If Everyone Cared…

This is an awesome music video.

The chorus is:

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we’d see the day when nobody died…

Love Without Boundaries

We have had a wonderful holiday season and are still celebrating, but I just had to post when I found out about this contest. Love Without Boundaries is a group of volunteers who help orphaned children in China. One of the things they do is provide surgeries for orphaned children who need them. They are currently part of a contest at facebook. They have already won $1000. The charity with the most unique donors will receive $50,000 on Feb. 1st. The charity currently in the lead has “only” 267 donors. You can give as little as $10. I signed up for facebook just so that I can donate. Click on the following link and sign up for facebook if you aren’t already a member. Then you will receive a confirmation e-mail. It only takes a couple of minutes. Then you can go back to the Love Without Boundaries facebook page to donate.

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/51591

Here’s a link to a Youtube video describing Love Without Boundaries work:

http://www.youtube.com/user/federov9

Here’s a link to the Love Without Boundaries blog. Some of the stories are heartbreaking.

http://lwbchinablog.blogspot.com/

Behold the Lamb of God

Tuesday of last week Tommy, the boys, and I went to Birmingham for Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God tour. We found out about it when we were looking to see when Sara Groves, one of my favorite Christian artists, was going to be close enough for us to see her. The tour actually included several of my favorite artists, Andrew Peterson, Bebo Norman, Jill Phillips(and her husband, Andrew Gullahorn), and Andrew Osenga(of Caedmon’s Call). The first part of the show was a round where the artists took turns playing one of their songs. They did this until each had performed two songs. Sara Groves played When the Saints off of her new album and then It’s Gonna Be Alright an old song off of an earlier album that was just a message straight from God to Tommy and me(we had a rather stormy morning). Then Jill Phillips played one of my favorite songs ever I Am which is also one of her older songs. The second half of the show was all of the artists performing Andrew’s musical story of Jesus starting with the Israelites need for a deliverer and ending with Jesus’ birth.

I am always impressed when I find out that an artist I enjoy is really the real deal. That’s the case with Bebo Norman. We heard him perform in Starkville a couple of months ago. He did the same talk promoting sponsoring children through Compassion International. Both times he said, “If it comes down to sponsoring a child or buying my junk, I’d rather you sponsor a child.” He said that Andrew Peterson felt the same way and that he (Andrew) would give his album free to everyone who sponsored a child. He also said that he and Andrew have both had the chance to travel around the world and see the needs of people. Bebo said that they both came to the conclusion that “There has to be more than standing on stage singing songs.” So this is why they are promoting Compassion.

We already sponsor three World Vision children, one for each of our boys. I would like to sponsor more someday. One man at the sales table said that he and his family sponsor seven children. That’s awesome!

I did buy Bebo’s Christmas cd, and I am so glad I did! It is my new favorite Christmas cd! I bought it mainly because of a song Bebo performed called The Rebel Jesus. It is a Jackson Browne song. Bebo explains in the cd case that the whole album is built around that song. It is powerful! Here are the words:

All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurry into their homes
As the sky darkens and freezes
We’ll be gathering around our hearths and tables
Giving thanks for all God’s graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus

Oh they call Him by the Prince of Peace
And they call Him by the Savior
And they pray to Him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
And they fill His churches with their pride and gold
As their faith in Him increases
But they’ve turned the nature that I worship in
From a temple to a robber’s den
In the words of the rebel Jesus

We guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why there are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus

But pardon me if I have seemed
To take the tone of judgment
For I’ve no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In a life of hardship and of earthly toil
There’s a need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus.

I love the message of this song because too often we equate being Christians with being good citizens or just nice people. Jesus was not “nice” to the Pharisees. He directly confronted the establishment because of the evil He saw at work in it. I believe that as followers of Christ we are called to do the same to confront and try to change the injustices in our world.

I am becoming more and more passionate about the injustice of the way my family lives compared to the way other people in the world live. And not just far away parts of the world. There are housing projects a few blocks from my house. God is teaching me so many thing through interactions with people I’ve met in the projects. I believe the passion I’m feeling is not just because I’m a kind-hearted person. It’s God’s transforming work in me. He’s transforming me slowly into the image of Christ. I’ve still got a long way to go, but I do believe that Jesus would be outraged at the comfort we allow ourselves to live in while others of the world are enduring terrible suffering.

There are so many different aspects to this. And I hope to write more on this later and to share some of my experiences. Mostly I hope to look more and more like the rebel Jesus.

Afraid of Solitude

I just have to share this blog I found that goes along so well with my previous post about spending time with God during the holiday season. Solitude and silence is something that our society (me, included) definitely need to learn the value of. Here is an excellent post about why solitude is so hard and even scary for us.

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime!

The title just popped into my head because we truly are having a wonderful time this year. After many years of working towards limiting activities to a level where we can actually enjoy the Christmas season, I think I’m getting pretty close this year. Unfortunately, a stream of sicknesses in our family has given me a hand there. The good news is none of the sicknesses have been very bad. It’s just that someone in our family has been sick nearly everyday since Thanksgiving week with a bug just bad enough for me to say “No, we need to stay home.” And strangely enough it has actually been nice. We have managed to include some of our traditional activities such as the Christmas parade, our nightly advent devotionals, driving around looking at Christmas lights, and our annual hunt for the “perfect” tree. (By the way, searching for a Christmas tree sounds like a great family activity, but my family managed to turn it into a crying-fest because everyone had their own idea on which tree was the perfect one for us. So much for trying to democratically find Christmas tree.) We also went to two new events that were extremely meaningful and fun. One was a Bethlehem village which was a free event put on by a local church where the children were given “shekels” to spend in the marketplace where they got to buy/make a flute, a necklace with a small bottle of frankincense, myrrh, and anise attached, a mosiac box, a rope, grind grain, make bread, and also visit a Jewish home. There were Roman soldiers warning people not to cause any trouble and to watch out for thieves, beggars, and tax collectors going around demanding taxes. The trip through town culminated with the shepherds telling us of learning about the birth of Jesus and a visit to meet Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus (which is when the 4-year-old decided to throw himself on the ground screaming). We also attended a Christmas concert/musical which I will write more about tomorrow.

First, I want to share something I read that really stuck me in a new light. I have been receiving a weekly Advent devotional from Wineskins. Week 1 was about preparing yourself for the celebration of the arrival of our King. One of the scriptures to meditate on was Romans 13:11-14. Here it is in The Message:

But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about.

I think that this is extremely appropriate for the Advent season. This past Sunday our minister spoke about how too often during the holidays our “quiet time” is shoved out of our busy lives. He urged us to take the time to meditate on God’s Word and the coming of His Son even if we have to get up extra early during this extremely busy and exhausting season to do it. He suggested that our holiday would be even more special and meaningful if we took the time to spend with God instead of letting him get pushed aside. I believe this to be true, so I am working on doing just that. I have to confess that I’m not so great about the getting up extra early part, but God has so graciously awakened me early several mornings. And we have spent some amazing time together!

I hope you and yours are simply having a wonderful Christmastime as well.

I’m Buddy the Elf!

I like to smile! Smiling’s my favorite!

Here’s a fun quiz! Take it here to find out who you are.

And remember: THE BEST WAY TO SPREAD CHRISTMAS CHEER IS SINGING LOUD FOR ALL TO HEAR!!

Can You Hear a Mother’s Cry?

As you look into their faces
Wondering who each one will become
One by one you refer them
To become someone’s daughter or son

I wonder
Can you hear a mother’s cry
Far across the ocean wide
Until the day she comes to know
When she can bring her dear one home?

You feed, you wipe, you dress them
With tender loving care
Knowing someone, somewhere wants them
And soon they will be there.

I wonder
Can you hear a mother’s cry
Far across the ocean wide
Until the day she comes to know
When she can bring her dear one home?

Hearing each case before you
You know there’ll be more to come
Children needing families
And parents little ones.

I wonder
Can you hear a mother’s cry
Far across the ocean wide
Until the day she comes to know
When she can bring her dear one home?

The wait is long and tiring
But in faith and hope I press on.
Soon our prayers will be answered
And the waiting tears will be gone.

I wonder
Can they hear this mother’s cry
Far across the ocean wide
Until the day I come to know
That I can bring my dear one home.

_{By Michele Cervone Scott}

Are You Important?

A friend of mine is struggling with feeling that she is not important to anyone. I wrote the following to send her. It was a good reminder for me as well. Hope it will be a good reminder to you. As far as adoption goes, it is really awesome to think that God feels this way about each one of those children around the world who are waiting to find their forever family!

This is how important you are to God according to Psalm 139:
“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down: you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.”

(Italics are me writing. Kim) YOU are so important to God that He knows every single thing that you do, every thought you think, and every word you speak even before you speak it.

“You hem me in–behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”

YOU are so important to God that He is with you every single minute of every single day. There is no where in heaven or on earth that you can go to get away from Him He loves you so much.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.”

YOU are so important to God that He knew you before you were even born. He watched you as you grew inside of your mother. It says above “your works are wonderful”. That means that YOU are wonderful because YOU are one of His works.

“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

YOU are so important to God that He knew every single day of your life before you lived even one of them.

“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.”

YOU are so important to God that the number of times He thinks of you is more than there are GRAINS OF SAND on the earth! What an amazing thought!!!!

World AIDS Day/Operation Christmas Child

World AIDS Day was yesterday. It is always on December 1st. It slipped up on me this year. But I am planning on watching the video clips at this site with my family and praying for the 40 million people in the world who have the HIV/AIDS virus today. I urge everyone who reads this to watch the clips. They are only 1-2 minute stories of 3 people with AIDS, one of which is an 11-year-old girl. It is one thing to hear “Forty million people have HIV/AIDS.” But it is completely different to listen to the story of a real, live person with AIDS.

At World Vision you can find out how to put together AIDS caregiver kits. They train people in the communities where they are working to be caregiver’s for people suffering from AIDS. The kits include things like disposable gloves, antibiotic ointment, washclothes, etc–basically things the caregivers can use to make the AIDS victims more comfortable. We collected boxes last year for World AIDS Day. You can donate money or send caregiver kits all year long. We’ve been so busy doing shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child and other Christmas-related giving that I had forgotten about World AIDS Day. So we are still going to try to put together caregiver kits AFTER Christmas.

Operation Christmas Child is another great thing to check out if you’ve never done it before. The kids and I look forward every year to packing shoe boxes full of small toys to send to children around the world who may not receive any gifts for Christmas. Last year and this year the boys and I volunteered at our local Operation Christmas Child collection center. I was so proud of Eli and Caleb for jumping in and working really hard. Titus even got into the spirit and “helped” some. Eli was excited about keeping up with how many boxes had come in. The 2 1/2 hours that the center was collecting on that day, we collected over 500 boxes. The day before about the same number had been collected, and there were still 5 more collection days to go. As we were leaving, Eli said, “Mom, we collected 500 boxes today, and they collected 500 boxes yesterday. That’s 1,000 boxes. Just think how many boxes they will have by next Monday! And that’s just from Starkville!” It was SO COOL to see him get excited about ministering to other people!!!

Back to World AIDS Day: This is something I am passionate about. Although it does not usually affect us directly, I believe that anyone who is a follower of Christ cannot ignore the AIDS epidemic that is going on in the world. I have heard this epidemic compared to the Holocaust. I believe that if Christ was on earth today he would spend much of his time ministering to those dying of AIDS. I myself may not be able to do that, but I can help those people who are acting as the hands and feet of Jesus to the victims of AIDS.