Everything or Nothing At All

Sometimes my children are so ungrateful. We sometimes make them list 5 things they are thankful for. Yesterday morning I made one of our children list 10 things--he couldn't come up with ten. He was being stubborn because he didn't get his way that morning. God reminded me in that moment, "Count your blessings, name them one by one". Sometimes I am just as stubborn. It seems that the more we get the more we want. The flesh is never satisfied and God created us so that any void in our life can only be filled through Him.

I love to worship with the Africans. They worship God well. They worship a God who has saved them from the pit of hell. They serve a God who gives them hope. They serve a God who supplies their needs, who comforts them when they mourn, who is a very present help in time of trouble. They worship with everything in them because they serve a God who has changed their lives.

If your faith hasn't changed you, your faith hasn't saved you. James MacDonald

I'm not the same as I was 5 years ago or last year for that matter. I feel like my life is an onion and God just keeps peeling back one layer at a time. He shows me one thing and I get that resolved or under control and He says, "Oh, let me peel back the next layer. Do you see that? We need to work on that now." If He peeled the whole onion at once, well, I'd just cry like I do when I chop a whole onion. :-)

Around 50% of the world lives on less than $2 a day. If you make $4,000 a month, you automatically make one hundred times more than the average person on this planet. Which is more messed up--that we have so much compared to everyone else, or that we don't think we're rich? That on any given day we might flippantly call ourselves "broke" or "poor"? We are neither of those things. We are rich. Filthy rich. Francis Chan

It seems in American that we have everything and in having everything, sometimes I think we have nothing. We aren't desperate for the Lord. We aren't dependent on Him. We don't find our security or satisfaction in Him. We're living the American dream...a bigger bank account, a better car, a bigger house, a nicer wardrobe, the newest shoes, the latest purse, an exotic vacation, my list could go on and on. Do any of these things satisfy? Absolutely not. How often do we run to God crying out for help? Rarely because instead of trusting Him to supply our needs, we trust our savings account or Mastercard and Visa.

I love shoes. If I find a comfortable pair, I'll keep them for a long time. This image below began to soften my heart for the poor and for the orphan. It made me ashamed that I will so quickly buy another pair of shoes or flip flops without thinking about those around the world who don't even own one pair of shoes.


And this picture I took myself July 2008. It was shoe day and we were about to give 1000 orphans each a brand new pair of socks and shoes. They take their beat up or mismatched pair home in a grocery bag because for many of them, they borrowed a pair of shoes to be able to come to camp. Once again, it made me sad to think about the things I waste my money on. Things that have absolutely no eternal value.



Following Christ isn't convenient and it can't be half-hearted. God wants all of us. God calls us to minister to the poor and the orphans and the widows. That's why we're traveling to Africa with Visiting Orphans. My life needs to be about loving God and loving people. Is that always easy? Absolutely not. Is there sacrifice involed? Absolutely. Do I always make the right choices and deny myself and choose to follow Him? Absolutely not. But His mercies are new each morning and at the end of my life I want to hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant". The desire of my heart is to finish well and we can only finish well when we're living completely for Him. It's not about me anyway, it's all about Him and bringing glory to Him.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:7-8