A Tale of Two Kings

In 2 Kings 20, 21 we have the story of two kings.  No, it's not the show off the Disney channel either.  It's about two actual kings.  Hezekiah is the first king.  He honestly tried to serve God and follow Him as the ruler.  He cleaned up the worship, got rid of the fake idols, and turned the nation back to God.  A lot of what he did was tremendous, and God blessed him for it.  But, the story shows he wasn't wise, because he showed an enemy nation all of his money and riches, basically tempting them to come take it, which they eventually did.  He also was selfish.  When he was told by Isaiah that his children would lose the kingdom and be carried off into slavery one day, his response was "Oh well, at least it's not going to happen to me, so no big deal."  Yeah, not someone we would consider a hero.

The second king was named Manasseh.  He's the king in 2 Kings 21.  He is just the opposite of Hezekiah.  He didn't want anything to do with God, and worked very hard to be as unGodly as he could.  He had the nation worship everything except for God.  He murdered his son as a sacrifice to a fake God.  He put an idol in the Temple, where God was supposed to meet with the people.  He was incredibly intentional about being evil.

What is surprising is that Manasseh was king immediately after Hezekiah.  Even more surprising is that Manasseh was Hezekiah's son.  His own son.  Raised in his house.  As a prince.  What happened?!  How can a king follow God and do so much to set the nation straight, only to have his son undo all of it and go even farther in the direction of evil?  Hezekiah didn't live a life of influence on those closest to him.  He did a lot of great things publicly, but didn't work to love and influence those in his own house.  It destroyed the nation.  Thousands of people were killed and lost their homes and families because of it.

Who are you influencing?  No, seriously, who are you influencing?  Are you spending all of your time trying to impress those outside your home, hoping to create a good name, an attractive image?  You'll probably succeed.  But what will it cost you?

Or are you intentionally focusing on those God has placed closest to you?  Influencing those friends and family members who are with you everyday may not be as glamorous or intoxicating, but it is what we are called to do.  It's how the truth and good news of Jesus gets passed on.  Parents, are you intentionally training and teaching your kids?  Kids, are you working to influence and model a Jesus kind of life for your parents, brothers, and sisters?

It's what we are called to.  And when we don't, we destroy entire kingdoms.

What One Thing Would You Give Up?

 There is a major crisis going on in the Horn of Africa right now.  Here is an article from the World Vision blog:




(Editor’s note: In an international campaign to raise awareness about the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa, World Vision offices around the world are coming together to tolerate #faminenomore. Will you join us?)
Why help? Why raise awareness? What could I possibly do to make an impact for the 12.4 million affected by drought and famine in the Horn of Africa?

[From the photo above] When the maize crop failed yet again this year, Hadija Hassan Abdi, 28, took her children and hitched rides for 8 days and nights until she reached the safety of Burtinle camp in Somalia. Along the way she begged for food for her children from strangers. She has been in the camp only 4 days, just long enough to construct a tiny stick hut covered in cloth scraps. There is nothing on the floor and no cooking utensils. She and eldest daughter, Nurto, 10 (on right, wearing orange scarf) are able to earn a little by hauling garbage away for families in nearby Burtinle city. But mostly she still survives primarily by begging. I wonder how we’d react if she came to us for help?
This story from Jon Warren, World Vision photographer in Somalia, really struck me. If Hadija and Nurto were begging right outside my door, what would I do? I live in Seattle, where I see people begging a lot — sometimes I respond by giving and sometimes I don’t. Hadija and Nurto aren’t outside my door, but I can’t ignore their story, their need. They are as real as the people needing help right in front of me.
12.4 million people are affected by hunger, fighting for their lives — that’s a big problem to wrap our minds around. But I know this… together, we can make an impact. So what could you possibly do to help those in crisis in the Horn of Africa? Start here.

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LIVE THE LIFE OF A FAMINE-VICTIM FOR 30 HOURS. The millions suffering in the Horn of Africa are part of the some 900 million hungry people worldwide. The 30 Hour Famine gives your group a chance to do something about it. Read about the Famine team’s recent experience in Dadaab, Kenya, one of the world’s largest refugee camps.
TEXT. Get those texting thumbs ready… Text “FAMINE” to “20222″ to text in your $10 donation to fight hunger and famine in the Horn of Africa
BLOG. What’s the ONE THING you typically spend $10 on that you could give up this week and use the money you save to help those in the crisis in the Horn of Africa? Write a blog on this topic. Then LINK UP to us next week (we have a blog post coming on this very topic Monday morning, August 29, right here on the World Vision Blog). 

DEDICATE A PICTURE. It’s as simple as this: dedicate your profile picture on Facebook for a day, a week, or much longer and advocate for famine no more.
RUN, WALK, OR EVEN PADDLE. Team World Vision members are already raising funds and awareness for clean water projects in Africa, including Kenya and Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa. Whether you’re the walking type, a first time marathoner, or marathon champion, you can use your exercise routine to help those needing clean water in the Horn of Africa and other places, too. See all Team World Vision events.
GIVE UP A MEAL. Consider how many people in your family can eat for $10. How about $50? We challenge you to give up one meal and, instead, use the money you save to help those who are going hungry in the Horn of Africa and who are on the brink of starvation in famine-declared Somalia.
PRAY. Pray for children and families affected by this severe drought and the resulting food crisis. Pray that aid organizations like World Vision would gain access to those who need help the most. Download prayer points for individuals, churches and prayer vigils.
BECOME A SPONSOR & FIND MORE SPONSORS. Sponsor a child in East Africa online or at your local Family Christian Store, and encourage others to become sponsors, too. By providing essentials like nutritious food and clean water, sponsorship helps children be better prepared to cope with disasters, like the current drought and food crisis across East Africa.
GET TRENDING. Tweet this post, or videos, and stories about what’s happening in the Horn of Africa with hashtag #faminenomore and get this topic trending in the Twitter-sphere.
ADVOCATE. Send a message to your members of Congress. Ask them to oppose major cuts to the International Affairs budget, which provides critical, life-saving assistance to fight hunger and child mortality. Devastating and disproportionate cuts have been proposed that literally threaten lives of the poor and vulnerable. It makes up just 1.4 percent of the federal budget.
MULTIPLY YOUR IMPACT BY 5. When you give to our Horn of Africa Food Crisis fund, your donations can multiply up to 5 times in impact, thanks to government grants, to help provide emergency food, clean water, agricultural support, healthcare, and other vital assistance to children and families in need. World Vision has been fighting hunger in the Horn of Africa for many years, and will continue to respond in the midst of this crisis.
PUT YOUR FAITH INTO ACTION. Get your church family involved in caring for our brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa by hosting an offering and educating your congregation. Download bulletin inserts, pastor speaking points, and other resources at www.worldvision.org/churches
REPOST. Sharing is one of the easiest things to do on the web these days, making sharing posts like this as easy as the click of your mouse. (Two ways to share: Click the “like” or “tweet” at the top of this post, or click the “share” at the bottom).



When we heard about this (my family and I), we contacted a friend in Kenya, and he verified that the stories are legit.  Not that World Vision is lacking in trust, but we always want to find the best way to get involved.  Our girls put their heads together, and came up with a plan.  They have to put away 10% of what they earn to give away.  They combined their money and came up with $75 to give to World Vision. (they had been saving for months.)  We are going to add to it, and send it in to help.  What can you do to make a difference?  As Christians, the answer simply CAN NOT be "nothing".  You can also read more on the blog here.  Just do something.

Purple Flowers, Cornfields, and Killer Walnut Trees

As I was out riding my bike this morning before coming into work, I was talking to God.  Okay, no, actually, I was complaining to God.  I was complaining about finances.  I was expressing frustration with some of my friendships.  I was upset about...., well, you get the idea.  I was complaining.

So, I 'm cruising along, tense and rather unhappy deep inside, and I look over and see some beautiful morning glories.  They are climbing slowly up the cornstalks in a field, facing east.  As the sun was rising, they were brilliantly open and shining.  I love seeing them when I ride.  Immediately I started thinking about how awesome and beautiful they were, and I heard God remind me "I care for the flowers of the field.  I clothe them and watch over them, and they are just flowers that are here today and burned up tomorrow.  Why are you so worried that I won't take care of you and all the "problems" you are dumping on me?"

It's been a pretty constant theme the past several months.  I worry, God says "Wait.  Don't worry.  I have you."  But the flowers hit me and drove it all home again.  He has me.  In the much used words, I need to "bloom where I'm planted."  I need to face the sun and shine just like they do.  They make their quiet section of nameless corn field so beautiful.  It's my job to do the same.  I need to make my small piece of the world more beautiful.  Complaining won't get me there.

As I'm having this conversation with God, He reminds me of our yard.  We have five huge, very old (100 years or so) walnut trees across the front of our yard.  They define our house, they anchor everything around them, and they are focal point of the yard.  They are also poisonous.  I never knew it till we moved into our house a couple of years ago, but walnut trees put acid into the soil around them, and will kill most other plants trying to grow in their area.  A few trees can grow near a walnut, but not many.  They are poisonous.  They don't mean to be, it's not a defense or a planned attack.  They just emit acid and kill other things when they stand there.

God asked me which I want to be?  Do I want to be a morning glory, or a walnut tree?  My attitude and faith will drive me in one direction or the other.  It's up to me.  Gratitude or grumbling?  Bitterness or beauty?  Humble or hateful?  It's all up to me.

And you.  Which will you be today?

Parent Cue #2 for Rhythm Lessons

Parents, here is a Parent Cue for you that goes along with the lessons we are teaching on Sunday nights to our SrHi group, and on Wednesdays at the Middle with our middle school group.  Read it over, and spend some time discussing it with your students.  As always, let me know if I can be ANY help to you as you raise your kids to love Jesus.  You are loved, and prayed for all the time.

Here it is:

In this series we are talking about rhythm and how every piece of our lives is connected. If you went to a band concert and the flutes were out of tune, the last thing you would want is for the tuba section to just play louder in an attempt to try to drown out the squeaky flute players. The same is true in families.

When something is not right in our lives, it affects how we relate to others. If one of you has a bad day, where is that frustration usually displayed? At home, to other family members, right? For some reason, our families tend to get the worst of us, and we save our “game face” for our friends and co-workers. It’s great to have a place where you can be real and a place that’s safe, but sometimes the ways we vent put us out of rhythm with our families.

As a family, help one another find healthier ways to handle those crazy times in life. Realize that the first reaction isn’t necessarily the truest one—how someone is acting may not be the real issue. Those irritating things at home can be symptomatic of something bigger (at least to that person) going on outside the home. The fight over the remote control can be just another situation where you didn’t get something your way that day and it seemed like you were at everyone else’s mercy. The need for order may be due to something in your life that is out of control, like a sick loved one or a stressful office situation.

Help one another work past the exterior angst to the real problems. Once you’ve identified the issue, encourage and pray for one another. 

Free. Simply Free.

God makes a promise in Isaiah 46 to His people.  But it's a promise about who He is, what type of God He is.  Because of that, we can apply it to ourselves as well as to the people He wrote it to.  Check it out - 

9 Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me. 

10 I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.’ 

11 From the east I summon a bird of prey;
from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.
What I have said, that I will bring about;
what I have planned, that I will do. 

Do you catch all of that?  Those are some amazing promises!  He will do whatever it is He sets His sights on doing.  He has known from the beginning of time how everything will play out, and He will accomplish His goals.  The beautiful part is He can allow us to be completely free to serve and love Him, or not to and sin, and yet He is unfazed.  I love that.  You and I really are free, because God has total control over everything.

We often think either we are free, and God sits back OR God is in control, and we don't really have any choice in how things go.  But it's not that way at all.  BECAUSE God is so powerful and mighty, BECAUSE He is unstoppable, BECAUSE He is amazing; He can give us total freedom to act and it doesn't impinge on His power.  

This takes a ton of worry and stress off of us.  God will accomplish His plans, and they are good.  He will win the day today.  And tomorrow.  And the next.  It's not up to us to make it all work, to be sure we hit everything perfectly.  He carries us.  This is why Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow.  God has it.  It will be finished.  He does win. 

We just need to be on His side.

So, whatever worry is holding you down today, whatever fear is stressing you out, whatever decision is making you cower; let it go.  God will accomplish His plans, in you, today.  Just trust Him.  He's promised. He's good.  What He has said, He will bring about and what He has planned, He will do.

Another Set of GREAT Free Fonts

Chad Swanzy over at Youth Leader Stash has given another great link to more fonts.  Check em out, and check out Chad's blog.  One of the most useful youth min ones I know of.

http://www.legacyofdefeat.com/2010/free.html

http://youthleaderstash.com/

When the Sphinx Can't Save You

As I was reading through Isaiah 31 this morning, it brought up an idea that is really, really common in the Old Testament.  Israel as a country would find itself attacked by a bigger, stronger nation, and over and over they would run to Egypt, pay them money, and have them come send the Egyptian army up to help defend the nation of Israel.  They were hired soldiers.  It seems like Israel did this over and over.

I had read that a ton of times, but I got thinking about how that must have felt to them.  They had been slaves in that country.  Egypt had owned them.  It took a ton of miracles by God to pull them out of there, and from the time they left, there were people who kept choosing to go back to Egypt instead of trusting God.  Egypt was a source of embarrassment for the country, a constant reminder that they were not a world power, that they were very little, and really struggled to even protect themselves, let alone be a threat to anyone.  I mean, if you're going to claim to be God's chosen people, you'd think you'd be the dominating force in the world.  They weren't.  They came close under David and Solomon, but that was short, and did not last.  And even then, they were only able to defend themselves.  They never went on a huge warpath and took over other countries to build an empire.  The best they could do was to just manage to be safe for a couple of decades.

As a country, that's embarrassing.

But to have to run back to the very nation you had to scrape and claw your way out of only made it worse.

Yet, most of the people and the kings would rather run back to Egypt with their tail between their legs than to depend on God to save them.  Why do we do that?

Why do we trust in habits, people, or systems that we know, 100% without a doubt, that they are broken?  We know those addictions don't set us free.  We know that relationship can't actually make us happy.  We know that habit only leaves us empty.  We know that grab for power is always temporary.  In spite of that knowledge, when we come under attack, and life becomes scary and unsure, instead of turning to God, we run to Egypt, the land of darkness.

Why?

God is trustworthy.  He always has been.  He always will be.  He is not the problem.

It's our expectations.  The nation of Israel couldn't understand that maybe God's plan didn't call for them to be a military powerhouse.  He didn't even want them to have a king.  He wanted them to follow Him, to be blessed, and to bless the people around them.  That is not what they wanted.  They wanted power and revenge, just like everyone else around them seemed to have.  So, they ignored God, and ran to the center of ancient power and revenge.  Even when Egypt was way past their glory days and were no longer a world force, Israel still ran to them for help.

What goals, hopes, values, dreams, or desires do you have that keep you from running to God?  Are they working out for you?  It's probably time to find some new ones, some dreams that come from Him, and that He will honor in your life.