Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1:27
Visiting orphans and widows in their distress. What must a visit be like for those orphans and at-risk children? For me, the only thing that I can think of that could possibly compare is my memories of summer time visits of my California cousins. Our mundane summer days were exchanged for full days of cousin fun. So refreshing. This was my experience as a child who was never alone, never at-risk. Imagine what a visit could mean to a child who is alone and very much at-risk in her society. Could it be the joy of what visitors mean that causes the squeals of delight from the kids when a team arrives at the established care points in Swaziland?
If you have watched the kids approach the Ludlati carepoint,
you can see that these kids aren’t all together certain what these kind of visits are like. The more established care points are the places where the kids know the joy of interacting with new friends. The Ludlati kids have yet to experience the days of games and loving attention. None of them have received letters and pictures from someone far away who cares about them, followed by the chance to meet them face to face at last. Do not underestimate the value of hope and self worth this communicates to the kids! What a change is in store for all of us! What hope will be realized in this community here and there! If you are interested in supporting a child, please click here for the application instructions.
In the fall of 2010, a trip is being planned to visit our Ludlati neighbor kids! We will get to spend time with our Ludlati kids, possibly do some home visits in their area, and visit some other care points as well. Depending upon the timing of the trip, there could be other projects for us as well. This is the first of what we hope to be semi-annual or at the very least annual trips. I am not sure we are going to be able to keep Don away from Swaziland any longer than that! Warning to all who travel. You may want to go more than once!! The kids will definitely want you to come back!
Let’s get together and talk about travel. Tuesday, December 22 from 6:30 - 8:00 pm at First Christian Church (in the Playground area) we will have an important planning meeting about the fall trip and travel in general. We will share information, discuss plans and answer questions. While we have yet to have our official launch of the Ludlati Carepoint, it is never too soon to discuss the upcoming trip. If you want to know more about the trip, are considering travel this year or another year, or want to support others travels, this meeting is for you.
We want the meeting to be as efficient as possible so we encourage you to send any questions you already have ahead of time. Click here to go to the forum thread available for posting questions for the trip meeting (you must be a KTM member to post in the forum) or you can post them in the comments section after this post. You can also send them to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
“My Favorite Things” 2009 “My Favorite Things” is a Christmas song that a) isn’t about Christmas, and b) makes no sense. “White-collared ponies that melt in the spring…”—whatever. I don’t get it. “Doorbells and sleighbells and whiskers on strudel” or whatever. It’s gross, even.
So I updated it. (Editor’s note - the updated audio is on Brant’s blog)
You’re welcome.
Jim’s Favorite Things: Christmas Edition (I’m going to cheat and pick more than one in many categories)
Traditional Carols - O Come, O Come Emanuel / What Child is This
Modern Christmas Music - Christmas Eve/Sarajevo by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Instrumental Christmas Music - Phil Keaggy and London Philharmonic Orchestra
Slap-You-In-Your-Face Challenging Christmas Song - The Rebel Jesus by Jackson Browne, especially as sung by Bebo Norman on his Christmas CD (Can you tell, I like music?)
Movie - A Christmas Carol (George C Scott version - from the 80s I think), although Miracle on 34th is a close second
Memory - All of my other categories tie in to memories, that’s why they are my favorites. As a child, there was such wonder, mystery, and majesty in Christmas eve, especially night-time Christmas eve mass with the incense, the starry night, the organ, and the songs… in particular O Come, O Come Emanuel which was sung every year. I’m recovering that sense of wonder and mystery in a new way now, and this memory is emotional for me.
Quote - “Charlie, Christmas Eve may not be “gun day”. Christmas may be “gun day”“ Spoken by my wife to our 3 year-old while driving to my parents on Christmas Eve. Charlie, however, was certian that Christmas Eve should be “gun day” and we had a resulting bout of heartbroken tears and some rearranged presents after a U-turn to pick up some forgotten “food or something” at our house to take to my parents.
Treats - Shrimp dip, peanut butter bars… ooh, ooh… I know… those bacon-wrapped water chestnuts. An aside: My wife once was preparing a recipe that said bacon was optional. Get this… she was not planning to use the bacon. Can you believe that? I informed her that bacon is ALWAYS optional, even if it is not listed on the recipe at all. If even hinted at in the recipe, it is mandatory.
Anything else? Lets just talk about what is special to us this time of year and why. See you in the chat room Sunday at 8:30pm.
If you can’t make it Sunday, let’s hear from you in the comments here: what is special to you about this season?
When my daughter Jennifer, grandson Charlie, and I traveled to Ethiopia in July I traveled with a sense that the Lord wanted to show me something special. Indeed the excitement of bringing Nati and Feven home after so many months was very special, but there was something else I couldn’t put my finger on.
On our third night in Africa I found myself awake in the middle of the night. The dogs really do sleep all day and bark all night! As I lay there on my bed I asked, “Lord, what is it you brought me here to see?” “I wanted you to see the face of the least of these,” was the reply in my spirit. By this time we had seen many faces of “the least of these” and had been profoundly affected by them. I accepted this explanation and went back to sleep satisfied with His answer.
The next morning while riding in a window van we were stopped in traffic in a particularly congested area of Addis Ababa. I saw a man walking between the cars of the traffic jam, heading straight toward our van. Like the others in the van I was taken aback by his appearance. His face was a mass of scar tissue, barely recognizable as a face at all. He walked directly up to our van, but didn’t say a word. He did not ask us for anything nor did he extend a hand in any type of gesture of solicitation. He merely fixed us with his gaze and slowly side stepped his way along the windows of the van then turned and walked away through the stopped vehicles.
You could have heard a pin drop in that van. I said, “That was Jesus who just walked by our van.” I then related what the Spirit had revealed to me in the night. It was clear that the Lord had in mind a particular face to represent, for me, the, “least of these.” Everyone in the van was profoundly affected by this encounter and no one who saw him will ever forget that face.
I had been home from Ethiopia for about one week when the Lord spoke to me again about this experience. I was walking and praying near my home when the Spirit said, “The man you saw in Ethiopia was not just figuratively Jesus, but it was Jesus Himself!” I said, “Wait a minute, I do not want to make of this something that it was not.” I was already completely blessed by this encounter that was to help me put a face on “the least of these” in a way I had never been able to before. The Spirit, however, was quite convincing about this being a manifestation of Jesus Himself. As I embraced the wonder of what He was saying to me I said, “Lord, if I had known that it really was you, I would have pursued you through the traffic and embraced you!” He said, “That is the point of it all, I want you to embrace “the least of these my brothers” with the same enthusiasm you would have shown had you known it was me!”
I hear you Lord. Give me the grace to embrace “the least of these” as I would you.
This is a poem, written by Renee, a friend and previsouly “unpublished” member of KTM… at least unpublished here, I don’t know about anywhere else. Interesting story about Renee. As I understand it, she and her husband were instrumental in leading Jen and Barbra’s parents to the Lord. So, in a very real way, Renee and Tom are the founders of KTM. Isn’t it neat how God can make things grow over time?
Knocking On My Door
If you knocked on my door today I would see the longing in your eyes
I would see your body emaciated with ribs protruding and I would take you in
Yes if my doorbell rang and you stood before me you beautiful starving child
I would say, “Come in by my fire and let me feed you, I’ll fill out those cheeks so thin…
If you knocked on my door today…
If you were my neighbor, a mother, my friend and came knocking on my door today
I would stop wrapping the dozens of presents I am busily wrapping to place beneath the tree
Yes if you came with your child in hand and pleaded with me for your baby to feed
I would stop my Holiday baking and feed you and give all I could to remove the pain I see
If you knocked on my door today…
If you knocked on my door today so I heard your pleas for a home, a bed, and someone to care
I would cancel my plans for caroling, partying, and all the rest and devote myself to you
I would hold you and comfort you and say how sorry I am and that you are not alone!
But I am so totally wrapped up in wrapping and all the holiday fun I did not hear the knocking
For there was a knocking on my heart’s door today…
‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.’
You sweet Jesus who are no longer a Babe in the manger have come again…. and again and again
Knocking on the door of my heart and saying “Is there room in the Inn for Jesus to be born?”
Can I make my home in your heart, will you take in with me the “least of these, My friends?”
Yes, there WAS a knocking on my door today! Can you hear the knocking too?
We wrapped up our Red Letters book study last week, and decided to keep the 8:30pm Sunday chat going with weekly topics until January when we start a new book. This is a great chance for some of you who could not commit to the weekly chats to join us. Our topics will be new every week since many of us have holiday obligations that will mean missing a week here and there. So please, join us - even if only for a week. This week’s topic will stand alone so you won’t be behind when you start and you won’t be left hanging if you can’t make it next week. I really want to get to know more of you. The chats are a fun way to do that.
Since no one else has stepped up with a topic, I guess I have to. Hmmm… lets see… Oh, I know. A Pensee by Blaise Pascal. This one is very short and sweet, but will challenge you in many ways if you really think about it. Here it is:
Wretchedness: Job and Solomon
That’s it. But it speaks volumes. Advance reading in your bible to remember these guys, while not required, may be helpful. Consider Job in his misery. Consider Solomon in his glory… but also in his corruption and emptiness (Eclesiates, anyone?). The topics:
Compare and contrast the wretchedness of these two men.
Which was more wretched? Why?
Who knew God more closely, who was more faithful?
Now, the biggee: what does your reflection on the relative wretchedness of Job and Solomon make you think/realize about the relative wretchedness of the Africa some of us have seen in person relative to the wretchedness of America?
This is one of my favorite Pensees. Many have written entire books and not said as much as Pascal did with four words. When I first read this, I put down my book of Pensees and did not pick it up again for several weeks because these four words gave me so much to think about. If you can’t make the chat, please comment here with your thoughts. Please… I want to get to know you. There is one area in Known to me that I feel like I/we are at risk of failing at - that is, building real friendships and commuinity among EVERYONE here. Chime in or join the chat, even if just to humor me at first. I think it will grow on you.
Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD ?
“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?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness [a] will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Isaiah 58:1-11 (NIV)
We closed our book study of Red Letters last week with several in our book study group agreeing to fast on Fridays (from sunrise to sunset, or between breakfast and dinner as each of us sees fit). I read Red Letters for the first time about 8 months ago. I had already read Fields of the Fatherless by Tom Davis, Dangerous Surrender by Kay Warren, and a few other books that turned my heart toward scripture in a new effort to follow Christ’s instructions regarding “the least of these”. I was feeling a need to do more to engage in the fight against extreme poverty and to seek the Lord’s specific plan for the action that I was to take. I began fasting on Fridays. I had fasted before, but I always came away from it feeling like I had made a sacrifice, but didn’t really feel I had grown as a result of it. I didn’t even realize that my focus was on what fasting would produce in my own life instead of a focus on love and obedience to my Lord.
When I began fasting with a heart broken for the widow, the orphan, and those living in extreme poverty, and with a desire to know God’s heart in regard to them, everything changed. Suddenly, my fast days were filled with promptings to think about how things changed when I was hungry. I noticed that it was harder for me to be patient and loving toward my kids when I was hungry. How does hunger effect the families that live with it every day? It was also harder to have the energy to work. Fridays are also our heavy cleaning and cooking day in preparation for our Saturday rest day. How would it feel to be walking 3 miles for water on an empty stomach? I began to think about how hunger even effected my early bonding with Feven and Nati. How does hunger effect a mother and her newborn baby that her body can’t produce enough to satisfy? How would it feel to be hungry and know that it was not a matter of choice, and that no food was close at hand to end the hunger? These questions made me pray with a new emotion and fervency. I felt drawn to God’s heart and my desire to in some small way alleviate some of the suffering that His heart must feel. For the first time in my life the fast wasn’t about me at all, and for the first time I actually felt drawn in to Him on those days.
I welcome you to join me in fasting on Fridays, and I look forward to hearing your stories of drawing closer to God.
Posted by Jen at 08:33 PM.
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About - KnownToMe
We have begun to ask ourselves...What would we do if our neighbor was starving right before our eyes? Would we not help? Today, their plight is not hidden from us. It is known. We believe there is a clear mandate that we must care for societies most vulnerable members, the widow, the orphan, those in extreme poverty. If you are stirred to a similar belief, if you know there is more that you must do, Known To Me will make you aware of specific needs and opportunities to help.
