best that only changes behavior; at worst it pushes souls farther away from God. God changes people from the inside out. When someone experiences God’s great love for them deep down in their heart, they cannot help but be changed. We, as hands and feet of Jesus, are to vessels of that love.

I had a discussion last night with a dear friend who is also our children’s librarian about Philip Pullman’s books. She is a strong Christian who has read the books and shared with me her perspective that parents should use caution deciding when and if their children should read the books but that the books are against authoritarianism. She also says that the world presented in the books is very unappealing, not a world that you long to be a part of.

I plan to read the books to see whether they would be worthwhile to read with my children when they are older(high school age) to discuss a world without God, views of other people that they will come in contact with in their lives, and how to change the way much of the world sees our religion.