Posts Tagged ‘mission’

adventI wonder if the world has always been as messed up and broken as it is right now or are we just hearing about it more now because of the internet and social media? In my 0pinion, it has always been this messed up and broken, but now we know about it instantly.

This is a gift to us from the Lord. Really, it is. Back before social media and instant news through the internet we would hear about issues of brokenness and injustice during the 5 o clock news or in the next days paper. Now we hear about brokenness less than a minute after it happens.

This, though a gift to us comes with it a huge responsibility, the responsibility to act, to do, to respond. So many times in my life I have looked back and said “oh man, I wish I had of done something about that issue of brokenness and pain.” If I had only known sooner I could have responded. Well guess what, now we do know about it sooner, like right away.

How are we dealing with this as followers of Jesus and advocates for equal and universal human rights? My prayer is that we are dealing with it by responding. There are a few ways we can respond:

  1. Pray
  2. Give
  3. Share
  4. Go

We should at lease be doing one of these things every time we hear about the brokenness in our world. In the past month there have been many ways to respond, unfortunately. There has been:

  1. Refugees coming over from Syria
  2. Mass killing in Paris, Lebanon and Nigeria
  3. ISIS

We need to respond. lets never look back with regret saying “I wish I had done something more.” It only takes a few seconds to pray, a few minutes to share and a few dollars to go. Lets do something.

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IMG_4448I have been in the Kingdom of Cambodia for 5 days now and am once again astonished by the beauty of this country. The people, the landscape and the culture. This is the dry season, and its coming into the hot season, way hot. So amongst the beauty there is this layer of death that continues to settle on everything. Dust, rice fields that are drying up and broken people. On the outside all these things seem fine, but when you look closer you see that they need some lovin.

Yesterday I met with my good friends who work with a children at risk NGO in Phnom Penh. They told me about a young girl who lives in the community they work in. Turns out she was taken from her mom and dad by her auntie. Thinking she was being trafficked they went with the mom to the Province to find her.

Our friends left in the middle of the night and drove almost 12 hours to the Province where she was. After talking to a few people they found the girl. Turns out her aunt took her to the Province because she saw how bad she had it in Phnom Penh. She wasn’t going to school, she was malnourished and she was getting beat by her dad who is a heavy drinker.
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They found out that the situation she was in was a good situation, minus the fact that she was taken from her mom and her town. She didn’t want to go back, but saw how much her friends with the ministry loved her, and so she went back to be with them. She held their hands on the way home and fell asleep in the car ride home. It breaks my heart as I even type this story. This girls life was not good, but people loved her, believed in her and wanted to help.
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The other day they just did her placement test for school, she has never been to school. Her placement test puts her in grade 3, she is 14 years old. The school is a good private school. They are also talking to the dad about being a better father and working with the mom to make sure the child is protected.
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There is so much brokenness in our world, and it is Gods hope that we, His kids would respond and bring healing in Jesus name. Caring for the sick, visiting those in prison, feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty and preaching the good news to the poor. This call is a privilege that we all carry and its up to us what we do with it.
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Peace.

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Screen Shot 2015-03-03 at 8.44.34 AMOver the next 6 days that Im in Cambodia I will be posting on things that I see involving poverty and trafficking. Cambodia is a beautiful country, filled with wonders and overflows with the heart of Jesus. But, because sin is in the world it is also filled with the horror of extreme poverty and human trafficking. Here are some of those things that desperately need the love and justice of Jesus.

It is 8am in Phnom Penh and most of the city is already at work, including the young girl that waved at me from the bar I was passing on my way to the cafe. 8am and the bars are already open, and not only for drinking, but for the selling of girls for sex. As I drove by I caught this girls eye. She waved at me like she had been taught and most likely prayed that I wouldn’t stop, but would just wave back and drive on by. 8 hours in Cambodia (5 of those sleeping) and my heart is already broken.

This is not the life that this girl dreamed of when she was a child. Working for sex under the watchful eye of her pimp early in the morning. Somewhere along the way her dream of life was stolen from her. Maybe by an uncle or friend, but most likely from a family member, as usually is the case. Was she tricked into this, or did she voluntarily go thinking that this is the only way she can make money for her family? Either way, she is stuck and needs to be set free.

Cambodia is filled with NGO’s fighting for girls like this. Fighting to give them a new life, filled with opportunity, dignity and hope. But, its not enough. There needs to be more ministries fighting for these girls. With over 50,000 sex slaves working in this country a few NGO’s is not sufficient, there needs to be more.

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“Good and upright is the Lordtherefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.” Psalm 25 ESV

This morning I woke up and read Psalm 25, mostly because it’s the 25th of the month and each morning before my feet hit the ground I read the Psalm for that day. I was struck by verse 8 as it reminded me of a song that I used to sing when our family attended Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I couldn’t shake the song or the verse, so when I got downstairs I played it as I got the kids ready for school. You can listen here.

I was saddened by the recent and not so recent events that have brought Mars Hill Church and specifically Mark Driscoll into the spotlight once again. I am broken over the sin, the hurt and the deception caused to many from the eldership of the church. In some ways it’s not surprising what has happened, but it still sucks (for lack of a better word).

Our family began attending Mars Hill Church in 2004, when it was just a small congregation of 1100 people. We attended for about 3 years  in a time when our family was going through a lot of brokenness and pain. When I look back at those two years I see some of the things that caused the most recent events at the church, but I mostly look back  and remember the healing and health that came into our family as a result of our being there.

In that place we met Jesus. Through the worship and teaching we grew, healed, and were prepared for what God had for us next. We learned how to study the Bible, how to empower and release leaders and mostly fell deeper in love with Jesus. We are thankful for those times and we have no regrets from our time there. Even in the bad and the broken their can be healing.

We just wanted to point out some of the good things that have come out of that church and hopefully will continue to come out of that church for many years to come. Thank you for the times where you brought the word of God into my life Mark Driscoll. Thank you for the times where you led us in Worship Tim and the other worship staff. We will continue to pray for you as you go through this season.

Peace.

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Thursday March 22 is world water day. Over 1 billion people (1,000,000,000) on our planet do not have access to clean, life giving water. This is not right, in fact it needs to stop. Are you willing to give up your rights and share your voice this year for those billion? Here is how we are going to do it.

On Thursday March 22 we are going go 22 hours without water. What does that look like? Well, we are asking you not to drink it, not to shower in it, not to use it while brushing your teeth, not to take it to wash down your pills and not to use it for anything else you would normally use water for during the day. Then, when you get thirsty, feel dirty or just are plain frustrated we are asking that you turn that into prayers for the 1 billion who live like that each and every day.

We are also asking that you go to http://water.org/post/water/ and share your voice, do that today. Share your voice via Facebook and Twitter, change your background and your profile picture and let the world know that the water crisis must stop.

Please join us for 22 hours on March 22nd as we go without water and take a stand for justice.

Sign up for the event here.

 

Photo by Ashely Perlberg

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