Lately I have been thinking about missions and it's purpose. The days are getting closer to my return trip to Ethiopia so I think about it a lot. There are a couple of blogs that I read on a regular basis. The ones I have been reading lately are by a group that went on a "blogger trip" to India with Compassion International. I have never directly supported a child with Compassion however, I have seen first hand some of their projects. The seem like a very solid agency and have been thinking lately that I may begin supporting a child with Compassion. All that to say when reading the blogs of these individuals many of my same thoughts and feelings from my trip to Ethiopia have come to surface once again. There used to not be a day that passed when I did not think of my time in Ethiopia. I thought about the kids I met many times during the day and prayed for them often. I am sadened to say that now a couple of days may pass when I think and pray for the people there. In the book the "Screw Tape Letters" by C.S. Lewis I am reminded of how Satan uses the everyday things in my life to bring temptation in my life. Satan uses the very things in my sinful nature like being passive, ignorant, self serving, apathetic, empathetic without action, lazy and disobedient to bring seperation between God and myself. It sadens me to realize how little work Satan actually does. Below are some of the reminders that I have loved reading over the past week. Have I mentioned how excited I am to be going back?
You will say that these are very small sins, and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.
~The Screw Tape Letters (Letter XII)
“Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it.”
“Well, why don’t you ask Him?”
“Because I’m afraid He would ask me the same question.”
~Anonymous
"The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied…but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing. "
~John Berger
“Our compassion for others seems to be directly correlated to whether people are close to us socially emotionally, culturally, ethnically, economically, and geographically.”
~Richard Stearns
“The Lord has put his Spirit in me, because he appointed me to tell the Good News to the poor. He has sent me to tell the captives they are free and to tell the blind that they can see again. God sent me to free those who have been treated unfairly and to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness.”
~Luke 4
“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart, you begin to understand, there is no going back? And then he explains, “There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep…they have taken hold.”
~Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
You will say that these are very small sins, and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.
~The Screw Tape Letters (Letter XII)
“Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it.”
“Well, why don’t you ask Him?”
“Because I’m afraid He would ask me the same question.”
~Anonymous
"The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied…but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing. "
~John Berger
“Our compassion for others seems to be directly correlated to whether people are close to us socially emotionally, culturally, ethnically, economically, and geographically.”
~Richard Stearns
“The Lord has put his Spirit in me, because he appointed me to tell the Good News to the poor. He has sent me to tell the captives they are free and to tell the blind that they can see again. God sent me to free those who have been treated unfairly and to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness.”
~Luke 4
“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart, you begin to understand, there is no going back? And then he explains, “There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep…they have taken hold.”
~Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
"I’m just an All-American twenty-six year old girl, consumed with comfort, security, vanity, wealth, and materialism like the “best” of them. In light of who I know I am I feel compelled to ask that the Lord would perform a miracle on my behalf- that he would keep the emotional wounds that were carved during the past few weeks from healing. Now, I know you may think I’m a bit morbid, eccentric, or even just plain weird. But that’s okay, because I’ve been called far worse, I’m sure of it. So this is my prayer today- that time won’t have its typical way with me. That the sharp edge of the sting I feel deep in my soul won’t ever be dulled or alleviated. "
~ http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com/
