Sponsorship Sunday – Week Six – Idamen

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During my trip to Haiti in February of 2013 I had the pleasure of getting to know the people of Healing Haiti. Part of their mission there is an orphanage known as Grace Village. It is my pleasure to present one of the children from Grace Village each week to my readership in the hope that you will take them into your heart and sponsor their care and education.

This week’s child is: Idamen

Idamen is a sweet and intelligent girl who loves to learn so it makes sense that she loves going to school. Idamen is a gifted singer so you will often hear her singing and worshipping God with joy in her voice. Idemen’s strongest classes are English and grammar and it’s evident when anyone has a conversation with her. Idamen loves to help people and pray so she is still trying to decide if she wants to be a doctor or a pastor when she grows up. Idamen is so grateful to have her siblings Samiel, Gernadette and Gerno living with her at Grace Village. Idemen’s prayer request is that she continues to learn in school.

Idamen and her siblings, Samiel, Gernadette and Gerno were abandoned by their parents and now call Grace Village home.

Birth Info
Birthdate: October 25, 2003
Place of Birth: Tabarre, Haiti

It is my hope that one of you will find your heart touched by this child and take up a bit of Christ’s work by sponsoring them for an extended period. My wife and I are sponsoring a pair of sisters and I look at it this way – I only gave up a fast-food dinner each day to change the life of a child. Healing Haiti will do the right things for these children and I have full confidence in their work. I am not affiliated with them, they don’t endorse this blog, nothing like that at all. I just love kids (can’t be Santa and not love children) and know that Grace Village is the difference between life and death for many of these children. Please open your heart and prayerfully reflect on the opportunity God’s giving us to sponsor these children. Some of them have come out of slavery and have some of the toughest lives you could imagine prior to Grace Village.

Just click the link and it will take you directly to the page where you can sponsor this week’s child. And if God is particularly good and that child is sponsored when you get there, please grab another smiling face and change their life instead. My goal is to put Sponsorship Sunday out of business as quickly as possible and take that day off each week. Thank you. God bless you for your generosity.

Some of the finest people you’ll ever meet. The hands and feet of Christ.

So, I Was Going To Talk About NSA But You Get A Dog Story Instead

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Stormy is at ease at last.

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I’ll do the NSA rant next week. Let’s just say that if you think it’s “meta-data” and no harm can really come from it if you are above board, or that they don’t have your entire data history ready to poach, you need to detox before reading any more stuff on the internet. ’nuff said for now.

Because it’s just too horrible to go on about the currently emerging tyranny that we’ve sold ourselves into, I’d like to write about Stormy.

For the last few weeks I’ve been home healing from surgery. During that time my stand-as-far-from-the-bearded-guy-as-you-can dog has been inching closer and closer to not just tolerating me, more than slightly liking me, perhaps loving me as her position. I’ve been very careful to keep it low key.

I know that she needs low key. And sometimes I blow her mind a bit by scooping her into my lap and just holding her close. She is warm, calm, and smells wonderful. Yes, I like the smell of dogs – wet or dry. Their scent evokes a very deep response in my brain – safety and love.

I’ve been a “dog guy” since I was a “dog boy” in my youth. Some of my fondest memories involve just hanging out with my canine companions. Perhaps it’s because I’m a bit of an animal in my behavior. I’m crude, rude, bark loudly, and … I am housebroken. I relate to my dogs on a level that “owners” never quite get in their souls. I live with dogs, I don’t own dogs.

I’m not an animal rights nut by any means. I have not signed a DNR with my dog getting to make the decision on when to euthanize me. I don’t even let my wife make that decision. Come to think of it, most days I’m safer with the dog holding that power – they don’t remember what I jerk I was in my twenties. She does.

But, I digress. The fact is that the little things have been changing with Stormy in the last few months and the process has rapidly stepped up the pace in the last fortnight. She has been coming around for love. Just simple pets on the head, checking up on me, hopping up next to me on the couch, hopping up on the bed, asking for tummy rubs when I wander through the room, and generally being far more amenable to my presence.

We broke the comfort/need barrier this last week. In the midst of a very loud thunderstorm she sought me out and jumped on the bed while I was reading. She was afraid of the storm (ironic given her name.) She could have stayed with my wife but she came to me. I am the pack leader. I am the strong one. I am the one she chose.

She still likes my wife better, but when the crucial moment of an existential threat came around – it was me she sought out. I almost cried.

Thursday night we hopped the next-to-last hurdle in our love affair. The picture was taken while we played on the carpet. She actually played with me for a long time. She came to where I was stretched out, plopped down, and offered her paws to play a game of paddy-cake. We played for quite a while. I’d stroke her strong legs, rub those little paws, and tap my fingers on the rug.

And then the magic moment came – she nuzzled my fingers and licked them. It was the first time (without peanut butter or chicken being involved) in our time together. It was tentative but most definitely affectionate.

Some day in the future I will write about the first lick on the face. That’s still down the road a bit. But it’s coming. I know that prayer will be answered. She’s healing. I’m healing. I still miss Maisie, but this one has carved her own place in my heart. I love her dearly. Her name is Stormy and she’s the rainbow in my opinion.

The Gospel of Mark – and a challenge.

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I attended a conference hosted by Michael Card recently.

Michael Card’s Biblical Imagination Series

Once again I was awestruck at just how little I know about the Bible. We focused on the Gospel of Mark and did an intense study of the material. Michael was fond of pointing out that studying “in a block” makes the subject more real and vivid. He’s right. I came away with a new appreciation of the Gospel of Mark. I strongly encourage you to take some time (it’s relatively short) and just read it in one sitting. I think you will be gobsmacked at how it changes when you do that simple act of reading it all the way through without diversion.

The second thing that was brought home to me during the conference is how amazing it is to surround yourself with fellow believers. We get so caught up in “the world” that we sometimes forget that Billions of others hold our beliefs.
I met some very nice people and once again dwelt in the Spirit for an extended period. You can’t get that at church. But in a setting like this you spend a full day with these people. It’s wonderful. Especially wonderful was the concert on Sunday night. Michael Card is probably most noted outside of his fans for having written “El Shaddai.” That tune was one of the rocket boosters under the career of Amy Grant. (Link to video)

But to listen to Michael sing it in an intimate setting this weekend was different. I wept because the Lord’s journey was so real and vivid in the way he performed the song. Again, go listen to it and ponder the words. (Lots of links today!)

At the end of the conference we were challenged to insert ourselves into the Gospel of Mark. As in:

“The Apostles followed Jesus into (name your town) and espied a crippled man at the side of the road. His name was Joseph of …”

I think that this request for the personal testimony of your rebirth in Christ in a Biblical setting is one of the greatest creative writing/philosophical questions I have ever been asked in my life. I’m encouraging all of you to take ten minutes and write out your response right now. If you are comfortable in doing so, I’d further ask that you send me a copy via the comments section of this blog. I will publish it if you want, keep it private if you don’t want to go public. You do have to specify in your subject line. And without further ado, my “Biblical” appearance is below.

The Apostles turned to Him and said, “Rabbi, that man has returned. The one who paces back and forth in front of the Temple but never enters. Shall we summon him and find out what he desires?”

Jesus smiled at Peter, “No. He is not ready yet. Let time prepare his heart a bit more and then I will talk to him this night.”

That night the stranger fell asleep in his lodgings, his wife nearby. After a time he awoke in the midst of carnage and destruction. Confused, he wondered how he came to be in this place. He felt a presence that could not be seen. “Who are you and what am I doing here? I was asleep in the inn and now I’m in the roadway?”

The presence loomed just outside of the man’s view. “You are at a crossroads. You can continue on your present path and spend eternity like this or you can follow me and be soothed in my love.”

“Are you The Christ? You abandoned me long ago. I turned my back in return. Why would you want me to be happy. You’ve been punishing me for something I don’t even understand. I’m not sure you even exist and this hasn’t all just been a bad dream.”

Jesus remained hidden. “You will know the time and the place. I have a home for you in My Kingdom. One day soon you will no longer walk past the temple – you will enter and change your life forever. And I can’t wait for you to rejoin Me.”

The man awoke in a panic. He was back in the inn, but the dream was so vivid that he was shocked to find no trace of the fire and death that had surrounded him a moment before.

For a long time he struggled to deny the dream. He struggled with surrender and admitting that he was wrong. His vanity was going to cost him his soul.

But one day he walked in the door of the temple to do trade with one of the priests. To his surprise, and everlasting joy, Jesus was waiting to greet him. Jesus handed him a robe, a ring, and provided a seat at the table where a banquet was set just for him. “Joseph, son of Oliver, I am gladdened to see you this day. I have a special task for you in My church. Please eat and we will discuss your role as one of My scribes for The Kingdom Eternal.”

Stunned the man sat down and was filled with The Holy Spirit. He no longer wandered the highways of destruction but had a new path to eternal life.

What is your Biblical story? If you’d like to share it, please post a comment with the text and let me know if you’d like it to be public or just between us. I’m looking forward to the responses.

Dark Business Cards

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I’d like to welcome all of you who followed a link on a friend’s blog, Facebook, or Twitter account to find this little corner of silliness. I’ll be switched, but the web traffic quintupled in two days. The reasons might just be found below. In the meantime, my thanks to all of my fellow authors and friends who contributed to the spike in traffic.

During a recent trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference I played the most popular parlor game with my fellow authors – exchanging business cards. This can be fun, it can be dangerous, but it is certainly educational.

I always ask if a fellow author has a blog and would like to exchange links and posts. I take the card, make sure I can actually remember who the heck it belongs to, and then stuff it in the little credentials holder that hangs around my neck. It’s safe there, won’t get rumpled, and won’t get lost.

The first thing I do (writing wise) upon returning from the conference is update my blogroll, send am email of thanks to the person for tolerating me during our visit, and then read their blog. Unless they are seriously unhinged (and none of them were) I elicit a blog post from them again and offer one of my own. Thus far several have responded and the posts crop up here as cross posts. It’s good for all involved.

There is just one problem with the whole system – dark business cards. I’m able to read most things given the right pair of glasses. When I designed my latest cards I took the colors into account and made sure they were legible in mediocre light. I had to destroy the first 1000 cards because they didn’t match the proof. Thankfully, the good people at Print For Change are outstanding Christians who deliver unequaled customer service. They pumped out a new batch that looked great in under a week – at no cost. Gotta love that!

Back to dark business cards – I was presented with at least five cards that held the name of the author in clear print, but the telephone numbers and email addresses (and, in two cases, the url of the blog) were so dark on a dark background that you couldn’t read them. Pretty cards, artistically designed, great photos – but illegible.

In a world where people just move on to the next item that could be fatal. I took the time because I valued their help in furthering my career. There, it’s out – we both win if we do this thing. And I’m glad to promote them: see the blogroll for the links to my friends. But if you didn’t care very much, or were forgetful about the person’s patter about their writing, those dark cards would spell an end to the interest.

Aside from the dark cards, we all went into a frenzy of Twitter, Facebook, Linked-in, and blog exchanges. I saw my traffic increase almost immediately. It exploded yesterday.

And, as a result, I’ll do two more posts today. I’m motivated. And you can read my cards in poor light.

In the meantime, here’s another dog picture. Seems she’s got a bigger following than I do. Have a blessed day. And glad so many new readers dropped by to see what’s going on around here.

Sleeping Beauty. Stormy at her best.


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