God Cares About the Smallest of Things

I just wanted to give credit where credit is due. (Bear with me and all the details...) A little over an hour ago, I decided to search on eBay for some of the homeschool curriculum we are using for our son this fall. The curriculum, Sonlight, is pretty pricey, so I've been keeping an eye out for good bargains on eBay. I found an auction (with barely more than an hour left) that had many of the items I needed at a still very low price. I wanted to bid on it, but hesitated because with Father's Day and various other things, we've had quite a few more expenses this past week and, therefore, a tighter budget.

Then I remembered three items I have here at home that I need to return to the store. Their total cost added up to $48. A little thought went through my head (looking back, I believe it was God whispering in His still, small voice): "Make $48 your maximum bid even though other auctions have sold for much more. That way, if you win, you won't be taking any more money out of the bank account, and if you can actually buy all of those books for $48 or less (a real bargain even by eBay standards), maybe it will be God's way of confirming you've made the right choice to homeschool Jamie next year."

So..... I used my favorite online auction-sniping program and placed a max bid for $48 and set it to place the bid 5 seconds before the auction's end. I won the item for $48 exactly, meaning $48 really was the absolute lowest max bid I could have put in to win. (For those of you who don't use eBay, many times you never actually pay your max - only just enough to surpass the next highest bidder's previously-set maximum.) I had no way of knowing the current winning bidder had already made a max bid of $47.18 (since the price was only at $37.50 when I placed mine), but God knew! He also provided the exact amount of money to pay for it, too! And after receiving criticism for our decision to homeschool for Kindergarten, God gave me the much-appreciated confirmation that we are doing what's right for our child, and He's taking care of the rest.

What an awesome God we have!

Why None of Us Is Meant to Be Alone

I read this quote by the 19th century English poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, on a wall plaque, and it seems to be a perfect image of friendship and the built-in human need for companionship.

"Friendship is a sheltering tree."

Shaping a World-View

Earlier this week I had a conversation with my five-year-old son, Jamie, which reminded me that parents have the awesome privilege and responsibility of shaping their child's world-view. He asked me a very simple question while examining his previously skinned - now healed - knee, "Mama, why do we have scabs?" Of course, I told him it's like our body's own special band-aid. Then he said (and this is where you can detect his world-view), "I'm so glad God gave us scabs! He thought of everything!" This innocent, childlike remark gave me such satisfaction as parent. It's clear from his comments that he views the world and all within it as created and cared for by God.

Opportunities to shape his view of the world and his place in it come up at random times. I never know when I'll get a question or witness an incident that offers me the opportunity to show him the truth of God's love and his laws. For instance, Jamie has become fascinated with the Star Wars characters, even though he has never seen any of the movies. (He was first awestruck when he saw Darth Vader and some Storm Troopers make an appearance on a special episode of the game show Deal or No Deal!) He knows that Darth Vader wasn't always a bad guy, and he has often asked the question, "How did Darth Vader get bad?" I answered with, "He became selfish and stopped caring about other people. He only cared about what he wanted." Then he asked a much more searching question, "How do people get selfish?" This is where I had an open door to teach him the truth about God and our relationship to Him. I told him, "People become selfish when they stop listening to God."

It's amazing how scabs and Star Wars (and anything else, for that matter) can become springboards for teaching Truth to a child. It makes me want all the more to make sure that I am physically and emotionally present with my children as much as possible, so that I can be the person they turn to when these thoughts and questions run through their heads. I believe as a parent, I have a solemn duty to impart Truth to my children, so that they can stand up against the inevitable storms of life, much like the wise man Jesus described, who built his house - not on the sand - but upon the Rock.

Be Lifted High

I recently bought the album "Stand" by the Christian recording artist, Michael W. Smith, on iTunes. The song "Be Lifted High" really resonates with me. I found this video on YouTube featuring the song.

I pray for myself that these words would be true everyday in my life. It's a daily struggle to deny myself and follow Jesus, and this song puts that life experience to song. When you play the video, listen carefully to the lyrics.

Serving

This past Saturday, I did something I had never done before. I drove to an elementary school - 30 minutes away from my home, in a run-down area of town - to tutor kids who need extra help in math and reading. To be honest, I don't think I would have ever taken the initiative on my own and applied to be a tutor if it weren't for the efforts of our church staff, who made the decision to organize our church members to help the faculty and students of this particular school in any way possible. This is a school where the vast majority of kids are on free or reduced lunches (i.e. living near the poverty level), and where most kids come from single-parent homes. These are kids who were born into difficult family situations beyond their control and who are at risk for all types of delinquency. Even the most caring, loving parent would find it difficult to provide the best nurturing environment when s/he is working 2 or 3 minimum wage paying jobs just to barely make ends meet while feeling overworked and overstressed. Right now, many of these children still have their natural childhood innocence, but where will they be when they are 12, 16, 18 without other adults taking an interest in their lives? It's a problem that is quite staggering when you think of it.

So the big question in my head is: why don't more Christians help kids like these? Churches are always emphasizing acts of service (or in church-people speak: "serving the Lord"), but why are these types of compassionate ministries so noticeably absent from the lives of most Christians? Here are a few reasons I believe people ignore compassionate ministry, such as tutoring or mentoring at-risk children in a public school setting (and I write from personal experience):

• The popular misconception that "serving the Lord" means joining the choir, teaching Sunday School or Vacation Bible School, keeping the church nursery, being a church greeter, serving on a church committee, etc. In other words, "serving the Lord" means finding a place to serve inside your local church - no need to go outside the church. Certainly, we can and should contribute to the efforts of our local church; however, the Church is not a building or a local group of people. We, Christians all over the world, are the Church, and we have the ability to go into different neighborhoods, cities and countries and make an impact in people's lives.
  
• Another misconception: compassionate ministries and acts of kindness are meaningless unless accompanied by a figurative "Bible-thump" over the head. In other words, if we're not directly telling people about Jesus, why bother? While it is true that Jesus told us to "go and make disciples", he also said in Matthew 25 that whatever we did for "the least of these" (after describing the poor, homeless, sick, imprisoned, etc.) we did for him. James also describes caring for widows and orphans as "pure and faultless" religion. It seems pretty clear that "serving the Lord" has a much broader definition than just "making disciples". By the way, when people who openly love and follow Jesus sacrifice their time and energy to selflessly help others, I believe that does tell others a little something about Jesus, you know?
• Another reason people don't serve in this manner: they really don't care. It could be an "out of sight, out of mind" problem, or it could be a sense of retributive justice. "Not my problem you screwed up your life. You made your bed, now lie in it." We shouldn't forget God's mercy and compassion for us. It was never his problem that we chose to sin and separate ourselves from Him, but He sure went out of his way to fix our problem, didn't He?
• Some people feel the problems in our world are so big, and there are so many people suffering, that one person's small effort cannot make a difference. Here's a great quote from Mother Theresa on this: "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."
  

As I mentioned above, I can write this list from personal experience because I am guilty of thinking each of these at some point, but I am thankful that God continues to teach me and mold my heart and mind to be more like his. I learned on Saturday that God has given me a gift and a passion I didn't know I had. I'll definitely be looking for more Saturday tutoring opportunities next school year. One day, when I am no longer the busy stay-at-home mom of two preschool-aged children, I may be able to find time during the week to tutor or mentor kids at the school.

So, do you want to know how my first tutoring session went? Well, I couldn't be at the school until one hour before the session was scheduled to end, so I had very little time to offer. When I arrived, a teacher led me over to a 4th grade boy, Malcolm, who was already working on his reading assignment. I didn't do very much - except express kindness and encouragement as we went over his reading and the follow-up questions together. After completing the task, we chatted for only a minute or two before the bell rang, signaling the end of the Saturday Academy session. What happened next showed me how my small effort made a big difference to him. He asked, "When will I see you again?" I told him I wasn't sure because this past weekend was the last Saturday Academy session of the year. He then asked with a big smile, "Will you come back next year?"

Of course, I said, "Yes! "

Sweet Child of Mine

I just want to brag on my son, Jamie, a bit.

I feel like such a lucky (or should I say blessed for all the church-people out there) woman to be the mother of such a sweet little boy. This morning while my husband was in the bathroom getting dressed for work, and I was lying in bed - still in that semi-awake-half-asleep state of mind, Jamie came in our bedroom and hopped on the bed, as is his usual routine. He immediately announced, "Mama, I'm going to say something that's very nice." He then said, "Mama, I love you so much." Of course, I was touched and told him I also lived him very much. He then continued, "You're the best mama ever. I'm never going to stop loving you!"

Oh, I'm so lucky (or blessed!)

What Are We Waiting For?

Our small group discussion this week focused on serving others, and our church is coordinating efforts to serve people in need in our local community and other parts of the world. To quote Sally Clarkson from her book Seasons of a Mother's Heart: "God's truth may fill [our] minds, and his Spirit may be at work in [our] hearts, but the process is incomplete until the passion of Jesus for the lost and hurting moves [our] hands to reach out to the people for whom he died." I think she sums it up quite well. (To see my previous blog entry on her book, click here.)

Here's a great music video about serving others I found on YouTube a few months ago. It's set to the the popular song "Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer, and the message is quite compelling.