Tag: give

Finding real life

This morning Brian laid a challenging discussion on us. Are you finding real life?

We started off with a look at things we want people to focus on…

  • my temptations
  • my relationships
  • my joys
  • my thoughts
  • my fears
  • my desires
  • my walk with God
  • my questions
  • my needs
  • my feelings
  • my goals
  • my dreams
  • my longings
  • my hopes
  • my hurts
  • my past

We’re always looking for people to fulfill those areas of our lives. We want to be understood. We want to be listened to. We want to be fulfilled. We want to be accepted. We want others to fill those areas in us.

Yes – that goes for me for sure.

But Scripture tells us, “For whoever will save his life shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel’s, he shall save it.” Mark 8:35

And, “Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others.” 1 Cor 10:24

So what if we took that list and looked instead to fulfilling those needs in others?

Like our wife. Our kids (for those of you with em). Our parents. Our family. Our friends. Our co-workers.

Would we even know how to do that? Do we even know what they need when it comes to…

  • their temptations
  • their relationships
  • their joys
  • their thoughts
  • their fears
  • their desires
  • their walk with God
  • their questions
  • their needs
  • their feelings
  • their goals
  • their dreams
  • their longings
  • their hopes
  • their hurts
  • their past

I humbly submit that I could probably only answer 40-50% or so of those correctly for the people in my life. Probably less for many others.

Why is that? I could blame them and say, “Well they’re just not open enough. They’re just not sharing enough. They don’t want me to know.”

But I’m pretty sure the onus is on me. It’s up to ME. If they’re not giving “the right answers” then I’m not asking “the right questions.”

If we all live for ourselves and what we can get out of the deal – nobody wins. But if we can give of our lives for the sake of others – we all win.

A closing thought (a re-tweet) from @aaronaiken this morn :: Spend 1% of your time staying informed on the world, and 99% improving your world and you won’t even remember this recession.

I’d suggest changing the phrasing slightly to “99% improving THE world” but you get the idea.

What say you? Anyone figured out how to do this well? Anyone know of someone doing this well?

The Blogger Bake Off

This looks cool.

bakeoff

from the website ::

Quite simply; bake bread, give dough. You can sign up for the campaign, make a donation, upload your bread recipes and document your culinary adventures in the media centre to spread the word. Bloggers can go even further by downloading our widget and tagging five other bloggers to do the same.

I haven’t extensively looked the site over yet, but I like the idea thus far. May have to bust out a bread recipe or two tomorrow.

How to get involved ::

  • Join our campaign.
  • Submit your bread baking recipe.
  • Make a donation to Breadline Africa.
  • Vote for your favourite recipe.
  • Bake a loaf of bread and blog about it.
  • Bake many loaves of bread and host a bake sale.

Anyone else checked the site out yet?

Change the world for $10

Kevin Hendricks is always finding great ways people can make a real difference. And these two ways don’t take much at all.

“You may not be able to change the world, but you can change the world for one person.”


(embedded video)

50,000 Shoes in 50 Days
Anne Jackson teamed up with Soles4Souls to issue a challenge: Buy 50,000 pairs of shoes in 50 days. $5 will buy you two pairs of shoes! Soles4Souls gets shoes to people who need them, helping to keep them safe and healthy. There’s less than a week left in the challenge and nearly 40,000 pairs of shoes to go.
Buy a pair of shoes now.

Dreaming of a Dry Christmas
invisiblepeople.tv is a great site telling the stories of real homeless people. The man behind it, Mark Horvath, is working with homeless people in Los Angeles and has seen a need for raincoats. Michael Buckingham of Holy Cow Creative wants to send Mark 100 coats. He’s dreaming of a dry Christmas. $4.29 is all it takes to buy a raincoat for a homeless person.
Buy a raincoat now!

Two great ways to change the world for three different people. Just as a note – I gave to both of these groups. How many of you will match me? What other gifts are you giving this holiday season that will make that kind of impact?

I’ll add one other way you can change a person’s Christmas for under $10.

Giving Christmas to Daniel’s Den
Josh got word last week that there are five women living at Daniel’s Den in Waxahachie, the only homeless shelter for women and children in Ellis County. These five women are not going to be getting anything for Christmas, but Josh’s wife and several other women are putting together several gift packages for the women and I do believe you can still help. Drop me an email to find out how you can participate.


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Human Rights Day


The Universal Declaration of Human Rights from Seth Brau on Vimeo.
(embedded video)

Today is the day we celebrate the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December 10, 1948).

Heard anything about it today?

My wall calendar mentions Human Rights Day – but that’s all I’ve seen. Not even a Google Doodle today. 🙁

Wonder if its because we’re just to swept up in the Advent/Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza spirit to notice? Seems like Human Rights Day would be a great holiday for Followers of the Way.

I am currently reading “On the Side of Angels” and it talks extensively about human rights, justice, kingdom mission and the like. They seem to make a similar point to one I made back in September, and raise issue with the term “human rights.”

But that despite that issue, I don’t believe that means we stop recognizing the hurting, the oppressed, the poor, the sick, the needy among us. I think it should give us greater cause for pause and give us greater reason to fight for the rights of others — those of fellow Christians, as well as believers in other faiths and those who choose not to believe.

So take pause and consider what you can do to help join the fight for your fellow man. And may we choose compassion over anger and love over hate and may we see all humans as the living image of God.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

info from the UN
pdf copy of the declaration
voice of the martyrs
thoughts from this fragile tent

A voice from the past?

Read this this morning… seems pretty applicable for today ::

“Be generous. Give to the poor. Get yourselves a bank that can’t go bankrupt, a bank in heaven far from bankrobbers, safe from embezzlers, a bank you can bank on. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”
Luke 12:33-34