Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
caring for "orphans"
Tuesday changed my perspective of what an orphan is--and what caring for them means. I used to think caring for orphans meant holding babies at an orphanage, or poor street kids in Africa taking care of their younger siblings. Yes, these are orphans and we must care for them--but God showed me Tuesday that there are orphans here, within miles, that are deprived of their parent's love, hugs, stability, security. A man named Scott showed me that. Let me explain...
A precious girl from the youth group called me the other night, afraid and in need of help. She was in a bad situation and with people she was really butting heads with. She pleaded for me to pick her up, before she did something she regretted, so I went over there as soon as I could. She was staying with a group of people, all over 20, in a small apartment. When I went to pick her up she was standing outside with all of her stuff. Another guy was standing and waiting with her. As we got ready to go, I started talking to the other guy, Scott, asking him if he was okay and if he needed anything. Eventually I just asked if I could pray with him, there wasn't much I could do at that point to help his situation. I crouched down beside him and began to pray. As I was praying, I sensed God's love and compassion for him--the tangible Father's love...that comforts, brings peace, direction, security... I realized he had none of that. He was broken, rejected, hurt, uncared for and because of it he was like a lost puppy-no direction, no love, alone.
God gave me the revelation that when he says, "...[D]efend the cause of the fatherless..." in Isaiah 1:17 he meant Scott. And others like him. To yes, care for babies who are left abandoned, and also the "grown ups" with no love. The ones separated from their own fathers (maybe even by their own doing) who are wounded and unloved.
I was adopted by Christ. Christ chose to adopt me and love me in my sin. May that reality compel me to love the orphans, however old or young, big or small, nice or mean they may be.
I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you.
-John 14:18
A precious girl from the youth group called me the other night, afraid and in need of help. She was in a bad situation and with people she was really butting heads with. She pleaded for me to pick her up, before she did something she regretted, so I went over there as soon as I could. She was staying with a group of people, all over 20, in a small apartment. When I went to pick her up she was standing outside with all of her stuff. Another guy was standing and waiting with her. As we got ready to go, I started talking to the other guy, Scott, asking him if he was okay and if he needed anything. Eventually I just asked if I could pray with him, there wasn't much I could do at that point to help his situation. I crouched down beside him and began to pray. As I was praying, I sensed God's love and compassion for him--the tangible Father's love...that comforts, brings peace, direction, security... I realized he had none of that. He was broken, rejected, hurt, uncared for and because of it he was like a lost puppy-no direction, no love, alone.
God gave me the revelation that when he says, "...[D]efend the cause of the fatherless..." in Isaiah 1:17 he meant Scott. And others like him. To yes, care for babies who are left abandoned, and also the "grown ups" with no love. The ones separated from their own fathers (maybe even by their own doing) who are wounded and unloved.
I was adopted by Christ. Christ chose to adopt me and love me in my sin. May that reality compel me to love the orphans, however old or young, big or small, nice or mean they may be.
I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you.
-John 14:18
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
update!
Here's a wee update on mostly missions related things:
1.I will not be going to DC with Teen Mania...another gal got her deposit in before me and secured the spot I was hoping for...I believe it is God's will. The funny thing is that I may have another opportunity to take some of our teenagers to DC during the same time for a youth conference that would involve a text messaging scavenger hunt in downtown DC, how awesome is that? God is sovereign and God is good.
2.I am leaving for NYC in 5 days. Thank you for your prayers and support. God is still bringing in the money. I still have a little ways to go, but it is coming in! On another note, we have a training day sometime Friday and we leave Sunday morning. Please be in prayer for our team and for myself as a leader.
3.I had to get a replacement phone tonight. Mine wasn't charging. I wasn't able to backup my data and now it's gone...I have no numbers except those who I talked to tonight. Bummer!! Actually, after syncing my phone with iTunes, I actually have all numbers I put in since my last back up sometime in March...yay!
4.My mom turns 51 Thursday and Sunday is Father's Day.
Goodnight for now...
1.I will not be going to DC with Teen Mania...another gal got her deposit in before me and secured the spot I was hoping for...I believe it is God's will. The funny thing is that I may have another opportunity to take some of our teenagers to DC during the same time for a youth conference that would involve a text messaging scavenger hunt in downtown DC, how awesome is that? God is sovereign and God is good.
2.I am leaving for NYC in 5 days. Thank you for your prayers and support. God is still bringing in the money. I still have a little ways to go, but it is coming in! On another note, we have a training day sometime Friday and we leave Sunday morning. Please be in prayer for our team and for myself as a leader.
3.I had to get a replacement phone tonight. Mine wasn't charging. I wasn't able to backup my data and now it's gone...I have no numbers except those who I talked to tonight. Bummer!! Actually, after syncing my phone with iTunes, I actually have all numbers I put in since my last back up sometime in March...yay!
4.My mom turns 51 Thursday and Sunday is Father's Day.
Goodnight for now...
Thursday, June 5, 2008
PRAYER
Hi everyone. This post is to ask you for your prayers. I'm leaving in 10 days for NYC to help lead our youth on a mission trip for two weeks. We are prayerfully hoping to start a youth group at our sister church there [msny.org]. The two weeks are going to be jam-packed with evangelism and outreach to high school students. We are really excited!
Please lift up my financial need in prayer. I need exactly $1,420 by this Sunday night. God is so going to provide. I will probably be making some phone calls this evening and praying for God's provision. I'm not really sure where it is going to come from [God through people, I suppose], but I am looking forward to seeing God do it. If you've got any suggestions, let me know!
PS- realitynyc.blogspot.com
Please lift up my financial need in prayer. I need exactly $1,420 by this Sunday night. God is so going to provide. I will probably be making some phone calls this evening and praying for God's provision. I'm not really sure where it is going to come from [God through people, I suppose], but I am looking forward to seeing God do it. If you've got any suggestions, let me know!
PS- realitynyc.blogspot.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
