Soma

Today, on the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, it didn’t seem appropriate to reflect with negativity, but to instead take a moment to celebrate the dignity, value and power of life given by a sovereign and good God.  This video seemed to do that.

99 Balloons from Igniter Media on Vimeo.

HT: JT

As most of you probably know, Camden Crane (a member of Shoreline) is currently living over in Ethiopia.  One of the unfortunate propesities we often have as Christians and as a church is that we quickly forget about our brothers and sisters who we don’t see every week.  We tend to live lives of “out of sight, out of mind.”  So, I wanted to just take a quick minute to bring Camden back to your mind.  Please continue to be praying for her and the team over there.  She has just started teaching, and is overwhelmed and excited.  I’d encourage you to check out the latest update on her blog, and continue to pray for her.  Send her an email (even just one line telling her your praying for her).  And, be encourgaed by what the Lord is doing in and through her over there.  She’s not doing anything particularly strange or crazy, she’s just living a radical, Christ-centered life in Addis Ababa, Ethopia the same way you are called to live a radical, Christ-centered life wherever you are.  So, pray for Camden…and pray for all of your other brothers and sisters as you think of them.  Pray that each of us would be living the kind of life Christ has called us to, and doing it with passion!

Now, I know that just yesterday I encouraged all of you to make sure you were checking out the blog network as we continue to write and muse for the purpose of your growth and strengthening, but this week is going to be a little different.  In about 10 minutes Brian and I are leaving for the airport and we’re going to be in El Salvador until Friday.  I’m not sure what kind of internet connections are going to be available, so we’ll try to blog, but if we don’t it’s not because we gave up on this thing three weeks in.

But, since you’re reading this, would you please commit to pray for us consistently this week (as I know many of you already do).  We’ll be in El Salvador checking out a few different relationship opprtunities and ways that we (as a church) can come alongside the church in El Salvador to aid in the gospel and to continue to promote the glory of God.  To be honest with you, I don’t really know what to expect.  I’ve been overseas a bunch, but this time I’m not sure exaclt what the Lord wants to do with these relationships.  But I do believe that He has sovereignly placed us where we’re at with an incredible opportunity to learn from our brothers and sisters in El Salvador and to come along side of them.  So, please pray for our time, our conversations, our discernment, our wisdom and our humility.  I’m excited to see what the Lord brings about through this.  I mean, maybe one of you is going to end up moving to El Salvador three years from now, and this is the first step in that long incredible process.  Pray big!

As I prepare for tonight’s prayer meeting I’ve been deeply impacted again by all that is (and has been) going on in India that I have been completely oblivious to, and that (until this past week) has been completely void in my prayer life.  In addition to the attrocities in Orissa, there are a number of other awful realities that ought to be brought to our attention.

My neighbors just got back from a trip to India with their 2 year-old son.  It had been an incredible three weeks for them, but the one thing that they could not get over was the poverty that they had seen and the impact of such a strong caste system.  There is a lot of financial success in India right now, but if you think that the divide between rich and poor is getting bad here in America, you have no idea.  The caste system that has existed in India for centuries (you have probably heard of the lowest of the low in India culture…the Dalits) creates a culture where upword mobility is often times impossible and where the rich are generally discouraged from helping those less fortunate than them.  This creates an incredible dual-world in the nation which on one hand is up and coming and on the other is one of the poorest, most miserable places on the planet.  Dalits are even sometimes directly persecuted for their faith simply because of the freedom and worth they have in Christ, in contrast with the culturally defined worthlessness they are “supposed” to have.  You can read about the incredible awakening among the Dalits here.

In addition, I have already mentioned the horrible floods going on in the north of India.  Imagine the aftermath of Huricaine Katrina, but without the shelter of the Superdome and with people staying stranded not for days but for weeks and even months.  In Mumbai, India a missionary (just this week!) showed up to a prayer meeting to find out that he had to leave quickly because he was being hunted by extremists and they wanted to kill him for his ministry (check out the story here).  Finally, if you would like to see an horrific list of the things that have taken place in Orissa the last couple of weeks, check this out.

I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling pretty ignorant and unaware right now.  I am sure that this is only a piece of what is going on all over the country of India, let alone the world, to and among our brothers and sisters.  I hope that, more than anything, this drives you to your knees in prayer.  I know it will as we meet tonight.