Feed Your Family for a Week

Thanks to Perpetual Anticipation for this picture. Not sure how old it is.

5 Posts for Christmas: When I was in Prison

Ten Sobering facts...

1. In over 40 nations around the world, Christians are being persecuted for their faith. It might be illegal to own a bible or talk about your faith openly, teach your children about Jesus.  Millions are choosing to follow Christ nonetheless and face harassment, arrest, torture and even death.

2. Every year over 250,000 believers are killed for their faith in Christ.  

3.  Today's ultimate imprisonment is slavery.  There are more slaves today than any other time in human history.  

4. 27 million people enslaved today.  this is more than double of Africans enslaved during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

5.  Almost 9 million children are enslaved through trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, recruitment for armed forces, prostitution, pornography and other illegal activities.

6.  UNICEF values the global market for child trafficking at $12 billion a year.

 

7.  Two more children per minute are trafficked for sexual exploitation somewhere in the world.

8. Child trafficking is the fastest growing in the world.  It is the 2nd largest transnational crime surpassing gun running and just behind drug trafficking.   Soon it will be #1

9. Of all human trafficking, 80% are women or girls.  Half  are minors.

10. Surveys point out that 90% of all the prostitutes in the world desire to escape.   There are imprisoned.

"Then the King will say... I was in prison and you came to me. ....  Master, what are you talking about?... the King will say, 'I am telling the solemn truth: whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me - you did it to me.'"   (The Message)

Three ways to give Jesus a gift...

1.  Voice of the Martyrs

2.  iEmpathize

3.  Shared Hope 

(For a great story on "when I was in prison..." read this article on espn.com

5 Posts for Christmas... When I was Sick

Ten Sobering facts...

1. Billions of people in the world are suffering from diseases that we have a cure for... they just don't have access to proper medical care.

2. Today (and every day) in the developing world 16,000 children will die from hunger or preventable diseases like diarrhea, acute respiratory infections or malaria... 16,000.

3.  Sixty percent of these 16,000 children's death each day are from malnutrition and hunger.  

4.  Of the 30 countries in the world with the lowest number of physicians per capita, 26 are in Sub-Sahara Africa.

5. There are 300 physicians per every 100,000 people in America.  In Tanzania, Malawi and Niger there  are only 2 doctors per every 100,000.

6.  About 39 1/2 million people in the world are suffering from HIV/AIDs.  Of this number 2 out

 of every 3 live in Sub-Sahara Africa.

 

7.  Because of AIDs,  the per capita economic growth in these African nations is falling each year as the bread-earners fall sick or die.  Creating more malnutrition and sickness among children.

8. In the developing world, 20 million low-birth weight babies are born every year.  They are at risk of dying in infancy or suffering lifelong physical or cognitive disabilities.

9. Every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria.  This is while malaria was been eradicated from the US for over 50 years.

10. Right now there is a Cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe.   The reported number of deaths as of two days ago was 774.  The suspected number of cases is over 15,000 and is expected to rise as high as 60,000 in the coming months.

"Then the King will say... I was sick and you stopped to visit. ....  Master, what are you talking about?... the King will say, 'I am telling the solemn truth: whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me - you did it to me.'"   (The Message)

Three ways to give Jesus a gift...

1.  Samaritans Purse

2.  Global Hope Network

3.  Hope Positive 

5 Posts for Christmas.. When I was without Home and Without Clothes

Since who is more without a home and clothes than orphans...

Ten Sobering facts...

1. There are 143 million orphans in the world.

  Enough children to circle the equator three times.

2. Sub-Sahara Africa, with more than 48 million orphans, has the the highest proportion of orphaned children.

3.  Three out of every twenty-five children (12%) in Sub-Sahara Africa are orphaned.  

4.  Asia has the largest number of orphans - almost 74 million - which is 6% of all children in tha

t continent.

5. Also in Latin America 6% of all children are orphaned.  

6.  15 million children have lost at least one parent to the AIDs pandemic.   A year from now that number is expected to rise to 20 million.  Half of these will be in Sub-Sahara Africa.   Many of these orphans live on their own and/or raise their younger siblings.

7.  If it wasn't for AIDs (a preventable disease), the number of orphans in Sub-Sahara Africa would have declined.  

8. Orphaned children are more likely than non-orphaned children to be working in commercial agriculture, as street vendors, in domestic service and in the sex trade industry.

9. Orphans are more vulnerable and at risk of becoming victims of violence, exploitation, trafficking, discrimination and other abuses.

10. God is called a Defender of orphans and accepts pure & undefiled religion of looking after orphans (and widows) in their distress.

"Then the King will say... I was homeless you gave me room. I was shivering and you gave me clothes....  Master, what are you talking about?... the King will say, 'I am telling the solemn truth: whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me - you did it to me.'"   (The Message)

Three ways to give Jesus a gift...

1.  Beam Africa Child Sponsorship

2.  Compassion International

3.  Musana Children's Home - started by 3 University of Colorado students

5 Posts for Christmas... When I was Thirsty

Ten Sobering facts...

1. One in six people lacks safe drinking water.

2. The lack of clean water kills more people on the planet every year than all forms of violence  - including war.

3. Unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation causes 80% of all sickness & disease in the world.

4. 1.8 billion people die every year from water-borne illnesses - 4200 deaths every week. 

5.  90% of the above deaths are children under age 5 -  3900 children die per day because of unsafe water.

6. Many people in the developing world - usually women & children - walk three hours per day to fetch water that will make them sick. 

7.  For $10, you give one child clean water for life.

8.  Americans spend 450 billion dollars celebrating Christmas.  10 billion of that would solve all of the water's lack of clean water issue.

9. Our planet is 70% water and only 2% of that is freshwater available for 6 billion people.

10.  Many communities in developing nations have a plentiful supply of clean water just below the ground.  They get need our help to get it.

"When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink... Lord when did we see you thirsty and give you something to drink?... the King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"

Three Ways to Give Jesus a Gift

1. Water for Christmas

2.  Play Pumps

3. Living Water International

The 5 Posts for Christmas... When I was Hungry

Since this is the season of giving, I decided to give a daily post between now and Christmas.  Since it's 22nd, I will do two for one today.   Each post will be about 5 sheep acts of Matthew 25 and the current condition in the world.  

Ten Sobering facts...

1. Half the world lives on less than $2 a day.  One on four lives on less than a $1 a day.  The cost of food consumes 50-80% of this daily income for the 3 billion living in extreme poverty.

2.More than 840 million people in the world are malnourished — 799 million of them live in the developing world.

3. More than 153 million of the world's malnourished people are children under the age of 5.

4. Half of all children in South Asia under the age 5 and 1/3 of those in sub-Sahara Africa are malnourished.

5. Six million children under the age of 5 die every year as a result of hunger.

6. While every country in the world has the potential of growing enough food to feed itself, 54 nations currently do not produce enough food to feed their populations, nor can they afford to import the necessary commodities to make up the gap. Most of these nations are in Sub-Sahara Africa.

7. Almost a billion souls will go to bed hungry tonight.

8. 146 million children under age 5 are underweight.

9. Ten million children under age 5 die every year, over half of hunger-related causes.

10.  3/4 of all deaths in children under age 5 in the developing world are caused by malnutrition or related diseases.

"Then the King will say... for when I was hungry you gave me something to eat... Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you... the King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"

Three ways to give Jesus a gift...

1.  Beam Africa 

2. Feed the Children

3. World Vision

Rhino Devo

Just posted a devotion about Lessons from a Rhino on the blog for STINTers.  Feel free to sneak a peek.

Breaking and Entering

I guess I have something to look forward to next year when Jack and Drew turn 4.  

But really... what's a 4 year old doing up at 3 am?  And why was a door to a department store unlocked at that hour?  And if you were going to play with toys at 3 am wouldn't you have chosen another store besides Family Dollar?  

Brrrrrrrrrr

Weather Channel said it was-18°F this am. Now it's a blamy -4°F with a predicated high of 12 today.

Glad we got to spend warm Saturday afternoon outside at a park.

Can't Get This Out of My Head

Thursday, Brian, our pastor of Transformissional partnerships, introduced my director, Ken, and me to Brad Riley.  Brad is a church planter in Boulder who started a non-profit called iEmpathize.  

We sat at the Laughing Goat Coffee shop on Pearl Street and heard Brad's story... though I wasn't laughing.  Several years ago, Brad became gripped by the issue of human trafficking in particular child trafficking and knew he had to do something about it.  Brad, Ken, Brian and I talked about how we could partner together.   We are going to have Brad be a part of our Christmas Conference .  On the night of January 4th, we are going to have an interactive experience of the major issues around the world and Brad will have a room on this subject.  Then on the 5th, he will give a seminar and we hope students & staff will want to partner with him & have an Empathy Experience on their campus.  

I can't stop thinking about this.  Brad showed us 'artifacts' he had gathered around the world. Troubling stuff like tiny little girl slippers he got from a room at a brothel in Thailand.  He told us stories that share the reality of what vile this industry is.  He showed us a picture of a safe house he helped build.  I couldn't stop crying thinking about these children whose innocence was being robbed all for the immoral pleasures of western tourists.  Two children per minute are enslaved for sexual exploitation.  Sobering.

All I could say to Brad was "thank you".

Sorry $48 a Hour is just Not Enough

It would be laughable that the UAW was unwilling to adjust salary to Toyota's workers level ($99,840 a year instead if $143,520) in order to get govt buyout if it wasn't so disgusting that our elected officials were considering to give Big3 anything anyway.   (Yes, I count pension & health care.)

Okay people will get laid off but better a surgery than a band aid.   Come on the bailout ain't gonna save them. It's a money pit.  Their union contracts and the way they do business is a slow bleed.  And no one needs to buy a new car.   The only way this industry survives is to become a starfish.  

40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

Got this from a buddy who was my discipler in college and he got it from someone else.

Mugabe: No More Cholera in Zimbabwe

Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe and candidate for world's most corrupt leader, stated today that there is no Cholera in Zimbabwe.   Despite his denial about 800 cases have been diagnosed already with an estimated 60,000 more.

"Shall we also say that [because] there is mad cow disease, there must be war, Britain must be invaded? " ~  President Mugabe

No but perhaps if we say there is a leader who...

~ took a nation with huge natural resources from being the 'breadbasket of Africa' to one of abject poverty

   ~    loses an election but will not leave

  ~  let's inflation rise to 11 million % to where a loaf of bread costs 1.6 trillion Zimbabwe dollars

... then maybe that leader has mad cow disease and the world would move to remove him to spare the suffering of millions.

Herbs and Spices

The University of Georgia (my Alma Mater and Robin's) did a study this fall that suggested herbs and spices are not only rich in antioxidants but also may inhibit tissue damage and inflammation caused by high blood sugar.  The study was published in the Journal of Medicinal Food.  

(I have to admit I have never heard of this Journal.   Not like say the New England Journal of Medicine - which of course is a Yankee-biased magazine and would never acknowledge the academic prowess of a State University in the South.)

Speaking of the South and herbs & spices....  I guess Colonel Sanders knew what he was doing. Turns out his original recipe is healthy after all or at least the 7 herbs & spices on the chicken counteracts the fried.

Two Supposes

In the second chapter of his epistle to dispersed believers, James writes of two hypothecials.  Both 'supposes' deal with how we treat the poor among us.  Both deal with the issue of what real faith should look like.  

The first 'suppose' is (my paraphrase): "Suppose two people come into your fellowship.  One dude is a celebrity- a sports hero whom everyone recognizes - wearing the nicest suit imaginable and a huge championship ring.  The other is a homeless Hispanic man wearing what really can't be called clothes, reeking of urine.  You usher the rich man to the best seat and the host acknowledges his presence.  You say to the smelly guy, 'we have a place for you way up in the balcony'.  Suppose this happens... well what you have done is shown preferential treatment to one and dishonored a brother.  Your faith ain't worth jack."  

James points out its actually the down and out, the desperate, the poor that God first chose to believe.   No one had to point out their desperation and need for a Savior.  The rich?  You'd have more luck sewing a camel's hair coat without removing the hair first - just poking that two-humped sucker through a tiny needle.  

The 2nd suppose is suppose a brother or sister is hungry and in need of clothing and instead of meeting those needs you callously reply, "God bless you brother. Be clothed in Christ! Jesus fills you up!"  James says this 'Jesus talk' without 'Jesus action' is also worthless.  And he goes on to give examples from scripture that real faith is always followed by real action.

This chapter makes me wonder... do I really love my neighbor?  Where do I find myself showing favoritism?  Do I just love my own?  Big whoopty do!  That doesn't take faith - anybody can do that.  The real test of faith is loving those not like me.  Do I feed and clothe my own kids?  That's noble but evil daddy's can do that.    But the real test of faith is not whether I give just some lame Jesus talk... but does my heart move toward those in desperate need.  That real faith.  There's real evidence that I am a follower of Christ.  That's the way God's heart moves.

Oh and here's another gut check... do I think ministry to the rich and powerful, the influential is more important than caring for the needs of the poor?  Do I think that one is really a distraction and the real ministry lies elsewhere?  If so I am  therefore no different than the priest and Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan who pass by the wounded man because more important God business lay elsewhere.   Perhaps for the priest & Levite, the God-work the needed to get down the road for paid better or looked better on stats sheet.   Or maybe it just wasn't messy or dangerous.

In that passage in Luke 10, we see that e' life is found in living out two things  - Love God and Loving Others.  (Not to mention the extent of both - with whole heart and as I love myself.) Suppose, I say I do the former and yet pick and choose to whom I do the later?  If so, I am a liar.  I am not really experiencing the Kingdom of God.  I am a hypocrite.

Just suppose...