I love working at the Sudanese Center because it always provides a much-needed dose of perspective. I go in worried about some little problem at work, or why I don't have a date (again) this Friday night, or even upset over an illness in the family. Then I spend two hours with people who don't have jobs because they can't speak or read English well enough to fill out an application, who have left their families in Africa and will likely never see them again, let alone talk to them on a regular basis or nurse them through illnesses. One man I was tutoring last night arrived here as a refugee two months ago and cannot speak hardly any English, and he was having a hard time concentrating because he was "sick with worry" over his wife and child who were still back in Eritrea. He had no way to contact them and was trying to find World Vision so he could try anything to arrange for them to come to the US.
I need to be counting my many blessings instead of focusing on what I don't have...because I have so much and so little has been asked of me compared to these people.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Obedience
from today's sermon:
The Lord reveals himself to those who admit their dependency on Him and are willing to listen, learn, and obey. Why would God speak to someone who has no intention of obeying?
I need to stop trying to make things happen, stop trying to make something of myself or make myself happy, or obtain all the things I think I need when I think I need them, and give my life, my days, my hours, to God. Am I truly willing to let go of the control I think I have and obey the One I claim to follow?
The Lord reveals himself to those who admit their dependency on Him and are willing to listen, learn, and obey. Why would God speak to someone who has no intention of obeying?
I need to stop trying to make things happen, stop trying to make something of myself or make myself happy, or obtain all the things I think I need when I think I need them, and give my life, my days, my hours, to God. Am I truly willing to let go of the control I think I have and obey the One I claim to follow?
Thursday, May 21, 2009
forgiven
Tonight I saw a powerful documentary about Rwanda and forgiveness. To make a long story short, in 100 days in 1994 1 million Tutsi Rwandans were killed by Hutu Rwandans-their literal neighbors. A few years ago the government realized they could not keep all the killers in jail so they released them back to their communities, to resume their lives alongside the surviving neighbors whose families they murdered. The Rwandan government and churches are now organizing a movement of forgiveness and reconciliation.
As we follow the stories of 2 female survivors, who lost their husbands, children, and entire families, it is so amazing to see their willingness to forgive and find the freedom that comes from that forgiveness.
But even more remarkable to me were the stories of the 2 men who killed the families of these women. The pain and shame they carried were visible, and the guilt for what they had done was overwhelming them. One man said, "I did not believe there could be any deliverance for me." Through the prison ministry of Bishop John Rucyahana, both men came to find freedom in the forgiveness of Christ.
It is a beautiful and transcendent thing to see forgiveness lived out...and not just forgiveness of small things, like hurt feelings, or lies, or even stealing. We are talking about forgiving people who confess to killing your entire family. It made me realize how truly revolutionary God's forgiveness of us is. We are all as bad as these murderers, yet God is ready and even eager to forgive us of everything, because he wants us to be free from the burdens of our sin and guilt. And the freedom in those men's faces when they were forgiven was literally transformational.
O God, let me never forget the unfathomable greatness of your forgiveness, and may I always be quick to forgive others.
In the words of Bishop John, forgiveness "is not human, its divine."
As we follow the stories of 2 female survivors, who lost their husbands, children, and entire families, it is so amazing to see their willingness to forgive and find the freedom that comes from that forgiveness.
But even more remarkable to me were the stories of the 2 men who killed the families of these women. The pain and shame they carried were visible, and the guilt for what they had done was overwhelming them. One man said, "I did not believe there could be any deliverance for me." Through the prison ministry of Bishop John Rucyahana, both men came to find freedom in the forgiveness of Christ.
It is a beautiful and transcendent thing to see forgiveness lived out...and not just forgiveness of small things, like hurt feelings, or lies, or even stealing. We are talking about forgiving people who confess to killing your entire family. It made me realize how truly revolutionary God's forgiveness of us is. We are all as bad as these murderers, yet God is ready and even eager to forgive us of everything, because he wants us to be free from the burdens of our sin and guilt. And the freedom in those men's faces when they were forgiven was literally transformational.
O God, let me never forget the unfathomable greatness of your forgiveness, and may I always be quick to forgive others.
In the words of Bishop John, forgiveness "is not human, its divine."
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