Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Broken & Poured Out, not Trampled and Stolen.

This is the point in my life where I learn that there should be a sincere difference between things falling away and me falling apart. I always try to make them go together, but they don't have to.
I've tried holding onto things, and have half-willingly just given up on others, and now I'm realizing that those things weren't all really necessary, maybe some were even some terrible Hannah-schemes I've dedicated years to forcing into occurrence.
And there's definitely something brighter ahead.
"Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness"- Psalm 37:3(ESV)

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Is God Building With Bricks Or Stones?

Last night at Bible Study we got talking about the subject of fellowship, a common theme I've noticed bouncing around quite frequently lately. I'll try to briefly sum up what came of last night's discussion. By the way, please note that this isn't my original "message," I'm simply blogging my notes on other people's ideas (especially my dad's, he brought the main core of this to our group last night).
Genesis 11 tells the story of the tower of Babel. The tower is an image of forced fellowship, a group of people united under the concept of man-made glory, the deification of self, ambition based on pride and selfishness. The tower of Babel was built with bricks. "'Let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.' And they used brick for stone...."(v. 3)
Bricks are man made, they are made by a process of crushing, stirring, compressing, and ultimately, burning. The bricks were then glued into place with tar. In the same way, when the Holy Spirit is not the one building the Church, our purpose as the stones that build this fellowship becomes a process that crushes us, compresses us, glues us in place so that we can no longer breathe, and causes us to ultimately burn out.
Let's face it, we're not meant to be bricks! We're not meant to look the same!
Throughout the course of the Bible we see that God has always desired his dwelling place to be made of natural stones, first in a literal sense in the old testament stone altars, and later in the new testament where we are called Living Stones (1 Peter 2:4-6).
My dad builds stone walls from found stones he takes from the forest. He never cuts them and never uses cement or any kind of mortar, but simply takes the time to look at them one-by-one and finds the perfect space where they'll fit. These stones have a special unique shape, color, and size, but somehow he finds a place for them to be useful for the purpose of making a complete and beautiful stone wall. In the same way, when God builds us into something, he doesn't need mortar to stick us there and make us stay put. The shape that we are, however unique it may be, is the perfect shape for one particular place. Alone, a stone is just a stone, but together, the different stones create something that is both natural and unique.
In light of this, it's good to know that we're all equals, we're simply stones. While we each have a specific purpose and gifting of our own, in the end we're only pieces of rock until Jesus places us in any position. This should help us rid our minds of the mentality that is so pervasive in modern Christianity which condemns those who don't prophecy in front of thousands, heal tens of thousands, or have a million dollar ministry. Our place is only for the support of the whole body, not just to sit on top of the other stones and say "Look, I'm in a higher spot than you, therefore I'm more special to God!" Our gifts are not for flaunting, not for condemnation, for self-inflation or pride, they're tools God has given us to build up our neighbors! Some helpful passages that show this concept are found in Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 1 Corinthians 13, 2 Corinthians 10:8 (where Paul really puts AUTHORITY in perspective...), 2 Corinthians 12:17-20, Romans 14:19, Ephesians 5:15-21, John 15:13, 1 Peter 4:7-11... There is pretty much an endless supply where those few passages come from...
The only stone that should stand out above the others isn't the stone that's the pastor, youth leader, the worship leader, the missionary, the teacher, the prophet. It is our Cornerstone, Jesus, (1 Peter 2:7) around which He is building a foundation for his Church. Can we get back to the perspective that our Father has? Our whole focus should be Christ glorified! The thing God our Father is building is not made with human hands. It is a dwelling for his Holy Spirit. It is the Church: The Body of Christ.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

A Prolonged Dream

I've tried so many times to imagine up some sort of thesis about all that has happened surrounding the loss of Daniel Schaeffer.
All I can offer right now is some fragile construction of pieces of thoughts........

It has almost been a year since the accident. The day. The moment.
I can not imagine what moments others are transported to at the thought of it, and I don't want to.
For me, when I think of it, I am sitting in some dark room in England.
I am yelling "NO" into the phone.
But there are some things we cannot say "No" to.
Somehow, through this year-long season of fall, the Schaeffers, my family, and the whole town have been learning what it is to accept loss and pain.
We can't say "No" to the pain, but what about God, trust, healing, facing the future?
We are cautioned now to be more real with God and one another, to value things differently, and to cherish. We are challenged to face the ugliness of the world, the grief which strikes our earth daily; to face an ounce of the immeasurable heartbreak God feels. We are challenged to trust God and lean not on our own understanding in a way we'd never expected. We are to somehow expect to heal.
The danger doesn't simply lie in denying pain, it lies further ahead, in denying Him who would heal us.
More seasons are coming, spring will be here, although I know it's hard to see.
My heart's saying "Yes" to the future, to God, to trust, to healing.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

And I Complain? REALLY?!

Just read this on

• The United Nations estimate that over 12 million people worldwide are trafficked for forced labor or sexual exploitation. Other sources estimate the number to be up to 27 million

• 32 billion dollars is made every year off the bodies of young girls & women in sex trafficking.

• 80 % are female and 50 % are children, the large majority forced into the commercial sex trade.

• Modern-day slavery is said to be the second largest criminal industry in the world.

• The average cost of a slave around the world is $90.

• The estimated profits from one trafficked woman alone averages around 250,000 American dollars per year.

• The average victim trapped in the sex trade victim is forced to have sex up to 20 times a day.

• According to some estimates, approximately 80% of trafficking involves sexual exploitation, and 19% involves labor exploitation.

• Between 2001 and 2005, 140 defendants have been convicted of human trafficking in the U.S. which is a 109% increase from 1996-2000.

• Around half of trafficking victims in the world are under the age of 18.
• More than 2/3 of sex trafficked children suffer additional abuse at the hands of their traffickers.
• Trafficked children are significantly more likely to develop mental health problems, abuse substances, engage in prostitution as adults, and either commit or be victimized by violent crimes later in life.
• There is only one shelter in the U.S. designed specifically to meet the needs of trafficking victims, and it currently only houses a total of seven to nine victims.
• Trafficking victims normally don't get help because they think that they or their families will be hurt by their traffickers, or that they will be deported.
• An estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each year. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry.
• An estimated 2.5 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually exploited in the multibillion dollar commercial sex industry
• 95% of victims experienced physical or sexual violence during trafficking (based on data from selected European countries)

• Estimated global annual profits made from the exploitation of all trafficked forced labor are US$ 31.6 billion
$ 15.5 billion – 49% - is generated in industrialized economies
$ 9.7 billion – 30.6% is generated in Asia and the Pacific
$ 1.3 billion – 4.1% is generated in Latin America and the Caribbean
$ 1.6 billion – 5% is generated in sub-Saharan Africa
$ 1.5 billion – 4.7% is generated in the Middle East and North Africa

• 161 Countries are currently identified as affected by human trafficking:
127 countries of origin; 98 transit countries; 137 destination countries. (Note: Countries may be counted multiple times and categories are not mutually exclusive.)

Sources:Polaris Project; UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns: April 2006; Initiative against Sexual Trafficking; National Coalition Against Domestic Violence ; U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report: 2007; UN.Gift; United Nations; Kevin Bales of Free the Slaves; International Labor Organization; United States, Department of State; UNICEF; U.S Department of Justice Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons; Source: U.S. Department of State, The Facts About Child Sex Tourism: 2005.