You are worth it

“So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows”

I love the movie, Coach Carter, for many reasons. Tonight when I was watching it, one theme in particular stuck out to me. He saw the value that each kid on his team held. He stood up for them, fought for them, pushed them, advocated for them, and loved them. Not for his own reputation, not for the good of his career, but because he saw worth in each of them. Even the players’ own parents believed that high school basketball would be “it” for them. Not Coach Carter. He believed there was more. He saw their potential, saw their value.

I feel like that message is what drives me in my work and in what I am passionate about. At school, I feel like I have a responsibility to show my students that I love them, that they have worth, and they are valuable. It weighs on me, this role I have in each of their lives…this window of time…to show them what they are worth and how loved they are.
It’s the same when my heart breaks over the thought of a little girl, whose parents sold her to a brothel. She may believe that no one wants her, that she is of no value. She may be treated like she is worth nothing. But I know better. I cry for her. Long to tell her how beautiful she is and how perfect and loved she is.

God gives us our worth.

Not our parents, not the words of our peers, not the message we hear from media, not our fame or fortune, not our circumstances. Our value lies in our Father, our Savior who gave his life for us. He displayed once and for all that we are more valuable to him than anything else.
Lord, that we would know our worth in you, and show others how valuable they are in your eyes.

Follow You

Follow You, by Leeland,  is a new song we are using for worship this Sunday. My heart resonated with it so much, I had to share… enjoy

You lived among the least of these
The weary and the weak
And it would be a tragedy for me to turn away.
All my needs you have supplied.
When I was dead you gave me life.
How could I not give it away so freely?

And I’ll follow you into the homes that are broken.
Follow you into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.
Follow you into the World.

Use my hands, use my feet
To make your kingdom come
Through the corners of the earth
Until your work is done
‘Cause Faith without works is dead
And on the cross your blood was shed
So how could I not give it away so freely?

And I’ll follow you into the homes that are broken.
Follow you into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.
Follow you into the World.

I give all myself.
I give all myself.
I give all myself… to you.

for one

This post on the Love 146 blog says it all…

“Justice at its best is love correcting all that stands against love.” MLK Jr.

A Will No Longer Divided

These lovely summer mornings are coming to an end. I’ve enjoyed begining my day by curling up in my big papasan chair in the orange room, hazlenut coffee in hand, reading and praying. I’ve been excited to have my quiet time with the Lord lately, because I’ve been reading from this amazing book, Devotional Classics. It’s a collection of readings from guys like Thomas a Kempis, C.S. Lewis, Blaise Pascal, Bernard of Clairvaux, you get the idea. It’s a good reminder that God has been speaking the same things for centuries, and we humans keep struggling with the same things over and over. It’s good stuff.
Anyway, today I read an excerpt by Francois Fenelon (1651-1715) called A Will No Longer Divided. In it, he talked about the many joys of giving ourselves entirely and fully to God.

Here was the clencher for me…

“There is only one way to love God: to take not a single step without him, and to follow with a brave heart wherever he leads.”

It can be scary not knowing what will happen in the future, to literally take steps of faith each day. Instead, I usually think I know best, and it will probably just be easier to do things my way, thank you very much.
What’s crazy to me is, looking back, the times when I’ve felt most used by God are ALWAYS the times when I’ve taken a small step of faith and tried to follow with a brave heart wherever I felt like he was leading. I usually feel scared or silly even, at first, but then God blows me away with his faithfulness and love in the end.

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23

a boy with a lunch

I picked up the book I’ve been reading off and on for the last few months, Good News About Injustice by Gary Haugen, and headed to the pool today. (I took a personal day today and have not regretted one moment of it!) As I began reading, I sensed the Holy Spirit stirring in me and rising up again a passion in my heart that has been laying low for the last several months. This book is laced with Scripture about God’s heart and plan to use his children to fight injustice with Him. Sometimes I forget how inspiring and motiviating God’s Word can be! I just had to share one excerpt in hopes that you, too, can be inspired to ask God what you can do to be the hands and feet of Almighty God, the God of Injustice.

“…recall the story about the feeding of the five thousand. The disciples brought complaints about the hungry multitude to Jesus, and he responded compassionately by blessing the bits of food from a boy’s lunch – five loaves of bread and two fishes. ‘Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They ate and all were satisfied’ (Matthew 14:19)…imagine a scenario in which the disciples just kept thanking Jesus for all the bread and fish – without passing them along to the people. …imagine the disciples starting to be overwhelmed by the piles of multiplying loaves and fish surrounding them, yelling out to Jesus, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!’ – all the while never passing along the food to the people. And then beneath the mounting piles of food, the disciples even could be heard complaining to Jesus that he wasn’t doing anything about the hungry multitude.
This simple illustration struck my heart deeply. How kind of Jesus to include the boy and the disciples in his miracle. Surely he could have done it differently. Surely he could have commanded the heavens to unload manna and quail right on top of everybody. But how beautifully he included the boy’s tiny offering. Jesus (the Creator of all things, seen and unseen) no more needed those five loaves and two fish than my wife and I need our three-year-old’s ‘help’ in baking cinnamon rolls for visitors. But what a wonderful, life-changing day for that boy to be a part of Jesus’ miracle. How fun for the disciples to go among the grateful, joyful multitudes – to be the hands dispensing Christ’s supernatural power and love. How ridiculous, on the other hand, that they should imagine that the vast piles of bread and fish should be given to them for any other reason than to feed those who were in need.
So too with the ministry of God’s rescue for the oppressed in the world. How does God rescue the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked? Overwhelmingly, he does it through those who choose to follow him in faith and obedience. He doesn’t need our ‘help’ but he chooses to use us.

worth celebrating!

Celebrate with Love 146 as they opened a new safehome today, currently housing 7 girls rescued from sex slavery! Visit their blog http://love146.blogspot.com/ to see photos and hear more about it!

Extremists for Love

St. Patrick

http://love146.blogspot.com/2009/03/st-patrick-was-slave.html

Check out Love146’s blog about St. Patrick…good stuff.

Calling

“Your calling is where your own greatest joy intersects with the needs of the world.” -Frederick Buechner

After hearing this quote tonight I felt like God is asking me to pray about what this means in my life…I often wonder and pray about my calling, but somehow looking at it in this way puts a new spin on things. What is my greatest joy? Where does it intersect with the needs of the world?

each tiny step

This quote came in an email from Servlife today…

A young girl from Africa penned these words:

“To become involved is risky. Pain is often contagious. Our hearts may be broken and our lives may be threatened. Yet we hear God calling and we can no longer hide. Our steps may be small and timid. We may read a book, write a letter, or make a gift. But each tiny step is blessed by God and multiplies. God is more relentless than war. God is more pervasive than hatred. God is more insistent than despair.”

Sometimes I am afraid to be involved. Sometimes I am afraid of opening my heart to see and feel the pain going on in the world. Even so, there are times that I get discouraged because I am not doing anything BIG for God.  Yet, I know God is calling. It was an encouragement to me that “each tiny step is blessed by God and multiplies.” When we surrender our hearts to God, we can be confident that His will always prevails and we will always be used by Him…maybe in big ways, maybe in small, but always blessed and multiplied by God.