Because we're worth it.

Christmas is here.  It is such a wonderful time to really celebrate and rejoice in the fact that God made a way.  God stepped into our mess and sent His son so that we could approach Him and have a relationship with Him.  And we get to pause once a year to celebrate and praise Him for that.  But, sadly that is not always the easiest thing to do, at least not for me.  

Christmas in my life equates with chaos.  When I took my job I understood that it would mean coordinating Christmas for all of the residents here but I did not understand exactly how much that would require of me.  I don’t think you can ever fully understand or ever fully explain the chaos that is Christmas at a Children’s Home.  I literally run from one place to another picking up gifts, dropping them off, wrapping or unwrapping which ever needs to happen, coordinating parties, attending parties, and somehow finding a way to answer emails and calls along the way (so thankful for smart phones!)  This is exactly why today I felt like such a hypocrite in our Chapel Christmas service when I told the residents they really had to stop and remember what this season was all about.  See, I hadn’t stopped one time today and remembered that Immanuel, God with us, was with me.  That He had thought I was worth stepping down out of Heaven and stepping into this mess of a world to be with me.  

  

I had gotten so wrapped up in my work that I had forgotten my mission.  

Earlier in the day I had come from a meeting to my office to drop something off and I needed to step into the gym to ask one of the group leaders a question.  When I went in, as is normal, a few of the kids came up to me vying for my attention.  A group of them were playing basketball on one end so they quickly returned to their game but one girl didn’t.  She’s not one of the popular kids; in fact she doesn’t really have many friends at all.  She annoys them and so they exclude her which makes her try even harder for them to like her which makes most of them like her even less.  She had been playing ball by herself on the other end of the gym, just enjoying life in her own little world until I came in and she came over to say hello.  She then asked me to play ball with her.  Of course, I quickly explained that I had far too much to do and not enough time to get it done much less enough time to play with her.  I apologized, she returned to her game alone and I continued on my mission to mark off things on my never ending to do list.  

 Now this is not one of those stories where I tell you her world stopped and she burst into tears.  In fact, I doubt that she was really affected at all by this rejection.   She’s used to it.  And that is what bothers me so much.  Nothing really happened because I said no but think of what could have happened if I had said yes.  If she had seen that I stopped living in my own little world of things to do and paused, even if just for five minutes, to spend a little time specifically with her, oh what that would have said to her about how much I care for her.  What if I had said you're worth me stopping everything for?  I wish I could say I went back in and played with her but I didn’t.  I spent the remainder of the morning accomplishing things and being productive and missed the one thing I truly should have done today. 

Christmas is a reminder that God says we’re worth it to Him.  He took on flesh, became a man, and died on a cross because He thought we were worth stopping everything for.  So, I’m going to try and remember to share that not just with my words but with my actions.  Because there really is nothing more important. 

Snotty noses and ear aches

I am convinced that there is nothing whinier than a 13 year old boy with an ear ache.  Well, except maybe an 11 year old boy with a messed up wrist or maybe another 11 year old boy with a fever.  Today the boys cottage at work was sick.  I mean every last one of them had some sort of ailment.  And oh how they whine.  At one point I was walking outside and I had one boy on  my left explaining where his wrist hurt, one boy on my right trying to convince me that he had lost a piece of tissue inside his ear, and one boy behind me begging for cough drops.  It never stopped.  And as I would turn my attention to one, another would suddenly get worse.  If I was talking about ear drops suddenly the boy with the hurt wrist couldn’t even walk he was in so much pain.  If I turned my attention to him the boy with the cold couldn’t eat anything because it hurt to swallow.  My boys were physically falling to pieces.  And I literally thought I was going to lose my mind and I was only watching them for an hour or two. 

My natural response in that situation is to tell them to suck it up and quit whining.  After all, they’re boys and its time that they start learning to deal with some things.  People always say if you baby them they’ll keep finding ways to get your attention and I’ve developed quite the reputation for babying the kids as it is.  So my first response was to just not give them attention.  Yes, they were sick but none of them were as bad as they were making it out to be.  The fever was gone, the ear ache was being medicated, and the colds were really just allergies.  So I thought about being the tough guy today and finally cracking down on some of this whining. 

And then I remember how I feel when I’m sick.  I’m 25 years old and if I’m sick I still call my momma.  I don’t expect her to drive down here and bring me medicine and I know there is absolutely nothing she can do for me two hours away, but I still call my momma.  I call her because she cares. I call her because I know she’ll worry and I know she’ll genuinely want me to feel better.  I call her because somehow it makes me feel better to know that my momma knows I’m sick. 

The kids at work can’t call their mommas.  Some of them can never call their mommas again.  So today, while I in no way am trying to be their mother, I was reminded that they needed me to care.  They needed all of us as staff to care and to worry. They wanted us to make them take their medicine, bring them sprite, check on them when they’re laying their heads down during lunch, feel their foreheads just in case, and worry.  They needed to know that we cared that they did not feel good.

It reminds me of the verse where Jesus wept in John 11.  He came to Martha and Mary after Lazarus had died.  He knew He was going to raise him back to life and He knew their sadness was going to be gone soon but He also knew in that moment they needed Him.  Jesus wept because He cared and He loved them exactly where they were.  Jesus wept because of their hurts and their pains. So I learned a valuable lesson today.  Sometimes the hurts and pains that I think are so trivial and will be over and done with in a day are monumental for that person on that day.  I have to learn to love like Jesus loves and see through the circumstance and into the heart of a person and LOVE them where they are. 

So, for today, I babied some sick, whiny, snot nosed boys.

Why I am IN IT TO END IT!

Slavery still exists.

There I was in my own little happy world at Passion 2012 when that reality hit me hard.  I had worked and still get the chance to work with girls who were taken out of sexual exploitation but it had never really hit me.  Slavery still exists.  People are still forced to work against their will for money they will more than likely never see.  I joined the movement to stand for freedom for the 27 million people trapped in slavery before I even left the GA Dome.  I gave some money, posted some facebook statuses, signed a petition, and prayed often for those trapped and my life went on.  Yes, slavery still exists and yes it made me sad but my life continued. 

I was not able to go to Passion 2013 but I followed on live stream and was so excited that the cause was for freedom for those 27 million slaves again.  I followed enditmovement on twitter and got geared up to show my support again for the 27 million that I was so sad for.  

And then my life changed in a big, radical way. 

Someone I loved, someone I spent time with on a daily basis, someone I would do anything for became a part of the 27 million.  My heart was shattered. I was angry, sad, frustrated, and numb all at once.  That 27 million all of a sudden was not a number.  It quickly became a reality of 27 million individuals, all who are loved by someone.  The enditmovement suddenly was no longer something I believed in it was something I desperately needed.  I needed and I prayed that somehow I could turn back time and end it before this happened to any more people.  In that moment I knew being a part of the 27 million was not reversible and that this person’s life and my life as well was forever altered because of it. 

Each person in the estimated 27 million people trapped is just that, a person. 

They might have mothers or sisters that sit up at night worried about where they are sleeping, wondering if they are even alive, and begging God to send them deliverance.  They might have children who are terrified that they are next in line for a long legacy of slavery or even worse, children who are accepting of the fact that they too will be forced to work against their will.   

These people matter to someone. 

Even if they have no family, they matter to God.  They are created just like you and I and they do not deserve a lesser life because they were born in a different country or made a wrong choice.  God loves each of those 27 million people and no one should be forced into slavery. 

It is not okay that fifteen miles from my apartment are pimps waiting in a hotel on girls they can coerce into prostitution.  It is not okay that while I plan out my next vacation an indentured servant is still working day in and day out to pay off his grandfather’s $30 debt in a sugar mill that will never allow him to make enough to pay off the debt.  It is not okay that men buy and sell women for sex and trap them by use of force or drugs.  It is not okay that the bricks on my apartment building may have been made by someone not paid a dime to make them.  It is not okay that children are kidnapped from countries around the world and brought to Atlanta, GA and sold. 

So I am in it to end it because it is no longer just a sad number. 

I am in it to end it because it is not okay. 

On April 9^th people all around the world will be raising awareness by shining a light on slavery and showing people that it still exists.  Please join me by marking a red X on your hand to show that you are in it to end it.  When someone asks what the X means just explain that slavery still exists.  www.enditmovement.com offers a lot more great information on the issue of modern day slavery and the ways we can all help!