Peru

Sara, Andrew and I start our full days journey soon. We will meet up with Corey, Larry, Dave, Denise and Joe and drive to Cleveland Hopkins airport. We go from there to Newark, NJ and then have an eight hour flight into Lima. If all goes well we will be exiting the airport as the new year is rung in around the world. From the airport we have a one hour bus ride to the hostel we will reside in for the next two weeks in Punta Negra.

When all the folks from Penn State arrive we will be a construction group of about 70 strong to begin building Esperanza de Hannah (Hannah's Hope) orphanage. The work site is about a half hour to the south of our hostel in Chilca, Peru.

Check back here for photos and updates (if Internet access is working for us). You can also visit www.childreachministries.org and go to trip updates for info. I may be leading a group several hours south in Chinca or Ica to help Compassion International rebuild projects destroyed by the recent earthquake. If so the blog will be silent as we will not have Internet down there.

To Peru..........

Red Letters

I just finished reading Red Letters by Tom Davis. I highly recommend it. The focus is on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It sheds light on the staggering statistics and exponential growth of this disease but also puts it into a captivating story. There is information on how it spreads, available treatments, and what you and I (the church) can do about it.

It describes the current social fabric of Africa and paints a disturbing picture of what is to come if you and I do nothing about "that crisis over there." In the introduction Davis notes that we are just a short plane ride away from a world where 8 year old girls prostitute themselves for food. I'm ready to get on that plane and put a stop to that.

It made me even more proud of my church (RiverTree Christian). Our Christmas offering is going to partner with Compassion International to build cottages in Tanzania for orphans effected by HIV/AIDS. We gave $77,000.00.

This book reminded me that you and I (the church) are God with skin on to "the least of these". It made me even more excited for my plane ride to Peru on Monday. I get to go hug some orphans.

In the New Testament in my Bible the words of Christ are in red letters. That's where I want to learn to live.

You won't get through this book with dry eyes.

THE gift

Well it's Christmas night and the day is drawing to a close. Gifts and dinner with family and friends is done. Tomorrow I go back to work and in a few days Christmas will be a distant memory. It seems like I am so busy moving forward I often forget to look back even a day or two and let the memories linger awhile.



Here are a few things I want to remember:



-how my wife Chris decorates the house and cooks an awesome Christmas meal.



-my son getting me a gift card to the best fast food restaurant on the planet: Chipotle.



-my daughter giving me a journal with a picture of Alison from Hogar de Ninos orphanage and my blog title description on the cover. That made me get a little teary eyed. Don't ever do that again Sara. Okay go ahead.



But here's the best memory and gift this year. My church, RiverTree Christian, has a tradition of sending the special Christmas offering outside our walls. All of it. This year we hope (there's that beautiful word again) to raise $70,000.00 to fund cottages in Tanzania, Africa for children orphaned by the Aids pandemic. And last night I watched the three most beautiful people in the world reflect the heart of God by giving. My wife wrote a check and put it in the basket. My full-time college student daughter and my full-time high school student son also responded. They both opened their wallets, of their own accord, and gave. I really can not put into words what my heart feels when the three most important people in my life do something like that.



Thank you family for the best Christmas yet.

A (not so) beautiful Christmas story

I don't mean to rain on any one's Christmas celebration. But if this blog is about my true thoughts here is where I am tonight........thinking about children.

Children in Ohio hoping for forever families......

Children in Ecuador living in abject poverty, yet hoping for just a little something for Christmas.....

Children in Tanzania who are HIV positive hoping to live one more day........

The one million children who will not put their head on a pillow tonight or have a mattress to lay on, and who have stopped hoping for anything............

The 30,000 children who started their day 23 hours ago and who are no longer on this earth because of hunger or diarrhea........

And all this made me think of the part of the Christmas story that gets overlooked. It's in Matthew 2:16 and it's not a very happy verse:

"When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi." (NIV)

I've read research that has estimated the number of deaths that night to be anywhere from 20 to 1,000. No matter how many there were hope was snuffed out. And that is what poverty does more than anything. It snuffs out hope.

Hope..............it's my favorite word. It sounds even better in Spanish:

ESPERANZA

Jesus, thank you for coming to earth. My HOPE is in you.

Jesus the defense lawyer?

This struck me today:

"But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One." 1 John 2:1b (NIV)

Jesus, the one that took my punishment, the one who has every right to expect me to not sin since his sacrifice wiped my slate clean, the one who watches me drag his name through the mud as I sin again, is speaking to the Father on my (our) behalf! Are you kidding me?

Wouldn't that be like you or I being the defense lawyer for the murderer of our child?

INCREDIBLE!

17 and 364

No, it's not a sequel to the song "25 or 624" by Chicago.

It's the age of my son Andrew. His 18th birthday is tomorrow. Wow! Somebody is getting old..........and it's not me.

I am proud of the man he is becoming. I hope he follows God's will for his life. And as a parent it's a little difficult to say "whatever and wherever that may be."

As a parent I want "the best" for my kids. And to most people in the United States of America that seems to automatically mean personal health and wealth. I admit I do hope that for him. But more important than pursing what we might call success, I hope he goes for significance for the Kingdom of God. I hope he follows Jesus.

As a parent how many times do we tell our kids to be safe? I want Andrew to be safe. But I also hope he has a daring and dangerous encounter with the God who made him.

I hope he lives a daring/safe/dangerous (daferous) life.

Go and chase significance my son. Happy Birthday.

This Generation2

A few weeks ago I wrote about a fundraising event by some Kent State students. I titled it "this generation". Here is some more encouraging news about twenty somethings I am coming to know.

Last night I had a meeting with some nursing students at Malone College. The curriculum at Malone requires them to spend 45 hours in a cross cultural setting as part of their clinicals. First of all, kudos to Malone College for this requirement. Secondly, I am excited about how the group I met with last night decided to fulfill this.

They are going on a mission trip to Ecuador with ChildReach Ministries. They could have made things a lot easier on themselves by not having to raise all the funds to go. The ones that are afraid of flying could have stayed home and found something else. Most have never been out of the United States and the thought of going to a third world country is freaking them out a little. But deep down I could sense their excitement.

We talked about why they decided to do this and many admitted some fear about stepping out of their comfort zone but can't wait to go. They want to see God at work in the world and boy will they ever. I can't wait to get them down there and see what God does through them and in them.

I think they'll find that deep contentment lies just beyond the risk of trusting God.

By the way, if you are interested in helping them financially please go to our website at
www.childreachministries.org and click on "donations" and read the directions on how to support a trip participant. Select "support trip participant" in the drop down menu and note "Malone Nursing" in the donation information box.

Startling Beauty

Startling Beauty: my journey from rape to redemption by Heather Gemmen is a book that defines grace and forgiveness in a real life story. A story worthy of the bible itself and reads as good as any novel. Simply unputdownable. It addresses racism at its core.

It made me pause and think about what it might mean to be used by God and how hard that could be.

A couple of great quotes from the book:

"Integrity is so much more than claiming noble ethics. It is more than holding passionate conviction. Integrity is living out expressed beliefs. It is making choices that accurately reflect core values."

"Faith is a journey, but there are definite moments along the way when truth propels a person from one state of being to another. I ( the author ) can name several defining moments in my life. I wonder if you can do the same."

For me my first mission trip to Peru was a defining moment. It was March 2006 and it cemented my calling, I think: to care for children on the margins of society. But my book can't be written yet. I'm just getting started.

Marriage and having kids have to be classified as defining moments. They are filled with great joy and define personal responsibility.

The following is a great review of this book that I have paraphrased slightly:

Startling Beauty narrates the author's journey between despair and hope as she faces pain no one should experience. Relationships are strained and mended; decisions are forced and welcomed; fears are created and calmed; faith is threatened and increased. The author and her husband fall into grace, exchanging their emptiness for God's fullness.