This is a cool way to bring it home. Check out charitywater.org if you haven't seen it before. The images were part of a display at their charity ball held once a year to raise money to fund their operation costs.

For the upcoming Hope4Haiti event - my teammate Rebecca and I designed and set up this gallery to display some of the work we do around the world.  We both think it's pretty cool.

If you're in the area call Joy (224-520-6100) and find out if you can make it to the next Bright Hope tour - now featuring, our beautiful gallery room.

Check out the latest updates from our partners around the world here: HopeOutLOUD

A man has been coming by my house a couple times a week for prayer for the last several weeks.  From what I gather (his English is not good) he is a patient in the hospital who suffers from headaches, chest and abdominal pain.  We pray for healing and each time he walks away still in pain.  But I love his faithfulness, he just keeps coming back.

He visited on Saturday.  He pointed to his head, chest and abdomen and gave a thumbs up.  I guess he's feelings feeling better.  I prayed again and thanked God.  After we were through he asked for money for food.  Of course, I have a wallet full of it.  Then he asked for a Bible in Bemba.  I thought, awesome I can find one and buy it for him.  Then he asked for a new shirt and new pants.  And simultaneously I thought these two things:
1.  If you have two tunics, give to him who has none.
2.  Oh no, I have two pairs of jeans and two shirts. Not my favorite pair of jeans!

I've been learning a lot about generosity.  There is no sacrifice when I give out my own abundance.  That's why I find it so easy to give money.  It doesn't cost me anything.  But my jeans, my favorite pair of jeans, really?  It's not like he's naked, he is wearing a shirt and pants.  Couldn't he buy some for cheaper?  I don't have money to buy new jeans when I get home.

The battle in my mind was on.

There was literal agony as I waged war.  But I knew the real sacrifice would be my heart if I couldn't let go.  Did I love this man or my jeans more?  Did I trust in God's promise to provide for me and clothe me (Luke 12:28) more than my own ability to provide?  Did I really believe in my heavenly reward?  Am I really invested in conditioning my heart?

The answer was yes. 

I'm waiting for him to stop by today.  How great is it when we buy new clothes?  I love it.  I'm hoping this man will be filled with the same sort of joy.  I've come to understand that the person I want to be in the future is only as real as the decisions I start making today.  I cannot hope to be a generous man like my grandfather if I do not start making sacrifices today.

And really I know in my head, but not yet in my heart, that these things that I love are of no worth at all and if I could see it from a Heavenly perspective I wouldn't consider it sacrifice at all.

The rewards in heaven are real.  I'm going to present my heart to God when I die.  I want it to be soft, full of love, committed and eager to see the fulfillment of God's promises. 

Perspective is key.  When I understand the rewards in heaven for a generous heart I will no longer want to hold on to things which are important to me now, like my favorite pair of jeans.

Hope you're encouraged.  Let's pray for each other.  Peace.

I've been reading the Psalms and this hit me the other day.  David didn't read the Psalms to feel close to God.  (Which I often do).  The Psalms were the outpouring of the relationship he had with God. 

When he writes things like, "I lift my hands to you" or "I will always sing of your glory" it is because he is actually doing those things.

The way it impacts me is sometimes I'll be listening to worship music and they'll be singing, "Shout to the Lord" or "Sing his praises" and instead of just singing those lines...I have a desire to live out those words.  So sometimes I shout (really I do...in the car mainly, when no one can hear me) and in order to sing his praises I'll actually start thinking and listing all the things I think are awesome about God.

I guess I'm learning to make my relationship with God more practical.  I don't have to read the Psalms to get close to God.  I can write my own.  Psalms is inspiring because it reveals the condition of David's heart.  That's what God looks at, my heart.  The song Create in my a pure heart has recently taken on a whole new meaning to me. 

Like Nathan always reminds me...God is pumped that I'm learning this new stuff, and he loves my 1% and he'll keep blessing me and enlarging my heart and making me more like Him.  And it's thoughts like that which make it easy to always praise God, even when at first I don't feel like it.  Bill Johnson told me the key to staying encouraged is to focus on what God is doing, not on the things he isn't.

I had dinner last night with a Zambian family.  Martha (the mom) works at SCCP.  I was hanging out with her two sons and they asked me to come over for dinner.

We had inshima (their staple food, a blob of ground up corn), beans, sausage, sweet potato leaves and tiny little fish you eat whole (kind of like minnows).  It was really good, Martha is a fantastic cook.  After dinner we watched WWE (wrestling) and a Mexican telanovela dubbed over in English.  It's very much like sitting around and watching Grey's Anatomy.

I ran into some super poor families yesterday.  One girl who dropped out of school last year because she was pregnant.  She was supporting her son, grandmother and father (who couldn't work) by selling sweet potatoes.  She made $1 a week.

The other family depended on food their neighbors or church dropped off.  The mother was blind and the oldest child was 10.  They all lived with only the clothes on their back.

There are plenty of inspiring stories, the whole city is being transformed....but in the mean time, there is a lot of despair as well.

My friend Keagen took me for a haircut yesterday.  I was the first white customer Henry had ever had in 9 years!  It was an interesting process, I left feeling like a got a pretty decent cut.

When I got home I realized he missed a few spots - but not bad for a first try.

I have been reading some Bill Johnson articles from his website (bjm.org).  I'm trying to begin living a life where I forsake none of the promises I have from God.  At the end of Mark, Jesus said that those who believe in him will move in power.  In one of his articles, Bill talked about some King in the Old Testament who was given three arrows from a Prophet and was told to strike the ground.  The King hit the ground three times.  The Prophet lamented, "If you had only hit the ground 5 or 6 times you would have obliterated your enemies, but now you will only recieve three temporary victories."

I've been praying for the sick, but I've only been "hitting the ground three times."  Bill concluded how costly it is for a leader to live without passion.  I don't want to live a life where I almost get there, I don't want to look into the promise land and then say  "the battle will be too great, I cannot enter."

Obidence is tough though!  It's causing me to put pride on the line.  I've got to love like Jesus or I won't be moved to get out of bed at 4AM when I hear a drunk wandering around shouting for pity.  It demands my trust, believe God can keep me safe.  It demands sacrafice to go out of my way, to be inconvienced for the sake of a releasing a love encounter with God.

So pray for me please!  Because it is one thing for me to realize these things, and a whole other level to begin functioning in them.  But how can I be satisfied when promised I have from God are unfulfilled?  God's word NEVER fails.

Of course I can't do anything to advance in this but step out in faith and make sure I abide in Him daily.  I would appreciate your prayers to be able to "go just a little longer."  When I feel tired and want to finish reading or worshipping, that an ability to keep pressing into God's presence would arrive.  I would appreciate that!

Last night I brought up the topic with my roommates, we had a great talk and shared some stories.  We prayed for some help and understanding.  This morning I went to the local hosptial and prayed for all the patients. 

No one jumped out of bed and started singing.  But it was good to be obident.  I met someone at the hopstial who was encouraged by my stopping by to pray.  He followed me and we both prayed for the people.  It's great how God provides support.  To stay encouranged I focus on what God IS doing instead of focusing on what he isn't doing.  He provided that friend, and people were very blessed.  Everyone wanted prayer.  I know that although I can't see it, my prayers do move heaven.