March, 2008

I just returned from a Spring Break Service Project to Louisiana this Saturday. Some students and one working person sacrificed their spring breaks to go on a trip to visit the Dream Center and Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge. All in all, it was an incredible experience for all of us. We were impressed with the big vision that the Healing Place Church has to bring the door of the church to the people of their neighborhoods. We were able to participate in a lot of the ministries that the Dream Center runs - whether it was passing out gum to college students on the LSU campus, whether it was going door to door in some of the poorer neighborhoods handing out candy and taco dinners, whether it was serving breakfast to the homeless population or whether it was mopping and cleaning up the Dream Center, we had a great time getting out of our comfort zones to participate in Kingdom Work.

One particular story I’d like to share is the story of one woman who’s life was turned around during our visit to the Dream Center. We had gone out one particular day to hand out some goodies to people in the community. We were also handing out some fliers with a hotline number on it for at risk youth who were homeless or struggling through a difficult situation. This woman (young, single mother of three) had just lost her job and was struggling through a violent relationship. She was about ready to give up and commit suicide that week had help not arrived. The previous week she had received a flier that another team had handed out and put it aside thinking it was some “church” thing. When her son arrived with another exact same flier, she decided that God was speaking to her and decided to attend the Woman’s Thrive that the Dream Center hosts every Friday. It was during the Woman’s Thrive that she heard the Gospel message presented and was also able to have her physical needs met. As a result of the active ministry of people from the Dream Center, this woman’s decision to destruct her own life was redirected to receiving the unconditional love of Christ in her life.

Her experience and the consistent service of staff and volunteers from the Dream Center really reinforced the principle that when we show up and are available to do whatever it is that God wants us to do that day, that people’s lives can be transformed. That second flier that this young woman received was the only thing standing between death and life.

There are so many others out there who have no access to the same kind of resources that we tend to take for granted. Three meals a day, a car, enough money for entertainment, and even our mental faculties. Imagine if all those things were stripped away and you had absolutely nothing to fall back on. I have to admit that this was challenging for me to internalize. However, I do believe that God was awakening many of our consciences and causing us to face and embrace people that we are so quick to forget.

Just when I thought I made it through this winter without a serious illness, I came down with the flu this past week. I was bedridden for a couple of days, with my home run by my husband! In all honesty, my husband did a great job taking care of me, the kids and the home. Although, my oldest son and I had a good laugh at how the laundry was folded

In the past, when I saw the signs of a cold or flu sneaking up on me, I would try and exercise, eat better and sleep more. I believe that’s how I made it through most of the winter free of illnesses. However, with a lot going on in the past couple of weeks, it was easy to ignore those same signs. Thus, my body just crashed. I don’t remember the last time I felt so miserable.

Not only are there signs letting us know of an oncoming physical illness, but I realize there are signs that can also tell us when we are becoming spiritually unhealthy. In our daily busyness, it becomes easy to crowd out needed times with the Lord. Either we skip our time with the Lord or we spend that time too quickly without real meditation on God and His Word. Then, the next day it gets easier for it to happen again, until some days and weeks, but hopefully not months and years, pass by. In that time, do you ever notice the signs telling us that we are not spending quality, needed time with the Lord and being filled with His presence?

We might begin to complain more, lose our patience, have a negative attitude, be less forgiving, be more curt with people…I’m sure we can add to the list. These are signs telling us that we might need to slow down or stop in our daily lives to make sure we are staying spiritually healthy and strong.

Psalm 1 reminds us that we will be like a tree planted by streams of water, bearing fruit and not withering when we delight and meditate day and night on the law of the Lord.

A few years ago, while I was visiting my family in California, I was watching the local news with my younger sister. The highlight of that evening’s news was the arrest of Paris Hilton. She had been charged with a misdemeanor for driving under the influence - not her first driving misdemeanor. My sister and I both had a laugh because we realized that local news in California is news about celebrities. Needless to say, I logged this interesting bit of breaking news away in my mind.

A few months ago, I watched the movie “Marie Antoinette” written and directed by Sofia Coppola. I enjoyed the movie tremendously mostly because Coppola had done a remarkable job of relating a historical figure like Marie Antoinette and the times that she lived in to the time we live in today. There was one particular scene at the end of the movie that really stood out to me. In this scene: Marie Antoinette comes out to the balcony of her palace. The palace is surrounded by masses of people who are revolting against the King of France. As she steps out onto the balcony, the crowd comes to a standstill - their shouts are silenced and their pitch forks are lowered. Marie Antoinette makes a deep bow to the crowd. For a moment the crowd remains silent as though waiting for her to say or do something of significance. Then all of sudden, the crowd erupts again with their shouts and continue to storm the castle.

So what do Paris Hilton and Marie Antoinette have in common? Both have or had tremendous access to wealth, luxury, popularity and as a result undeniable influence. Consider why it is such news to us to know what Paris Hilton wears and to what party she just attended. Marie Antoinette was very much the trend-setter in French fashion during her time - it was also of interest to the crowd as to what the Queen of France did to entertain herself. They are or were both public figures who are known for nothing other than their celebrity status. They are also alike in that they both have or had access to this tremendous amount of influence and yet are or were negligent in how they utilize(d) this influence.

What is most disturbing of all is that they are both in fact what we as the public have constructed for ourselves to find entertainment or momentary escape from our own lives. We create our Paris Hiltons and our Marie Antoinettes and end up caricaturizing persons into the “dumb blonde” who end up playing no role in history except to entertain or tickle our voyeuristic longings. I do feel a twinge of sympathy for them but at the same time, long to see such influence better utilized and perhaps even harnessed to bring about positive change in our world.

My son (a 2^nd grader) and I attended a funeral recently. One of his classmate’s mother had unexpectedly passed away several days ago. The news of her death affected our school community and the classmates of her children (2^nd & 3^rd graders). Her passing reminded me once again of the brevity and the important things of life, and made me miss my own mom who passed away years ago.

At the funeral service, the pastor called all the children up front for a brief talk. Since many of the 2^nd and 3^rd graders from the school came out to support the two girls and her family, the front area was full with young children. The pastor shared about the two dates written on the program. The first date was when the mom was born. Those who don’t believe in Jesus know that the second date is when the mom died. But, for Christians, we know that the second date is when her life began in heaven, the eternal home. The time from her birth to her life in heaven is “the years in-between”.

That phrase, “the years in-between” caught my attention. It reminded me once again that my home on earth is temporary and that I am just passing through. It made me evaluate if I was making myself too comfortable on this earth, knowing that it will all pass away one day. It also made me evaluate to see what I was doing with “the years in-between” until I reach my eternal home.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. – Colossians 3:2

We recently had a multicultural cook-off at work, where we brought in dishes from different cultures. I committed to bringing an Indonesian dish, so the night before the contest I was searching online for recipes. The problem is, all the recipes involved ingredients that I’d never heard of, and probably wouldn’t find at 11PM in the international section of Kroger. But then, I finally found the winner: Lapis Legit, or “Thousand Layer Cake.”

The thing with this cake is that I’d never made it, seen it, or tasted it before. I’d never even heard of the spices that went into it: Anise Seed? Cardamon???

You’re also supposed to literally babysit it. You bake it one layer at a time, taking the cake out of the oven every 2 minutes to add another layer.

And the biggest risk is that I wouldn’t get to taste or even slice the thing until the actual time of the contest. I was just taking Rita for her word that this really was an amazing recipe. (Rita’s the woman who submitted the recipe online. Come to think of it, Rita doesn’t sound like a native Indonesian name. Hmmm…)

What I learned about doing something I’ve never done before is that it REALLY helped to stick to the recipe - to follow each measurement, ingredient, and step, word for word. Despite it being my first time, as long as I had faith in Rita and the instructions that she gave, I was confident that I wouldn’t poison anyone.

Lately there are a lot of things that God is calling me, and people around me, to do for the first time ever - things that we’ve never done before, things that involve risks and give no guarantees. I realized that if we just follow the instructions God has given us in His ‘recipe book’ (a.k.a. the Bible) and have full confidence in the author (God, not Rita), we can have peace and confidence along the unpaved way.

Oh yeah, whatever happened with the Lapis Legit? It won 1st place!