Do Something Now

Once again our seemingly quiet lives are invaded by images of death and suffering this week as we are reminded of humanity's mortality and how fragile life, peace, and society really is. Everywhere you turn, images of Haitians in desperation flood the airwaves, the web, radio, and print media. The loss of lives is significant but it doesn't end there. Haiti was already suffering due to poverty long before the ground shook. If the residents there thought things couldn't get any worse, they were mistaken.

I believe God knew this was going to happen - which is why for no apparent reason, and just after the Christmas season, the message we were given last Sunday (the 10th) was on the Joy of Giving. And regardless of what we know about the history of this particular country and regardless of how we feel about who's to blame for its seemingly unending fight against poverty (i.e. according to some history, it's been the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere for at least more than 100 years), the fact remains that today, 3 Million people are in the brink of desperation...unless we can do something about it.

I applaud our administration for taking the lead in the international effort to stabilize the country - but it's going to take more than a couple of weeks of military aid and food airdrops to bring it back to a functioning society. To that end, I urge all of us in the church to do what we can and partner with any of the organizations actively working in that part of the world right now.
I realize that many of us are not exactly overflowing with resources, but remember also that giving to the work of the Lord is not only a form of worship, but when it is sacrificial, it is a sweet aroma, pleasing to God.

There are many organizations that we've worked with in the past who are already in the region and were themselves victims of this disaster, yet they are there making a difference in the lives of the Haitians. So I say, let's partner with them because we all have a part in alleviating the suffering of our fellow man.

Here are a few links to get you started:

• World Vision has always been a trusted organization. They are organized and in place and have experience dealing with disasters around the world.
  

• World Concern is also already on the ground in Port-Au-Prince and in spite of their losses, continues to fulfill the call of Christ to help.

Both of these organizations are locally based (WV is in Federal Way while WC is a ministry of Crista Ministries in Shoreline) and have a long history of integrity in their ministries.

Whatever you do I ask that you do not let this week go by without at least making a donation - I'm not asking for loose change - I'm urging church folks to make at least one sacrificial gift as a form of worship to God. We may not be able to physically lift people out of the rubble or personally hand out survival kits, but we can certainly be partners to those who are there.

God bless you all.

Rearranging our Priorities

The beginning of the new year is always a time to re-evaluate our priorities. That's where we are now. As each year ticks by, we find ourselves even closer to the infamous countdown. Or maybe I'm just reflecting on my own middle agedness (tweens can't wait to become like Miley, teenagers can't wait to find their own Twilight saga and young adults can't wait to become career successes like Dr.Sheppard). In the meantime, those of us approaching 50 feel like we want to turn the hands of time back to when we could run a lap without dying.

The flowing of the sands of time always reminds us that we have even less time to get to know our God and even less time to do His work. Yet that work doesn't diminish - as a matter of act, it keeps growing. So maybe it's a good time to evaluate our priorities. What is it that we actually live for?

As far as I can tell, with all the theology books and How-To books on Christian living out there, you can pretty much summarize what our priorities should be into 3 ideas: worshiping Him, serving Him and bearing witness to His Name.

Everyone's busy. We all have to go to work, do our chores, study for our finals, work on our projects. And if we're lucky, we might juts have time to relax after that stressful family vacation. Now if we're not careful, we may just view our Sunday gatherings as times to pick up some wise words to help us through the week. Don't get me wrong - that does happen. But if we miss out on the essence of the "worship" service; i.e. worshiping God, then we're not really going to get much out of that bit of wisdom from the preacher. Remember, God is the source of all wisdom and worshiping Him benefits us - not Him. So don't take your time of worship - whether with your community or by yourself - for granted. In the end, spending time with Him is what strengthens us - not reading books and filling our heads with knowledge.

Most people work hard - it's one of the values we learn to accept early in life and hopefully live by. Sadly, sometimes that work ethic stops at the time clock. We work hard because we know we're getting paid. But working for God is a different matter - most of the time monetary compensation isn't really there. In short, we do it for free. But that's exactly why we need to rearrange our priorities. We need to work for God not for rewards but simply because that's what we're called to do and it's the right thing to do. We need to give our service to the church just as much effort and importance as we do our regular jobs - in the sense that we do what we can to the best of our abilities rather than seeing it as "volunteer" work and setting our standards really low. This is why I never call it volunteering - I call it serving God - and when done with the right attitude, it is noble, selfless and though not financially rewarding, will yield its rewards eventually in eternal currency.

Lastly, we probably need to make our storytelling a bigger priority in our lives. We're all very fond of talking about food, about our hobbies and our accomplishments and latest score in entertainment or sports. But we should probably make Christ a more natural part of our conversations. It is often said that people talk most about what is important to them - we see salesmen do this all the time - after all, selling their product is their job (see work above). Could it be that our relationship with our Savior isn't really that important - which is why we don't hardly talk about it? I don't know what's worse - having a non-important relationship with God preventing us from talking more frequently about it or being ashamed or fearful of rejection when we talk about something as corny as a Savior loving us enough to give His life for us. If we truly value His presence in our lives, why don't we talk more about it? Let's talk more about God this year and make it a priority.

Worshiping Him, elevating our level of service to Him and Making Him a bigger part of our conversations - not exactly earth shattering, but doing more of these will certainly bring us into a better place in 2010 than we were in 2009.