Voice Box

moving in

sorry for the silence lately. i do intend to blog here as often as possible. this week we've been occupied with other tasks. we closed on a house here in colorado springs on tuesday and have been moving, unpacking, organizing, assembling, and chasing a toddler since. there have been plenty of challenges, but we are excited to enter this new season of life as coloradans. i'll get back into a routine soon enough... just in time to go to russia again for 2 weeks.

the cost of saving a life

tom davis has said something that stands out to me: 'i wrote red letters because i truly believe the gospel is something simple.' so I remember that as I get up early this morning, pour my coffee, and read my daily email from bbc news. a lead story speaks of the horrors and hope of malaria in Africa.

the title of the story grabs me: 'nets boost Africa's malaria fight.' ror a mere $4 - the cost of a latte at starbucks or a dvd rental at blockbuster - a person living in a high-risk region for malaria could literally have their life saved. but since much of the world lives on less than $1 or $2 a day, a simple net is not so accessible.

the story goes on to say that though more nets are being distributed, unicef is reporting that just as many children are dying each year because they don't have access to life-saving drugs when they are infected. why? the new treatments are more expensive and the world health organization has urged the phasing out of the older treatments. but people can't afford the newer treatments!!! 800,000 children dead! why? simple economics. the africa malaria report in 2003 reported that an adult could receive a full course of outpatient malaria drugs for between $1.50 and $3.50.

the gospel is really simple. $4 for a net. $1.50 to $3.50 for drugs. that's about the cost of a bottle of water. jesus said that if we give a cup of cold water to the little ones, we will receive a reward. this reward is a saved life!

a great sunday at community bible church

my wife, son, and i have just returned to our temporary home in colorado springs from a great week in indianapolis, anderson, and cedar lake - all over the state of indiana. yesterday we participated in mission sunday at community bible church. it was so encouraging to be with great people whom we love and who love us. pastor tim and patty, harry and bonnie, mark and brenda and mike, gary and nancy, the bults, the wells, and especially bill, shelly, and taylor - it was great to see everyone again. i just wanted to send out a big 'thank you' for welcoming us and my parents this past weekend. thank you. we are indebted to you for your encouragement and support over the last 11 years. keep in touch and we look forward to our next time with you.

know justice (thoughts from the prophet micah)

micah 3 starts with the horrifying accusation: ‘you know God! shouldn’t you know justice!?’ (3:1) like much of the prophets and the gospels, this text lands justice and God’s heart and salvation and righteousness squarely in the same category. there is not the spiritual gospel and the social gospel. there is the whole gospel. love the LORD your God. love your neighbor. shouldn’t you know justice?

in our current context, a strong sense of justice (even indignation at the lack thereof) must be a driving element in our mission. with corruption and greed and civil war and disease and poverty leaving hundreds of millions of widows and orphans alone, the church must answer this compelling call in order to have anything of value to say. the prophet micah makes this clear.

this accusation is answered by the admonition to ‘do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with the LORD your God’ (6:8). this is the great commandment of the old testament. violence and loneliness are replaced by community and wholeness. the images of ‘swords into plowshares… spears into pruning hooks,’ and the lame and exiled and afflicted gathered and assembled give us a glorious picture of God’s kingdom (4:3-4, 6)

this is the compelling call of compassion.

a whisper of discontent

earlier today i was talking through the results of our strengthsfinder tests with some friends and colleagues - tom, matt, and samantha. a phrase from the book stuck out to me. one of our strengths was described as living with a 'whisper of discontent.' it reminded me of the famous definition of evil by 19th century philosopher, edmund burke: 'all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.' i am reminded that the world will be changed when people who live to see the kingdom take shape among us are outraged at injustice and pain. i am discontented by hungry children, boy soldiers, and girl prostitutes. it's both the times when this discontent whispers to me and shouts through me that i am compelled to live the red letters of the gospel.

a homecoming of sorts

julie, judah, and i have some exciting weeks ahead. i travel a lot for my work with children's hopechest and sometimes there is the opportunity for my family to come along.

on sunday, october 7, i'll be speaking in the sunday school forum at bethlehem lutheran church in indianapolis where my brother and his wife, ben and sarah, attend.

on sunday, october 14, i'll be speaking and leading worship at all 3 morning services at community bible church in cedar lake, in (near chicago). this is the church i attended with my family from '96 to '01 before i married and moved to columbus. this is my home church and a great source of encouragement and guidance. pastor tim, bill, shelly, harry, and the other leaders there are an inspiration to me and they have always supported me and my family in ministry. (of course, the impact days are fond memories. any old impact-ers reading this?) my parents are flying up from atlanta to join us for the weekend.

then on sunday, october 21, i'll be leading worship while tom davis speaks at the church at the cross, memorial baptist in grapevine, texas (near dallas).

we have 3 busy weeks ahead of us but we're excited to connect with friends and family and to mobilize the church in mission to care for orphaned children. if you happen to be around indianapolis, cedar lake, or grapevine in the next couple weeks, stop in and say 'hi.'

caring for the world's orphans: longer stride

in it for the long haul

the first question an orphaned child asks me when i enter an orphanage is, 'do you have letters for me?' they crave connection. they require relationship. the last question is, 'when are you coming back?' not 'will you' but 'when!' there is no way that my parents could have raised me if only they prayed for me a couple times a month when it didn't slip their minds. there is no way that spending 1 week each year with me could have prepared me for adult life. instead, it is by walking with, being with, investing in children that we are able to make a difference in their lives.

prayer, letters, visits. these are great things. they encourage and excite. they are a major part of our ministry to orphaned children. but these outreaches move beyond encouraging and exciting to restoring and reviving when they are consistent over months, years, decades even. in hebrews 12, the analogy of a race is used to describe the christian life. i ran a 1/2 marathon in september. and believe me, you can't be a 1/2 athlete and do that. it's not easy. it take consistency - in training and on race day - to be successful. the same is true when we care for children in need. we need to be in it for the long haul. we need to have a longer stride.

life expectancy and expecting real life

in swaziland, the life expectancy is less than 30 years. it is a country of the young and the aged. hiv/aids is killing off everyone else. in russia, the life expectancy for orphaned children is around 30 as well. this is unacceptable. the gospel tells me that real life, eternal life begins now. and this real life should have the opportunity for a full expression of faith, family, vocation, service, leisure.

again in that same chapter, hebrews 12, we are encouraged to take a firm grip and stand strong, so that those who follow us - though they are weak - will not stumble and fall. i don't run just for myself. i run to be in shape - physically and spiritually (no better time to pray!) - for my family and for my ministry. the same is true when we are in a marathon of orphan care. those who follow us - our fellow missionaries and especially the children in need - will know that they can expect care and compassion from us for the long haul.

carrying the pack

what strikes me most about this posture of mission, this method of orphan care - bigger eyes, wider embrace, and longer stride - is that it's not something i made up. i see it in the heart of God. i see it in the hands and feet of Jesus. i hear it in the words of scripture. God is among us. it's not only that Jesus walked the earth in first-century palestine. Jesus is among us now, running the 1/2 marathon beside us, carrying our pack, visiting, writing, praying, even now.

our God, who was, who is, and who will always be has a longer stride. finding time on the calendar, hopping a transatlantic flight - these are not issues for our incarnational God. God is among us and God is among the poor. by imitating that heart, those hands and feet, we take part in a revolution of hope that can literally save millions of lives.

i pray that in our care for the world's orphans, that we would have a longer stride.

caring for the world's orphans: wider embrace

touch and taste

our physical senses are such a strong and helpful way to encounter the world around us. sure, thinking and feeling is important too, but smells and textures and tastes and colors and sounds add shape and substance to our lives. the smells and textures and tastes and colors and sounds that i've encountered among the orphaned children of the world have overwhelmed and inspired me. it's no wonder then that Jesus, when he sends out the twelve in matthew 10, instructs them to engage the people of need around them through their senses. mission is embrace. this involves touching lepers - those on the fringes of society - orphans.

in order to bring the message of hope and help to those in need, a wider embrace is necessary. for when the King says in matthew 25 that the one we embrace, the one we feed, the one we visit, the one we heal iss him, then we realize that our senses have put us in touch with the divine.

images and ikons

it should not be surprising that orphaned children have challenges with affection and attachment. if rejection and abandonment are the common means of relationship and communication, barriers are built. children shrink away from hugs. they dismiss themselves from activities. they love to receive letters, but do not write back. it is because the embrace many of them have experienced is not one of grace and love, but rather of abuse and criticism.

i know what Jesus looks like. sunday school teachers and scholars have their ideas, but i have seen him. he has red cheeks and a blister on his lip. he has his head shaved because of an outbreak of lice. his beautifully dark african hair is now blond because of malnourishment. this is not poetry. this is sound theology. it is because in genesis 1:26-27, when God created human beings, God did so in God's own image. these precious children are living ikons of Christ himself. when they understand their true identity, when they have a wider embrace to accept who God made them to be, then they will have the courage to survive.

Jesus never cared how they got sick

i challenge you to survey the gospels and find one place where Jesus asks a diseased person how he or she got sick. that is not the issue at hand. the issue is God's healing mercy breaking into our diseased reality. this is why Jesus ate with those on the fringes of society. table fellowship - as it does today in so many cultures around the world - speaks loudly.

Jesus has a wider embrace to gather those who have been shunned, to encourage those who have been beaten down, to heal those who are sick, to bring joy to those who have only known despair. by keeping a distance, our God could not have brought such a beautiful salvation. but through being here and being now among us, God is still creating people in God's own image. God is still embracing the unlikely and unlovable and calling them his own.

caring for the world's orphans: bigger eyes

hovering and covering

what is the first thing we learn about the Spirit of God?

visiting orphanages in ukraine, russia, ghana, el salvador, and honduras, i have seen emptiness. I have seen void and lack of form. it's easy to concentrate on marvin, the 14-year old murderer and gang member who was rejected by his mother and now lives in a juvenile detention center in honduras. it's easy to see sergei in a poor and cold orphanage far north of moscow. he walks around with headphones on - but there are no batteries and no tape. he's reaching for something, but coming up skeletal. it's easy to see kaufi, an orphan who always smiles gets along with the other children in her village of sokode-etoe in ghana. but when it's time for bed at night, she is alone.

but this isn't all that our eyes should see. above the void, the Spirit of God is hovering and covering. God speaks life and light even in these dark and lonely places. read that familiar passage with this perspective in genesis 1:2-3. this is the first thing we learn about the Spirit of God in scripture. if we had bigger eyes to see that God is present - even in these places - it would compel us to action and confidence in the face of so much pain.

yellow roman candles

the memories of my time with nastya in russia and marilynn in el salvador are forever burned on my memory. these teenage girls (who barely looked 13 because of lack of nourishment and affection) could not look me in the eyes. why? because i'm an adult. i'm a man. something fiercely evil and horribly unjust has happened in their lives. so how did they react? they closed their eyes! they are hiding!

in ephesians 1:18-21, paul prays that the believers will have their eyes opened. the greek word is photidzo, which is less like opened and more like blinded by a bright yellow roman candle that snaps and burns. and what are our eyes opened to? inheritance, hope, and power. these are three things that orphans don't have. but when we have bigger eyes to see them as God's children, and when they have bigger eyes to see beyond the pain in the moment to the God who is their good father, they will have bigger eyes. they will open their eyes wide to inheritance, hope, and power.

a look of compassion

the week before Jesus's arrest, torture, and execution, he rode into jerusalem in the midst of chaotic celebration. the story is told in luke 19:41-44. he could have been distracted by the noise and the clamour and the crowd. after all, he was getting all kinds of attention - the kind of political and celebrity attention that many of his followers thought was the next inevitable step in the establishment of God's new community, the kingdom. but even in this moment, Jesus notices something different.

Jesus has bigger eyes. he opens his eyes and takes in all the extreme needs of the city and the people he loves. he is overwhelmed. he is compelled. his look of compassion is the heart of God's message of hope to our world.

my prayer is that as we care for the world's orphans that we would have bigger eyes.