Bag Sale #2 at Aynesworth Elementary

Last June, a bunch of us put together a bag sale at my school, Aynesworth Elementary, in southeast Fresno. It all started because I was working in a classroom and noticed one of the students wearing soccer cleats at school. When I asked why he had those on, he said "because it is my only pair of shoes".

Another of my students came to school hungry. I asked why he didn't come to school early for the free breakfast and he said because his "dad was drunk on too much beer and was sleeping on the couch in the morning" so he had to walk and didn't make it in time for breakfast.

Yep. You're probably feeling the same way we were feeling. Devastated, angry, confused, heart-broken, and eager to help feed and clothe children right here in our city!

We read some good books that had stirred us and help us understand the best way to serve those in need, and learned hand-outs weren't the answer. So we decided to host a bag sale where we'd collect tons of clothes, food, and hygeine products and discount them so parents could come and shop and fill up a grocerty bag of whatever they wanted for just $5!

Here's the story from last June: Bag Sale #1

We're hosting another bag sale Saturday 12/15 from 9-11am and we need your help!

We are in need of the following:

Food: perishable/non-perishable

Hygeine Products: soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toilet paper, diapers, pads, lotion, dish soap, laundry soap, etc

Clothing: ALL sizes, especially elementary age (5-12yrs). Coats, sweaters, pants, underwear (new only), socks, shoes
Misc: blankets, towels

Christmas gifts: new toys, clothes, shoes, household items, etc. (These will be sold seperately at a discounted price and we'll also include free gift wrapping).

If you can help in any way, please let me know. We have this week left to gather items for hopefully 100 families!

Beyond Christmas

{Being a Christian is so much more than celebrating Christmas}

Our friends recently decided to host a foreign exchange student from Vietnam. She has lived in the country for 3 months. We just met her a few days ago for the first time, at our annual couples Christmas party (where we play fun/hysterical games and have a white elephant gift exchange).

While we were laughing and doing ridiculous things, of course my deep/reflective side looked over at her and wondered what she was thinking about all of this? She was laughing and even participating in a few games, but I wondered what she was thinking? Are Americans crazy? What is this “Christmas” they celebrate? Why are they giving each other Sponge Bob coffee mugs and weird framed pictures?

Which made me wonder . . . does she even know the true meaning of Christmas? Does she know we really gather to celebrate Jesus, not just have a fun evening with our friends (thought that’s a bonus). Of course this was not the intention of the night, but it did make me wonder . . .

If people look into my life, do they know the true meaning of why we celebrate Christmas?
Do they understand why Jesus was a gift to the world?
Do they see me imitating His incarnational living?
Do they feel loved by me?
Do I shine my light brightly?
Does my life proclaim Christ, even if I don’t say a word?

How much of our Christmas is really about CHRIST?
How much of our life is really about Christ?
We all say Jesus is the reason for the season, but how so?
Would people know you as a Christ follower all year round or just because you insist on “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays”?

It reminded me of my friend asking the question someone asked her:

“If the government came to your house to arrest you for being a Christian, would they know you were one by looking at where you spent your time, your talent, and your treasures?”

If they looked at your weekly schedule, would they see a Christ follower?
If they looked at your bank account, would they see a Christ follower?
If they recorded your conversations, would they hear a Christ follower?

I know. Gulp.

I honestly think that if this foreign exchange student doesn’t understand the true meaning of Christmas or know the gospel, she will by the time she leaves this country. Maybe not because of the games we played that night, but because the people hosting her proclaim Christ in their home, in their marriage, in their finances, in their lives . . .

They know Jesus is not the reason JUST for this season, but the reason for every season. I want my life to proclaim that. I want people to be able to look into any part of my life and see a Christ follower. I want people to see Christ in me by the way I speak to my husband, by the way I handle my finances, by the was I treat the poor and oppressed, by the way I serve the lost AND the found.

I want Him to be known.

I want to give honor to the King with much more than lip service. I want to celebrate the incarnation of Christ every season, not just in December. I want to do it in a way that is generous, courageous, obvious, and loving.

I want to be known as Christian not just because I “celebrate Christmas” and speak of Christ one day a year, but because I follow Christ and proclaim Him with my life 365 days a year.

The Temple Mount {Jerusalem}

The most significant, sobering, and profound place we went during our visit to Israel was The Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It is the center of all things religious, the center of all things between Jews and Muslims, the center of all things past, present, and future for us as Christians as well.

While we were there, our group was standing in front of the Western Wall taking pictures, smiling, talking, carrying on. And I just couldn’t.

I stood in the back almost paralyzed considering this place. It was just too heavy for me, too dark, too upsetting. It was the place I longed to see the most during our 10 day tour, and the place that left me most devastated.

What is it about this place?
The reason this land is so significant for both Jews and Muslims goes all the way back to Abraham. Abraham had 2 sons. One born between Abraham and Hagar (an offspring of the flesh/not trusting in God) named Ishmael. The other born between Abraham and Sarah (his wife, whom the LORD chose and blessed) named Isaac. Muslims believe that Ishmael is the true chosen son of God . . . the first born. Jews believe that Isaac is the true chosen son of God . . . Can you see why there is animosity? War? Division?

The Temple Mount
The Temple Mount is built on top of Mount Moriah, the place where Abraham took Isaac (Isaac, his son, his only son whom he loved, to be sacrificed). The peak of the mountain was a Holy Place. It is the place where Solomon built the first temple, so that the people of Israel would have a place to worship and offer sacrifices. It was destroyed in 586 B.C. by King Nebuchadnezzar. It was reconstructed by King Herod, adding walls/roads to make it more of a flat place rather than mountain top, and was destroyed again by Romans in 70 A.D. After Romans destroyed the temple a 2nd time, Jews were expelled all over the world and Romans changed the land from Judea to Palestina to remind them of their enemies the Philistines. The fighting over the land in Israel still goes on to this day.


The Dome of the Rock
This is the location where Christians believe the temple will be rebuilt again. The temple must be rebuilt before Christ’s second coming. Even though Muslims (Sons of Ishmael) don’t believe in Christ as Messiah, they have sealed up the gate to which the Messiah is prophesied to return with stone and defiled it by making a cemetery out front. They have also built this giant Mosque on top of the Temple Mount to show the “new power of the new religion” (Islam).

This was the darkest, heaviest place for me the whole trip. Our tour guide could not speak about anything other than Islam. We were not allowed to bring bibles here, men were arrested for praying with their Jewish prayer shawls, children were marching around chanting to Allah. Dark. Heavy. Unreal. True oppression here.

Western Wall
On the other side of the Dome of the Rock is the Western Wall. I had heard of this place. A place where devout Jews come to pray. They touch the wall because it the closest place Jews have to the Holy of Holies (where they still believe God’s presence resides).

It was here that I just couldn’t take it anymore. Here we are, idiot American Christians laughing, being loud, taking pictures with smiles in front of the Western Wall and I felt like I was standing in the center of a religious war zone.

There was nothing joyful or happy about being here. On one side, I saw children being trained to worship a false God. On another side I saw devout Jews praying for mercy on the nation of Israel, when Mercy has already come and they rejected Him.

I have stared at this picture often. In the middle of this picture there are 2 young women from the Israeli army.

They are bold, courageous, and devout defending their country with both guns and prayer. Would you be willing to defend God like this? I sat back and realized we know the ONE TRUE LIVING GOD and don’t even worship like this! We barely get in bible reading and prayer, and even then it’s only out of guilt. We slap God on to our lives by going to a Sunday service or saying a quick prayer before a meal. And here there are people devoted to false gods and false religions . . . the point of living and walking in fear and even death for some. We know the One True God and don't even realize the gift we have been given.

I just couldn’t bring myself to smile here. It was too heavy. It’s the weirdest thing, but it’s like I left part of my heart here. I ache for both Jews and Muslims to come to know the True God, the God Most High, to see Christ as the fulfillment of all prophecy. This place broke my heart, opened my eyes, and yet I long to go back.

We have been given too much with ease in our country. We have 10 bibles in our home, and never pick them up to read. We don't have to fight for anything, others do it for us. As women, we have freedom to choose whatever profession, political party, religion we want to follow . . . the young girls growing up under Palestinian control have no choice.

It was here that I learned we are a part of a much bigger story. We are grafted into the nation of Israel and get to share in their inheritance. We have forgotten that God is not a part of our lives. He is our life. This is HIS story. We get to be a part of it. We ought to worship, study, pray, love, and live in gratitude because of it.

Prayer

{Lessons from Psalms and Paul}

I have had some wonderful conversations about prayer recently.

What does prayer look like?
How do you make time for prayer?
How do you balance prayer for yourself vs. prayer for others?
How do you pray?

To which my glamorous answer is “I could write a book on prayer! It’d be 3 words: JUST.DO.IT.”

It’s that simple, carve out time to pray and just do it.

If it’s that simple, then why is it SO HARD??
Really why is my prayer place the hardest place to find?
If God has given me enough time in the day to spend with Him, why can’t I ever find time to pray??

I constantly feel like my prayer time is lacking, not enough, I didn’t ask the right thing, etc. I probably confess prayerlessness more often than any other sin.

And that’s when I remember the simplicity of prayer . . . it’s simply talking to God. It’s a gift from the Father to communicate with Him, lay our burdens down, petition Him, thank Him, delight in Him, and grow in Him.

When I read through the Psalms, I see David’s prayers. They didn’t always start out with “adoration, then confession, then thanksgiving, etc”. They were honest, heartfelt, and genuine. Sometimes begging the LORD for His presence, sometimes pleading for deliverance from His enemies, and sometimes praise for who God is!
So I learned from David and the psalmists that prayer can be honest, authentic, real, full of fear or full of hope, full of petitions and full of praise.

I have often wondered why my prayer life feels like I was asking Santa for my Christmas wish list rather than asking the Most High God for His will to be done in my life. Then I remember Paul’s chapter 1 prayers in most of his letters.

He would pray for things like this:
“9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11)

“9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” (Colossians 1:9-12)

Paul prayed for people to be filled with knowledge and wisdom, to bear the fruit of righteousness, strength, thanksgiving, etc.

I wonder what would happen if our prayers started to sound like this? What if instead of asking for things to be added/removed in our life, we started praying like Paul did . . . asking for knowledge, for our love to grow, wisdom, discernment, to bear good fruit? What if we were more intentional about our time with the LORD and honest in our prayers like the psalmists?

Prayer can be so much more than asking God for stuff. It can be a place we go to God to give praise, thanksgiving, confess, and be strengthened. It’s a place we can lay our burdens down and surrender our fear in exchange for hope.

This week, I’ll work hard to get to my prayer place. I’ll use the Psalms and Paul’s Chapter 1 prayers as my guide. Will you?

Compromise

{Lessons from the Life of Solomon}

1 Kings 3: Solomon seeks wisdom and discernment, and it pleases the LORD!
"9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” 10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this." (v.9-10)

1 Kings 8: Solomon builds the temple and praises God!
"22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, 23 and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart" (v.22-24)

1 Kings 3-8: Solomon builds high places and compromises.

1 Kings 11: Solomon takes many wives and follows after other gods.
“For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.” (v.4)

"So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done." (v.6)

Wait.
What?
Solomon, who was the wisest man to ever walk the earth, who pleased the LORD with his prayer request, who built the temple, ends his life . . . following after other gods?

It is painful to see the progression in Solomon’s life from 1 Kings 3 to 1 Kings 11; from Proverbs to Ecclesiastes, from wisdom, to indulgence, to cynicism. What went wrong?

Solomon had high places. Places of compromise.

Compromise is subtle. It creeps in just a tiny bit, and a tiny bit more. Like a boat that gets off just one degree and ends up far away from its destination, so it is with compromise.

It takes just a little compromise, a high place there, self-indulgence here, taking another daughter of the king as your wife, and before you know it . . . you’re writing cynical books and following after other gods.

LORD please keep me from ending up like Solomon. Please show me:
Where do I compromise?
What are my high places?
Where am I following after other gods?
How do I guard my heart from the pollution of self-indulgence?
How can I keep my mind from cynicism?
How do I keep from ending my life like 1 Kings 11:4?

Help me to stay close to you, on Your path, in obedience to Your ways.