To live is to be present. Marking life today with courage and compassion to connect and belong. We are worthy of love and connection because God wired us enough.
I first heard of CRASH Japan through facebook, after March 11, 2011, when the terrible earthquake followed by the tsunami hit Japan. CRASH Japan , or Christian Relief Assistance Support Hope serves local churches in Japan by mobilizing the body of CHrist to bring help and hope to people affected by disasters. Our church raised some money and sent it to assist as part of our response. We also told everyone to pray. But I have to admit part of me assumed Japan would be 'fine'. After all, Japan isn't Haiti. They have money, I told myself. They have technology. Yes, this was terrible, but they will be fine. The Japanese people are a very resilient people. And as other world news happened and took over the old news of Japan, so I also began to 'move on'. I did wonder every now and then how Japan was coping, especially as CRASH Japan's facebook page reminded me every now and again that there was still work there. But these...
I was so happy to hear our church reached our goal to send out 500 plus shoeboxes this last November through Operation Christmas Child (OCC). Even though I had participated in OCC for more than 15 years this was the first year OCC really made an impact in MY life. Here are three lessons I learned, and am still learning: Lesson #1: Yes, He can...and Yes, we can. I still remember when we first determined we'd set the 500 box goal - part of me did NOT think we'd ever reach that goal. After all, we had a congregation of about 280 people. But while I doubted, another part of me knew God was calling me to witness the way HE moves and does HIS work. It was so exciting when we realized, one week before our deadline, that we had ran out of boxes (we had ordered 500 boxes initially) and had to rush more boxes in! As I involved my kids in the packing of shoeboxes I also became much more conscious of the abundance of resources we have here. ...
Once upon a time there was a little boy and his sister. They loved to watch TV and play games. One day the little boy decided to ask mommy if she could help them do a lemonade stand. But his mommy at first said no...and then said yes but never really got to it. So the boy kept asking and asking until one day, his mommy said "yes". Then his mommy asked the boy and his sister what they would do with the money they earned. The boy had not thought about that so he had no answer. So his mom suggested they consider raising money to help the kids in Niger they had been hearing about at church. They had heard that there was a country called Niger, in Africa...it was supposed to be far far away. People had shown them pictures of people who lived there and they had even met a missionary whose family was living there now, helping the people there gain skills so that they can have the means to take care of themselves. The boy remembered also ...
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