Sponsorship Day at Parkview

It was an exciting day today, as 140 children were sponsored at our church through Yezelalem Minch! Sponsorship will mean that these children will have hope because their school fees will be paid, school uniforms and supplies purchased for them, shoes and clothes, and annual medical checkups.

Praise God and keep praying for the rest of the 101 children from the Sebeta Project to get sponsored in the coming weeks.

Dan

Verses Version 2

Slight change to the video...consider it a remix :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLopx9CKZD4

Verses

Hot off the presses...I just made this video, sitting in my hotel room in Toronto. I might try to clean it up on my better computer, but feel free to leave comments if you have ideas.

Those sweet voices are two of my beautiful children.
-d

Thanksgiving

Last weekend was a special time at our church. We got to give! Above and beyond our normal giving, we got to share our abundant blessings so that God's people can be blessed. And Yezelalem Minch will be one of the recipients of these gifts again this year! It is such a joy to be able to serve them and the orphaned and vulnerable children in Ethiopia in this way. I have been giving plasma in order to save up a special gift to contribute.

As far as what I am thankful for this year...I am thankful to have spent time with orphans, widows and those who live on about what I spend at a vending machine every day. And I am thankful to know the people who are daily being the hands and feet of Jesus in their lives. I am thankful for what I learned in the simple embrace from an 18 year old boy serving as the head of his household. And I am thankful that God reached out to me, forgave me, and revealed to me the beauty of simplicity and the danger of materialism. My prayer is that I would continue to loosen my grip on all that I think is "mine," and to continue to give of my time, energy and money for the Glory of God.

May you all have a most wonderful Thanksgiving celebrating with friends and family (if you are so blessed to be able to do so). But let us not forget those without family. Let us continue to pray for and be active in loving the nearly 40,000 children, who on the very day we are "giving thanks", will be receiving the tragic new title - orphan.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
James 1:27 NLT

More photographs

"Beauty in Chaos"


"simplicity"


"Kitchen for a family of seven"


"In case of rain..."


"Bonded"


"Endurance"


"My eyes have seen the Glory"

When God moves...

Growing up, I had the opportunity to go boating with the Cook family on the great Missouri river.  We would ski and tube and sometimes we would make a stop on a sandy beach area where we could get out of the boat, stretch and swim around a bit. 

At was always made very clear - "don't swim too far out from shore because the current is stronger out there and you will be carried away."

There have not been a lot of times in my life when I feel like I am in the middle of the current of the mighty river of the movement of God.  But the more I spend my time and effort living out James 1:27, it sure seems like I can feel that current.  The more I talk about, teach about and make practically caring for orphans and widows what I "do" with my faith, the more I feel my faith grow.

There have been many encouraging and amazing events since we returned from Ethiopia.  I pray that God continues to allow me, my family and our church to be a part of His movement.  As Birtukan would say - "Zot is goood!" 

Still processing...

I love this excerpt from the link below...
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Jesus loved to teach through unlikely heroes. He never said, "Look at this leader in economic growth, this political giant, or this religious leader known throughout the world." Instead he said look at a child and learn humility. Look at a widow giving her last coin and learn generosity. Look at a woman of questionable repute washing his feet with her tears and learn worship. Look at a sinful tax collector and learn repentance. He said "Blessed are you who are poor," not because the poor will receive gifts from the wealthy, but because theirs is, already in their poverty, the kingdom of heaven.

 

Certainly whatever culture or economic level we come from, we need to ask God how we can pour ourselves out generously as servants for God's glory. May it not be said of us, though, that we've studied, sacrificed, and visited the poor just to fix them. Instead, we need to hang out with the poor knowing that we also are being fixed and that God in his funny way of working loves to teach us and shape us through heroes among "the least of these."
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it came from this article...
http://www.esa-online.org/Article.asp?RecordKey=CEDEB395-75B9-4B7C-B79D-D9BBE012E075

May we continue in humility to process what we saw and learned on this trip...to learn and grow and be a blessing, not to try and fix people.  We traveled with Christ to a place that Christ has existed all along.  We did not bring Him there, but I believe we got a new view of Him that we have never seen before and may never have seen in a long life in America.

In the article it also mentions "luminaries of faith" that exist among the poor.  I believe we met some of these in the Women's self help group in Holeta.  These women, in their poverty, pooled their extra money together to help one among them who was in a desperate situation.  Most of us do not really know "sacrificial" giving, but that is an amazing example! 

Praise God for allowing us to meet these amazing people who showed us what faith and trust really mean!

d