Tag: Facebook

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Ministering When It’s Inconvenient

I am re-posting this from my wife Nicki and my mother-in-law Elaine on Facebook. It appears the original post came from the True Woman blog by Erin Davis. This is a great article…

In Matthew 15:29, we find Jesus trying to rest on a mountainside. He barely sat down when a crowd of people came to Him looking to be healed. How did He respond? He healed them.

When Jesus received word that His cousin, John the Baptist, had been killed, He tried to grieve alone. But crowds of people followed Him and begged for His attention. Scripture tells… …us that instead of hiding in His grief, He had compassion and healed the sick in the crowd (Matthew 14:13–14).

On the night before Jesus was betrayed, He didn’t hide out. He didn’t run away. He spent the evening with His disciples. He even took the time to serve them by washing the mud from their feet (John 13:1–17).

If we look closely, we find an interesting pattern. We know that Jesus spent His time on earth serving others. But have you ever considered how often He ministered when it was inconvenient?

  • He served others when He was tired.
  • He served others when He’d have rather been alone.
  • He served others when He was sad.
  • He served others when He’d been serving non-stop for days and days.
  • He served others when things went terribly wrong in His own life.
  • He even served others when He knew His own death was right around the corner.

I am deeply challenged by this truth. You see, I don’t mind serving others when it’s convenient for me. I like to help out when it works into my schedule or fits into my agenda for the day. But there are lots of times when ministry is inconvenient. I’m tired. I’m stressed. I’ve got more important things to do than to meet the needs of those around me. Under those circumstances, I feel justified in giving priority to my own needs and temporarily ignoring the needs of others.

But this isn’t how Jesus lived. It isn’t how Jesus served. And it isn’t what He wants from you and me.

The reality is, serving others requires sacrifice. If we only do it when it’s convenient, we’re missing the point.

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Hell in Haiti

notre-dame-child-1This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out. Matthew 16:18 MSG

When you write something, the opening sentence is important. The truth is, I don’t know what to say. There are so many words rambling around in my head, I don’t know where to start. I think I’ve grown from brokenhearted for the Haitian people to frustrated. Several people have made the comment that its strange so much attention is just now being put on the Haiti, when they’ve lived in extreme poverty for many, many years. To some degree I would agree, but the fact is, there have been many Christian and non-profit groups in the country for years, and they have brought attention to Haiti and other poor countries for a long time.

I have no better words to describe the things that I’ve been seeing and hearing other than “Hell in Haiti” – Can it be anything else?

I’ve been following Shaun King (Pastor of Courageous Church in Atlanta) and his efforts to raise awareness on the Haiti situation, mobilize teams, raise money, send supplies, etc. through Twitter and his BLOG. I’ve heard chatter from Shaun and others about the Foyer Notre Dame Nativite Orphanage for DAYS. Pleading for help for the children trapped in the rubble and those who were displaced by the destruction of their home. Nothing. No help. Just cries for help…literally. 56 babies cried for at least 5 days trapped in the orphanage. The people in this part of the city didn’t have the tools to dig and to cut through the rubble. The cries equally filled the air through Facebook and Twitter. Help these children. Trapped, broken bodies, hungry and needing aid.

Have you ever heard someone say, “What could I have done to change things?” “What could I have done to make the outcome change?” – If your neighbor was brutally murdered by her husband, you may ponder whether you saw warning signs or not, or if you should have acted on the thoughts about him abusing her. But, in sitting neutral, something bad happened. I wonder what could have been for those children; 56 of them and one of their caretakers took their last breathe in that rubble. They were alive for days, what could I have done? What could you have done? Its frustrating at best to know that no one moved in 5 days.

Shaun King, Spencer Nix, and others finally got the attention of Alyssa Milano (Who’s the Boss, Commando, Charmed), now an Ambassador for UNICEF, through her Twitter account and the attention of Fox News reporter, Adam Housley, on his Twitter account. Alyssa got word to UNICEF to get a relief team to the area and Adam and his film crew went to the Orphanage the next morning. Read Adam’s story HERE or watch his video report HERE (I highly recommend you read and watch the reports). When Adam arrived a team from UNICEF and World Vision were just arriving to bring aid to the ravished daycare and its survivors.

70+ Children are still displaced. Their homes are now on a tarp in the grass. Their food, a brown gravy-like Porridge. I watch these stories feeling handcuffed that maybe there was something I could have done, if I were only there, but facing the reality that at this time I cannot be there. So right now, I’m just a guy with a computer, doing what I can to tweet and blog and update those I have connections with about the Hell that Haitians are living in. I’m doing what I can to call the church to rise up and live out the hope that we claim we have. Jesus said that Hell cannot prevail against His church. We have the solution. The Government proves over and over they are incompetent to offer the total solution. The church can respond quicker and more efficiently than any organization around. If you claim to follow Christ, now is the time to step your game up, and do WHATEVER is in your grasp to bring help to these Haitians who are in distress (James 1:27) – Unfortunately it doesn’t stop in Haiti, but they are in the most dire need at the moment.

HERE’s a list of organizations that you can partner with. Many of these have been on the ground in Haiti way before the earthquake struck. Can you give $5? Do it. Can you bug people through your social networks to get involved? Do it. Whatever is in your power. Do it.