Always Winter and Never Christmas

For millions of children, Christmas is but a fantasy--like a cozy storefront window they must be content to adore from the frigid sidewalk. Samaritan's Purse, however, has given us an incredible opportunity to not only bless these children with a shoebox full of presents and love, but to experience the blessings of giving and of emulating the Wise Men who gave the first sacrificial gifts to their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

This weekend, we shopped and looked and laughed and talked and bought and wrapped and laughed and talked as we filled a shoebox full of goodies for a five to nine year-old girl and one for a ten to fourteen year-old boy. What fun it was to spend time together as siblings, and what a delight it was to drop off our boxes at the designated church and hear that our middle-sized community had mustered 1100 boxes last year, and was aiming for 3000 this year.

"Operation Christmas Child," as Samaritan's Purse has dubbed their enormous project, is hoping to send out more than 8 million shoeboxes to children all over the globe this year. Their stated mission is "To demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ."

All you have to do is fill a cardboard or plastic shoebox with everything to delight a child's spirit (check with the website for prohibited items and suggestions), print out a label for your box, and enclose $7 to cover the shipping (this year, you can now pay the $7 online and print out a handy barcode which they will use to track your box and let you know where it ends up!). Go online to find a local drop off point--many churches participate in this. Please hurry, though, because this week only is National Collection Week.

Watch this video for more information (as well as a plug from the adorable Georgie Henley for THE upcoming movie of the year, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader).

Won't you take a few hours out of your week to fill a shoebox and drop it off? I can't think of a better way to brighten your corner!


PS--As I typed this up, the entire house suffered one jarring shake, with my seat lurching up, and my laptop screen bouncing like a sheet of paper. Just a minor (4.2) earthquake with no apparent damages, though it was felt from Seattle to Oregon, but enough to get the day started with a bang!

Blessed are Those Who Lay Down and Die?

Contemporary society prizes above all other qualities independence, self-assertiveness, and the ability to stand up for what you want and deserve. Numerous are the gurus who proclaim that meekness is a condition that requires psychological help. Take for example the article “How to ditch meekness and walk tall.” The author helpfully begins,

“Are you a meek person? If so, your life may be ruled by others, and it’s time to ditch meekness. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? But it’s not. Because meekness is a habitual response to the challenges of life. And it takes time and effort to change ingrained habits. The root of meekness is low self-esteem. When our self-esteem is low, we respond to the challenges of life with doubts and fears….For example, if you were bullied, shut up, abused, or controlled as a child, you may well suffer from meekness. I say 'suffer' because meekness doesn’t make you happy; it leads to an unfulfilled life.”

After all, can you imagine a world that didn’t suffer from the scourge of meekness? It’s a world in which, if someone cuts in line, they are thrown dirty, glaring looks and at the very least receive a sarcastic comment.  It’s a world in which you only need to plant yourself at any customer service desk for a few hours in order to get a feel for how vocally and staunchly otherwise calm people will advocate for themselves if they feel they have been ripped off.

And what if we zoom in closer to home? The chore system in our house works like a well-greased machine most of the time, but if someone is gone, the machine suddenly squeaks to a halt as everyone stands around wondering who in the world could possibly fill in for the extra work. (“Do you think we should we hire a maid to fill in for the day since we couldn’t possibly do chores that weren’t assigned to us?”) Or a sister is playing on the piano, and I march up: “It’s my practice time. Get off.” From giving a ten-point persuasive argument on why we should watch the movie of my choice to making sure that everyone’s schedule revolves around me, the missing quality in all of this is meekness, and a world that doesn’t “suffer” from meekness sounds all too familiar. It is not a world in which I want to live. Standing up for what is right is always good, but standing up for your rights may not always be.

I’m not saying it’s wrong to make sure you aren’t swindled, but I’m asking what would be so very bad about saying when someone cuts in front of you, “Oh here, let me move my things so you have room to set your groceries down.” We have heard the encouragement to give an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but what would be so wrong about turning the other cheek for someone to slap after they slapped the first one? And “If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.(Matthew 5:40-42)”

George Washington is heralded as the Father of our Country—the Father of our independence and Yankee gumption, and he led America to victory against impossible odds. And yet he was a man who refused to be made king in the face of cheering and determined throngs; he was a unanimously popular leader who graciously declined to run for president for a third term, so meek and humble was he. In no other person is Matthew 5:5 better exemplified: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

And blessed are the meek, Jesus says, not cursed are those who suffer from the ailment of meekness. Jesus blesses the quality most abhorred by modern society! We have no ballads for those who quietly work behind the scenes, no awards for the one who gives up her own long-awaited desire so that someone else can enjoy the day, no Oscar-winning movies celebrating the meek. The Greeks viewed meekness as condescension, and today we think the word means laying down and dying. It is one of the most untranslatable words of Scripture, but Bible scholar Zodhiates describes prautes, one of the Greek words translated as “meek” in this way:

“Prautes, according to Aristotle, is the middle standing between two extremes, getting angry without reason, and not getting angry at all. Therefore, prautes is getting angry at the right time, in the right measure, and for the right reason. . . . [I]t is a condition of mind and heart which demonstrates gentleness, not in weakness, but in power. It is a balance born in strength of character[1].”

A meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price (I Peter 3:4), and rest assured that it will cost you dearly. But when you really stop to think about it, wouldn't you say the inheritance of the earth is worth quite a bit too?

Picture Credit Martian haemoglobin x in paris
1. Zodhiates, Spiros. The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament. Pg. 1209-1210. 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Do You Remember?

Do you remember that time I spent ninety minutes researching and composing and sending an email to you, and you sent me back a sterilized, automated reply thanking me for the time I took to contact you, time I’ll never get back? Did you even notice the next email, and the next email, and the next email, to which you finally advised your secretary to write a somewhat personal email appreciating my opinions, but notifying me that you weren’t going to take my advice?

Do you remember standing on the House floor, declaring that you knew what was best for the American people? Do you remember turning a deaf ear to our thunderous denials? How could you not remember those infamous town hall meetings, where we warned you—“stay away from my kids!” and “thank you--it's not your right to decide if I keep my current [health] plan or not [1]!”

Do you remember my phone calls; did you ever get the messages your polished secretary promised to record and pass on? Do you know that I tried over and over for hours before I even got through to you on the phone?

Do you remember declaring so arrogantly, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it [2]”?

Do you remember the time I visited with you in person, and pleaded with you face to face? Do you remember how you sat there so diplomatically, with your fingers clasped, your tie perched just so on your neck, with wine bottles and glasses emblazoned on the silk, and your face unreadable?

Do you remember the representative who missed his son’s wedding because he could not risk missing the opportunity to cast his vote against the bill?

Do you remember our signs, our protests, our marches, our vigils, our prayer meetings, our debates on You Tube comment boards, and our passionate facebook, twitter, and blog messages?

Do you remember when you said, “Every single great idea that has marked the 21st century, the 20th century and the 19th century has required government vision and government incentive [3],” and we bellowed back that we wanted less government, not more?

You turned your back on us—you played the parent to us, the children. You chose for us, not with us or because of us. You forgot who your employer was, and you ignored the source of your paycheck. Some people would call this trailblazing—I call it unethical and irresponsible.

And now, you have learned. We are not the children here. We are the employers. We the people know what we want, and we will not allow a bill of goods to be shoved down our throats. If you will not listen, then you will be fired. You who have survived fourteen terms—gone. You who have proudly held the seat Mr. President vacated in 2008—gone. You who have run a campaign in all-blue smurfdom—it's suddenly red, and you're suddenly gone. You who have survived nine terms—gone. You who refused to listen—gone. You who held the most prominent seat in Congress—gone.

We will not sit down, shut up, or scatter. We recognize that good and evil are coalescing into two distinct entities in the United States—and those entities are not based on party lines. Keep the change—we don’t want any part of it. The American people have spoken.

Note: For our international readers (and any Americans who have been in a coma for the last week), the United States recently held its elections, which marked the largest power shift in Congress since 1948.

Picture by Ben Sutherland. Licensed under the Creative Commons.

[1] Hedrick, David. Town Hall Meeting with former US Congressman, Brian Baird, 2009.

[2] Pelosi, Nancy. 2010 Legislative Conference for National Association of Counties, March 3, 2010.

[3] Biden, Joe. Fundraising visit to Manhattan, October 26, 2010.

Goalkeeper

Those journal-keepers out there in the blogosphere will know what I’m talking about when I say I sometimes like to go back and read old journal entries. More often than not, I find myself amused by what events were such overwhelming matters of stern, solemn, and sober concern for a twelve year old. But today when I went back and read that one entry that I knew was there waiting for me, I wasn't amused--I was humbled almost to tears. It was a March, 2006 entry, the last one in a book I had begun four years earlier, in 2002. In this entry I was looking back on the past four years and I was setting my goals for four years in the future—the far-off 2010.

Here’s what I wrote at sixteen:

“I think, after reading over a few of my earlier entries, that I have lost a bit of my passion and desire to continue to progress in my relationship with Jesus. ‘I have progressed, so now I’m there,’ kind of outlook….Four years ago I wrote that I was having trouble loving my siblings; I think that through the Lord only, that has improved. Four years ago I was having ‘trouble’ with my conscience. (-: Now I am a little more receptive to the Holy Spirit.

“This isn’t supposed to be a ‘pat-myself-on-the-back’ session. I want to see where my journey has led me, and now look out over the road ahead and see where it will lead.

“In four years, I want to accept criticism joyfully, not cringingly and stiffly. I desire in four years that I would be better at introducing myself and talking to people that I don’t know. I desire that in four years Jesus would be my heart, my thoughts, my everything, and that everyone who looks at me would know instantly and firmly that I am different. I pray that in four years I would be even closer and tighter a friend to Mikaela, Melanie, Susanna, Micah, Jonah, and to Mama and Papa. In four years I desire that I would be mature in my speech and think before I speak. In four years I pray that I will not be selfish, as I am now.

“‘But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ (Hebrews 10:39, 11:1)

“By the Lord’s grace I will not draw back, but envision in faith.”

Talk about lofty goals!  I am humbled to read through goals I set for myself at sixteen and realize there are some issues that, four years later, I am still struggling with. And I thought I was supposed to be perfect by 20!  Part of the problem was forgetfulness.  I wrote my goals down, yes, but I have only looked at them a few times in the four years since. Perhaps it would have been better if I had engraved them on my arm to read every day, or sharpied them on the ceiling above my bed. Satan loves to distract us from reaching God's best in our lives, and busyness is a great distraction!  Carelessness is another part of the problem--letting down my reliance on Christ for an instant allows sin to creep in.  And reading my earnest journal entry written not so very long ago shook up that carelessness and did away with the forgetfulness today. 

Reading through the entry I remembered and realized that I still bristle when I am criticized. I still have sin that keeps Jesus from being my every waking thought, I still say hurtful things, and I still am selfish. But I also realized that, despite my own failings, the Lord has been faithful, and some of the goals have been reached—praise the Lord! I have worked diligently on friendliness with people I have never met before, and I am so blessed to count all of my family as my best friends.

So was my attempt at goal-setting useless? No:

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:12-14)”

Goal-setting is good, even imperative. Without a goal on the soccer field, the game is pointless, and without goals in life, we are apt to be aimless. And that means purposeless: picking out random chapters in the Bible to read each day, getting convicted by the sermons we hear and promising to change, and then promising to change again the next week in a different area with no progress in any area being effected. And a life with goals set merely by the very person with the blind spots (me!) is equally as haphazard. But a life with goals to fulfill that are the result of prayer and crying out to God becomes a life where everything has a point and specific purpose: reading Scripture on humbly accepting criticism becomes a necessity, criticism from others is merely a blessed opportunity from the Lord for my practical application, and that sermon on humility –what providence of God!

And try as I might, just as goal-setting cannot be through my own wisdom, so goal-fulfilling cannot be through my own vim and vigor, as my unmet goals of four years ago can clearly attest. It is only through Christ that I can have any hope of maturing and continuing the sanctification process. Week by week, little by little, I will press on, meeting smaller goals that will lead to the fulfillment of the bigger ones. 

So, I’m off to write a new journal entry. It will look forward to 2014 (yikes!) when I’m a mature 24 (yikes!), and it will contain lots of goals. I’ll be back in four years to let you know how it went.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Picture Credit

Jan Laski

493 years ago, on October 31 in Wittenberg, Germany, Martin Luther nailed his now-famous 95 Theses (protests against the Catholic Church for clerical abuses) on the door of the Castle Church, marking the beginning of a centuries-long movement towards Protestant Christianity based on the glory of God alone, grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone, and Christ supreme and alone. Today, over 500 million Christians worship in churches based on the theology and doctrine of the Reformation.

Our church commemorated this important event by holding a Reformation Banquet. Part of the evening's festivites was a presentation from each family on a specific reformer of their choice. We chose to do a little-known reformer by the name of Jan Laski (pronounced Yon Woskee) who nevertheless had a large influence on Europe. For your viewing pleasure, I've uploaded our skit--enjoy!

In Laski's Own Words:
“In brief, to make known to thee also the benefit and kindness of the Lord towards me, I was once a Pharisee of repute, adorned with many titles and dignities, splendidly endowed with many and rich benefices from the days of my boyhood; but now, after I have voluntarily left all this behind through the grace of God, after I have given up my country and my friends, because I saw that I could not live in the midst of them according to Christ’s mind and spirit, now I am in a strange land only a poor servant of my poor Lord Christ, crucified for me, lately here minister of the Church, to make known the doctrine of the Gospel, after the will of Him who, of His compassion, has called me out of the net of the Pharisees into His flock.”

“Thus now restored to myself by God’s grace, I venture, according to my little ability, to serve that Church of Christ which once, in my Pharisaism and ignorance, I hated, and pray God He will, in His mercy, not despise my humble mite beside the brilliant gifts of others, after the example of the widow in the Gospel, but will vouchsafe to make use of it for the edification of His Church.”

Laski died in 1560, leaving his translation of the Polish Scripture for others to finish and his dream of reforming Poland unrealized. His influence on Western Civilization and Christendom, however, was enormous, and can still be seen today.

Want to learn more about Laski? Check out this scholarly book available online and this well-informed article.

For more on the Reformation, check out this resource.