What Goes Around

I like to read the comments people write on newspaper articles or other articles online.  Usually the comments get off track and instead of commenting on the article, people are spewing their hatred for religion.  It doesn’t matter what the article is about, they somehow turn it to religion. Yesterday I read an article on a baby that was born at 20 weeks and lived for a few minutes and then died.  There were pictures of the baby.  The point is that many places abort babies at that same age yet to see what the baby looks like makes a person realize that this is not just a bunch of tissue like a tumor, but it is a person. One of the comments at the end of the article was a lady who shared about twins who were born really early and one died, but one lived and went on to become a pastor and do wonderful things.  The next person commented “God is good.”  That got things going!  We say “God is good!” when something goes right, but what about when things don...

Last week I felt like I had a lot to say but for some reason I couldn't get it all out.  Finally I talked with a counselor that comes to the home I work at and she listened to me.  As I reflected on my time with her, I realized that she didn't offer advice, she only listened.  She just sat there while I went on and on talking about what was going on and how I was doing.  She might have asked a question or two, but mostly I just talked.  I got to the end of all my talking and said, "Well, that's it.  I guess I will go get the next person who is going to meet with you." For several days I thought about feeling not listened to.  It really started to irritate me.  So much so that I even snapped at Steve when I was talking and he started talking and I felt I wanted to talk more.  A normal conversation has two or more people talking, but I didn't want a normal conversation.  I wanted a one sided conversation.  It wasn't Steve's fault o...

This week has been difficult.  At the home I work at there has been a lot of stress.  One girl has been especially difficult to have in the home.  She causes fights and irritates people with her behavior.  She doesn’t do what she is told to do and  is unruly.  Over the weekend she started self harming and talking about suicide.  So it was decided that the best option for her would be some serious mental evaluation at a mental hospital for children.  She said she wanted to leave the home.  She wanted to return to her village or go to another home.  She was very upset.  We got the permission we needed to take her in for observation and told her that the following day she could go.  We didn’t tell her where she would be going, but she seemed happy about it. Finally the time came for her to leave.  She put on some nice clothes and the care givers packed up her few items.  But she said she didn’t want to take anything....

Today I will be leading a session on brokenness with the girls  I work with.  I thought I would share it with you too. Show my broken mug with the handle missing.  Ask if the mug is still usable.   We could glue the handle back on and use it, but it might break again.  Would you give it to a guest to use?  What could you use it for?   Then take a hammer and pretend to break it.   Now what can we use it for?  It is just a bunch of broken pieces.  We have to be careful with the pieces because they could cut us.  We usually just throw the pieces away. We are all broken.  Some of us have  just have one big break in our  life, like the handle of the mug.  We  may still be usable like we are or easy to fix.  But there will always be a crack in us that is weaker because of the break. Brokenness usually comes from other people.  Tear up a paper doll cut out of a magazine.   Not many mugs j...

Today is India's Independence Day.  We are celebrating 67 years of freedom from British rule.  Many lives were lost in our struggle for independence.  In fact, the area we live in is called Freedom Fighters because there are graves here for those who gave their lives for freedom. Yesterday the girls at the home I work at had a celebration for Independence Day.  They sang songs, did skits, danced, and read poems.  It was a very touching celebration.  They weren't just celebrating the freedom of India, but they were celebrating another kind of freedom.  The freedom they experienced being rescued out of sex trafficking.  And it was beautiful! One of the skits they performed had a girl that was illiterate crying on the street for someone to help her.  Then someone came along to give her freedom by teaching her to read.  Another example was a 12 year old girl whose mother wanted to marry her off.  But someone came and told the mothe...

Today's newspaper made me sad as I read it.  I read an article about a gang-rape court case that the accused were released.  It made me really sad and a bit mad.  The incident happened in December.  Five law students were accused of holding a sixteen year old girl and raping her over several weeks.  She had at one point been able to identify them, but at the hearing she said she didn't recognize them, so they were released. This makes me mad because the judicial system sucks.  There should be enough evidence that the guys would be held responsible.  If they had killed her they couldn't rely on her testimony, so why if she now refuses to identify them would they let them off. I am sad because I imagine the girl and her family were threatened.  I imagine that the boys had a lot of power on their side.  And I am angry that these guys could in the future be lawyers or even judges.  They are corrupt and the system failed this girl....

We have been reading Proverbs in the morning at breakfast time.  It has been really good to read with Micah as he has started back to school.  The first few chapters talk about wisdom and understanding and how important they are to get. So I was thinking just now about the fear of the Lord and what it means.  I guess there is a sense of fear in breaking God's laws or doing something that you know is against what God says is good.  I was thinking especially of kids who leave home for college and rebel against the faith they have been taught.  Could the fear of the Lord keep them from rebelling?  For sure there is a sense of wisdom involved in that.  I mean, you want your child to grow in his faith and choose the path that is good for him, which means following Jesus.  So if your child decides that partying and sleeping around and trying to get away with cheating is an okay thing to do, then they are lacking wisdom.  The passage says that th...