Question on Injustice

"Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it.”

“Well, why don’t you ask Him?”

“Because I’m afraid He would ask me the same question.”

(Anonymous) -a quote from A Hole in the Gospel, by Richard Stearn, President of World Vision.
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This was an eye-opening quote that I read yesterday. Please go read the remainder of the post where I saw it.

Get Out Your Tissues...

Give Me Your Eyes

My this be my daily prayer.

Another Update

Last night was the second night of visits from Mormon missionaries. They came the first time last Wednesday and then again last night.

I will start by admitting that I didn't nearly bathe the event in prayer as much as the first encounter. I realized that God was with me during the first encounter and truly speaking through me. Why I didn't pray as much about it, I don't know. Was it my own pride? Was it just trust that God would be with me as He had been? Either way, the preparation was not the same and as the time got nearer for them to arrive, I began to get nervous about that. Not about their visit, but about the fact that I had not treated it as cautiously as the first. I confessed this to God and asked that despite my utter failure to bring it to Him faithfully, if He would please just be with us, protect us, and guide us.

Once last night was over, I didn't feel the "high" that I had felt on the previous visit. The previous visit showed obvious signs (to me) that God had spoken through me and hit some nerves. This time I didn't have that "accomplished" feeling. I had rather a stale feeling. I felt guilty that I had not my part to uphold my end of the witness. Although I tried, I was quite concerned that the right words or sentiments had not come out of my mouth. I had done too much work and not let God do enough.

This morning when I spoke with my co-worker who brought them, I was shocked. They were left speechless regarding some of the issues that we covered. Mainly over the fact that the Book of Mormon has had numerous (seriously...almost 4000) changes over the last 170 years. They stated that many of those were punctuation type things, which is true, but they were completely unaware of some of the major doctrinal changes from the original text. The last question they left me with was if I thought Joseph Smith was a liar. Unfortunately, although I answered that I did, there was no time to defend that because of the time that they had to go home. On the ride home, it was obvious to my co-worker that they were completely unaware of the doctrinal changes to their holy book.

So I have requested at least one more visit with them so that I can show them these changes. I don't want to force anything on them, as the decision is theirs to make. However, I want them to make an educated decision. They are VERY educated in the things that their church has told them, but completely ignorant of the more questionable workings of their church. I think that if they are going to be defending this faith, they need to be aware of what they are defending. And if they decide not to defend it any more, then one more for the Home Team. =)

Once again, I promise that I plan to do a large review of all of the information I have learned during my quest for info about the Mormon faith. This is huge information that anyone who has a Mormon knocking on their door needs to be aware of. I've just got to find the time to really put it all down together, and now my time needs to be spent soaking myself in the Word as well as preparing information for the guys that I'm currently speaking to.

Keep praying for me, please!

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

The title--do you know that expression? It's something that I've heard my entire life, but I am ignorant as to whether this is a regional colloquialism (the south has a LOT of those) or whether it is well-known. Regardless the translation: this phrase is used to indicate the time when practical application of an ideal is needed.

In other words, do you walk the walk?

Stop for a moment and think of someone you know who has a need. You've gotta' know at least one person. They are sick, they are caring for an ailing family member, they are dealing with a messy relationship with their spouse, they are fretting over decisions their children are making, they are in financial distress, they are a single mom or dad of a small child, they have just lost a job, they have just left home for the first time, they are expecting a child, they are mourning the loss of a loved one, they are dealing with a tough decision of any type, they are dealing with personal demons.

Now, what have you done for them?

Let me be blunt and tell you that I don't want to hear that you have offered your heart-felt sympathies and told them, "If you need anything, you call me." Seriously...people rarely call you. If you are extremely good friends, they might, but otherwise, they will only feel like they are burdening you and they will not call you. Period.

It is not up to them to look for help from you. It is up to you to give it to them. Not offer it, but give it. They may resist and that's okay, but they need to be resisting your honest efforts and not your offers.

Offer to watch the kids while they go out for some "me" (or "us") time. Leave a bag of groceries for them. Clean their house. Cook them dinner. Treat them to a movie night to forget their troubles for a while. Do their laundry. Take them to play a round of golf. Do their yard work. It doesn't even have to be anything that actually helps them find a resolution to their hardship...it will just give them a ray of sunshine, an expression of love to cherish, one less thing to worry about.

A fellow blogger (so sorry...I don't remember who you are, as I do read a lot of blogs!) mentioned that when they returned home after being away dealing with the illness and death of a loved one, they found that their house had been cleaned and their fridge and pantry restocked. That's love.

When our house was getting hit with Hurricane Katrina and we were camped out in Arkansas (I was almost 9 months pregnant at the time), our neighbors saw all of the shingles blowing off our roof. Since they knew we were out of town, they went into our house and made sure we didn't have water pouring into our house anywhere. That defines neighbors to me--they literally braved 120-mph winds to make sure we weren't getting severe water damage. That rocks (thanks, Lamar and Betsy although you don't read this blog!)!

You see...when we are all truly taking care of each other like this, the world will notice, and they will want to be part of what we've got.

So stop offering help. Do something. Make it count where the rubber meets the road.

Have You Ever Been Mistaken for Bill Gates?

You probably know the story. It is captured in 3 of the 4 gospels of the Bible. Jesus is teaching and basically blowing away people's minds by stating things that are contrary to what they think God's plan and ways are all about. Enter a rich man. He wants to follow Jesus but is unwilling to give up his earthly wealth for the opportunity to do so. Then Jesus makes this statement:

And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. --Matthew 19:24

How many times have you read/heard this verse? Dozens, if not hundreds? Me too.

How many times have you thought that it didn't apply to you? You know, it applies to the rich people. It couldn't possibly apply to me

Dozens, if not hundreds? Me too.

I want to let you in on a little secret...if you are reading this blog, you are rich. Period.

I don't care if you aren't driving as nice of a car as your neighbor. I don't care that you could not afford that pair of $150.00 shoes that you wanted last week. I don't care even if the paint on your house is chipping a little. You have a car. You have shoes on your feet now. You have a home that protects you. You are rich.

Here are some staggering facts:

• More than 10 million children under age 5 die each year. Two-thirds of these deaths — more than 6 million deaths every year — are preventable.
• Children under age 5 account for less than 10 percent of the world's population, but suffer from 40 percent of the diseases attributed to environmental factors.
• An estimated 130 million of the world's 15- to 24- year-olds cannot read or write.
• Roughly one-sixth of the world's population, or 1.1 billion people, do not have access to safe water.
• The average person in the developing world uses 2.6 gallons of water every day for drinking, washing and cooking. This is the same amount used in the average flush of a toilet.
• Every 14 seconds a child is orphaned by AIDS.
• One person in seven goes to bed hungry every day.
• Every day, nearly 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes. That amounts to one child every 5 seconds.
• In 1970, wealthy nations agreed to a goal of spending 0.7 percent of their gross national product on assistance to developing countries. In 2004, these countries spent on average just 0.25 percent.
• Lower-income Americans are among the nation's most generous givers, with 48 percent of households earning less than $25,000 per year giving at least $100 per year.

We live in a nation that thrives financially due to our discontentment. The American Dream has become a bloodlust for more stuff...more money, more cars, more jewelry, more entertainment, more homes, more Webkins...whatever. Has any of it ever really made anyone happy? We know it doesn't, but we still do it. It's our nature.

You see, we were created in the image of our God. That means we were made for another place. No wonder we're unhappy here, as our souls are longing for the perfection of Paradise that we were created for. However, most of us get it wrong (even when we know this is true) by trying to fill those gaps with things. That's not what we're called to do. We're called by God to be content with this life until we can enjoy the blessings of the next. We are called to reach out to the hurting and the needy with the blessings He has given us. You see, our nature is not an excuse to be discontent, it is an opportunity to thrive...to overcome our humanity and strive to be Godly.

Plain and simple--we're comparing ourselves to the wrong people. Have you ever wondered why we always compare "up"? We seem to always see how others have more rather than the others that have less. We need to turn around and look in the other direction. We need a new perspective.

Remember, that to the 53% of people that live on less than $2/day, you might as well be Bill Gates.