Does anyone know why my blog randomly puts "video" boxes at the beginning of my posts?  I'm not trying to frustrate people with non-functional videos.  Truly, I'm not!

God provides a new roommate!

You may remember that in October God gave my roommate Sarah clarity about her calling to India.  She had known for years that she was to go to India at some point, but with whom?  To do what?  Well, after a lot of prayer and seeking she felt led to join the ministry of Beracha House, a house for destitute children which has also started a Christian school that is reaching their Hindu community.  Now it was time to discern her departure date, and as crazy as it seemed, she felt strongly in mid-November that she was supposed to leave in January.  The whirlwind of support-raising, packing, and a hundred little details began, and amazingly everything was falling into place, except one thing.  Who would take over her lease at our duplex?

I could see that God was all over this situation.  I could also see, through the scriptures and books I was reading at the time, that God wanted to challenge my faith.  So Kayla and I told her she could go freely, trusting that somehow God would provide a roommate (or what we needed to cover her portion of the rent--because we certainly didn't have it!).  We continued praying that God would provide a roommate—particularly a roommate that would fit well with us and share our heart for prayer, fellowship, and ministry in our neighborhood.  Many of you have joined us in these prayers.

God’s timing is perfect.  Through some unlikely connections on facebook, we got connected with Annemarie, one of Sarah’s acquaintances from years ago.  Kayla and I met her last Tuesday, and we were struck with how perfect the match seemed to be.  She’s an answer to all of the prayers above, and she’s also been praying for roommates who pray together.  She also just happens to share Kayla’s passion for Japan and a love for the age group of the Girls Group we host in our home.  And she's able to move in right after Sarah moves out.   

Take note!  God can be trusted to take care of His children, and He lavishes good gifts on us.

Media Mania

"According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average child between the ages of 8 and 18 spends more than 53 hours hooked up to some form of media every week"  (kff.org, abcnews.com, nydailynews.com, 1/20/10).  At Living Hope, we did our own "study"--a thorough survey of our students' media habits and preferences.  The results confirmed what so many statistics are telling us--our kids consume media as a full-time job.  Sadly, most of this media is toxic. 

Yesterday I spent most of my day researching the music artists our girls are listening to.  (Chris Brown, Trey Songz, Wiz Khalifa, Rihanna, and more.)  Depressing.  I wasn't surprised by what I heard and saw, because I know it's out there--blatant sexuality, perverse visuals, objectifying women, distorting the meaning of love in every way and exalting drugs, alcohol, fame, and the pursuit of material wealth.  But it amazes me how mainstream it has all become.  Near-pornographic music videos are getting millions of views online, and young kids are losing their innocence way too fast.

Last night we began a series on media with our group of 12-15 year olds.  The relevance of this topic was confirmed when we played a pretty awful music video (for the purpose of discussion) and the girls were singing right along.  I have never seen them so engaged in discussion before as we asked, "Do you like this?  Why?  What messages does this video send?  How do you judge what is good media and what is bad?"  We barely scratched the surface, but already the girls are stopping to think.  I could see a real conflict going on inside as they realized that they're feeding themselves poison but that they still don't want to quit.  "The beat is hard," they say; the songs are catchy.  And when everyone you know is doing it, what kind of strength of heart does it take to stand up against it every day?

Pray for these girls as we teach them discernment skills and as we seek to get parents involved in the process.  Pray that the Lord would win the battle for their minds and hearts as they make choices about what to let into their eyes and ears.

Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret

 My roommate recently read Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret.  One Saturday morning, she was very excited about something she had read, so she passed it on to me.  It blessed me so much that I would also like to pass it on to you.  The following is a letter that Hudson Taylor, missionary to China, wrote to his sister.

So many thanks for your dear, long letter ... I do not think you have written me such a letter since our return to China. I know it is with you as with me - you cannot - not you will not. Mind and body will not bear more than a certain amount of strain, or do more than a certain amount of work.
    As to work - mine was never so plentiful, so responsible or so difficult, but the weight and strain are all gone. The last month or more has been, perhaps, the happiest of my life, and I long to tell you a little of what the Lord has done for my soul. I do not know how far I shall be able to make myself intelligible about it, for there is nothing new or strange or wonderful - and yet, all is new!
   Perhaps I may make myself more clear if I go back a little. Well, dearie, my mind has been greatly exercised for six or eight months past, feeling the need personally and for our Mission of more holiness, life, power in our souls. But personal need stood first and was the greatest. I felt the ingratitude, the danger, the sin of not living nearer to God. I prayed, agonized, fasted, strove, made resolutions, read the Word more diligently, sought more time for meditation - but all without avail. Every day, almost every hour, the consciousness of sin oppressed me.
   I knew that if only I could abide in Christ all would be well, but I could not. I would begin the day with prayer, determined not to take my eye off Him for a moment, but pressure of duties, sometimes very trying, and constant interruptions apt to be so wearing, caused me to forget Him. Then one's nerves get so fretted in this climate that temptations to irritability, hard thoughts and sometimes unkind words are all the more difficult to control. Each day brought its register of sin and failure, lack of power. To will was indeed "present with me," but how to perform I found not.
   Then came the question, is there no rescue? Must it be thus to the end - constant conflict, and too often defeat? How could I preach with sincerity that, to those who receive Jesus, "to them gave he power to become the sons of God" (i.e. Godlike) when it was not so in my own experience? Instead of growing stronger, I seemed to be getting weaker and to have less power against sin; and no wonder, for faith and even hope were getting low. I hated myself, I hated my sin, yet gained no strength against it. I felt I was a child of God. His Spirit in my heart would cry, in spite of all, "Abba, Father." But to rise to my privileges as a child, I was utterly powerless.
   I thought that holiness, practical holiness, was to be gradually attained by a diligent use of the means of grace. There was nothing I so much desired as holiness, nothing I so much needed; but far from in any measure attaining it, the more I strove after it, the more it eluded my grasp, until hope itself almost died out, and I began to think that - perhaps to make heaven the sweeter - God would not give it down here. I do not think that I was striving to attain it in my own strength. I knew I was powerless. I told the Lord so, and asked Him to give me help and strength. Sometimes I almost believed that He would keep and uphold me; but on looking back in the evening - alas! there was but sin and failure to confess and mourn before God.
   I would not give you the impression that this was the only experience of those long, weary months. It was too frequent state of soul, and that towards which I was tending, which almost ended in despair. And yet, never did Christ seem more precious; a Saviour who could and would save such a sinner! ... And sometimes here were seasons not only of peace but of joy in the Lord; but they were transitory, and at best there was a sad lack of power. Oh, how good the Lord has been in bringing this conflict to an end!
   All the time I felt assured that there was in Christ all I needed, but the practical question was - how to get it out. He was rich truly, but I was poor; He was strong, but I weak. I knew full well that there was in the root, the stem, abundant fatness, but how to get it into my puny little branch was the question. As gradually light dawned, I saw that faith was the only requisite - was the hand to lay hold on His fullness and make it mine. But I had not this faith.
   I strove for faith, but it would not come; I tried to exercise it, but in vain. Seeing more and more the wondrous supply of grace laid up in Jesus, the fullness of our precious Saviour, my guilt and helplessness seemed to increase. Sins committed appeared but as trifles compared with the sin of unbelief which was their cause, which could not or would not take God at His word, but rather made Him a liar! Unbelief was I felt the damning sin of the world; yet I indulged in it. I prayed for faith, but it came not. What was I to do?
   When my agony of soul was at its height, a sentence in a letter from dear McCarthy was used to remove the scales from my eyes, and the Spirit of God revealed to me the truth of our oneness with Jesus as I had never known it before. McCarthy, who had been much exercised by the same sense of failure but saw the light before I did, wrote (I quote from memory):
  "But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One."
As I read, I saw it all! "If we believe not, he abideth faithful." I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh, how joy flowed!) that He had said, "I will never leave thee."
"Ah, there is rest!" I thought. "I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I'll strive no more. For has not He promised to abide with me- never to leave me, never to fail me?" And dearie, He never will.
  Nor was this all He showed me, nor one half. As I thought of the Vine and the branches, what light the blessed Spirit poured direct into my soul! How great seemed my mistake in wishing to get the sap, the fullness out of Him! I saw not only that Jesus will never leave me, but that I am a member of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. The vine is not the root merely, but all- root, stem, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit. And Jesus is not that alone - He is soil and sunshine, air and showers, and ten thousand times more than we have ever dreamed, wished for or needed. Oh, the joy of seeing this truth! I do pray that the eyes of your understanding too may be enlightened, that you may know and enjoy the riches freely given us in Christ.
  Oh, my dear Sister, it is a wonderful thing to be really one with a risen and exalted Saviour, to be a member of Christ! Think what in involves. Can Christ be rich and I poor? Can your right hand be rich and your left poor? or your head be well fed while your body starves? Again, think of its bearing on prayer. Could a bank clerk say to a customer, "It was only your hand, not you that wrote that check?"; or "I cannot pay this sum to your hand, but only to yourself?" No more can your prayers or mine be discredited if offered in the name of Jesus (i.e. not for the sake of Jesus merely, but on the ground that we are His, His members) so long as we keep within the limits of Christ's credit - a tolerably wide limit! If we ask for anything unscriptural, or not in accordance with the will of God, Christ Himself could not do that. But "if we ask anything according to his will ... we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."
   The sweetest part, if one may speak of one part being sweeter than another, is the rest which full identification with Christ brings. I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize this; for He, I know, is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine. It makes no matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider that for me; for in the easiest position He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult His grace is sufficient. It little matters to my servant whether I send him to buy a few cash worth of things, or the most expensive articles. In either case he looks to me for the money and brings me his purchases. So, if God should place me in serious perplexity, must He not give me much guidance; in positions of great difficulty, much grace; in circumstances of great pressure and trial, much strength? No fear that His resources will prove unequal to the emergency! And His resources are mine, for He is mine, and is with me and dwells in me.
   And since Christ has thus dwelt in my heart by faith, how happy I have been! I wish I could tell you about it, instead of writing. I am no better than before. In a sense, I do not wish to be, nor am I striving to be. But I am dead and buried with Christ - aye, and risen too! And now Christ lives in me, and "the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." ...
   And now I must close. I have not said half I would, nor as I would, had I more time. May God give you to lay hold on these blessed truths. Do not let us continue to say, in effect, "Who shall ascent into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above)." In other words, do not let us consider Him as far off, when God has made us one with Him, members of His very body. Nor should we look up on this experience, these truths, as for the few. They are the birthright of every child of God, and no one can dispense with them without dishonoring the Lord. The only power for deliverance from sin or for true service is Christ.
. . .
"But are you always conscious of abiding in Christ?" Mr. Taylor was asked many years later.
"While sleeping at night," he replied, "did I cease to abide in your home because I was unconscious of the fact? We should never be conscious of not abiding in Christ."

Photos!

At last, some photos from our girls retreat!

Even though it was a little chilly, the girls had a blast outside.  A favorite activity was posing for pictures mid-air.

 

 The girls begged to go canoeing, and I was happy to oblige!  These particular girls had never done it before, but they learned quickly.  The wind was fierce though, so I got a nice workout. :)

Nuke 'em! 

We did some small projects to help the camp.  One was constructing this shelf.

 

Sheila's husband and beautiful daughters joined us on Saturday for lunch and a hike through the woods.  What a great family!

This was the "Oh-yeah-we-didn't-take-a-group-picture-so-everyone-get-out-of-the-van" picture before we went home.  They weren't too happy to go back out in the cold, but they graced us with beautiful smiles anyway.

Pictures...

...will be coming soon...when I can find my USB cord...


UPDATE: God helped me find it. :)  I didn't know that was what He was doing when I found that my computer mouse wasn't working.  (Annoying!)  But that problem got me to look at the back of my office computer.  In the process, I found that the mouse cord was firmly plugged in...but I also found that the cord I needed for my camera had been hiding there for a few months.  (Nice!)  The mouse worked again when I restarted. 

I like how God cares about the little things.

Teaching about God's Love...and Learning it Myself

Do you find that as you minister to others, God often uses it to grow you more than them?  Such may be the case with our girls retreat this past weekend.  Take a look into my soul…if you dare.

In my brief time of working in the inner city, one thing I have noticed is that consistency is hard to come by.  While the students in my small-town youth group didn’t change that much from year to year, here the faces change a lot from year to year.  This year our group, overall, is much younger than last year’s group, and our retreat ended up consisting of five 6^th graders.  It was good that it ended up this way, but I definitely had to change my mindset.  Last year, the girls in my cabin were all age 14 and up.  They talked about heavy issues, like boyfriends, depression, and cutting.  This year, our girls were all age 11.  They talked about Justin Bieber and pillow pets.

These precious girls, though some come from homes of divorce or absent fathers, still are pretty well-adjusted.  They have been attending church or Living Hope for years, and they seem to be on the right track in life, though they may not fully understand what it is to make their faith their own.  As we taught about the love of God, some truths sank in.  They may not have understood all the implications of this massive reality, but seeds were planted and watered.  Who knows what kind of harvest will come down the road?

It was interesting to watch my own heart through the weekend.  The adjustment from last year to this year was harder than I expected.  Somehow, I was upset that none of the “troubled” girls had come.  As I searched my heart, I found that this frustration was not rooted in holy compassion, but in a wickedly misdirected search for self-worth.  I feel validated in what I do when I’m reaching the hard-to-reach and helping the most troubled of souls.  I need to be needed.

Where was this coming from?  I’ve learned about self-worth before.  I’ve taught on self-worth.  I thought I was done with learning this lesson.  My value is not in what I do, where God has called me, or the results I see.  My value is in being loved, chosen, and adopted by the Glorious Maker of all things.  It has nothing to do with my accomplishments.  But if I fail to remember God’s love for me, I always go back to another method of seeking validation.

“It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of pharaoh king of Egypt.”  Deut. 7:7-8

Why did He set His love on them?  Because He loves them.

Why does He love me?  Because I work with inner-city kids?  NO! 

Because He loves me.

And that will never change.