Emmanuel, God With Us

Last Friday was a big day, I had the opportunity to share about the realities of human trafficking to 1800 high school students.  Doing so forced some of them to open their eyes to the evil that is in our world and, I hope, prepared them to protect themselves and their friends from being victimized by those who would want to harm them.  What I didn't know until I finished speaking was that evil had hit our nation's children in Connecticut in a way that would be impossible for anyone to overlook.

If we weren't already keenly aware of the brokenness of our world, the shocking evil of last Friday has brought it to the forefront of our minds.  I read many Facebook posts saying, "Jesus come soon!"  I join in that prayer.  I hurt for the families who have lost their dear little ones and can hardly imagine the pain they are going through - in fact, I don't want to empathize with them because it would hurt too much.  It was tough to let Aiden go to school this week.  The reality of my inability to be in control and protect my family every moment of every day is humbling.  It forces me to slow down and look up to the One who is always there and is truly in control - for my control is merely an illusion.

One thing, among many, that Friday taught us is that true evil exists in our world.  We may live in relative safety in a "good part of town" and sometimes this sense of safety causes us to forget the fallenness of the world we live in.  Any problem must be seen before it can be solved. We'll never make our world a better place with our heads stuck in the sand, avoiding the realities of its brokenness.  Jesus was our perfect example, He entered the mess with eyes wide open.  

He left the Father's side in Heaven, a place of perfect holiness and glory to come to our side on earth, a place of utter brokenness and pain.  As Philippians 2 states about Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 
 rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness. 
 And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!  

He gave it all up for us so that we might have it all.

I'm forever grateful for Jesus' willingness to leave the safety and security of Heaven to come down to this dark, evil world.  He could have chosen the easy route and continued to enjoy unbroken fellowship with the Father.  He could have said, "Oh, it's too terrible!" and chosen not to come.  However,  He stepped into the darkness to redeem and restore this broken world.

This redemption, this restoration is still His work; it's still His plan and He has entrusted it to His followers.  Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).  We are sent to  shine light into our dark world. 

Gary Haugen, the Founder and President of International Justice Mission said: 

"In God’s mission for this world, we are the plan. There is no Plan B. We carry out God’s mission be being salt and light in the world. This includes going to the suffering of this world. For people in the midst of suffering, when they receive meaningful help from a Christian, they are seeing the body of Christ show up on their doorstep."

As I think of Emmanuel, God with us, I am challenged to consider how I am following Jesus into the darkness of this broken world.  I am quite comfortable in the "safety" of my suburban life.  Where am I to shine His light?  What dark places might He be calling me?  Where is He calling you? 

Jesus showed up on our doorstep.  He lived among the suffering to bring healing and restoration physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  Who needs Jesus to bring healing and freedom in their lives?  What can you and I do to shine light into the darkness?  This is what happened at Christmas.  Love came down into the evil and shined His light into the darkness.  Let us do the same and enter into this beautiful mess. 

Our Partner in the News!

A few months back, we shared about one of our 100% Sent partners, Apartment Life.  They were recently highlighted in an article in Christianity Today!  The article begins with, "In order to love one's neighbors, one must first know who they are—a teaching that's much easier said than done...."  We all feel this difficulty, but as we shared in our newsletter Apartment Life is set up to train our graduates to do just that.  Take a look at the full article to see how God used our friends in ministry to help a Phoenix couple reach their neighbors with the love of Christ! 

Love God, Love People: Simple but Not Easy

And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” - Matthew 22:35-40

As a black and white thinker I have often read this passage and put 2 and 2 together and found they do, in fact equal 4.  If you love God and love people without ceasing, then you will fulfill God's law. It makes logical sense so that's where my analysis ended.   

However, first we must realize that we will never love God or people perfectly, so we will never fulfill the law of God in this way.  That's why we must have Jesus' redemptive work on the cross, he did this perfectly and took the penalty I deserve so I don’t have to. 

Jesus did this so that we might have eternal life with him and so that his Spirit might live through us to make a difference on this earth.  As we love God more deeply and truly love people more genuinely, God's Kingdom will come and His will will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.  I believe that Jesus taught us to pray this so that we, the church, might be the answers to our prayers.

Recently I have been wrestling with these truths and my revelations aren't that surprising; Jesus actually meant what He said!  But this isn't about obedience in a legalistic sense as I first thought.  It's about the embodiment of the gospel in our daily lives.  2 Corinthians 5:14 says, "For the love of Christ controls us."  Christ's love for us so compels us to the degree that we are controlled by it.  We experience His love as the greatest thing in our lives, not to be outdone by our desire for power, control, or comfort. 

This great love for God is demonstrated through a life of love for others.  This is what James meant when he said that "faith apart from works is dead" (James 2:26).  We don't earn God's grace by our works; however, we prove that we love God and have been rescued by Him through our loving acts of kindness towards others. 

Can you truly love someone and watch them be abused without stepping in?  Imagine seeing a child you love, possibly your own, being physically assaulted.  You would intervene, right?  Of course, because you love the child.  

Along the same lines, can you care deeply for the well being of a friend who is addicted to drugs and not confront them?  Of course not. 

Now what about people we don't know?  Would you feel uncomfortable and look the other way when you pass a homeless beggar if you actually loved them?  If you really loved your neighbor, would you continue to smile and wave to them like you've done the past 3 years without ever having a real conversation with them?   Would your life to go unchanged with the knowledge that people live in slavery in your city if you really loved each an every one of them the way God does?  Would it be loving to never bring up your faith in a conversation with your friend just because you think it might be uncomfortable because they're not a Christian? 

When I say "you" in these questions, I mean "I/me."  The answer is humbling.  I don't love others the way they God does.  Why not?  The answer is simple: I don't love God the way I should.  For who He is and what He's done for me, He should be second to none but often He is second to my desire for control or comfort.  These same idols cause me not to love others well either.  It's difficult to step into the messiness of people's lives and to love them well.  It's not comfortable.  It's risky.  But God didn't say our lives would be comfortable, but He did tell us that if we lose our lives for His sake, we'll find true life and that life will be abundant.  I don’t know about you, but I'm tired of living a legalistic life, trying to manufacture a relationship with God by my actions.  I'm ready for the real life, a real relationship with God, risks and all, so that my life will truly be abundant. Join me.

Nov. Prayer Update: Setting Captives Free!

This month we'd like to share about a new ministry venture that we're working on in addition to our responsibilities with 100% Sent.  We're really excited about partnering with International Justice Mission to launch justice chapters on our campuses.  Learn more about what that looks like in our letter.  We also give a little adoption update as well.  Click here to check it out!  Thanks for your prayers!

Thousands of Miles to Bring Back 2 Feet

We are extremely excited to share our big news with you! You guessed it, the Lord is growing our family through adopting a child from China.  We have mentioned this briefly in our blog but this is our official announcement.  For many years, we have desired to expand our family through adoption and God has made it clear that now is the time, and China is the place.

The Lord has blessed us with 2 wonderful children and we are eager to extend our love to one more. With Sarah’s diabetes and our past miscarriages, it is risky to attempt another pregnancy, and we have always loved adoption. As Christians, we are adopted into God’s family. What better way to more deeply experience God’s love for us than by joining Him as adoptive parents?

Over the years, we have gotten to know many Chinese international students and, through these relationships, learned a lot about the country. You may be aware that due to Chinese culture and the one child policy, many families prefer to have a son. As a result, families will abandon their daughters simply because they are female or if they have special needs. Currently, thousands of children fill the orphanages of China, many of them girls. We desire to give one of these children a Christian home where they will be loved and cared for.

We began the process a couple months ago, and it will probably take about 18 months until we bring home our new little one. Aiden and Addy are both very excited to have a new little brother or sister. Right now, we are on the paper trail working to obtain all of the legal documents needed in our dossier to send to China. Please pray for us as it is quite an extensive (and stressful) task! The estimated cost of the adoption is $30,000. We also would appreciate your prayers for God to provide the finances we need.

Thank you for your partnership in our ministry as we trust God to use us to change lives of college students as well as to change the life of a child from the other side of the world!

Salt Life: Living It

 Living in Florida, I often see "Salt Life" t-shirts and car stickers.  In case you're not familiar with it, Salt Life is a popular surf shop and company that sells products for all kinds of ocean-related things from scuba diving to surfing to just hanging at the beach.  The salt life is nothing new.  Jesus talked about how we should all be living it but it has nothing to do with salt water.  In the Sermon on the Mount these are His words:

"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?  It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet." - Mt. 5:13
 
Thrown out?  Trampled?  Ouch!  With these strong words, it is obviously important to remain "salty." So what does it mean to live the Salt Life?  This comes right after the Beatitudes, so from this we learn that being "salty" requires things like hungering and thirsting for righteousness, meekness, and mercy to name a few. 

Immediately following is another illustration where the church is described as "the light of the world. A city set on a hill...."  This illustration is clear that God intends for us to be seen in the world and that our faith should not be hidden but lived out among others. 

As believers, God is calling us to step into the world and be seen making a difference - adding salt, shining light.  In a world full of sin and the consequences of greedy, selfish, power-hungry people,  the Lord has called His church to be the ones to shine light into the dark places and to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom.  According to Eph 2:10, God has prepared good works for us to walk in.  God could have chosen to preach the gospel to the world through a giant megaphone, but He has chosen to use us - "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

Similarly, He could have chosen to feed the poor with manna from Heaven, protect the oppressed with legions of angels, and wipe away every tear from every eye with His own physical hand.  Instead, He wants to use us to bring mercy, justice, and compassion to this world - to make it salty. 

I want to live the Salt Life.  I want to make a tangible difference in our world through the power of God's Spirit.  If it means taking risks and getting my hands dirty, then so be it.  Jesus was willing to leave Heaven and become one of us and even suffer and die by the hands of those He was dying to save.  The least I can do is hang out with non-Christians and engage in the world to help the needy and defend the oppressed.  In doing so, maybe, just maybe, God will use me to make our world a little saltier. 

Prayer Update: Why We Do What We Do

This month we wanted to share with you the motivation behind our ministry with 100% Sent and give you a glimpse of some of the important work we are doing.  It is a large change initiative in our ministry and it is only possible by God's Spirit, so please join us in praying for the Lord to send laborers from our ministries into the fields that are ripe for harvest!  THANKS!!!  You can read our update here.