When Everything Falls Apart

March 26, 2013 By 1 Comment

010 | Suffer
Chinua Achebe died last week.  The great Nigerian Nobel prize winning author wrote Things Fall Apart in 1958, helping to revive interest in African literature.  The book shined a spotlight on the effect of Western imperialism on Africa and the breakdown of traditional culture with the influx of white missionaries and oppression from various Nigerian ethnic groups.

I always thought this book and it’s title were a great metaphor for the general happenings in the world.  Things tend to fall apart.  The scientific term for this is “entropy.”  The ordered, if left alone, becomes disordered.  The structured becomes chaotic, and as history has shown, every great empire eventually collapses.    Everything in the universe will atrophy over time if energy is not inserted to inspire reordering, structure, and purpose.

One of the great aspects of God’s story, I believe, is the redemption of broken things, over and over.   Christ generously offers his creative power, again and again, restoring the broken and offering new hope. It’s interesting, knowing this, how we tend towards nostalgia, looking back at “the good old days”, failing to realize that better awaits us.

Though I am familiar with the words of the Bible, sometimes I need the words offered by the “great cloud of witnesses” to remind me that God is faithful, that even though everything appears impossibly broken, glory awaits.  So, I look back to words penned by the saints, the ones who overcame, and lean on their trust and faith to guide me back to Jesus.

If you are in this space, and find that things do indeed fall apart, even those things that seemed impenetrable to entropy, consider the words of those who have gone before.

 

“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.” -Corrie ten Boom

“Evil is real – and powerful. It has to be fought, not explained away, not fled. And God is against evil all the way. So each of us has to decide where WE stand, how we’re going to live OUR lives. We can try to persuade ourselves that evil doesn’t exist; live for ourselves and wink at evil. We can say that it isn’t so bad after all, maybe even try to call it fun by clothing it in silks and velvets. We can compromise with it, keep quiet about it and say it’s none of our business. Or we can work on God’s side, listen for His orders on strategy against the evil, no matter how horrible it is, and know that He can transform it.” 
― Catherine Marshall, Christy

 “Surrender–stillness–a ready welcoming of all stripping, all loss, all that brings us low, low into the Lord’s path of humility–a cherishing of every whisper of the Spirit’s voice, every touch of the prompting that comes to quicken the hidden life within: that is the way God’s human seed-vessels ripen, and Christ becomes “magnified” even through the things that seem against us. “Mine but to be still: Thine the glorious power, Thine the mighty will.” 
― I.Lilias Trotter

“Your real, new self (which is Christ’s and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. The principle runs through all life from top to bottom, Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.” 
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

“God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.”    Peter Marshall

“If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated sufferings.”  Adoniram Judson

“The other side of it is understanding the greatness of God, how great God is. If you believe in the
greatness of God, you will believe he will solve the problem and it will be a good solution. That’s where
as Christians we come to the problem with an understanding of God that comes from Jesus Christ. He is
the one who helps us understand the goodness of God and the greatness of God by his own death and his
resurrection and his triumph and his continuing existence. He calls to us and says, “God is good, and God
is able.”
If we will accept that, then we have a way of approaching it. If we’re just thrown the problem, the problem
is dunked in our lap, and we don’t have any resources to deal with it, the natural response is, “I don’t want
to have anything to do with God.” It’s when you begin to understand the greatness of God as it is revealed
to us and as we love to sing about these wonderful songs we sing about the greatness of God. See that’s an
expression of a God who will see to it that everything comes out right. We have to have that and bear
witness to it between us and in our own minds, or we’re helpless with our suffering “- Dallas Willard

“Well eternity, of course, is a part of the picture. The child who is starving to death in the
Sudan this very moment, when it dies it enters into the presence of God, and it will affirm the goodness of
its existence because now it lives in the presence of God and will do so forever. God’s life is eternal, and
he gives that to others. A little child who dies is in his care. Without eternity, there is no solution to this
problem, and that’s just one dimension. The short thing you have to say is the greatness of God is what
sees to it that eventually everything comes out good and comes out right”.-Dallas Willard

What about you?  What words have sustained you, and pushed you to Jesus when it seemed all was failing?

Seeking to fully live,

 

 

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Shop, Earn Rewards, and Support Global Humanitarian Projects…Sweet!

February 28, 2013 By 1 Comment

So, do any of you ever shop at Toys R Us,  Best Buy, Family Christian Stores, Kmart, the Gap, Target, Lowes, Walmart, or the Apple Store?

Do you buy products from Avon, Bath and Body Works, CVS,  the Vitamin Shoppe, or SAMS Club?

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t make purchases from at least one of these companies.  What if I told you that you could make your regular purchases from these and  a multitude of other stores while getting deals…..and more importantly, earning money to designate to a variety of global humanitarian projects?

Makes grocery shopping or buying replacement screws for your home improvement project seem alot more appealing, doesn’t it?  

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If you haven’t already met them, may I introduce you to Pure Charity, an organization that has partnered with hundreds of companies, that allows you to make purchases that send rewards to your own personal giving fund.  You can then use this fund to back projects around the world that are important to you….maybe  rescuing sex trafficked girls in Cambodia,  providing clean drinking water wells to countries around the world, or help start micro-businesses in Honduras.

Or, perhaps you have a heart for a specific humanitarian aid project or NGO and want to get them on the Pure Charity fundraising grid…there are options for that.

Better yet, Pure Charity also supports shopping local, so you can locate small businesses in your area that you can partner with to help grow them while you are raising money for worldwide needs. 

Finally, that instant, visual gratification that all we Americans need….we can track our progress, where our money goes, and how our money has helped projects we are backing.  A little eye candy incentive, if you will.

I love this program because it is a super practical way for people like me, a busy mom of little ones, or others who can’t go and get involved in projects themselves, to have a chance to directly impact humanitarian needs around the world, and then be able to tangibly track results.   Pure Charity has almost made it too easy for us….we have to shop anyway, so why not make our dollars go further?

I urge you to check Pure Charity out, and beware Facebook friends, I will be doing a little stalking by sending you FB invites.  At least take a look at what Pure Charity has to offer before you pass up the invitation.

Seeking to fully live,

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Filed Under: Christian Living, Networks, World Events

Raising Globally Minded Kids

February 5, 2013 By 1 Comment

For all of my married life, I’ve lived in American suburbia.  Nice, comfortable, clean….the kind of places where it’s generally very easy to forget that there is a struggling world out there.  As a stay at home mom who has cut off cable, it’s easy to insulate myself and my kids without any effort or intentionally doing so.

The downside of suburbia is that it is easy to get caught up in routine everyday life that includes school, sports, hanging out with friends, etc., and all the while unconsciously being swallowed up into a vortex that pulls my mind away from the hurting and suffering in the world.  It can also easily mislead my kids about the struggles that the majority of the world faces.

I don’t like being numbed into routine and ignorance, but without intentionality on my part, it easily happens.  If I, who have experienced the third world personally, have been made sick by bad water, have gotten malaria on numerous occasions, and have held dying babies can suffer from heart cooling and hardening and must fight against it, how much more do I need to be very intentional in training my kids to not ignore the world around them.

A couple of years ago, at an Oasis weekend led by the Crescent Project, I stumbled across a wonderful little book that offers practical and valuable suggestions on how to be an intentioanl family and train kids to become aware of what the world is really like, and learn to reach out and serve people both locally and globally.

It is called:

Becoming a World Changing Family: Fun & Innovative Ways to Spread the Good News   by Donna Thomas.

This short volume reminds us to evaluate the essentials of life, and provides doable ways to introduce our kids to global awareness, and introduces the invaluable process of learning to pray for other countries and places where God is working throughout the world.

My boys are now at the age where I can really begin implementing some of Thomas’s suggestions, and encourage you to peruse the book yourself.  As busy moms, it is easy to wonder how we can really help promote the kingdom and global change when we are at home cleaning up Legos, giving baths, and digging through the laundry to find matching socks.  This book offers beginning, low stress ways to help fan into flame the love for people and God’s mission in our children.

Seeking to fully live,

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Christian Living, Kids Stuff, Parenting, World Events

What We Need for Christmas this Year, Not What We Want….

November 14, 2012 By 3 Comments

It’s that time of year again, where we start looking at Christmas lists, searching for deals, and try to get done with the general hassle of holiday shopping before the last minute. My kids have already started making sure that Mike and I know what they want.

Yet every year, most of us miss the point, don’t we? Instead of celebrating the birth of Jesus, and giving gifts out of genuine love and compassion for each other, we are drawn in by consumerism, what we want, and the need to outdo last year’s gift.

Let’s do things differently this year…let’s really look at what matters about the Christmas season, and teach that to our children. The following video says it all…

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November 4th – International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

November 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

November 4th is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. I know as well as anyone that it is easy to get caught up in our own lives, what is going on directly around us, and in our own country. However, let us remember that there are many, many Christians around the world suffering not just from the natural disasters and economic situations that befall us all, but for their faith and devotion to Jesus Christ.
Consider the following short video from Gospel for Asia, and ask God how you might have you pray and get involved in aiding the persecuted church throughout the world.  Even as suburban moms with little kids around our feet all day, Jesus has allowed us the privilege of fighting for others through prayer….a lesson I’m still learning and trying to improve upon.

Seeking to fully live,

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October is Fair Trade Month!

October 17, 2012 By 2 Comments

Ethiopian fair trade coffee...

You know, the darn part about visiting the world, watching documentaries, and generally gaining more knowledge about any subject is that it is nearly impossible to maintain the status quo.

One cannot travel to an outdoor market in Africa and ever view Walmart in the same way.  One can’t look at their diamond on their wedding band after watching movies like Blood Diamond without really hoping that the beautiful gem being worn didn’t get to your jewelry store through havoc wreaked on desperate countries and circumstances.  One can’t look at the clothes bought at the stores we’ve always shopped at and not stop to wonder if those garments were produced by tiny hands grossly underpaid for their work by US outsourcing.

Well, maybe some people can set these things aside in their minds, but I can’t.  In fact, I politely blame God for my struggles with these things.  I’m pretty sure he allows me to encounter information about certain social injustices because it turns into a slippery slope where I am forced to reevaluate almost every area of my life.  A very good thing, but painful for this girl, who while I have my own share of struggles, am still chugging along pretty nicely compared to the greater population of the world.

After several weeks of mulling over more blatant worldwide injustice that has been brought to my attention, my conscience has again forced me to consider strongly what changes I need to make in my life.  One of the first, obvious choices for me is to drastically reduce my consumer nature.  I hate that I’m drawn in by cool gadgets and shiny objects, especially having lived among those in desperate poverty at times in my life.

In an effort to make a small, perhaps minuscule difference in the world, I decided to experiment in buying as many fair trade products as I am in the market for something, even if means Internet searching, spending more for items that I would normally purchase for much less at Walmart or other American mega-stores, and be accepting of fewer choices.

So, starting off, I started hitting the fair trade clothing websites.  I love getting handmade items that are representative of other cultures, but at the same time I do want my clothes to feel at least somewhat culturally normal for everyday wear.  And good news….there are sites where you can buy handmade clothing from women in struggling countries that are fashionably acceptable in the US,  and their are some sites that produce some ridiculously cute “made in the USA” clothes  from fair trade cloth.

I’m not attempting to make complete changes all at once, because I’ll be doomed to fail.  However, if I can make small choices that gradually add up and help struggling people around the world who deserve to be treated fairly by capitalistic ventures, then I’m going for it.

If you’re interested into looking more into living in a fair trade way, the following websites are a good start for more information:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And…I think I could buy a billion cute dresses from:
Mata Traders

Check them out….

These are only a few sites just to give a little inspiration and information on fair trade.  I invite you to join me in an effort to make intentional purchases and consider more thoughtfully how what we buy and how we live affects the rest of the world.  Baby steps, baby steps….

Seeking to fully live,

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A Few Thoughts on “Going Green”

September 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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During the last few months I’ve climbed on the “living natural, going green, frugal living, etc.) bandwagon. Or, as my husband calls it, “crunchy granola, and just shy of tree hugging.”

I really never saw myself ever going down this road, but then again, I had never envisioned myself as a homeschooling, stay-at-home mom either. Funny what happens when you say you’re never going to do something.

Despite being teased by my husband and others for my new found appreciation for things like vinegar and baking soda, I’m having a lot of fun turning my house upside down, figuratively speaking, in an effort to clean it with safer products, serve my family whole foods, and care for my body with products made out of natural, non-lab modified products. And, there’s a plethora of great blogs out there to feed my new obsession.

However, the more I delve into this new kind of doing things, the more I’m aware of a deep seated problem that pervades every area of living “wholly” and “naturally.” It is easy to swing to extremes in the attempt to live as safely as possible, and leave as small of a carbon footprint as possible, but in the end, our world is broken, fallen, depraved. No matter how carefully we live, or how diligent we are in what we purchase, the ultimate problems in the world are not going to be fixed.

One current issue that has been of interest to me of late is that of natural gas drilling. The process, called frac-ing, uses water to bring up natural gas from deep below the surface of the earth. There are plenty of people who don’t like this method, claiming that the process pollutes water and can cause health issues, so they attempt to block the drilling. But, in situations like this, what alternative do we have? Which is better? To potentially pollute water, or to have coal miners die of black lung or mine cave-ins? Which is better, to have unsightly oil rigs spotting the horizon, or to have windmill farms that possibly create hearing issues with local residents? Which is worse, to have oil rigs in the ocean that can potentially leak massive amounts of oil, or move people out of their homes in order to flood an area, and create a reservoir for hydropower?

There’s no one good solution to these problems. The same goes with products that we use everyday. We hate those non-biodegradable, non-recyclable plastics, but the development of those very materials coincided with the production of better prosthetic limbs, various implants, safer cars, and so many of the other things that make our lives more convenient today.

Ultimately, I’ve concluded that while I need to be extremely cautious about the products that come into contact with my family, and I need to work to conserve energy, recycle, and protect the environment, there is no perfect way of living. Everything in the world is subject to futility, and only when Jesus comes again will everything be made right.  Green living is good, but building relationships with people and helping to usher in God’s kingdom are of infinite value.  This world will one day be gone with all of its problems, but people will remain.  They are eternal.

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The First World Guilt Factor

June 12, 2011 By 4 Comments

I live in the United States, obviously one of the most well off countries in the world. And by this country’s standards, I’m pretty comfortable. We earn a good income, have more than enough “stuff”, and I’ve had many awesome opportunities in my life. On top of that, I’ve got a wonderful husband does a great job at providing, and three beautiful, healthy boys.

And some days I can feel SO guilty about it.who

I was riding my road bike the other day in the lovely Indiana farmland, counting my blessings, and enjoying the warm sunshine and exercise, thinking about how happy I was.

And guilt began to consume me, as it always does when I feel happy for very long.

Why did I get to be born in a prosperous country, where life is easier and options for leisure abound? Why did I get to live outside of poverty, go to college, have the good things that I have?

My entire life I have suffered from tremendous guilt over living in the first world….and I have always thought that maybe the guilt would subside if I gave everything away and moved into abject poverty with the majority of the world. Didn’t Jesus tell the rich young ruler to give away all of his possessions?

Fortunately, I have a great mentor, who walks closely with Jesus, who pointed out a few things that have helped change my perspective and lessen the load of guilt I carry. Just like anyone else, I certainly have areas in my life where I need to be more giving and less selfish, and more concerned about others, but not all of my rationale for my guilt has been Spirit guided and God centered.

First, Jesus told the rich young ruler to give away his riches because he knew the man’s heart. Having wealth isn’t in and of itself wrong, but how one feel’s about it in their heart and how it is used. Others throughout the New Testament obviously had money, such as Joseph of Arimethea, but they were never mentioned in a negative light. What is most important about the wealth we have is how we handle it, and whether or not it replaces God in our hearts. Do we let it slip through our hands to people in need, believing it is God’s money to be handled well, or do we grip it tightly, saying “Mine, mine, mine!!!”

Second, my understanding of the nature of God is a bit cloudy. I developed an unconcious belief that God was going to punish me for living in a country such as the US and having a relatively easy life thus far. Which is dumb logic….why would God get mad at me for something he himself did? He chose for me to be born in the US, to live in this time and culture, and follow him in whatever circumstances he placed me.. I had no choice in where I was going to be placed.

I also have trouble believing that God’s plan is going to work out. I know it will in my head, but when it comes down to it, in my heart I struggle. I see the hurting and victimized in the world, and struggle with believing that God can truly fix it all in the end. I have always felt the need to do a sort of penance to the rest of the world, to make up for the nice life that I’ve had so far. Basically what it comes down to is me putting God in the courtroom and acting as a judge toward him, accusing him of not being able to work things for the good.

Ultimately, what my heart needs is more time with Jesus, allowing him to reveal more and more about his nature. And, as my mentor advised, I don’t need to seek out more suffering. There will be suffering enough in life as it is. Seeking out more suffering to make myself feel better certainly isn’t going to make me more holy in God’s eyes. He asks me to receive what he sends my way, and do with it what he asks, giving him all the glory. Nothing more is required of me.

Seeking to fully live,

Filed Under: Christian Living, Depression/Anxiety, World Events Tagged With: ,

There Is Only Christ…

March 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The aftermath of the recent earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor unrest in Japan has been painful to watch.  It is horrifying to see clips of the tsunami swallowing up people who are running as fast as they can for higher ground.  It is unsettling to hear about radiation leaks and radiation already detected in food supplies near the nuclear power plant.  Watching videos of people frantically searching for their loved ones makes me grab my children even tighter about me.

However, the saddest scene that I have witnessed so far was an interview with a Japanese woman who lost everything…all of her earthly possessions.  She told news reporters, while despairing, that she wasn’t sure if it was a good thing that she had survived the catastrophes.

What?  It would be better to die than lose all of your “things”?  Yet, the more I think about it, the more I realize that this is the exact mentality that so many of us possess, we just aren’t usually forced to confront it face on like this woman was.  Have we really reduced the value of our lives down to what we own, what we drive, the house we live in?  I’m reluctant to delve too deeply into this question because I’m certain I’ll find that I reduce my life to triviality on a daily basis…

My heart ached for this woman in Japan.  I want her to find Jesus, the one who IS Life and who gives Life.  I want everyone, including myself, to truly know that Jesus is everything; He is all that matters, so that when we lose everything, we can say, “I haven’t lost everything, because I have Jesus, and that is Life.”

My prayer is that God will take the recent events and Japan and use them to turn the eyes of every Japanese person on to Jesus, to realize that what they lost are things they that are going to lose one day anyway, just as each of us will one day lose all of our “stuff”.  And I pray that his comfort and peace be upon each who has lost ones they loved, opening their broken hearts to realize that he alone can mend them.

Filed Under: Christian Living, World Events

Engaged and Aware

March 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Mouths to feed.  Laundry to wash.  Diapers to change.  Bills to pay. Errands to run.  Lessons to be taught.  A house to clean.  And more…..

Being a mom of three little ones is a completely time consuming job, especially when I want to do it well, and be the wife that my husband needs.

I love my job – it is rewarding and I know it has eternal significance. 

But I struggle with the fact that it’s getting harder and harder to stay engaged with the world and remain aware of all that is going on around it.  If it weren’t for listening to the BBC and NPR while driving my son to preschool twice a week I’d be clueless about the revolutions currently taking place in the Arab world, I would have missed the New Zealand earthquake, I’d have no idea about the shooting of soldiers in Germany, and I’d just have assumed that the atrocious gas prices were do to government bureacracy.

suburbia quiz

It bugs me that at this exact time in my life my personal world is basically uni-ethnic…even the church I attend and love is, while economically diverse, certainly not racially diverse.   Just getting to visit with friends who aren’t Americans has become such a challenge that it has basically fallen to the wayside.

It is so easy to fall into the trap of everyday life in suburbia, America.  Run your errands, grocery shop, drive your kids around in your Honda minivan, just following all the other SUVs and minivans in front of you on the road. 

And seriously, the great extent of my relational community these days is Facebook!  Good grief.    While fun, it isn’t my idea of in depth, meaningful relationship.  Thank goodness for MOPS and church life groups, or I’d be a social hermit.

How does God feel about places like this in moms’ lives?  When women who have travelled globaly, love the people of the world, want to make a lasting difference and know and empathize what is going on with people outside their country, yet are so tied down with the mundaity of everyday life that just hearing about the collective bargaining arguments in Wisconsin are like a breath of fresh air because at least you’re getting some news from the outside world?

What is my responsibility in the midst of this tension?  Let the struggle go and just focus on my family and my little ones right now, or constantly fight to find outlets to engage with the world, however small those engagements may be?

Jesus, let me see with your eyes, know the will of the Father, and help me let go of the guilt that comes with not being able to be everything to everyone.

Seeking to live fully,

Filed Under: Parenting, World Events Tagged With: ,