Why It's Hard to Follow Christ

Yeah, I know. It's been a really long time since I blogged. But there are times I just need to write stuff down and know where I can find it again. I'm going to try this again.

This past week I've been reflecting on something I read by Scotty Smith about the nature of Christianity:

According to Emil Brunner, the Swiss theologian, "All other religions spare us the ultimate humiliation of being stripped naked and being declared bankrupt before God." That's pretty strong language. And yet it points to the humiliating nature of Christianity. All the other world religions don't treat humanity with such pessimism. In all other schools of thought, we have something to bring to the table. We can strive toward God and meet Him, and in a sense, be congratulated when we do.

Not Christianity.

In Christianity, we bring nothing to the table. In fact, the only thing we bring to the equation of salvation is the sin we need to be rescued from. Perhaps that's why, if we look back into history, Christianity has been called the religion of women and slaves. In cultures of the past, neither of those two groups had many rights, so it wasn't a far stretch for them to admit their abject need of God's complete and total intervention on their behalf.

The bottom line is this: The one character flaw that has, and will continue, to most keep people from Christ is not greed. It's not lust. It's not lying or stealing or killing. It's pride. Until we see ourselves as one of these people - the ones that are in great need - this messiah is not for us.

The message of Jesus cuts us at the knees before it lifts us at the soul.

It's A New Day!

Just in case anybody comes to this blog by mistake, I want to redirect you to my new blog, www.leighannswords.com. I have incredibly exciting news to share with you, so I hope you'll join me there. :)

Our Own Justice League

When was the last time you had this much fun? :)

Brad's First Quarter Project

Something Close To My Heart

Hello Friends,

Please read and prayerfully consider what I am posting below. Sweet Sleep is an organization I have been working closely with now for the past eight months and I can assure you it is the REAL DEAL. Any money that you contribute will go directly to helping orphans around the world, and in this case specifically, those in the Gulu region of northern Uganda. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I pray that God will speak to your heart, even as you prepare to read of this great need, and that He will give you the desire to give generously to help these precious and often forgotten children get back to some semblance of home. You are loved.

Leigh Ann

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I've shared with you before about Sweet Sleep, a nonprofit ministry based in Nashville which provides beds, bedding and Bibles to orphaned and abandoned children around the world. Thanks to you, Sweet Sleep has done amazing work in northern Uganda. And, with your support RIGHT NOW, we can do it again.

Here's the situation:

Sweet Sleep and their partner, American Refugee Committee (ARC), is working with hundreds of thousands of children living in child-headed households in the IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps in northern Uganda. Twenty years ago, the government of Uganda placed every person in every tribe into these camps to protect them from rebels which were attacking the North over two decades. A few years ago, this area finally began to experience peace. However, today, more than a million people are still living in these camps. An estimated 750,000 of these people are children who are orphans with no place to go. ARC is working to trace each child by their family name back to their home tribe. They then work with village leaders to determine what land their family owned and reclaim it for them. As art of the process, each resettled child receives a new hut from ARC.

Being resettled gives a child hope and a chance for a new life. There's just one problem: the children have been afraid to leave. Until now.

Even though the Ugandan government has closed these camps, it is very difficult to get all of the children to leave. The children in these child-headed households were born in these camps - it's simply all they've ever known.

In January of this year, as Sweet Sleep's partnerships began in northern Uganda, ARC hoped to resettle 600 children. This was more than the number of children they resettled in 2009, but they were hoping the children would have a good response to the opportunity of being provided with a bed, net and Bible.

By the end of this June, Sweet Sleep had already provided ARC with the full amount of beds, nets and Bibles they'd requested for the entire year! Much to the amazement of ARC leadership, the children are now lining up to leave the camps to be resettled into their home villages. The children are sharing with ARC and Sweet Sleep that they never imagined they could have such a thing as a bed, mosquito net or a Bible of their own. Many other organizations in northern Uganda have come to ARC to ask how they've been able to get so many children to resettle. Who would have known something as simple as a bed, mosquito net and Bible could be so completely profound on a child's life? Amazing, simply amazing!

So, my friends, here's where you come in. ARC recently asked Sweet Sleep to provide 700 more beds to the additional children they'll be able to resettle this November -- in just 25 days! But we can't resettle these children without you. A resettlement kit with a straw mat, new mattress, blanket, mosquito net and Bible is just $50!

$50 to help a child find hope, peace and comfort in their new home. And thanks to some wonderful friends of Sweet Sleep's, any gifts given to help resettle these children in October will be matched 100%! We need just 350 friends to give $50 or 175 people to give $100 - we can do this, right? So take a moment and think - how many beds can I provide? I know you'll sleep sweeter knowing a child has come home and will sleep sweetly because of your gift. Just click here to donate any amount and be sure to write "Gulu" in the comment box.

One more thing... Read this letter from a child Sweet Sleep resettled in June. Let's work together to help more sweet orphans like David finally come home.

Dear Sweet Sleep,

My name is David. I am 14 years old and am in primary four. I would like to thank you, Sweet Sleep, for giving me the mattresses and mostly the Bible.

Now days I know more about God than I did before because I read my Bible and after I go for a sleep on my soft mattress. Am very happy this days because I start sleep right when I got on to my bed till morning without feeling any pain.

So I again thank God for that special gift which I was not even expecting in my life and not forgetting to pray for you and also the organization called Sweet Sleep.

Thank you so much from David.

God bless you.

Touring Sita's School

Last week we had the incredible privilege of meeting Sita. Not only did we share a birthday breakfast for her brother Sanjay in her home, but then we had the chance to tour the school that they run for kids from 3 years old all the way through high school.

Jeff and I were so impressed with this brother-sister team and all of the amazing work they are doing. Sita started this school with six children meeting under a tree. There are hundreds of kids filling every square foot of the school building, and she has plans and permits underway to expand.

Not only that, but Sita has started at least two churches. She told me that she has a tradition of spending each birthday with a group of lepers that live nearby. I know I don't remember all of the details exactly, but the gist of it is that one of the lepers ended up donating property that she was able to use to build either this school or one of her churches.

The longer we talked, the more I was blown away by the impact she has had and continues to have on the world around her. She is such an inspiration to me and I will definitely be keeping up with her. I love having a glimpse into the work God is doing here!

Our Visit to St. Andrews School

Anoint Me, Lord