Voice Box

Julie's bar exam is behind us

This week was the much-anticipated, often-feared, and intensely-demanding bar exam.  Julie really has been 'preparing' for this since she was 14 years old and first visited orphanages, hospitals, and nursing homes in Russia.  She came home and since then has had her sights set on being an advocate for children in need around the world.  I'm so proud of her.  I'm proud of her determination, her smart mind, her deep compassion, and her courage. 

She came home last night around 7pm from the 2-day test in Denver and she was wired.  I guess 2 days of some of the most brain activity imaginable is hard to come down from. 

Keep praying for her and for our family as we endeavor every day to 'make the communities livable again,' and to spend and expend ourselves for the sake of orphaned children.  With law school and the bar exam behind her (though we won't learn the results until October 8th), today marks a new season in our lives.  First order of business, play with our kids and rent movies this weekend.  We need that downtime after the preparation and the exam.

children enslaved, rescued, and rehabilitated

I happened upon a great program last night, Wide Angle.  They are currently doing a series on the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) operating in southern Sudan and northern Uganda, and their practice of abducting children, brainwashing them, and reprogramming them to be killers.  I am planning a trip to Eastern and Central Uganda in October.  I'm excited to be taking pastors and leaders from 3 different churches, as well as other travelers, to help launch our ministry in that country.  The LRA's activity slowed, almost stopped, after a 2006 cease fire was signed with the Ugandan government.  And the LRA's activity was concentrated in the north.  Regardless, this series of documentaries are very helpful in understanding the horrors that children around the world face.  I'm convinced that this grieves the heart of God.  This is why Children's HopeChest exists... in response to God's desire that every orphan knows Him, experiences the blessing of family, and acquires the skills necessary for independent life.

come be my light

Time did a great article last year about Mother Teresa, her crisis of faith, and her call to care for the poor.  I've reread the article recently and encourage you to read the story by following this link: Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith.  Mother Teresa heard the voice of Christ saying to her, "Come, Come, carry Me into the holes of the poor.  Come be My light... to help them live their lives with dignity and so encounter God's infinite love, and having come to know Him, to love and serve Him in return."  A profound calling indeed!  But even in the midst of that, in the life of a modern-day saint, she felt distance and silence in her relationship with God for much of her life.  There is a lesson in this for all of us.  There are times and seasons when we 'feel' and maybe 'are' far from God.  But God is not far from us.  And God's love and light is infinite and reaches even to the slums of Calcutta.

a long road home

As I prepare to go to Uganda in October, my eyes and ears are focused more and more on life in that country ripped apart by civil war, HIV/AIDS, and poverty.  The Washington Post did a wonderful story called Seeds of Hope.  Read it and hear about the needs of displaced and vulnerable people.  Chief among them are children orphaned by these tragedies.  This is why Children's HopeChest is going there to take the model of holistic, long-term, and redemptive care that we have seen transform lives in Russia and Swaziland.

revive and restore

Katya Celenina, National Director of Fund Nadezhda (HopeChest's ministry partner in Russia) has said that what we do is revive orphaned children.  What an appropriate image!  These children are often in crisis, or on the brink of disaster, having grown up in tragedy and institutions.

Each year, over 90,000 Russian children leave orphanages and enter technical schools around the country. In a landmark study conducted by Children’s HopeChest, our program graduates were compared to their peers across Russia.

The study found that orphans participating in our programs have distinct advantages. For example, only 3 percent of orphans in our programs are unemployed or not in school, compared with 17.8% nationally. In our programs, almost 2/3 of our kids are employed, compared to only 19% nationally.

Staggeringly, almost 1/3 of all older orphans in Russia are abusing drugs or alcohol. We have a 0% substance abuse rate among the active participants in our programs. Up to 40% of orphans have trouble with the law, compared to only 9% among the orphans we help.

The factors behind this success lie in our relational, long-term approach. By helping children make good decisions and avoid risks, we are helping to restore a sense of family, community, and belonging. This approach, we believe, has made the difference.

'i was beautiful once. it cost me my life.'

A former sex slave speaks out in this haunting article: 'Sex Slave: Everyday We Were Raped.'  As I read this story and thought about the millions of orphaned and vulnerable, displaced and abused people on our planet, I was reminded of a song by U2 called Miss Sarajevo.  It is, in a way, a desperate prayer for purity and peace to return to our land.  You can see a video of U2 and Luciano Pavarotti performing this song together here.  And here are the lyrics:

Is there a time for keeping a distance
A time to turn your eyes away
Is there a time for keeping your head down
For getting on with your day

Is there a time for kohl and lipstick
A time for cutting hair
Is there a time for high street shopping
To find the right dress to wear

Here she comes
Heads turn around
Here she comes
To take her crown

Is there a time to walk for cover
A time for kiss and tell
Is there a time for different colors
Different names you find it hard to spell

Is there a time for first communion
A time for east 17
Is there a time to turn the mecca
Is there a time to be a beauty queen

Here she comes
Beauty plays the crown
Here she comes
Surreal in her crown

[Pavarotti]
Dici che il fiume
trova la via al mare
E come il fiume
giungerai a me
Oltre i confini
e le terre assetate
Dici che come fiume
come fiume
L'amore giunger
L'amore
E non so pi pregare
E nell'amore non so pi sperare
E quell'amore non so pi aspettare

[English translation:]

You say that the river
finds the way to the sea
And as the river
you'll come to me
Beyond the borders
and the thirsty lands
You say that as river
As river
Love will come
Love
And I cannot pray anymore
And I cannot hope in love anymore
And I cannot wait for love anymore

[Bono]
Is there a time for tying ribbons
A time for Christmas trees
Is there a time for laying tables
When the night is set to freeze

These phrases, 'And I cannot pray anymore, And I cannot hope in love anymore, And I cannot wait for love anymore,' are the desperate cries of people who feel alone.  Let's stand with them in prayer and solidarity.  One simple and accessible way for you to stand with victims of poverty and HIV/AIDS is by joining 5for50.

redefining relevance

What does it mean to be relevant?  Does it have something to do with fashion, culture, trends?  Does it have something to do with age or being part of the majority culture (white, middle-class, protestant)?

I think if we approach this question of relevance through the life of Christ we find that Emmanuel, God-with-us, is the most timeless and all-encompassing statement of relevance in history.  I think if we have the courage to redefine what is relevant, we would find that simply to be present is to be relevant.  This is what Christ did for us when he moved into the neighborhood.  And this is what is expected of us as it relates to widows and orphans, the poor and the stranger.

Don't get me wrong.  I enjoy wearing the latest fashions and listening to cutting edge music and reading the books that everyone is talking about.  I like to be relevant in this way.  But the deeper, cosmic, life-changing, and compassionate definition of this word is to be present with those you love and with those in need.

Be relevant.

the rising cost of missions

The price of oil and the devaluation of the dollar greatly effects our ministry around the world.  Transporting staff and volunteers and funding orphan care programs are centerpieces of our model.  And so when the economy suffers, we suffer as well.  I would like to say that we are immune to the rise and fall of the economy, but we are not.  The Gazette here in Colorado Springs wrote a story on this very subject called The Missionary Challenge.  Matthew Monberg, COO here at Children's HopeChest, was one of the experts interviewed for the article.

sex trafficking on the rise

Read here about the sex slave trade and its affect on Russian girls and women.  I have been aware of the trafficking of human for years now, but I still find myself speechless and my stomach turning whenever I read articles or books on the subject.  These women are real people with the breath of God and dreams and desires.  They are being sold like goods and services in a crooked and perverse market.

remember me

My home and office are peppered by small gifts from the Russian orphaned children I have met on my trips with Children's HopeChest: arts and crafts, letters, bracelets, pictures, stuffed animals.  I have also left behind things: tshirts, ONE bracelets, pictures, CDs, a guitar, soccer balls.  Each time an orphaned child has given me a gift it hasn't been because it was a special occasion - my birthday or Christmas.  It was because they had more than they needed and intended to offload unwanted clutter.  Every gift given was accompanied by these words: 'Remember me.'

We are all so forgetful.  We not only forget the simple and mundane things: what it was you needed at the grocery store, to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer in due time, to put the milk back in the fridge.  But we also forget things of life and death, namely, relationships.  We forget the people closest to us.  We forget God.  God in God's grace knew this about our species and gave us tools to combat the deadly disease of forgetfulness.

The Israelites stacked stones.  When Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land, the first thing they did was stop and make a memorial so that when generations down the road would ask what happened here at the Jordan River, they would REMEMBER.  They set up a system to remind them.  Read about it.  It was pretty often that the Israelites would stack 12 stones (for the 12 tribes of Israel) as an altar, as a memorial.  Why was this necessary?  Because they knew that they were part of something spectacular, a life full of adventure and romance, a cosmic story.  Because God knew and they knew that they were prone to forgetting their Maker, their Master.  They knew that if they forgot this, it would kill them.

For all that orphaned children do not know - how to live independently, how to give and receive healthy affection, how to forgive, how to trust - they do know that being forgotten is a matter of life and death.

As you go through your day, look for ways to remember.  At noon pray for orphans in Eastern Europe as they are approaching bedtime and most of them do not sleep through the night.  At red lights, take a breath and pray that God would speak tenderly to those who are alone.  When you eat, pray for those who are hungry.

By remembering them, you will find yourself in community with them, in relationships with them.  And it is relationships that save us.  Your memory will move you to action, compel you to compassion.

Don't forget.