Shoulder to Shoulder

“Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him shoulder to shoulder.”

Zephaniah 3:9

I always get tickled at my ministry partner, Leigh, and say to her – “God gives you verses in the most obscure books of the Bible.” Seriously, when was the last time someone in your small group opened up prayer with a verse from Zephaniah!! This was Leigh’s prayer for our ministry team months ago AND God woke me up early this morning with His words from Zephaniah on my brain.

I just returned home from a mission trip in Liberia, West Africa. I’ve ALWAYS wanted to go to Africa. I’ve ALWAYS had a heart for the “least of these”. I’ve NEVER had any clue as to how God would pull all of that together.

But in perfect God fashion, He used a long line of coincidences to form His plan. Oh how I love to look backwards!! I love to look backwards and see the tiny puzzle pieces of life – pieces that alone did not make any sense, but when connected in the right way and in the right time create a beautiful masterpiece.

In a Beth Moore study recently, I heard her say that in our personal and even in our corporate/professional ministry – we need to have some “along with’s”. She was saying that God effectively uses people together in fulfilling their destiny. We don’t do ministry alone. I loved that!!

I can’t say that I have a gazillion friends with a desire to go to Africa. Nor, do I have a gazillion friends with a heart for the least of these. God has given us unique callings, gifts, passions and circumstances. At times – it would be easy to say that I was alone. But looking back, God has been giving me “along with’s”.

When we are in a crisis (negative) – that piece alone doesn’t make any sense. When we are given a specific passion (positive) – that piece alone doesn’t make any sense. It’s easy to be angry when faced with a crisis or frustrated when given a passion for something and you don’t have a clue as to what to do with it!!!

No matter what you are going through this minute – as a believer, you can look back one day and see God’s fingerprints all over it. You will have names of people (maybe people you’ve not met yet) that will be your “along with’s”. People God set aside to work with you shoulder to shoulder during your crisis or in your ministry. Trust that: 1) He sees the big picture 2) Your life’s puzzle pieces will eventually connect and 3) He will receive glory as you share your testimony of what He has done.

Hosting A Banquet?

Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Luke 14:12-14

At church Sunday I was 100% convinced that Bro. Ken has been reading my ministry notes for speaking!  Every few minutes my heart was saying "AMEN!",  followed by my brain saying "that's what I've been saying all along!  Jeez - are you people EVER going to get it?". 

That was then followed up quickly by God reminding me - "Honey, you just think you got it!"

Bro. Ken actually focused on another scripture found in Matthew 16:24-28; "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."  The bottom line of the message is that these are easy words to say - hard words to live out.

He went on to talk about 'Casusal Christians'.  In my speaking messages I talk about a club called 'Comfy Christianity'.  In this club (which I have been a member) we say things like - 1) "I'll pray for you" and 2) "I'm here if you need me" and the very famous Southern 3) "Bless your heart!"

Which is all code for: 1) As soon as I walk away from you I'm going to forget your prayer request.  Truth is I'm super busy and I have a ton of my own requests!  2) Please don't need me, please don't need me - I have no idea how to work you into my schedule.  3) I hate that things are bad for you right now.  I don't mean to rub it in, but I'm just great and the Lord is blessing me left & right!

Everyone of you reading this (especially females) know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

Two years ago during our UpWards basketball and cheer leading program – promoted to the community, we had around 400 children playing in our gym. Less than 100 of those were “our” church kids. I coached a cheer leading squad and out of my 14 girls, only 3 of those had a church home (and none of them were members of my church). All of my girls came from very poor and very rough backgrounds. One night I noticed on of my girls, her mother was very distressed. As I approached her I saw that her blue jeans were torn from her pocket nearly down to the bottom of her pants leg. She was trying to hide her tears and her torn jeans with her daughter’s jacket. When I asked her how she was doing that night --- I had no idea what I was getting myself into. She shared with me about the domestic assault that had happened moments earlier that lead to her torn jeans, she told me about the drug addictions that lead to her car being reposed, and the affair between her best friend and her husband (before the assault she had accidentally ran across a sex text).

I did not want to know all that. I went to church that night to teach a few cheers and maybe distribute a few hugs to some young girls with a questionable home life. I did not want to invest in this person and her life that was so different from mine..  I had a choice to make at that moment - to take up my cross and deny myself OR to say, “I’ll pray for you. I’m here if you need me. And, bless your heart.” 

As I mentioned, I went to church that night to teach a few cheers – but God intended for me to host a banquet.

Seeing desperation in the eyes of “the poor” who lived in my own backyard was a wake up call for me.  A life devoted to Christ also has a public and transforming relationship with the world. It’s hands on. It’s dirty. It’s heart breaking and I can guarantee that you will not be comfortable. So, have you hosted a banquet?  For me - it's been awhile.  On Sunday, thanks to Bro. Ken - I was reminded of that.  Will you be on the look out for opportunities to host along with me?

Are you weird too?

“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Galatians 1:10

Please tell me that I’m not alone in this! Do you have a particular person in your life that always catches you at a weird time? For example when you have food on your face, toilet paper on your shoe or a stain on the back of your shorts from sitting in something at the ballpark --- all while your roots are weeks past a touch up!! This SAME person never seems to see you when you are in your best light. You know without a doubt they think you are the weirdest person in the world!

I have girls 10 & 8 who have some friends, another set of sisters ages 10 &8. When we moved into our subdivision a few years ago I just knew this was a match made in heaven. However, it seems that their mother is always hearing this sentence from my girls: “My parents don’t let us __________ (fill in the blank). Without a doubt she thinks we are the weirdest people in the world! I’m confident she feels that she never catches us in our best light ----- or does she?

Over the last year my girls have filled in the blank with the following: play with Bratz dolls, watch Bratz movies, have shorts that short, show our bellies, say that word (butt), say that other word (shut-up),watch Twilight, watch shows on Nickelodeon after supper, buy Teeny Bopper magazines, hang up posters of pop stars, have a TV in our room, wear fish net gloves because mom says it’s trashy, wear shirts that say I’m a princess or diva or boy crazy or I love vampires, buy clothes at Abercrombie, watch scary movies, play witch, dress like a dead bride, go to the movies with a boy, have a boyfriend, get kid drinks that look like that because they look like grown up drinks…… and trust me, the list goes on and on and on!

In a way, it’s become sort of a joke between Russ and me. When the girls come home from an afternoon of play time - the first thing we ask is, “Well, what could you not do this time?”

What’s funny is that I don’t think of myself as a strict parent (until they come home –ha). And, the girls don’t mind NOT doing any of the things that I’ve mentioned. I have been very proud of how they sincerely don’t want to ___________ (fill in the blank w/any of the above). Well, I take that back – out of everything so far the only thing that caused a fuss was the fish net gloves. Go figure???

When I say “We don’t _________” then explain it’s because: Abercrombie has inappropriate pictures in their store/ads, shorts this length are not modest, we need to keep our minds on things above so we don’t have TV’s in our bedrooms or purchase teen magazines, etc…. And, I follow it with – “Now, your friends might do/have X, Y & Z but that’s not what God wants for our family” the girls have been very cool with it all.

If God’s cool with that, my girls are cool with that --- why do I feel so weird? I’ve recently realized the reason. This family, from what I can see (and we are too look for fruit aren’t we?) are not believers in Christ. What better strategy for Satan than to say to this family: “Look how weird those people are! You don’t want to be like that do you? How silly is that to not let your kids ___________” (fill in the blank). And He says to me: “You really are weird. Don’t you know your silly “stands” are doing more harm than good. Seriously, what’s the big deal.”

It’s a struggle to authentically live Galatians 1:10. The root of my problem is I want to “please” this mother. I want her to like me, like my children, like our choices so that – in my mind – she will like God.

I’m reminded that God’s Word says this again in 1 Thes. 2:4 “…We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.” As well as the entire book of 1 John! Be a light, be set apart, don’t be exactly like the world and so on. As difficult as it is – I’m resolved to continue in making what the world feels are silly stands. Any one standing with me? Are people seeing you in your best light?

Goodlettsville, TN + Coast Guard = STRANGE

“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony.”

John 4:39

I’m telling you --- the words Goodlettsville and Coast Guard should not be used in the same sentence. It’s totally appropriate to say, “Umm – God?” Yet, Monday morning in my neighborhood, I watched the Coast Guard in their small boats bring families from one side of my subdivision to the other. I know those who lost their homes and I know those who only received water damage on their lawn because the water stopped justa few feet from their house. Both sets of families having stories to share of how God was with them.

If you are a believer – you have a story to tell. God has done something amazing in your life. Often, we think of a "God story" as something huge --- miracle size, if you will.  Tragedies like the Nashville flood, tornado's, accidents, illnesses, etc.... and how God protected, provided and so on.  Would it be STRANGE to think that before the Coast Guard came to Goodlettsville - if Monday had been an ordinary day; would we still have a "God story" to tell?

In church lingo – we often use the word “testimony” when we want others to share a story of what the Lord has done for them. When we tell what God has done for us we testify to His existence, to His greatness and that God is in deed who He says He is.

Growing up in the church - I remember looking at the church bulletin, seeing that someone was giving a testimony and knowing 1 of 2 things were about to happen. 1) somebody was about to share way to much information about themselves or others and then the other extreme 2) somebody was about to read scripture for 45 minutes straight with a few phrases like "this verse was important to me too" tossed in the mix a handful of times.
 
My question for you today is --- do you have a daily testimony to share of what God is doing in your life?  Have you ever sat and thought over the "coincidences" that have occurred in your life in just the last week alone!!?? 
 
In John 4:39, we see that this woman had a VERBAL testimony to share.  It wasn't too much personal info and it wasn't full of memorized head knowledge.  It was a simple story of how she had seen Jesus.  I encourage you to become comfortable in sharing verbal testimony's of how God is at work in your life.  Feel free to post them here!

Haiti and the Church

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"

Matthew 25:40

"We need so much. Food, clothes, we need everything. I don't know whose responsibility it is, but they need to give us something soon," Sophia Eltime, a homeless 29-year-old mother of two, told the Associated Press.

This is what I woke up to read today. The above quote was made by a Haitian woman in desperate need for her family after the 6.1 aftershock this morning --- the strongest since the Jan. 12th 7.0 earthquake.

Her words, "I don't know whose responsibility it is..." cut deep. Her words bring me back to what some of my readers are calling a "soap box" in regards to my posts about Christians and their call to help those in need. If proclaiming God's truth on how He intends for us to live out our faith is a "soap box" --- well then, I guess I'm on it. And I'm not getting off. Her words are a reminder that for years I have not done my part. Her words are a reminder that the WORLD sees Christians no different than anyone else. Her words break the heart of God. Her words should make the church feel very ashamed. Her words move me to tears.

However, I have refused to stay in this place. I can't change the "church", but I can make sure that this church goin' girl puts feet to her words. That's where we've missed the mark all along. I told a MOPS group that I was speaking to just yesterday ---- "The world hears us say that we love God. The world sees us holed up inside our church walls having another pot luck dinner. The world does not see us minister to the 'least of these.'" That is why the world is clueless as to "whose responsibility it is."

Are you a Christian? If so, it is your responsibility.

The Blind Side

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

Isaiah 58:6-7

We’ve been talking about what God requires of us, us – meaning fellow believers in Christ. In my last post I shared what God had required of my friend, Jen Gash, of Sweet Sleep. For her, it is a life devoted to providing beds for orphans in some of the darkest places in the world. Now, don’t click off this page just yet because you have no desire to travel to “dark places”! Hang on just a second……

You see, we can find in God’s Word SPECIFIC ways of how He desires us to follow Him and live a life set apart from the world so that He alone can be glorified. Most of us can rattle off a list of things like, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” “Love the Lord with all your heart,” and “Take up your cross and follow me.” In these three quotes alone, God is telling us how to live an abundant life on this earth. OK – still, don’t click off just yet. We are getting to the good part!

For example, ALL believers are required to “love” our neighbor (found in Leviticus & several time in the New Testament). Now surely you know that “neighbor” doesn’t mean the person literally living right next door to you. Jesus is talking about mankind in general. So, how do we do that? The Bible doesn’t say, “Love your neighbor by baking a pie for a widow on their birthday.” Or “Love your neighbor by keeping your kids off their lawn because you know they are really picky about how it looks!” Or “Love your neighbor by building beds for orphans in dark places.” You see, the AWESOME thing about God’s Word is that yes – He is totally specific as to how we are to live. BUT – He wants to be even more specific and tell you step by step, “Ginger, this is how I want YOU, and You alone, to love your neighbor….” If we really desire to be all that God created and planned for us to be – we must do our part in looking into His Word, finding these specific callings He has for believers and then say, “OK, Lord, How do you want me to live this out?”

Above in Isaiah, we see yet another calling – another requirement for us in Christ. He lists 9 ways that He has chosen for us to show Him and a lost world that we are indeed followers of Chirst.

1) loose the chains of injustice
2) untie the cords of the yoke,
3) set the oppressed free
4) break every yoke
5) free the enslaved
6) feed the hungry
7) shelter the homeless
8) clothe the naked
9) acknowledge kinships (taking care of family)

Have you ever prayed and asked God how He wanted you to live out any of these?  Jen has.  He wants her to live a life, as I said earlier, devoted to the care for orphans.  Now, He probablly doesn't have that for you.  But what has He called YOU to do?

I watched the movie, The Blind Side, this weekend. It’s an amazing story of how a family in Memphis, TN lived out this very scripture. It’s a story of how God asked their family to do something very specific for Him. Of course Hollywood doesn’t get into all the “God stories”, but you understand that their beliefs play an important role as to why a very wealthy white family with two kids - choose to take in a homeless African American teenage boy.

As we were leaving the movie, the couple behind me started talking about the film. The lady said this, “I like the story line. But it’s hard for me to believe that somebody would do that for somebody else.”

Have believers become so much like the world, that when scripture is lived out, it is so far from the norm - that other’s find it hard to believe?

Freeing the enslaved, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked……etc, as a believer – this should be a way of life for us! This should not be because it’s the Holiday’s and we feel guilty about how much we have and sorry for those who don’t! It should not be odd to live this way on a daily basis! But, it is.

So, will you be an oddball with me? Let’s talk more in a few days:)

An Unexpected E-mail; What God Requires

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.

 Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them,and do not hide from relatives who need your help."

Isaiah 58:6-7

I recieved an e-mail from a dear friend today.  Her name is Jen Gash and she is the President and Founder of Sweet Sleep (an organization that builds beds for oprhans around the world). I had planned on using Is. 58 to continue my posting over the next week or so - talking about "What Does God Require from us?".  These were not the words I inteded to pen.  But God has said it best through Jen.  She is living out what God requires.
The way that Jen and I even met is a TOTAL God story to be shared in another post.  But for now, read her words below. Allow yourself to be in Jen's shoes.  And - if you dare, allow yourself to be an orphan in Gulu. 

"For nearly 22 years northern Uganda has been in a war-- a war which I have never known about until a few years ago. I had vaguely heard of "invisible children" or child soldiers or night commuters. Really all I knew was that a crazy evil man attacked villages at night, killing as many as possible and
kidnapping children to be in his rebel army. I knew that each day, at dusk, children would walk long distances to sleep in safe shelters so the rebels could not get to them at night. This was all I knew.

Earlier this year God changed all of that. God made it clear-in many ways---He was calling Sweet Sleep to work in Uganda....
Recently this war entered into a time of peace. I've been trying to learn about the plight of the children in this area. This rebel army, the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) would attack villages during the night. As they
attacked, LRA soldiers would kill as many adults as they could and they would force the children of these villages to kill their parents or be killed themselves. From there the children were kidnapped into the LRA army and forced to become child soldiers. These children have lived through tremendous atrocities.

In July, while our first team of 22 was providing beds to two orphanages six hours away from Gulu outside the capital city of Kampala, I took a day to travel to Gulu to see what Sweet Sleep had provided and to understand what more we could do. What I saw and learned that day has changed my life, and the ministry of Sweet Sleep

There are far too many things to share about that day. However, I do want to tell you one story: In Gulu I spent the day with 5 teenagers who had either been child soldiers or who had lost their parents, they took me from camp to camp showing me huts and some of the beds Sweet Sleep had provided. I had never been in a hut before and focused on taking in everything I could.

Actually, it was a little crazy to think I was in a hut in the middle of nowhere in east Africa. At one point in the afternoon we ducked through the doorway into another small hut. I looked around and saw it was just as all
the others: a hard dirt floor, curved walls made from mud and little rays of light coming in at the top where the wall met the simple straw roof. I stood there and looked at the contents of this hut: one little bed with a pink
blanket and one toothbrush somebody had woven in and out through the straw of the thatch ceiling. That was all. I asked a question I'd not yet asked, "Who lives here?" The answer that followed rocked my little world.  The teens told me that a 14-year old girl and her five younger brothers and
sisters lived there.

I heard their answer, but I didn't understand it. So, I asked, "Where are her parents and why have we only given them one bed?" The answer that came was dumbfounding to me. I learned that in the Gulu region there are still one million displaced people-people who have lost their homes and everything they owned---because of the war. I learned that three-quarters of those people are children living in child-headed households. Yes, read that again.

That's about 750,000 children with no parents or grandparents or even orphanage to protect or care for them.

This information struck something deep inside me. Spending the day watching and studying those 5 teenagers struck something even deeper. I kept asking myself what in the world our ministry could do there. I knew we couldn't give them back what had been taken away from them---we couldn't give them back their parents. I knew we couldn't take away what had been forced upon them---those children had watched as their families and villages had been brutalized.

What could we do? God and I wrestled with this for weeks and weeks and weeks. One of our driving verses at Sweet Sleep is the one God showed me on my first flight home from Moldova: Proverbs 3:24 which says, "they will lie down and not be afraid; they will lie down and their sleep will be sweet." Here, in Gulu, this verse just did not make sense to these children.

In the months that followed, God showed me another verse, also in Proverbs, that says, "Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act."

The answer, I realized, is that I had seen and had learned and was responsible to share their story with all of you so that you, too, would know and be able to respond. The answer for Sweet Sleep was that we respond just as we have always: we work together with everyone we can in order to find resources that will bring beds and hope to as many children as possible. This is the good news. It's such good news that hope
is coming to these children in the form of a bed which communicates to a child things about God's promises so that peace can slowly begin to come to their hearts.

So, we are moving on to bring true sweet sleep to these tired and traumatized little ones. We face a challenge before us that is greater than ever. It is our ministry's responsibility and challenge to connect the message of God's hope, His love, grace, forgiveness, protection, provision and redemption, to the beds which we will provide. And, to equip those children with scripture that they can begin to learn and memorize which will enable them to push out the fear that grips them at night----the time the rebels come. If they can lie in their new beds and know they are loved and protected and then claim a verse reminding them of this knowledge, they can begin to have little victories over the fear that grips them. And, peace and hope and love can slowly come to their little hearts. This is why I desperately need your help.

The decision to spend 3 weeks in Gulu over Christmas was made very recently and last week I was in Haiti working on future ministry opportunities there. Now that I'm back I'm faced with a harsh calendar that tells me I only have a few weeks to raise the money we need for these children to have beds. My hope is you can help me find people who want to do something great this Christmas. We are providing 450 beds and need 320 more. A bed in Gulu consists of a straw mat, a mattress, sheets, blanket and a mosquito net, for a cost of $88. Of that, $8 is for a treated mosquito net to help prevent children from being bitten by a life-threatening mosquito infected with this disease......"

Sweet Sleep

This is what God requires of Jen.  To minister to the orphans in Gulu.  The above verse says, "Only Jen Gash is to free the oppressed......"  Oh wait, nope.  Don't see a specific name there.  Huh? You guess that it means that you and I are supposed to be involved in feeding, clothing, sheltering..... the poor - the oppressed?  Looks like it to me.  So, what are you doing about all that?