I try hard not to verbalize my political opinion. But I just have to say one thing...a somewhat bi-partisan thing.
Splashed all over sound bites is Obama touting "He just doesn't get it!". And he believes it's the truth. Let's assume that it is.
Senator Obama, Senator McCain is a former POW. He has been in politics in Washington for 20 or 30 years. He has been elected and re-elected by the same people, as a Senator. McCain has stood up for what he believes in not perfectly but he has said one thing and stuck to it.
You on the other hand, Senator Obama, how can you think that you "have experience" and "get it" when you have a fraction of the experience - a small fraction at that - as Senator McCain? You only went to the Middle East for a political stunt to "get experience" and "get votes" during the primaries (even your rival VP has gone overseas for non-selfish reasons). How can you continue to tout "He just doesn't get it" when you haven't even been around long enough to see what he doesn't get? You also say that you want to protect the taxpayer's money in reference to this bailout, yet you vote nearly 100% of the time on spending those tax dollars on other stuff. You spend 90% of your time in front of a microphone telling all of America what McCain is doing wrong and you don't even say what you'll do at all! You say that McCain has a delayed "Hurricane Katrina" response to this turmoil, yet you do nothing at all...you don't even fly in to Washington to help rally your fellow Senators OR even act as a Senator yourself! What does that say about you? We elect you and this is what will happen... you will act in your best interest and the interest of your party and/or those who elected you. You will not wean America off it's dependence on foreign oil. You'll continue to vote to give tax breaks to big oil. Isn't that much of what is already going on? That is what your record shows. Way to change!
"You're just not getting it"
That is all I'm going to say. I do not intend this to be a political blog.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
An Open Door
So I'm going to tell you about one of my girls again...and yes, this is a continuing story as I've blogged about her before. You'll recall (or you'll skim thru if you don't remember and want a little background info) March 25's "14 Letters from 8 Girls" blog about this girl who met the Lord and there are two letters of hers that I posted. The other blog about her was Aug 26's "Too Much Has Happened" and she's the girl who wrote me two letters in one envelop and who's judge gave me a little surprise in court that day. Okay here's the update.
She wrote me again and there is big and exciting news on her part. She's currently working on writing her testimony out so that she can easily tell what Jesus has done for her to other people (as you'll also recall that her heart's desire now is to travel the world and tell people about Jesus). She's doing this because we are planning on getting her on a plane to Fiji next summer with Don and I. She is so excited about this prospect and I am too and I'm expecting BIG things for this!
So here are some things that you can pray for, for her and for us:
1. Dates: I'm waiting to hear from YFC Fiji (Sereki) to give me some dates for what will be good times to go. Specifically the dates of the ASPIRE Conference (ASia Pacific In Responsible Evangelism...the same Conference that I was introduced to YFC Fiji to in 2002).
2. Funding: For this girl because her network is small at the moment. There is a Christian community around her, pray that their hearts will be receptive of the opportunity and that God will open hearts and do his work. Without working specific details my rough (high) estimate for the cost of the three of us going would be $2500-$3000 per person. I do expect that number to drop but a lot depends on plane tickets, duration of the trip, etc... Because Don and I have family there, I hope that lodging would keep the cost of the trip down.
3. God's work in our lives: That we would seek Him, that he would grow and stretch us, that this girl would grow in her faith during this process as she learns to depend on God for financing, stepping out into the unknown and out of her comfort zone, for Don and I as we take a leap of faith by taking one of our kids to Fiji. That he would be ahead of us, paving the way and that we would see this and boldly walk where we have not walked before.
This is just an amazing opportunity, I think for all of us, for how we do ministry in JJM, for how we look at these kids, how we present and represent God in all of this, and to expect big...huge...things from HIM who desires to show us the world and all the wonder of it. Let us pray, together for these things.
She wrote me again and there is big and exciting news on her part. She's currently working on writing her testimony out so that she can easily tell what Jesus has done for her to other people (as you'll also recall that her heart's desire now is to travel the world and tell people about Jesus). She's doing this because we are planning on getting her on a plane to Fiji next summer with Don and I. She is so excited about this prospect and I am too and I'm expecting BIG things for this!
So here are some things that you can pray for, for her and for us:
1. Dates: I'm waiting to hear from YFC Fiji (Sereki) to give me some dates for what will be good times to go. Specifically the dates of the ASPIRE Conference (ASia Pacific In Responsible Evangelism...the same Conference that I was introduced to YFC Fiji to in 2002).
2. Funding: For this girl because her network is small at the moment. There is a Christian community around her, pray that their hearts will be receptive of the opportunity and that God will open hearts and do his work. Without working specific details my rough (high) estimate for the cost of the three of us going would be $2500-$3000 per person. I do expect that number to drop but a lot depends on plane tickets, duration of the trip, etc... Because Don and I have family there, I hope that lodging would keep the cost of the trip down.
3. God's work in our lives: That we would seek Him, that he would grow and stretch us, that this girl would grow in her faith during this process as she learns to depend on God for financing, stepping out into the unknown and out of her comfort zone, for Don and I as we take a leap of faith by taking one of our kids to Fiji. That he would be ahead of us, paving the way and that we would see this and boldly walk where we have not walked before.
This is just an amazing opportunity, I think for all of us, for how we do ministry in JJM, for how we look at these kids, how we present and represent God in all of this, and to expect big...huge...things from HIM who desires to show us the world and all the wonder of it. Let us pray, together for these things.
Sacrifice
This past Monday as few of you know, my dad had a series of tests done as a result of him being a blood-match with my Uncle Jud who badly needs a Kidney transplant. All the tests went extremely well and the doctors say that this is the best case senario for my uncle. We are all extremely excited about this because anyone who knows more than me about Kidney Transplants knows that finding a blood-match can be a very long and drawn out process as blood-matches are rare. And then to find it so soon and in someone he knows well is nothing shy of a miracle. So we've now shifted from praying for a match to praying for surgery - October 13.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
"Please Pray" Update
Let me update you on the 'Please Pray blog. First of all I do want to make a correction. J's mom had a mass on her uterus instead of a brain tumor. I wanted to make that correction and clarification. The surgery however, on her mass in the uterus, went well and she is doing good through the recovery process.
While I have your attention, I also want to ask you to pray for M who is struggling a lot in her relationship with her mom. It is very rocky and she struggles to be honest with her mom while dealing with both her and her mom's emotional ups and downs. Pray for God's grace for both of them. M wrote her mom a letter and sent it out today and we prayed over it so that her mom would receive it with an open heart and mind.
Thank you
While I have your attention, I also want to ask you to pray for M who is struggling a lot in her relationship with her mom. It is very rocky and she struggles to be honest with her mom while dealing with both her and her mom's emotional ups and downs. Pray for God's grace for both of them. M wrote her mom a letter and sent it out today and we prayed over it so that her mom would receive it with an open heart and mind.
Thank you
Monday, September 15, 2008
So Sad
Of course there is saddness anytime a disaster that hits a populated area of any size. Hurricane Ike struck a cord in a couple of different ways.
First, this week Michigan was (still is) a well watered place to live. Normally I'd point out that your no more than 85 miles from a great lake nor 6 miles from any body of water. Well, over the weekend some places not far from where I live got drenched under 11 inches of rain (which if converted to snow would be 110 inches of snow so we're looking at the bright side here). As I looked over the weekend at the radar from the reports it was clear that this was the last of dying Hurricane Ike. Eleven inches drowned us! It killed people, closed schools, roads, took out trees, you name it. As I sat Saturday afternoon tho - with Friday morning's rain having no end in sight - I couldn't help but think about what it must have been like to be evacuated from your home because rain and weather with much more thrust was coming. Needless to say, I did little complaining about the weather (about being sick this weekend was another story).
Second it hit me because as I checked the headlines this morning, I saw pictures of caskets that had surfaced. Of course, caskets are a sealed air bubble that, given enough wet, soggy surrounding soil will 'raise the dead'. It struck me because I can't imagine the task that it will be to re-bury these deceased loved ones. I wondered how I'd react seeing my long lost (fill-in-the-blank) resurfacing as a result of a storm that also took my home, neighborhood, school, church, office place, etc... Granted they are still dead and there probably won't be a full round of mourning going on there but still, to have everything devastated and then to be so harshly reminded of (fill-in-the-blank)'s recent or not so recent passing on. It's just a sad reality of the situation.
Now you could say, "What about 2005 and Katrina?" Well, I wasn't around for Katrina. And though I mourned the devastation, I waited a full five days before facing myself with that reality. Sure, I had heard stories and I had heard how bad it is from the local Fijians, but I waited because of the vastness of it's devastation. There were lots of Fijian fingers that were joining in the finger pointing unjustly - mostly because all they heard was the negative: 'government left them on roof tops without food' instead of the 'government told them to leave and they choose not to leave even knowing it's severity'. All they saw was FEMA's lack of response when they didn't even see the widespread, dangerous, and challenging task of getting to them (I'm not making excuses). They only joined in finger pointing instead of seeing the whole picture. Do you blame me for waiting five days?
Anyway, those are my thoughts...my wet, soggy, coughing, thoughts.
First, this week Michigan was (still is) a well watered place to live. Normally I'd point out that your no more than 85 miles from a great lake nor 6 miles from any body of water. Well, over the weekend some places not far from where I live got drenched under 11 inches of rain (which if converted to snow would be 110 inches of snow so we're looking at the bright side here). As I looked over the weekend at the radar from the reports it was clear that this was the last of dying Hurricane Ike. Eleven inches drowned us! It killed people, closed schools, roads, took out trees, you name it. As I sat Saturday afternoon tho - with Friday morning's rain having no end in sight - I couldn't help but think about what it must have been like to be evacuated from your home because rain and weather with much more thrust was coming. Needless to say, I did little complaining about the weather (about being sick this weekend was another story).
Second it hit me because as I checked the headlines this morning, I saw pictures of caskets that had surfaced. Of course, caskets are a sealed air bubble that, given enough wet, soggy surrounding soil will 'raise the dead'. It struck me because I can't imagine the task that it will be to re-bury these deceased loved ones. I wondered how I'd react seeing my long lost (fill-in-the-blank) resurfacing as a result of a storm that also took my home, neighborhood, school, church, office place, etc... Granted they are still dead and there probably won't be a full round of mourning going on there but still, to have everything devastated and then to be so harshly reminded of (fill-in-the-blank)'s recent or not so recent passing on. It's just a sad reality of the situation.
Now you could say, "What about 2005 and Katrina?" Well, I wasn't around for Katrina. And though I mourned the devastation, I waited a full five days before facing myself with that reality. Sure, I had heard stories and I had heard how bad it is from the local Fijians, but I waited because of the vastness of it's devastation. There were lots of Fijian fingers that were joining in the finger pointing unjustly - mostly because all they heard was the negative: 'government left them on roof tops without food' instead of the 'government told them to leave and they choose not to leave even knowing it's severity'. All they saw was FEMA's lack of response when they didn't even see the widespread, dangerous, and challenging task of getting to them (I'm not making excuses). They only joined in finger pointing instead of seeing the whole picture. Do you blame me for waiting five days?
Anyway, those are my thoughts...my wet, soggy, coughing, thoughts.
In Business
Well, this is my old but still current business card because I still do Juvenile Justice Girls Ministry. I love it and am not planning to give it up any time soon. I'm sure you've all taken the time to read my stories from my girls (there is an update on that 'Please Pray' blog hopefully on Thursday).
You also know that I've taken on a new role here about a month and a half ago or so: the Director of Teen parents. Of course that involved a Business Card too...a more descriptive one than JJM as that just doesn't apply. Straight from vistaprint.com here it is:
Do you like? Ha ha... I think you can click on them to make them bigger. You get 250 for free but you do have to pay shipping and handling and any 'extras' you might want.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Please Pray
Today is Thursday which means that yesterday I went into detention.
**Deep breath/sigh before I start this**
Last night one of the girls, J (for the sake of this being online and out there for all the weird people - and you - to see I'll call her J), was sitting in the corner all by herself crying. So I went over there to talk to her and see if she was okay. I was expecting the usual, "My mom said she'd visit and she didn't." What I got was the absolute last thing I expected, "I found out today that my mom has a brain tumor. They're doing surgery today but the Doctors don't know if it will do any good. My mom doesn't know how long she has to live."
In tears, she told me about her 9 yr old brother who still lives at home. How all she wanted to do was be at home with her mom (yet her mom didn't want to have her home because of the stress it would cause). She told me how she wished she didn't do what she did. She told me how her mom didn't want letters from her. I sensed hopeless, helplessness, a desire to do far more than she'd ever be able to beyond the locked doors. And then the glimmer of hope: J did believe in God.
We prayed at the end of the conversation and I asked her if it would be okay to tell all the people I knew about her mom so they could pray. So please pray.
K, another girl, looked at me at one point and said, "Can I talk to you?" So me and her and another girl (B from the "Preacher Lady" blog...and K is the same K - the two best friends) and eventually all the girls in that unit (including J), sat around K and saw her tears too. She wailed...I imagine just like the Bible says Jesus wept in Luke 11, all the way from the bottom of her toes.
In the middle of her tears, I found out that she learned that she was adopted just before her birth mom died and she was unable to meet her. Her birth-grandmother also passed away before she had a chance to meet her and she just kept saying over and over, "I just want to be with my mom! I just want to know my mom! I just want to be with my mom!..." K didn't feel anyone loved her. The plan for her is that she's going to stay with an uncle (or some relative) in Detroit after her stint in detention. I sensed a great lack of feeling loved, emptiness, hopelessness, and despair.
Just the pain that K was in last night resonated in my soul. And the deep longing for J to be there for her mom pierced my heart. What is this world? Where do these girls, perhaps the least in our society - not just the Grand Rapids Community but in communities around the nation and world - find hope? ...Love?...A sense of being wanted and needed? ...How are they filled? ..Where do they fill their despair? ...Have we, as Christians, made any headway in this world?
There are a million questions I could ask that begin with 'Why...?' The one I choose to ask is 'What...' What can I do Lord, to ease the pain in this world?
**Deep breath/sigh before I start this**
Last night one of the girls, J (for the sake of this being online and out there for all the weird people - and you - to see I'll call her J), was sitting in the corner all by herself crying. So I went over there to talk to her and see if she was okay. I was expecting the usual, "My mom said she'd visit and she didn't." What I got was the absolute last thing I expected, "I found out today that my mom has a brain tumor. They're doing surgery today but the Doctors don't know if it will do any good. My mom doesn't know how long she has to live."
In tears, she told me about her 9 yr old brother who still lives at home. How all she wanted to do was be at home with her mom (yet her mom didn't want to have her home because of the stress it would cause). She told me how she wished she didn't do what she did. She told me how her mom didn't want letters from her. I sensed hopeless, helplessness, a desire to do far more than she'd ever be able to beyond the locked doors. And then the glimmer of hope: J did believe in God.
We prayed at the end of the conversation and I asked her if it would be okay to tell all the people I knew about her mom so they could pray. So please pray.
K, another girl, looked at me at one point and said, "Can I talk to you?" So me and her and another girl (B from the "Preacher Lady" blog...and K is the same K - the two best friends) and eventually all the girls in that unit (including J), sat around K and saw her tears too. She wailed...I imagine just like the Bible says Jesus wept in Luke 11, all the way from the bottom of her toes.
In the middle of her tears, I found out that she learned that she was adopted just before her birth mom died and she was unable to meet her. Her birth-grandmother also passed away before she had a chance to meet her and she just kept saying over and over, "I just want to be with my mom! I just want to know my mom! I just want to be with my mom!..." K didn't feel anyone loved her. The plan for her is that she's going to stay with an uncle (or some relative) in Detroit after her stint in detention. I sensed a great lack of feeling loved, emptiness, hopelessness, and despair.
Just the pain that K was in last night resonated in my soul. And the deep longing for J to be there for her mom pierced my heart. What is this world? Where do these girls, perhaps the least in our society - not just the Grand Rapids Community but in communities around the nation and world - find hope? ...Love?...A sense of being wanted and needed? ...How are they filled? ..Where do they fill their despair? ...Have we, as Christians, made any headway in this world?
There are a million questions I could ask that begin with 'Why...?' The one I choose to ask is 'What...' What can I do Lord, to ease the pain in this world?
Thursday, September 4, 2008
"Preacher" Lady
So once and a while I go into Detention and do the Sunday Service, either Don or I will give a message there for the kids. The last two times I did it were early July and two weeks ago. Last night in Detention, I was sitting with one other volunteer and two girls (B and K for clarification). This is how the night/conversation unfolds:
K comes back from a visitation and she's really upset because there is speculation that she's going to end up going to her uncle in Detroit and she's NOT wanting that because of the bad stories she's heard about the people in Detroit and she doesn't know anyone there stuff like that. B looks at her (B and K are best friends) and she says, "You can trust Miss Kelly. I've told her all my secrets and she hasn't told anyone so you can tell her anything..."
A little while later she looks at me and says something like, "Miss Kelly, I remember what you said at church..." And she goes on to recite almost everything I said in this sermon I gave in early July...like I couldn't even remember what topic I talked about! She gets up and in this sarcastic and sassy way she starts reciting to me all of my sermonette...my main points, the story, all of it. She needed help with the application but I couldn't believe it!
On the coattails of that she added the second one - the two weeks ago one - she did the same thing for that one! It was the story of the Potter and Clay with the illustration of Play-doh. She told me what I had said in her words about not being pink (us) or blue (God) but being purple. ...About being soft and not hard and what it takes to be mold-able. She remembers that we need to be so purple that we're inseparable and not having blobs of pink in us. It was great. I looked at Diane and said to her, "Our work here is done."
It was heartwarming and encouraging. ...Simply amazing that in the midst of all the chaos of her life...her court dates, foster homes, upheaval, and fighting for what's hers. In the midst of her POs, Caseworkers, Detention Staff, Counselors, and all that, she remembered what God said.
K comes back from a visitation and she's really upset because there is speculation that she's going to end up going to her uncle in Detroit and she's NOT wanting that because of the bad stories she's heard about the people in Detroit and she doesn't know anyone there stuff like that. B looks at her (B and K are best friends) and she says, "You can trust Miss Kelly. I've told her all my secrets and she hasn't told anyone so you can tell her anything..."
A little while later she looks at me and says something like, "Miss Kelly, I remember what you said at church..." And she goes on to recite almost everything I said in this sermon I gave in early July...like I couldn't even remember what topic I talked about! She gets up and in this sarcastic and sassy way she starts reciting to me all of my sermonette...my main points, the story, all of it. She needed help with the application but I couldn't believe it!
On the coattails of that she added the second one - the two weeks ago one - she did the same thing for that one! It was the story of the Potter and Clay with the illustration of Play-doh. She told me what I had said in her words about not being pink (us) or blue (God) but being purple. ...About being soft and not hard and what it takes to be mold-able. She remembers that we need to be so purple that we're inseparable and not having blobs of pink in us. It was great. I looked at Diane and said to her, "Our work here is done."
It was heartwarming and encouraging. ...Simply amazing that in the midst of all the chaos of her life...her court dates, foster homes, upheaval, and fighting for what's hers. In the midst of her POs, Caseworkers, Detention Staff, Counselors, and all that, she remembered what God said.
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