So this is not going to be some kind of fantastic manifesto. Let’s just keep in mind that this post comes from a woman who spends A LOT of time at home with kids. While that is both a joy and a privilege for me,  I do not currently see myself as one who is really “qualified” to ponder the great questions of our society. Not even close…

But here goes.

Several weeks ago, I sat in on a talk at a local church’s Justice Institute.  This was the final night of a series on issues of justice within our community.

The night I attended, the subject was education.  All of the presenters were excellent. I learned a lot from each of them about needs and work in our community in the area of justice in education.  Towards the end of the evening, the audience was asking questions.  You know the ones…Why does this happen? What can we do? How do we do it?  Again, why does this happen?  One presenter in an effort to answer some of the questions that kept coming forth, finally, decided to cut to the chase and share his thoughts. ” Look,” he said, “I am convinced that we, as a society, have a contempt for the poor. “

As I sat there, I thought, Mr. Presenter, are you sure?  I mean, really, contempt? But I kind of like to think that I am a compassionate and caring kind of girl. And I am not unique in this, certainly, right?  Amongst believers, surely we are on the whole a compassionate bunch seeing that our God is Love and all.  Right?

Over the last few weeks these thoughts have been rolling through my mind.What about our society and contempt for the poor?  What about myself and contempt for the poor?  What exactly is contempt anyway? Contempt is the feeling or attitude regarding someone or something as inferior, base, or worthless; scorn. Contempt is disapproval tinged with disgust. 

So do we have that disapproval tinged with disgust?  I certainly have been guilty of it.  What about the pregnant teenager standing in line at the grocery store chatting loudly on her SWEEEET phone while she pays for her snacks with her food stamps card.  Was the first reaction compassion or disapproval tinged with disgust? What about the yard full of cars down the road? What kind of jokes or disgust did that elicit?  What kid was teased the most in back in elementary school? Or which kids did we avoid?  Or maybe,coming back to today, the issue is health care.  Would a government take over of health care be necessary in a society free from contempt for the poor? Or what about a very important question: Could contempt for the poor affect our views of people who do not look like us?  Yes, I am talking about race relations.  Does contempt for the poor fit in here too?

Of course, I know these issues are complex. I know there are good and bad answers when it comes to how we show our compassion.  I know that helping can hurt when it is not done properly.  But, I really want to focus here on the difference between that first reaction of contempt and the first reaction of compassion.

So, I am back to my pondering. What if our society as a whole showed compassion for the poor rather than contempt? Or what if believers broke away from society’s norm and felt and expressed compassion rather than contempt?  What if ...

Luke 6:27-36
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Proverbs 17:5
He who mocks the poor shows contempt for his Maker.

Proverbs 31:8-9
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

Zech.7:9
This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.’

Mark 12:31
“And the second is this, Love your neighbor as yourself”

I find this to be very interesting… just interesting.  I’m not going to go further than that.  But I welcome the rest of you to go further.  What do you think this means relative to our lives? 

When the time was right for Jesus to proclaim who he was, he chose to cite a prophecy about Himself.  He could have chosen from hundreds extolling His glory, His virtue, His redemption of Israel… or some other vision of glory that is (rightfully) in the prophecies about His coming.  But he didn’t choose any of those.  What He chose, among all prophecy, all that He is (and He is a lot of things)... what He chose is this:

Luke 4:16-19
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.  The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Whatcha think about that?  Why pick that prophecy?  Would we pick that to describe ourselves?  Would an outsider looking in at today’s Body of Christ (the Church) find this to be the first and most obvious way to describe us?  Should it be (maybe not, really… maybe it shouldn’t be - but why or why not)?  Like I said, I just find it intriguing that Jesus used this verse to identify Himself when there are so many He could have used.  Not sure what it means.  But I’m curious what you think it means…

A Local Opportunity and an Announcement

Have you heard of Real Life Teen Parent Outreach?  Real Life is part of the East Central Illinois Youth for Christ and is a national ministry established in January of 2007 to minister to pregnant and parenting young mothers ages 13-21. In Champaign-Urbana, a weekly support group is held at Vineyard Church to offer these moms and their children a warm meal, childcare, diapers and the opportunity to hear about the love of Jesus. Approximately 25-40 young moms are present each week, bringing with them 15-40 children. I bet these gatherings are a break and an encouragement for many.

As many of you may be, our family is on the look out for ways we can reach out in love to others in our community.  Real Life offers opportunities to do just that.

Here are some of the Volunteer Opportunities available with Real Life:

• Childcare – weekly or once a month
• Mentoring Moms Team – requires weekly attendance at support group
• Prepare/Serve meal for moms/children
• Organize a Diaper Drive
• Financial Gifts

For more information in Real Life please go here. http://yfceci.org/RealLife/about.htm

One way to get involved is to prepare and serve a meal to the moms and their children.  Would you like to be a part of this type of service?  The local KnownToMe community gets to do just that.  Christine Decker has organized an opportunity for us to serve a meal for the moms and children at Real Life this spring. Our night will be Monday, May 17th.  For all the details and to sign up to help,  please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or see all the details and the sign up sheet in the KTM forum: http://www.knowntome.net/index.php/forums/viewthread/60/

A huge thank you to Christine for organizing this event! We are thankful to be able to get a chance to serve these moms.

First, I’m sorry honey, I know I’m too busy at work to be doing this, but I need a break - and what more relaxing a break-away from work can there be than contemplating a thought from Blaise Pascal? (Maybe rock-climbing or a sparring session could be more relaxing, but no cliffs here and none of my fellow CPAs want to fight me).

Here goes:

How comes it that a cripple does not offend us, but that a fool does? Because a cripple recognises that we walk straight, whereas a fool declares that it is we who are silly; if it were not so, we should feel pity and not anger.

Still more strongly: “Why are we not angry if we are told that we have a headache, and why are we angry if we are told that we reason badly, or choose wrongly”? The reason is that we are quite certain that we have not a headache, or are not lame, but we are not so sure that we make a true choice. So, having assurance only because we see with our whole sight, it puts us into suspense and surprise when another with his whole sight sees the opposite, and still more so when a thousand others deride our choice. For we must prefer our own lights to those of so many others, and that is bold and difficult. There is never this contradiction in the feelings towards a cripple.

Pretty simple, but an insightful thought.  “Fools” are often simply unable to see reality clearly due to any number of limitations, or are so misguided by their past expeirences and biases that they (sometimes we) need compassion and help in seeing the truth.  Yet we often respond in contempt or anger.  Why?  Our own human frailty and insecurity.  Despite the bold fronts we put on, we are not certain that we are not fools, mistaken in many of our conclusions.  We must then KNOW what our core foundations are with an unshakable faith and certain knowledge.  If we are not certain in the core of our values, our insecurities will hinder or even prevent our efforts to reach out to those that disagree with us… and prevent us from receiving wise counsel when we need it.

As this applies to our efforts here, we have seen some friends and family respond with initial hostility - kind of a “who are you to preach to me…” type of response.  I’m a nobody.  I’ll happily admit that.  But that does not change the truth of God’s care and demands on us to care for the least of these.  Those initial reactions have faded as those close to us come to understand our motivations and see past us to the underlying message.  But we have not generated the growth and energy we hoped for.  Please, come alongside us and spread this message.  We need more support for our kids just to meet basic needs.  Help us get there, we need you to be involved even if you cannot support (or are already supporting) one of our kids.  This is a chance (one of infinite chances - not pretending we’re THE chance) to give your time and effort, really make a commitment to save lives.  If you believe in this message, talk about it… all the time.  It should be at the front of our minds in every conversation.

Do you know about the KTM chat room?  If you are a member here at KnownToMe, you will find the chat room under the Member tab. We have been using this chat room for Sunday night book chats. So far we have discussed Red Letters by Tom Davis and Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  Our next series will be discussing the book Forgotten God by Francis Chan.
Go check out Francis Chan’s quick video introduction of this book here:
http://www.forgottengod.com/

I like how this reviewer of the book described its contents:

In seven easy to read chapters Chan covers the following topics:

* The role of the Holy Spirit as Jesus’ promised gift. * Fears and concerns about the Holy Spirit * How theology about the Holy Spirit has more to do with how a person lives than what they say they believe. * Motivations around the Holy Spirit and his power. * What a relationship with the Holy Spirit can really be like. * Letting go of manipulation and control by trusting the Holy Spirit. * Living in true community with the Holy Spirit and with others.

Like the Big Red Tractor video illustrated (that we posted here a few weeks ago), the Holy Spirit gives us the power to go and do what we have been told in scripture to do. Wanting to extend love to your brother or your enemy? Wanting to share hope with the hopeless? The Holy Spirit was sent for just that! As Jesus said in John 14:16, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever—”

Please join us for the next month as we discuss the chapters of this book. We start on Sunday March 21st at 8:30pm central time and we finish at 9:30pm. Discussion questions are provided weekly in the forum:  http://www.knowntome.net/index.php/forums/viewforum/15/

Looking forward to meeting you there!

Letter writing is an important part of sending messages of encouragement, love and hope to each child at the Ludlati Carepoint.  Children’s HopeChest makes it quite convenient for sponsors to write to their children.  You can directly type your letter and include a picture on their website at the following link:

http://www.hopechest.org/write-your-child/

Please follow the guidelines provided on the website for the recommended frequency and suggested “Do’s and Don’ts”.  For children who are able and wish to reply, they will have the opportunity to respond to your letters one or two times a year.

We can all be encouraged by a testimony for the type of work we feel God is doing through sponsors who write letters and people who visit and work in Swaziland with our Ludlati Neighbor Kids.  The following video shows how God used a sponsor’s letter to impact one man’s life.  He was a child in Kenya sponsored by a young man through Compassion International.

I can hear the groans from my fellow administrators now - “where is he going with that one?”.  Thanks for being patient with me, guys.  OK… let me explain.  First, I wanted to get your attention.  Second, I actually believe that prayer works - not only works, but has incredible power when offered in true faith.  A power that is desperately needed (and let’s be honest - is generally not very apparent in this day and age).  Third, that statement is a quote - both from me in my past, and from my son not too long ago.  If we’re honest, I’ll bet we’ve all had that question enter our minds at one time or another.  So I want to explore the thought… because when my son asked that a couple years ago I did not have a good response - and that shook me.

Jesus said if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we could (casually, it seems) tell a mountain to hop into the sea and it will happen.  I’ve never tried that, but I can name hundreds of things I have asked for/claimed/believed for in faith/etc… that never happened.  All seemed like good things.  I see now that some of them weren’t.  That’s part of my answer.  I have less understanding of what is really for my good than my 3 year-old who can’t understand why candy for every meal isn’t a good thing for him. 

Another part is that I think we really do miss out on incredible blessings and powerful benefits that effective prayer, offered in true faith, will deliver. Why do we miss out? (I know that would have been a better way to word the title, but I told you I wanted to get your attention).

How is this for a promise to answer just about every prayer you can think of?

Your light will break out like the dawn, and your healing will speedily spring forth; and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. You will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am ‘.  Your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like midday. The Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

I think that pretty much covers it.  If you want more than that, I really have no answer for you.  I’m not sure there is much I could ask for or desire that is not in there.  Here’s the rub.  These promises come from God’s Word.  But they are given with some “ifs” (all from Isaiah 58):

Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your healing will speedily spring forth; and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am ‘
If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like midday.

“But.. but… but… Jesus said that it was “just” faith.”  Yeah, we all have big buts (quoting another deep thinker there, any other child of the 80’s remember who?) - but those are not big buts.  The real question is: what is faith?  God’s Word tells us that faith without works is dead, and that even the demons “believe”.  James gets downright sassy with that passage (my paraphrase): “You say you believe?  Good for you.  You know… you should be really proud of your accomplishment - you’re doing as much as the demons of hell.”  Man, that’s talking some smack.  I know I’ll never approach that level of genius in sarcasm.

The point is:  God will do His part.  His promises are real and powerful.  But His entire Word is true.  We can’t take the seemingly “easy” path that some verses can imply if read in a vacuum and expect to see any kind of power in our lives.  Nor can we take the “hard” (or perhaps"impossible”) standards we seem to be held to in other verses and give up.  His entire Word is true.  We have a role to play.  One that requires real commitment and sacrifice.  I believe we need only step onto the mat - really commit to the fight - and He will meet us there.  And when He does, we can not lose.  But He will not step on the mat to fight our battles if we do not step out to fight with Him.

What is the opposite of love?  I think the general response would be hate.  A different answer to this question was given at a Justice Institute session about Injustice in Education.  It was suggested by one speaker the opposite of love is indifference.

What is indifference?  Several definitions can be found and include:  unconcern, emotionlessness, unbiased, impartial, apathy.  The speaker shared this in context of confessing his own indifference to people who are suffering in our local city, Champaign, IL.  Prior to getting involved as a volunteer at one of the schools, he had no idea how strongly biased the local public educational system is against poor families and children, especially minorities.  In the course of the session, the group of panelist proved with facts and stated a destructive message is being effectively communicated to this group of children by the school system and the community at large.  Our society does not care about them, and we want them out of our way and sight.  Once they enter society as young adults and commit crimes as many do, we are happy to put them in jail to protect our property and personal safety.

Perhaps “hate” is not on the same scale as “indifference”, but the results produced are quite similar over time.  I believe I now realize and accept that my own indifference does contribute to the problem in my community.  I am excited that myself and others in this session have gained new insight and awareness.  I am thankful my heart is now opened and sensitive to this specific community issue.  My prayer is I and all of us actively seek to do our part as we serve our Lord by serving the members of our community, especially the members we consider the least.

1 Corinthians 10:24 - Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

This article was written by John Bentley of Harmony Outreach.  Harmony Outreach works with special needs orphans and vulnerable people in China. This article appeared in a recent newsletter from Harmony Outreach.These newsletters have amazing stories every time!  Go here to find out more about them: http://www.harmonyoutreach.org/

Here is John Bentley’s article:

It’s about life not success.

Since we get only one life, isn’t it really important that our lives are meaningful? I think so, and I think Jesus would agree because He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:1O). But somewhere between Satan, society and our own flesh many believers get deceived into pursuing a cheap counterfeit to abundant life called “success.” Our lives are so short-described in the Bible as a vapor that appears for an instant and then is gone. What a wasted opportunity if we spend the short years given to us chasing worldly stability, comfort and success instead of producing the “fruit that remains” that Jesus described in John 15.

In her book The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom describes an encounter which I hope illustrates this point. During the Nazi occupation of Holland, Corrie’s family began working with the Dutch underground to hide (and thus save) Jews. They built a secret room in their small house to hide as many Jews as they could and helped others to find safety living in countryside farms with other compassionate Dutch families. One day a young Jewish mother, with a brand new baby, was brought to Corrie. With no more room in their home, and all the homes in their “network” filled to capacity, Corrie struggled to think of a safe place for the mother and baby. The next morning, into their shop walked the perfect person—-a clergyman who pastored a small church in the countryside. I will let Corrie describe what happened when she asked the pastor if he would be willing to take them in.

Back in the dining room I pulled back the coverlet from the baby’s face. There was a long silence. The man bent forward, his hand in spite of himself reaching for the tiny fist curled round the blanket. For a moment I saw compassion and fear struggle in his face. Then he straightened. “No. Definitely not. We could lose our lives for that Jewish child!” Unseen by either of us, father had appeared in the doorway. “Give the child to me, Corrie,” he said. Father held the baby close, his white beard brushing its cheek, looking into the little face with eyes as blue and innocent as the baby’s own. At last he looked up at the pastor. “You say we could lose our lives for this child. I would consider that the greatest honor that could come to my family.” The pastor turned sharply on his heels and walked out of the room.

So we had to accept a bad solution to our problem. On the edge of Haarlem was a truck farm that hid refugees for short periods of time. It was not a good location, since the Gestapo had been there already. But there was nowhere else available on short notice. A few weeks later we heard that the farm had been raided. When the Gestapo came to the barn where the woman was hiding, not the baby, but the mother began to shriek with hysteria. She, the baby, and her protectors were all taken. We never learned what happened to them.

Although it has been little more than 50 years since the events Corrie described, all of the characters are now gone. Gone are the Gestapo agents, the pastor, the mother and child, the family who sheltered them, and gone are Corrie and her father. The vapor of their lives has vanished and all that remains is the fruit of their lives-what was done for good, what was done for evil, and what was not done. Corrie’s story involved both heroes and villains, the courageous and cowards. Some of the heroes were ordinary people. Some of the cowards were in ministry. What mattered was not the job they had but how they lived their lives. Some years ago I made the decision to change the course of my life, leaving the practice of law and coming by faith to China - knowing little more than that God had called me. It has been a long and often difficult journey. But just this past month alone we took in two new at-risk babies, tiny Wanda and little Daniel. When I look at their sweet faces I feel love for them and am rewarded with the overwhelming satisfaction that comes from knowing that we are going to save and transform their lives. I suspect that feeling is the “abundant life” that Jesus was referring to. What about you? When the vapor of your life vanishes what will remain? Will you have any regrets about how you chose to live and the priorities you set for yourself? Jesus warned that when we appear before our Heavenly Father we will have to give account of our lives and present our talents (fruit) to him for inspection. And the quality and quantity of that fruit will have consequences, either good or bad, for all eternity.

(Matt 25: 14-30)
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. (James 4: 13-17)