An eye for an eye, a tire for a side, a life for a life.

An eye for an eye.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right!!” How many times have you heard your parents relentlessly preach this line?! My favorite reply was “Yeah, but three rights make a U-Turn!” (I thought my wit was outstanding… but I never let on that I, in actual fact, got that line from Bullwinkle, the monotone moose!) No matter how many times my parents reminded me, it took me many years to understand fully what this meant. Sure I knew my “bad” actions in response to my sisters’ taunts didn’t make the situation right… but I thought that it made me feel just a little better in the end. Now that I am 22 and directing a youth program for inner-city kids, I hear myself echoing the same line that was spoken over me many years ago. My relentless plea seems to dissipate into thin air because no matter how many different ways I hide the same line, they just don’t seem to get it!

Why?

At times this can be frustrating, but if I couldn’t grasp the application when I was young and living in a culture fairly saturated in good morals, how can a child living amongst crime, violence, hurt, and pain grasp the same concept?


A tire for a side.

Tonight a man in a building on my street was stabbed. Police cars and ambulances blitzed the scene. The flashing lights beckoned the neighborhood to come and see the “parade”. It was 11pm and young children, less than 5 years old, were watching as the officials dealt with the situation. They heard from the grapevine of bystanders of how a man was stabbed because he had earlier slashed the tires of his enemy’s car.

An eye for an eye… a tire for a side.

There was a buzz in the air. Not one of franticness, but of fascination. It was a reality show being played before their very eyes. And they ate it all up.

So did the little boy who may forever believe that when someone wrongs you, you must take severe action to prove that you will stand up for yourself, for your family, and for your 4 door station wagon.


A life for a life.

“The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; but I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 (NIV)

The young boy who has the preconceived notion of “an eye or an eye” may one day end up in one of my youth programs. I will inevitably say to him “two wrongs don’t make a right”, but what his ears hear will be drowned out by the static of the world. The world is very real to these kids. It doesn’t short change them; it doesn’t hide who it is. So why do we candy-coat the gospel? Is it an attempt to sweeten their lips? To lure them in with shallow lessons?

“While we stand on our dignity, generations are going to Hell.” (Catherine Booth).

Let’s not compromise our passion for lost souls by being afraid to speak the truth. God’s Word is so powerful that it can cut to the heart (Acts 2:37). This world is real to these kids; we too need to be real.

Of course we need to sensitive to remember that there are times when a person cannot bear every gospel truth at once (John 16:12). However if we only ever feed our children the same gummy bear of truth; how will they ever stomach an everlasting gobstopper?

Let’s build up our young people with the truth of the Word of God so that they can be beacons of light to this world (Matthew 5:14). Beacons that draw a crowd not to simply spy into the situation at hand, but beacons that beckon the world to arms! To fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12) of faith for our God!

To stand up when others would rather sit idly by.

To stand out when others would rather blend in.

And to stand firm on the promises of God when everyone else turns away.

This is our mission; our life; our love.

There's no place like "home".

Dorothy, in a land far away from home, clicks her heels together, closes her eyes and says the famous words “there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”
Home is one of those words that have a standard dictionary meaning, but it can mean so much more than simply “a place a residence”. When I think of “home”, a famous Australian movie quote comes to mind: “it’s not a house, it’s a home. And a man’s home is his castle.”

I have recently been appointed to Newport, Kentucky for my Railton Internship. It will be an exciting adventure and it will be where I can call “home” for the next 12 months. This past weekend I had the opportunity to say goodbye to my good friends in the Northern New England Division before I prepare to move to Kentucky… probably the furthest most point in the Eastern Territory from Maine! I drove away with watery eyes thinking how much it hurts to say goodbye to people when you leave home. I have many “homes” all over the world. There is of course my native home in Australia, there is my home in Toronto, Canada, there is my home at Camp Sebago, Maine, there is my home in Suffern, NY, and there will be my home in Newport, Kentucky! I realized that wherever I go, I will never actually be “home”. Even when I am in my most natural home in Australia, it still isn’t “home” because there are people and places that I love that are so far away and are so missed.

This thought alarmed me as I realized that being away from “home” is really quite lonely, but the Lord impressed on my heart that there was still one more home that I had forgotten about. I had an epiphany that my real “home” is the home I have waiting for me in Heaven. It will be a place that I will ultimately feel “home”. I won’t be longing for anywhere else. I won’t be in need. I will simply be home! This realization means that no matter where I go on this earth, I do not need to worry if at times I feel lonely or long to see my other homes again. I can rest assured that wherever I am God will keep me safe. He will be the one to make me feel loved and secure and at home with Him. I am blessed to know that wherever I go in this world there will be friends and family that love me, waiting to be a part of my home, wherever that place may be. However, He is the only one that can truly make where I am right now, my home. And I am forever grateful.

A new leaf...

Lately I have been discovering more increasingly how great God’s plan is. I gaze back over my life and see that there has constantly been different times or eras or learning. At each new turn I have learned a new lesson. Sometimes it is a lesson I have never been taught before and other times it is a lesson that that I have known all along, but I have only just learned it in a deeper way. These lessons are the profound ones that have shaped who I am today.

The German language has two words for knowledge. The first involves head knowledge. This is something that you have been taught and you know in your mind to be true. The second, however, is to do with heart knowledge. This knowledge is something that you know deeper than a head knowledge, it is what you know, what you feel, what you have experienced, and what you know with all of your soul.

If I look back at the past few months I can easily see the two major lessons that God has been teaching me. One regards something I have known since I became a Christian, and the other is something completely new. The first is regarding Holiness, and the second is regarding God’s plan!

My year at Railton actually started off with me picking a bible story and theme that I wanted to work on for the rest of the year. I chose Moses and “God’s Plan for You”. Little did I know would I be learning more about God’s plan for ME, than I ever thought I would!

I have discovered countless reasons why God allowed me to return home last year. I have discovered countless reasons why I am in the current Railton class. I have discovered countless reasons as to why I am where I am. And these are just the reasons that I see. I am sure there are a million more reasons as to why God is doing what he is doing! We will never understand why God does what he does, especially when we are in the moment. But we can ALWAYS trust that his plan is greater than any plan that we could ever think of! It has happened to me countless times, and even if you haven’t realized it yet – it has happened to you!

I am extremely excited for the journey I am about to embark on in Newport, Kentucky. I am turning over a new leaf, but there is still a tree full of leaves that are turning without my knowledge. I am so glad God is in control! There is no better place to be than in His care!

SNE

This past weekend we had the privilege of going to the Southern New England Division to host a Children’s Work and Programs Workshop. We also met with the RICONN group and helped them lead a Sunday Service and Carnival for the Willimantic Corps. I was fortunate enough to help one girl write her testimony to share in the Sunday service. This is something that I was asked to do on the last minute, but it was great not only to see that the RICONN student would willingly volunteer to give her testimony, but also that I was able to teach her how to do so without having to prep anything because I was able to use skills that I have picked up during the year to teach her.

Barbra Labracque gave permission for me to share her testimony with you.
“When I was growing up my parents would always fight and it ended in a divorce. After that I became mad because my family split apart and my life went downhill. I was failing most of my classes in school and several horrible events started happening that made me doubt how much God really loved me. I even stopped going to church.
But, then one Sunday morning I was watching T.V. and a commercial for a Gospel CD played. It was one of my favorite songs from church. That’s when I realized the life I was living wasn’t how I should. That morning I went back to church and devoted my life to the Lord.
Now, my grades are back up and I’m in a good school. My Mom has seen a big difference in me and she trusts me a lot now. The more I am in church the safer I feel. It’s like when you are two and your Dad has you on his shoulders and you trust him not to drop you. That’s how I feel. I feel as nothing can happen. That’s why I’m more involved in church than most of my friends want me to be. And that’s ok because I know I am with the Lord and I am having fun. But even if my past comes back or something bad happens, I know I can trust the Lord.
So if your down and life isn’t going well, turn to the Lord and he will help you. He is the only one who can turn your life around.”
Visiting SNE was a great experience. We were able to sow seeds in peoples’ lives and help a division to grow!

Holiness; a thing of the past?

Holiness is one of those words that many see as “ancient”, as “a thing of the past”, and as something that is not relevant today. This, however, could not be further from the truth!

The story of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-22 has helped me to understand this concept of Holiness a little better. In this story, Jesus challenges the man that if he wants to be ‘perfect’, he must sell his possessions and follow Jesus. Upon first reading this idea seems strange and irrational. How can we be perfect when Jesus is the only one who is perfect? And do we have to give everything away to the poor to become perfect? Does that mean I cannot own anything? These questions are all valid, but when we read into the passage a little further we understand that there is much more going on here.

First, Jesus is not speaking of earthy perfection; he is speaking of heavenly perfection. These are two completely different things! To the world, perfection means something that cannot be improved upon. It means unblemished, without flaws, absolute. If something is perfect then it does not make a mistake, right? Well perhaps not! Jesus is speaking to the man about heavenly perfection, which in essence means, “putting God first”.

Jesus told to sell all of his possessions and give to the poor and only then will be have treasure in heaven and be able to follow Jesus. The very next sentence tells us that the man went away sad because he has a lot of possessions. Jesus knew from the beginning that the man’s possessions were what were keeping him from putting Jesus first. However, it wasn’t the actual possessions or their cumulative wealth; it was the fact that the man was not willing to give all that up for the sake of Christ. He was not willing to put God first in his life.

What I also find interesting is that Jesus says the man cannot do any “good thing” to get eternal life and that there is only One who is good. If we think of it from an earthy perspective, it seems a lot easier to be good than to be perfect, but Jesus is challenging us to flip that theology! If we look up “good” in the dictionary there are many more definitions of what “good” means. To name a few it means, morally excellent, right, proper fit, kind, genuine, reliable, not spoiled or tainted, the list goes on. Now it seems that even being “good” cannot be achieved. What Jesus is trying to say here is that only God can truly fill all of these attributes. He is the only one that is always reliable, always honest, always there for you, always trustworthy, always God! It is that God that we should be putting first in our lives. Not our god of money, not possessions, not our talents, not our business, not anything else that could be in the way of putting God first.

The rich young ruler is a great example of how we need to put God first and many of us think that we are ‘ok’ because we don’t even have riches like that to give poor so what could possibly in the way of following Jesus. Well, it could be a little money, it could be television, it could be a relationship, it could be your job, it could be facebook; it could be anything. All of these things are good in essence, but when they become our ‘god’ then they have been corrupted. Are you willing to give up that thing in your life that is keeping you from living in the fullness of Christ? This isn’t a Lent decision, but a lifelong decision of consciously choosing to put God first in every area of your life. It is an everyday, every circumstance, every minute decision to take up you cross and follow Jesus.

We are challenged in life to ‘be holy as I [Jesus] am holy’ (1 Peter 1:15). To do this we must become ‘perfect’ by putting God first.

Lennox House

This past week I had the opportunity to visit Lennox House. Lennox House is a government funded house, run by The Salvation Army, to house teen boys between the ages of 10 and 16 who are awaiting their court date. They are there for crimes that would normally have an older person sent to jail but because of their age they are tried through the family court.

This house comes with strict rules and ethics. There are many things that cannot come into the building such as: sharp objects, gang colored shirts, etc. For this reason each boy must wear a white shirt so as not to produce gang affiliation amongst the boys. Remarkably, the boys are quite well behaved and seem to have alot of respect for the people in charge of the program.

This program was great to see because it is ministry right where we need to be. Often times these boys could be seen as 'time wasters' or 'not worth the effort', but they are actually boys that are trying to succeed in life, but they don't know the best way to do this. They could have ended up in this house for a number of reasons, some of which may be out of their control. What we need to see in Christ's love for them which doesn't keep any record of wrongs and loves unconditionally. They need to know and understand the love of Christ, which is what will ultimately set them free show them how to succeed not in the ways of the world but in the ways of Christ.

Ministry Techniques continued.

Each week at Ministry Site I learn a new technique; often a technique accidentally stumbled upon by circumstance. When working with urban kids there are challenges that need to be overcome. I do not want to make a generalization, but urban kids seem to have a hard time listening and following instructions. This could be caused by home life, relationships with peers and teachers, and the social culture attitudes that they are subject to every day. One thing is for certain, when you get a lot of kids together who have been in school all day and have been doing homework since school gets out; there will be chaos; but this chaos can always be constructive!

One thing I have learned this week is simply the importance of chairs! When playing games in the gym, I have found that having chairs around the walls of the gym helps to bring order! When we are playing a “last man standing” type of game, the kids are usually instructed to stand against the wall once they are out. This usually causes a huge ruckus, not because of sadness from getting out, but from being so antsy that they get over excited which causes an environment for bad behavior. However, when chairs were placed for the kids to sit in when they got out and cheer on the other kids, they were well behaved and excited to watch the game that was going on in front of them!

Another thing that I noticed today is that when you are having fun in the game, the kids have fun! It is funny to note that when we are really having fun, the kids know! This lifts the kids spirits and also lifts mine too!