A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.
The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though they were a very large mammal their throat was very small.
The little girl stated Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
The teacher reiterated a whale could not
swallow a human; it was impossible.
The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah."
The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"
The little girl replied, "Then you ask him."
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
The 20 year hovering
As many of you already know, we are approaching another end of the month reading update journal. That particular journal will probably be quite long, because so far, I have managed to read 7 books. Before anyone gets too excited, I must warn you that 2 of them were from the young adults section, and one is an American Girl book, but as I said at the beginning of this challenge, the level doesn't matter. A book is a book no matter what the age of the intended reader, thus it was written to be read. You will get to read about those other books later. This journal, however, I would like to dedicate to one special book.
I guess you can call it the ultimate hover book. If you thought the 5 year hover of The Tale of Two Cities was outrageous, then grab your pitchfork, and light a torch, because this other hover book has been there for four times as long.
My parents bought it for me after I was able to fluently read a real sentence. I have read through sections of it on and off, but I never really felt obligated to read it all. The middle was my favorite part, the end (yes, I skipped ahead) was my least favorite, and for a few years, I had the introductory chapters memorized. My first copy wore out and has since been replaced with multiple other copies.
Last year, I held my most recent copy of the ultimate hover book, and was startled to realize that I could not be absolutely sure I had fully read it. If there was someone who could give an absolute answer, I would have laid a bet that I had read at least 94% of it. After 20 years of rifling through its pages, the thought of not having read every page was quite disturbing.
I set out a schedule, divided up the chapters, which I loosely followed. I will admit, it was really hard to follow sometimes. Sometimes, I procrastinated many days before returning to my scheduled chapters. Some chapters were really complex, others were really disturbing, while still others were incredibly boring, seemingly redundant, and a small percentage were sedately familiar. I have tried reading it entirely in other phases of my life, and failed.
Most of you have probably already guessed the book by now. In Autumn of last year, I started actively reading with a goal of reading it entirely (I would guess September), and yesterday, on Resurrection Sunday, I read the last chapters on the schedule, concluding my first, unabridged reading of the Bible.
When I looked at my schedule yesterday morning, I realized, I only had two days' worth of readings left. I read the first days' scheduled chapters, but I was too close to success, and it was such an appropriate day, that I did not have the self-control to wait until today.
Please understand, this is a happy dance, not a "my sash has more badges than yours" show. I was almost too ashamed to admit that this is my first time, considering that I have had my own copy since I was 5 (complete with a pink cover, silver pages, and beautiful illustrations). As I said before, I have attempted multiple times before, and failed predictably. Like a child learning to walk, I had tried, but was simply not ready, and each failure prepared me better for the next attempt.
With all of that said, what do I think about this particular read? Well, forgive me if I do not overly criticize the author, as I have with some other book reviews.
Honestly, there were fewer passages than I had expected that were completely new to me. What really caught me was how very linked the passages were. The story of Jael driving a tent stake through a man's temple is difficult to connect to the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes when they are separated for individual commentary. When read as a whole, the threads of God's providence, love, redemption, ingenuity, mercy, justice, wisdom and purposes lace together into a common, sturdy chain that eventually becomes glaringly obvious.
Another thing that struck me throughout the Bible was that the motives in God's commands were never that his people should look pretty, or live complacently. His commands were for actions, often unpleasant actions, but actions based on faith. He never intended for his people to be porcelain dolls to be set somewhere on a shelf, dusted and admired. His people, on the other hand, are constantly building they own "shelves" for their porcelain lives. His people often mistake "chosen" with the word "pampered" and get upset when God gives them rather painful vocabulary lessons. We were not chosen for useless preening. We were chosen to glorify God through faithful actions and motives.
At the end of this reading journey, when I first sat down to write this blog, the only thing I could come up with was "holy cow!" but I didn't feel like that would be an appropriate or detailed enough entry. I was also concerned that someone might think that the end result of me reading through the Bible was a conversion to Hinduism, if I started with such a remark.
Truly, the thoughts there are to think in response to all those chapters I have read over the past several months are just overwhelming in both variety and number. There are a few specific books within the Bible that I feel I need to go back and reread several times consecutively, so I can better understand the individual books, and really be able to focus on the theme of that particular book in the Bible.
Was it worth the read? Definitely, I'm planning on doing it again. There is so much more I need to know. I am so fortunate to have this book available to me, and I should take better advantage of it.
It is time for me to reset my bookmarks and start again. Referring back to my earlier simile, it is not enough for a child to take one step. Everyone rejoices for the first step, but if that is all that ever happens, if that child never takes another step, never chooses a direction, never moves on his own accord, then that first step is a futile effort.
I guess you can call it the ultimate hover book. If you thought the 5 year hover of The Tale of Two Cities was outrageous, then grab your pitchfork, and light a torch, because this other hover book has been there for four times as long.
My parents bought it for me after I was able to fluently read a real sentence. I have read through sections of it on and off, but I never really felt obligated to read it all. The middle was my favorite part, the end (yes, I skipped ahead) was my least favorite, and for a few years, I had the introductory chapters memorized. My first copy wore out and has since been replaced with multiple other copies.
Last year, I held my most recent copy of the ultimate hover book, and was startled to realize that I could not be absolutely sure I had fully read it. If there was someone who could give an absolute answer, I would have laid a bet that I had read at least 94% of it. After 20 years of rifling through its pages, the thought of not having read every page was quite disturbing.
I set out a schedule, divided up the chapters, which I loosely followed. I will admit, it was really hard to follow sometimes. Sometimes, I procrastinated many days before returning to my scheduled chapters. Some chapters were really complex, others were really disturbing, while still others were incredibly boring, seemingly redundant, and a small percentage were sedately familiar. I have tried reading it entirely in other phases of my life, and failed.
Most of you have probably already guessed the book by now. In Autumn of last year, I started actively reading with a goal of reading it entirely (I would guess September), and yesterday, on Resurrection Sunday, I read the last chapters on the schedule, concluding my first, unabridged reading of the Bible.
When I looked at my schedule yesterday morning, I realized, I only had two days' worth of readings left. I read the first days' scheduled chapters, but I was too close to success, and it was such an appropriate day, that I did not have the self-control to wait until today.
Please understand, this is a happy dance, not a "my sash has more badges than yours" show. I was almost too ashamed to admit that this is my first time, considering that I have had my own copy since I was 5 (complete with a pink cover, silver pages, and beautiful illustrations). As I said before, I have attempted multiple times before, and failed predictably. Like a child learning to walk, I had tried, but was simply not ready, and each failure prepared me better for the next attempt.
With all of that said, what do I think about this particular read? Well, forgive me if I do not overly criticize the author, as I have with some other book reviews.
Honestly, there were fewer passages than I had expected that were completely new to me. What really caught me was how very linked the passages were. The story of Jael driving a tent stake through a man's temple is difficult to connect to the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes when they are separated for individual commentary. When read as a whole, the threads of God's providence, love, redemption, ingenuity, mercy, justice, wisdom and purposes lace together into a common, sturdy chain that eventually becomes glaringly obvious.
Another thing that struck me throughout the Bible was that the motives in God's commands were never that his people should look pretty, or live complacently. His commands were for actions, often unpleasant actions, but actions based on faith. He never intended for his people to be porcelain dolls to be set somewhere on a shelf, dusted and admired. His people, on the other hand, are constantly building they own "shelves" for their porcelain lives. His people often mistake "chosen" with the word "pampered" and get upset when God gives them rather painful vocabulary lessons. We were not chosen for useless preening. We were chosen to glorify God through faithful actions and motives.
At the end of this reading journey, when I first sat down to write this blog, the only thing I could come up with was "holy cow!" but I didn't feel like that would be an appropriate or detailed enough entry. I was also concerned that someone might think that the end result of me reading through the Bible was a conversion to Hinduism, if I started with such a remark.
Truly, the thoughts there are to think in response to all those chapters I have read over the past several months are just overwhelming in both variety and number. There are a few specific books within the Bible that I feel I need to go back and reread several times consecutively, so I can better understand the individual books, and really be able to focus on the theme of that particular book in the Bible.
Was it worth the read? Definitely, I'm planning on doing it again. There is so much more I need to know. I am so fortunate to have this book available to me, and I should take better advantage of it.
It is time for me to reset my bookmarks and start again. Referring back to my earlier simile, it is not enough for a child to take one step. Everyone rejoices for the first step, but if that is all that ever happens, if that child never takes another step, never chooses a direction, never moves on his own accord, then that first step is a futile effort.
Friday, April 22, 2011
The Wind Hole...
Things have a way of happening. As my acupuncturist has said, "It seems to me, you are always having an adventure!" That could be partially my fault. I do have the tendency to approach life in a haphazard sort of way. Sometimes, however, it really just is that these things just have a way of stalking me. Fortunately, while my stories tend to entail extremes, so far, they have also always included survival, and they usually include a dash of irony.
Monday night, for example, the street light under which I had parked my car went out. This was only a small occurrence, until an opportunistic person happened by my car sitting in the dark corner of a parking lot, in a secluded area. This person broke into my car by smashing my rear, driver's side window.
Let me explain something: I drive a 1997 Ford escort. I believe it was a company car before I had it, because it has the bare minimum appliances. It has an FM radio... and you cannot even remove the FM radio to upgrade it to something with a CD player (or a cassette player, please?). If the manual says "item optional" we can safely assume that my car does not have it. My car also has a dent in the rear of the trunk, and a scuff on the side. The fabric ceiling is slowly sagging towards the seats. It is filthy. No one in their right mind would look at my car and think: Wow, I could really make bank by breaking into that!
Guess what this opportunistic person stole. He left the DC Talk, Chris Rice, KJ-52, Chris Tomlin CDs on the floor. He left to gym towel and the Apples-to-Apples. He even left the blue-tooth ear piece, and the emergency $20. Yes, that was really everything that was of any value in my car. This panicked person rummaged my glove box, stole the change from my ash tray, and my unfinished sewing project. Let me just say this, I'm a little ticked about the sewing project. It was a project I had created without a pattern, and it had taken me about 7 hours to get where I was with it. It was about 2 hours from being finished, and it was going to be featured on this blog, eventually. As sad as I am about having to start from scratch with that project, I have to laugh when I think about the person making a mad dash away from my car, finally stopping to inspect the pile of fabric which I can only assume he expected to be a purse, and realizing that not only is there nothing in it, it doesn't even have finished seams or a zipper yet.
So, my friends and I went to In N Out, where I had my favorite In N Out meal, with a root beer float. Merida graciously allowed me to sleep on her floor that evening (I was not in town), and Rachel took me to buy a temporary window repair kit (AKA a plastic bag and duct tape). I had to retape it 5 minutes into my drive home, because the plastic ripped out and it started to rain, which resulted in me using the entire roll of duct tape to repair the plastic. After the plastic was repaired, it stopped raining. The 107 mile drive home was really long this time! Did you know that the English word for "window" came from the contraction of the words "wind hole." As it turns out, without the glass, a window really does become a wind hole.
I am glad to say that the window is now repaired, just before the storm clouds began creeping into Bakersfield. Hurrah for not being rained on! Hurrah for not having to listen to the raging plastic as I drive! Hurrah for quick repairs and new windows.
So, this could have been far worse. I am thankful that nothing of great value was taken, and that they did not slash my seats after realizing there was nothing of value in it. I am thankful that I am in a position to fix the window without calculating which meals to miss next month. Sometimes things happen. I am glad they happened in a way that didn't hurt too badly.
Dear opportunistic, over-zealous craft thief:
I hope you enjoy the $1.50 you found in the ash tray. Please know that it cost me $135 to replace the window... next time, please just ask, and I'll take you to lunch at a nearby food place, which will cost way more than $1.50. I do think, however, that it was a little spiteful to keep the unfinished project rather than throwing it in the nearby bushes where I could have recovered it. If you need help finishing it, make sure you sew the zipper in between the shell and the lining, sewing all 3 layers at once, so it will be pretty inside and out, and choose a durable strap material so that purse snatchers will have a more difficult time taking it from you. Also, I forgot to sew the outer pocket closed...have fun with that, you'll need to hand stitch it.
Happy Easter, craft snatcher. I hope you can find a more legal and beneficial way to solve your financial problems. Jesus loves you.
Sincerely,
The girl with a new window, and a trip to the fabric store on the to-do list again.
Monday night, for example, the street light under which I had parked my car went out. This was only a small occurrence, until an opportunistic person happened by my car sitting in the dark corner of a parking lot, in a secluded area. This person broke into my car by smashing my rear, driver's side window.
Let me explain something: I drive a 1997 Ford escort. I believe it was a company car before I had it, because it has the bare minimum appliances. It has an FM radio... and you cannot even remove the FM radio to upgrade it to something with a CD player (or a cassette player, please?). If the manual says "item optional" we can safely assume that my car does not have it. My car also has a dent in the rear of the trunk, and a scuff on the side. The fabric ceiling is slowly sagging towards the seats. It is filthy. No one in their right mind would look at my car and think: Wow, I could really make bank by breaking into that!
Guess what this opportunistic person stole. He left the DC Talk, Chris Rice, KJ-52, Chris Tomlin CDs on the floor. He left to gym towel and the Apples-to-Apples. He even left the blue-tooth ear piece, and the emergency $20. Yes, that was really everything that was of any value in my car. This panicked person rummaged my glove box, stole the change from my ash tray, and my unfinished sewing project. Let me just say this, I'm a little ticked about the sewing project. It was a project I had created without a pattern, and it had taken me about 7 hours to get where I was with it. It was about 2 hours from being finished, and it was going to be featured on this blog, eventually. As sad as I am about having to start from scratch with that project, I have to laugh when I think about the person making a mad dash away from my car, finally stopping to inspect the pile of fabric which I can only assume he expected to be a purse, and realizing that not only is there nothing in it, it doesn't even have finished seams or a zipper yet.
So, my friends and I went to In N Out, where I had my favorite In N Out meal, with a root beer float. Merida graciously allowed me to sleep on her floor that evening (I was not in town), and Rachel took me to buy a temporary window repair kit (AKA a plastic bag and duct tape). I had to retape it 5 minutes into my drive home, because the plastic ripped out and it started to rain, which resulted in me using the entire roll of duct tape to repair the plastic. After the plastic was repaired, it stopped raining. The 107 mile drive home was really long this time! Did you know that the English word for "window" came from the contraction of the words "wind hole." As it turns out, without the glass, a window really does become a wind hole.
I am glad to say that the window is now repaired, just before the storm clouds began creeping into Bakersfield. Hurrah for not being rained on! Hurrah for not having to listen to the raging plastic as I drive! Hurrah for quick repairs and new windows.
So, this could have been far worse. I am thankful that nothing of great value was taken, and that they did not slash my seats after realizing there was nothing of value in it. I am thankful that I am in a position to fix the window without calculating which meals to miss next month. Sometimes things happen. I am glad they happened in a way that didn't hurt too badly.
Dear opportunistic, over-zealous craft thief:
I hope you enjoy the $1.50 you found in the ash tray. Please know that it cost me $135 to replace the window... next time, please just ask, and I'll take you to lunch at a nearby food place, which will cost way more than $1.50. I do think, however, that it was a little spiteful to keep the unfinished project rather than throwing it in the nearby bushes where I could have recovered it. If you need help finishing it, make sure you sew the zipper in between the shell and the lining, sewing all 3 layers at once, so it will be pretty inside and out, and choose a durable strap material so that purse snatchers will have a more difficult time taking it from you. Also, I forgot to sew the outer pocket closed...have fun with that, you'll need to hand stitch it.
Happy Easter, craft snatcher. I hope you can find a more legal and beneficial way to solve your financial problems. Jesus loves you.
Sincerely,
The girl with a new window, and a trip to the fabric store on the to-do list again.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Test me
Today, I am taking the CBEST at 8 am. That's the test that will allow me to get into a credentialing program, and also opens the opportunity for me to be a substitute teacher.
I have looked at the sample test. It doesn't look very scary. In fact, it looks pretty basic. I hope that I am right about this. The nice thing about this situation is that even if I do fail it, I am still eligible to enter a credentialing program. California law only states that the test has to be taken, it does not require you to pass in order to enter a program. However, as tests are expensive, and quite honestly, quite inconvenient, I dearly would love to pass all the subjects the first time, especially since it has to be passed eventually.
So, if you happen to be reading this before 8AM-12 PM PST, please feel free to pray for amazing results. If you happen to be reading this after I should be finished, please understand that I am out somewhere enjoying myself, because I truly hate tests, and feel like I deserve a reward!
I have looked at the sample test. It doesn't look very scary. In fact, it looks pretty basic. I hope that I am right about this. The nice thing about this situation is that even if I do fail it, I am still eligible to enter a credentialing program. California law only states that the test has to be taken, it does not require you to pass in order to enter a program. However, as tests are expensive, and quite honestly, quite inconvenient, I dearly would love to pass all the subjects the first time, especially since it has to be passed eventually.
So, if you happen to be reading this before 8AM-12 PM PST, please feel free to pray for amazing results. If you happen to be reading this after I should be finished, please understand that I am out somewhere enjoying myself, because I truly hate tests, and feel like I deserve a reward!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Funny Thursday
This joke entertained me.
Know the Rules
A lawyer and a blonde are sitting next to each other on a long flight from LA to NY. The lawyer leans over to her and asks if she would like to play a fun game. The blonde just wants to take a nap, so she politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks.
The lawyer persists and explains that the game is really easy and a lot of fun. He explains" I ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5, and vice-versa." Again, she politely declines and tries to get some sleep.
The lawyer, now somewhat agitated, says, "Okay, if you don't know the answer you pay me $5, and if I don't know the answer, I will pay you $500," figuring that since she is a blonde that he will easily win the match. This catches the blonde's attention and, figuring that there will be no end to this torment unless she plays, agrees to the game.
The lawyer asks the first question. "What's the distance from the earth to the moon?" The blonde doesn't say a word, reaches in to her purse, pulls out a five dollar bill and hands it to the lawyer. Now, it's the blonde's turn.
She asks the lawyer: "What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?" The lawyer looks at her with a puzzled look. He takes out his laptop computer and searches all his references. He taps into the Air phone with his modem and searches the Net and the Library of Congress.
Frustrated, he sends E-mails to all his coworkers and friends he knows. After over an hour, he wakes the blonde and hands her $500. The blonde politely takes the $500 and turns away to get back to sleep.
The lawyer, who is more than a little miffed, wakes the blonde and asks, "Well, so what IS the answer!?" Without a word, the blonde reaches into her purse, hands the lawyer $5, and the turns to go back to sleep.
Know the Rules
A lawyer and a blonde are sitting next to each other on a long flight from LA to NY. The lawyer leans over to her and asks if she would like to play a fun game. The blonde just wants to take a nap, so she politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks.
The lawyer persists and explains that the game is really easy and a lot of fun. He explains" I ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5, and vice-versa." Again, she politely declines and tries to get some sleep.
The lawyer, now somewhat agitated, says, "Okay, if you don't know the answer you pay me $5, and if I don't know the answer, I will pay you $500," figuring that since she is a blonde that he will easily win the match. This catches the blonde's attention and, figuring that there will be no end to this torment unless she plays, agrees to the game.
The lawyer asks the first question. "What's the distance from the earth to the moon?" The blonde doesn't say a word, reaches in to her purse, pulls out a five dollar bill and hands it to the lawyer. Now, it's the blonde's turn.
She asks the lawyer: "What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?" The lawyer looks at her with a puzzled look. He takes out his laptop computer and searches all his references. He taps into the Air phone with his modem and searches the Net and the Library of Congress.
Frustrated, he sends E-mails to all his coworkers and friends he knows. After over an hour, he wakes the blonde and hands her $500. The blonde politely takes the $500 and turns away to get back to sleep.
The lawyer, who is more than a little miffed, wakes the blonde and asks, "Well, so what IS the answer!?" Without a word, the blonde reaches into her purse, hands the lawyer $5, and the turns to go back to sleep.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Best hi-jack, ever.
It all started a few Sundays ago. I was on my way to my church when my mom told Melody to text me and let me know that it was mission Sunday at their church. Mission Sunday is one of my favorite days of the year, and my parents' church(the one I spent my teen years in), usually invites a missionary to give the sermon. I was running late for my own church service, and my parents' church was much closer, and if I changed route right then, I could also pick up a cup of coffee...something I desperately wanted.
The speaker was great. Afterward there was a luncheon held by the high school group to support their upcoming mission trip to Guatemala. I enjoyed socializing with the people I used to see every Sunday. During one of the conversations, Joy(a person I am quite fond of) asked me about my own mission plans. I explained that my plans had basically been dashed and all I really knew was that God was in charge, and I wanted to follow him where ever that was. I mentioned I had been researching a few organizations. Her husband, Jason (pastor of adult ministries) piped up that there was a conference coming up with World Impact, an organization I had been researching, and that they were having amazing speakers, it was about church planting, and I should come. I gave a non-committal answer. It was interesting, but the phrase "church-planting" had intimidated me.
Later, I was at Joy and Jason's house, and Jason asked if I had checked into that weekend. I mentioned that I was free that weekend, but I hadn't yet registered or decided to go.
Later, I was in the car with a friend when I got a phone call. It was Jason, he told me he was signing his wife up for the conference, and since it was already set up in front of him, he could just add me in if I liked. That sounds nice and passive, doesn't it? Tone says a lot. For example, by his tone, I had realized he was going to sign me up, and this was my phone call to let me know. I actually had suspected he had already signed me up, but I was not in the mood to prove it, and what could a conference hurt, anyway?
On the day of the conference, I showed up, pleased to be able to hop into the carpool going up to The Oaks. The drive there was beautiful.
The conference was amazing! First of all, when you walk in to register, you got your name tag, and then a bag, and in that goody bag were two books. Not just any two books: The Making of a Disciple by Dr. Keith Phillips, and Madness by Jossy Chacko. These two books had both recently been mentioned to me and they had caught my interest. I had intended, after finishing a few more books out of my room, to track these two books down. Here at the conference, 5 minutes after my morning coffee, they had been placed in my hand, and I didn't even have to wait for Amazon to load. This alone could have dubbed the weekend "happy" for me.
I looked at the schedule for the day.(Yes, I had managed to show up at a conference without knowing who would be speaking.) The speakers were: Jossy Chako, Bryan Cullison, Keith Phillips, and Francis Chan. If there were pineapple soft serve ice cream at the snack table, it would have been Disneyland!
Jossy Chacko is from India, and he has been working in the unreached areas of India. He discussed that church planting is more about witnessing to people, who in turn witness to people, and pretty soon, you have a huge number of new believers who need a church! The stories he shared were amazing! His organization is called Empart and the work God does through this organization is incredible. They train local believers to reach out, to be scripturally sound, they help start social services such as educational help and health education. They basically go into a community as an indigenous Christian, and respond to the individual communities needs.
Keith Phillips, founder of World Impact an organization that focuses on ministering in the most dangerous parts of inner-cities in America, discussed The Urban Institute, a school set up by World Impact to help train pastors from the community so that they know their doctrine. The problem with seminaries is that it is expensive to attend them, and so inner city pastors who want to be better educated for their congregation often do not get the opportunity. This is the reason The Urban Ministries Institute was set up. It provides an education equal to seminary, minus the Greek and Hebrew classes, and it is affordable, and open to any one (pastor or not) who wants to minister to the urban poor. They even set up satellite schools where they are wanted and have set up multiple satellites in prison, because there are inmates who are Christians who want to be better leaders. The prisons are a captive mission field, and there are Christians in there who could reach them, if given the proper training.
Bryan Cullison spoke next about the history and mechanics of social movements. It was incredibly interesting, but mostly statistics, which makes a summary hard to give. Even with the studies, strategies, statistics and history, he stressed that most importantly that for there to be a Christian movement, it must be with the Holy Spirit. There are no strategies that can fill the Holy Spirit's place.
Then Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love spoke. I was excited to hear him, because I have heard him speak on youtube. After this, however, I feel I definitely need to put Crazy Love on my reading list. Wow. His speech was titled "His Burden is Light?" and he talked about how often, we take the light burden Christ gives us, and we over think it, we try to take too much control back, and by having that tug of war with God, we make our own burdens heavier than they should be. We try to manipulate the uncomfortable scriptures, and make them say that we really don't have to do that extreme command. Rather than changing ourselves, too often we change our theology, when we should be submitting to God and his word. "We put the burden on ourselves, because we think we're failing. We're not letting God run it by taking that pressure on ourselves, by worrying ourselves. Guys... God's not worried!" Make sure your ministry is not about you. Serve out of thanksgiving, love, joy, and peace, not out of guilt or debt. Jesus' burden is light. Our burden weighs a lot more.
Here are some other quotes that stuck with me from that day:
"Let us quit chasing vanity and smoke! Let us live for eternity." -Jossy Chacko
"I said, 'Don't go, they'll kill you.' And he said to me, 'Did Jesus know what would happen when he came? He still came.'" Jossy Chacko (He was talking to a friend who had converted from Hinduism, had to go into hiding to be saved from his previous friends, and then after studying, decided to go back to his tribe to witness to them. They killed his wife, but he still stayed and witnessed, and finally the tribe came to Jesus. This man was not just flinging words around lightly)
"The success of the church is raising up indigenous disciples." Dr. Keith Phillips
"Satan is unwilling to concede a single inch! Why are we?"- Bryan Cullison (Talking about unreached peoples, noting that even if we had reached 99% of the current unreached peoples, with the 1% remaining, we still have no right to quit)
"I hear in other parts of the world, they actually take this book literally!" -Francis Chan, about the Bible
"You guys... just read the Bible!"- Francis Chan
"God's not sitting in heaven thinking, 'Oh! I hope they build me a temple!' God does not need us. We are not the givers. HE is the giver! We just get to be a part of his awesome plans."-Francis Chan
And those are just the summaries of 4 speeches exceeding an hour each. There was a worship service between each speech. It was amazing. It was great! It was overwhelming. Here I am, 4 days later, and I am still processing. It was so good for me. I am glad I got the opportunity to be there.
By the way, I was talking to Joy that day, and she confessed that Jason had signed me up before he called me. In Jason's defense, Joy had told him that I needed to be there, and he needed to convince me to go. However, Joy did have to advise Jason after he signed me up that he probably should tell me I was going, hence the phone call. That whole thing still makes me laugh. I am glad I have such pushy people who care for me. Left to my own devices, I likely would have missed this amazing event in exchange for doing absolutely nothing that Saturday. I could just see in my mind what might have happened if Jason had decided not to warn me. There would have been a doorbell at 6 am, and a "You've got 15 minutes to be in the car." I wouldn't put it past Jason to pull a hi-jacking rather than give me opportunity to come up with excuses.
I have been hi-jacked often in my life: into babysitting, hard labor, dates, long road trips, and all sorts of situations. So far, I think I enjoyed this "hi-jacking" the most!
This is a short, entertaining clip by Francis Chan. This was not from the conference I sat in. Francis Chan had a lot of serious stuff to say, but he had his equally funny moments. Enjoy!
The speaker was great. Afterward there was a luncheon held by the high school group to support their upcoming mission trip to Guatemala. I enjoyed socializing with the people I used to see every Sunday. During one of the conversations, Joy(a person I am quite fond of) asked me about my own mission plans. I explained that my plans had basically been dashed and all I really knew was that God was in charge, and I wanted to follow him where ever that was. I mentioned I had been researching a few organizations. Her husband, Jason (pastor of adult ministries) piped up that there was a conference coming up with World Impact, an organization I had been researching, and that they were having amazing speakers, it was about church planting, and I should come. I gave a non-committal answer. It was interesting, but the phrase "church-planting" had intimidated me.
Later, I was at Joy and Jason's house, and Jason asked if I had checked into that weekend. I mentioned that I was free that weekend, but I hadn't yet registered or decided to go.
Later, I was in the car with a friend when I got a phone call. It was Jason, he told me he was signing his wife up for the conference, and since it was already set up in front of him, he could just add me in if I liked. That sounds nice and passive, doesn't it? Tone says a lot. For example, by his tone, I had realized he was going to sign me up, and this was my phone call to let me know. I actually had suspected he had already signed me up, but I was not in the mood to prove it, and what could a conference hurt, anyway?
On the day of the conference, I showed up, pleased to be able to hop into the carpool going up to The Oaks. The drive there was beautiful.
The conference was amazing! First of all, when you walk in to register, you got your name tag, and then a bag, and in that goody bag were two books. Not just any two books: The Making of a Disciple by Dr. Keith Phillips, and Madness by Jossy Chacko. These two books had both recently been mentioned to me and they had caught my interest. I had intended, after finishing a few more books out of my room, to track these two books down. Here at the conference, 5 minutes after my morning coffee, they had been placed in my hand, and I didn't even have to wait for Amazon to load. This alone could have dubbed the weekend "happy" for me.
I looked at the schedule for the day.(Yes, I had managed to show up at a conference without knowing who would be speaking.) The speakers were: Jossy Chako, Bryan Cullison, Keith Phillips, and Francis Chan. If there were pineapple soft serve ice cream at the snack table, it would have been Disneyland!
Jossy Chacko is from India, and he has been working in the unreached areas of India. He discussed that church planting is more about witnessing to people, who in turn witness to people, and pretty soon, you have a huge number of new believers who need a church! The stories he shared were amazing! His organization is called Empart and the work God does through this organization is incredible. They train local believers to reach out, to be scripturally sound, they help start social services such as educational help and health education. They basically go into a community as an indigenous Christian, and respond to the individual communities needs.
Keith Phillips, founder of World Impact an organization that focuses on ministering in the most dangerous parts of inner-cities in America, discussed The Urban Institute, a school set up by World Impact to help train pastors from the community so that they know their doctrine. The problem with seminaries is that it is expensive to attend them, and so inner city pastors who want to be better educated for their congregation often do not get the opportunity. This is the reason The Urban Ministries Institute was set up. It provides an education equal to seminary, minus the Greek and Hebrew classes, and it is affordable, and open to any one (pastor or not) who wants to minister to the urban poor. They even set up satellite schools where they are wanted and have set up multiple satellites in prison, because there are inmates who are Christians who want to be better leaders. The prisons are a captive mission field, and there are Christians in there who could reach them, if given the proper training.
Bryan Cullison spoke next about the history and mechanics of social movements. It was incredibly interesting, but mostly statistics, which makes a summary hard to give. Even with the studies, strategies, statistics and history, he stressed that most importantly that for there to be a Christian movement, it must be with the Holy Spirit. There are no strategies that can fill the Holy Spirit's place.
Then Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love spoke. I was excited to hear him, because I have heard him speak on youtube. After this, however, I feel I definitely need to put Crazy Love on my reading list. Wow. His speech was titled "His Burden is Light?" and he talked about how often, we take the light burden Christ gives us, and we over think it, we try to take too much control back, and by having that tug of war with God, we make our own burdens heavier than they should be. We try to manipulate the uncomfortable scriptures, and make them say that we really don't have to do that extreme command. Rather than changing ourselves, too often we change our theology, when we should be submitting to God and his word. "We put the burden on ourselves, because we think we're failing. We're not letting God run it by taking that pressure on ourselves, by worrying ourselves. Guys... God's not worried!" Make sure your ministry is not about you. Serve out of thanksgiving, love, joy, and peace, not out of guilt or debt. Jesus' burden is light. Our burden weighs a lot more.
Here are some other quotes that stuck with me from that day:
"Let us quit chasing vanity and smoke! Let us live for eternity." -Jossy Chacko
"I said, 'Don't go, they'll kill you.' And he said to me, 'Did Jesus know what would happen when he came? He still came.'" Jossy Chacko (He was talking to a friend who had converted from Hinduism, had to go into hiding to be saved from his previous friends, and then after studying, decided to go back to his tribe to witness to them. They killed his wife, but he still stayed and witnessed, and finally the tribe came to Jesus. This man was not just flinging words around lightly)
"The success of the church is raising up indigenous disciples." Dr. Keith Phillips
"Satan is unwilling to concede a single inch! Why are we?"- Bryan Cullison (Talking about unreached peoples, noting that even if we had reached 99% of the current unreached peoples, with the 1% remaining, we still have no right to quit)
"I hear in other parts of the world, they actually take this book literally!" -Francis Chan, about the Bible
"You guys... just read the Bible!"- Francis Chan
"God's not sitting in heaven thinking, 'Oh! I hope they build me a temple!' God does not need us. We are not the givers. HE is the giver! We just get to be a part of his awesome plans."-Francis Chan
And those are just the summaries of 4 speeches exceeding an hour each. There was a worship service between each speech. It was amazing. It was great! It was overwhelming. Here I am, 4 days later, and I am still processing. It was so good for me. I am glad I got the opportunity to be there.
By the way, I was talking to Joy that day, and she confessed that Jason had signed me up before he called me. In Jason's defense, Joy had told him that I needed to be there, and he needed to convince me to go. However, Joy did have to advise Jason after he signed me up that he probably should tell me I was going, hence the phone call. That whole thing still makes me laugh. I am glad I have such pushy people who care for me. Left to my own devices, I likely would have missed this amazing event in exchange for doing absolutely nothing that Saturday. I could just see in my mind what might have happened if Jason had decided not to warn me. There would have been a doorbell at 6 am, and a "You've got 15 minutes to be in the car." I wouldn't put it past Jason to pull a hi-jacking rather than give me opportunity to come up with excuses.
I have been hi-jacked often in my life: into babysitting, hard labor, dates, long road trips, and all sorts of situations. So far, I think I enjoyed this "hi-jacking" the most!
This is a short, entertaining clip by Francis Chan. This was not from the conference I sat in. Francis Chan had a lot of serious stuff to say, but he had his equally funny moments. Enjoy!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
The child I didn't choose
Let me tell you the basic story of Alok Nath. By March 2009, I had been sponsoring Liline for 6 months. Sponsoring her made me more aware of some of the more frivolous choices I made with my money. For example, everyday, on my way to the office, I bought a coffee from my favorite place, The Filling Station. I was surprised to realize that amount of money tallied by month could easily sponsor another child. This bothered me. I had thought about it for a few months before March had come. There were times when I wanted to blow these thoughts off. I like coffee. I hate working in offices, clearly that makes coffee mandatory, right? Other times I thought, well, I'll just stop drinking coffee, but then, that money I was spending, but had stopped spending was still being just as useless. I tried looking for a child to sponsor, but the second time through, I was just overwhelmed by the number of kids needing sponsors, and there did not seem to be a child who stood out to me. Finally, I called and told Compassion International to give me the kid who needed a sponsor most. And then waited... I don't know how long I waited. I think it was just a day. However long it was in hours, I am pretty sure the minutes could have been measured in years before a new child finally showed up on my Compassion account. I actually called Mom on my break and asked her to check my account for me, because there was no personal internet access at work, and I was not about to provide an opportunity for job loss. She said there was a new child there. He is 5 and from India: Alok Nath... While I am glad for Mom's willingness to read off the information to me, I think it made the rest of my work day longer. On the drive home I stopped at my family's house, because it was a 5 mile shorter drive to a computer than going all the way to my house! I quickly pulled up my account, and there was Alok Nath:
When I had tried to pick a child, I had probably scanned past his photo multiple times. Honestly, he was not a child who would have caught my eye, first, because he was 5. I generally leave the cute young ones to the other sponsors. I was excited to get to know my little man though, and had to adjust my writing for a 5 year old.
Scan forward to 7 months later. I had still not received a first letter from Alok. Having sponsored Liline for a year by this point, I knew that this was not normal. I called Compassion, and they sent an inquiry into the field. A month later, I received a jotted down version of a first letter from the project. I was not impressed, but I was hoping that it was just that someone had misplaced paperwork and were quickly covering their mistake.
Little did I know that Alok was going to be my "trouble child." Giving up the daily coffee was nothing compared to waiting so many months for each letter to appear, and with each letter, the information was so vague and contradicting. I knew that it was not Alok's fault, because he is just a child, he doesn't even write his own letters yet. It was the fault of the adults in charge. Something was wrong with his project. This, my friends, is not the normal way Compassion International is run, that is why I knew in my gut, something was wrong.
By the time a year had passed, I had sent Alok several financial gifts. According to Compassion rules, a sponsor should hear about the use of every gift they send. I had heard nothing. Finally, I called Compassion again and made my concerns known. Compassion agreed with my concerns and sent and inquiry into the field. A few months later, I received photographs of a few of the past gifts I had sent. Another rule about gifts is that every gift purchased with sponsor money must have a photo on file with the child in the photo to verify that the money is being used as it is supposed to. (though, a sponsor does not have to receive a photo) The items must be easily identified in the photo.
Again, my gut said, "Something is not right." Can you see the clothing that Alok bought with his birthday present? Me neither. All 3 of the photos of gifts that I was sent in response to my inquiry were packed this way, in opaque bags, or unlabeled cardboard boxes, all claiming to be clothing I cannot see. I think the photos were staged.
At this point many of you are wondering, why are you still sponsoring through Compassion?! I need to clarify. I have been sponsoring through Compassion International for three years now. Compassion is an honest charity that works hard to prove financial integrity, and puts many checks and balances in to make sure the projects are following their regulations. I sponsor three kids. Alok's situation was an anomaly. You may wonder why I did not drop Alok's sponsorship. Trust me, I thought about it. Then, I also thought about the fact that Alok is just a (at this point in the story) 6 year old boy. He is not the one making bad decisions. I realized that Alok, out of my 3 children, was the child who needed a sponsor the most. The other two had dependable projects they could turn to. It seemed that right now it was possible that Alok only had me as an advocate, and I could not bring myself to walk away from him. Somehow, without any real input on his part, I realized that I love Alok. Because of the correspondence relationship between sponsor and child, the sponsor is the first one to see warning signs.
This was when I became that annoying sponsor. I called Compassion about the photos, and explained that they were not right, that there is clearly something wrong with this project. The response I got over the phone was an instant fix, and all the problems were solved. Not quite. I was quite frustrated after the call. I did not feel that the Compassion representatives understood the seriousness of the situation I was placing before them.
Then, later I heard through the grapevine that a prayer request had gone out from somewhere inside the works of Compassion for two East Indian projects that were having a hard time finding "committed staff" and I knew in my heart(at least I really hoped), one of those projects was Alok's.
Then, I received another photo, this one of the most recent gift I had bought Alok's family. Opening the envelope, I had no real expectations of satisfaction. And then:
a murmur of hope stirred in my heart. Previously, every gift I had sent to Alok had been claimed to have been spent on clothing, no matter what the amount, and you saw one of the photos of "proof" of clothing. This photo, however, is not clothing! It is a watering pump for the family's crops! And it is not in an opaque plastic bag or wrong sized cardboard box. And that is Alok's family, smiling. I thought, maybe something is turning around in this project. Maybe it won't close soon. Maybe there is hope for Alok's future.
March 2011, Alok is 7 years old, and it was almost exactly 2 years after I sponsored him. I received a letter written on "My first letter" stationary. The information written on that letter is not vague like the correspondence of the past 2 years, it is detailed to the individual: family members' names and ages, his favorite color is green and his favorite food is rice dal. The prayer request dictated to the helper writing for Alok was this: Please pray for my family, and also pray for me so that I can complete my studies.
And suddenly, I wondered, during all this time I was worrying about whether the project was running correctly, was my little Alok seeing the misuse of funds and realizing his chance at an educated future--a future with more opportunities than his parents could have dreamed to want--was slipping through careless fingers? As alarming as it was to be on my side of this "project reform" it must have felt despairing to Alok, who was seeing it in person.
I was really hoping this second first letter as the new project staff's way of saying "let's wipe this slate clean, and do it right."
April 11, 2011, I found another letter from Alok. I need to make sure that you have not missed this in this long history of 2 years: I only receive a letter from Alok once every 4 months, if we are lucky. These two most recent letters, however are less that a month apart!
The letter was from a person who was listening to Alok tell them what to write. I know this because last year, an acquaintance of mine went to East India to meet her sponsored child, and offered to meet Alok as well.
She took him to a science museum, and bought him lunch and gave him gifts I had sent with her, and returned to me with stories, video and photos of the day. The letter I received from Alok yesterday was detailing Alok's opinion of the trip! He really enjoyed it, but he did not like the Pepsi, but he also feels sorry that he threw the Pepsi away. He had seen trains before, but he had never been able to ride one(He had to ride a train from his village to the city where he was meeting my friend).
I really feel like Compassion International has really managed to turn this project around. I am glad of this. I am not willing to say we are out of the woods just yet, because I know Compassion's process with below standard projects. First the project is warned, and then checked on again, if the issue is not fixed, they try retraining the project, getting new staff, whatever it takes to make the project live up to the integrity of Compassion's name. After many attempts, if the project is still failing whether due to lack of cooperation or lack of ability, the project is then closed. Compassion will try to move the kids into neighboring projects if there are any nearby, so that the children will not lose the benefits.
I am hoping and praying that Alok's project really has turned around, not only so the project will not close, but so that Alok can truly receive the benefits of being sponsored. Throughout the two years I have had with this boy, he is the child that I have been able to establish the least relationship with. Relationship is hard when communication is one way, but he is also the child who has gained a majority of my prayers, and the child my heart has wrapped itself tightly around. It is strange, I know that my girls are close to my heart as well. I even know that they are embraced much the same way Alok is, but because I have felt that Alok has needed it more in his silence, he has taken possession of a portion of my heart that neither of the girls have needed.
I love this boy that I never would have picked. I hope and pray he does far more than complete his studies!
Note: I just wanted to add this in- It may seem that there are a lot of negative things in this blog. This is not the ordinary experience with Compassion International, in fact, in the full length of this post, it is positive light on Compassion, as I am able to witness the work they put into taking care of children and making sure the projects are being honorable in this mission. Compassion International is a very worthwhile organization, and if you are wanting to help a child receive the basics of life so that they have the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty, this is the organization for you!
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