Contemplating Christmas - Part 7

We've reached the end of our series on Christmas gift-giving ideas.  We've explored sponsoring precious children in impoverished nations, gifting animals in loved ones' honor, digging wells to bring clean water to those who have none, helping Katie Davis with her many projects of love in Uganda, & working with Drawn From Water to save condemned mingi children from death.  I hope that you consider one or all of these this Christmas.  Including our last one, which is also of utmost importance.

     -Help persecuted Christians. Voice of the Martyrs aids persecuted Christians in all sorts of ways all over the world. Their medical arm performs life-saving surgeries & lavishes care on Christians that have fallen victim to bombings, beatings, & attacks of all sorts. They provide books & Bibles to Christians in countries where Christian literature is illegal. They proclaim God's truth & Christ as Lord & Savior by way of secret radio stations in guerilla territories. They drop Christian material over Communist countries through balloons. They feature stories of unjustly imprisoned Christians in their monthly newsletter, which sometimes leads to their release because of international pressure. They aid widows whose husbands have been martyred. They release families from slavery & provide ways for them to make an income & support themselves through businesses. They realize that the body of Christ is so much larger than what is contained in our church buildings. They minister to our brothers & sisters all over the world in life-saving & faith-building ways. And through them, we have an opportunity to do the same.



I'm sure there are many more organizations of which we are unaware that deserve time, attention, & resources. If you know of any, please let us know.

Going without a new bottle of lotion from Bath & Body Works, or a new purse, or another necklace, or any of the other countless presents that just add to my already overflowing stash of possessions in order to help others is a trade-off that I am more than willing to make. It's not that these things aren't nice - or are even inherently wrong. But the joy that comes from knowing that God is using the resources that He has entrusted to us to change someone's life - both here & for eternity - is a joy that knows no bounds & easily trumps getting something for myself! We do none of this under our own strength or for ourselves, but we pray that we are being faithful stewards & that God is glorified through our celebration of His birth, our greatest gift.

Contemplating Christmas - Part 6

We're almost at the end of this series.  Follow the links to read parts 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5.

     -Save mingi children.  Drawn From Water is an organization that I've highlighted before that saves children believed to be cursed (mingi) from certain death by decree of their tribe's elders.  Once these children - who would be drowned or starved - are discovered, these folks go to work convincing the families & elders not to kill the children.  They want them to see that these children are not cursed, that they are instead a blessing.  When they are successful, they bring the children to their orphanage, where they are provided with safe shelter, clothes, food, schooling, love-love-love, & Christ.  They have sponsorships available, too, or you can just donate generally.  This is also a very worthy organization who is not just attempting to save these children from physical death, but also from spiritual death.  And their tribes, too!  They have a church plant in at least one of the tribes, & are striving to not only eradicate the practice of mingi, but preach Christ crucified to people who are dying in sin, for the glory of His holy name.


"It Began with Bale" from Drawn From Water on Vimeo.

Contemplating Christmas - Part 4

In case you've missed them, here are parts 1, 2, & 3 in this series.

    -Dig a well.  When we want water, we turn on the faucet.  And when we do this, we are confident that we aren't going to get sick or die from the water we're drinking.  All over the world, millions upon millions do not have this luxury.  When they want water, they have to hike miles away with jugs multiple times a day just so they can have something to drink or to wash clothes or take a bath in.  Many don't even have this option; these people only have dirty, parasite-infested water to give to their already malnourished children.  Children aren't able to attend school because they're sick.  Children who aren't educated become adults who are unemployable, so the cycle of poverty continues.  Water-borne illnesses are devastating to families & communities, & they're completely preventable!  We gave money toward the digging of wells in Uganda through Give Uganda Water, which is an organization founded & run by members of Covenant Life Church.  According to their site, just $23 provides clean water for one person for the rest of their life!  How awesome is that?!  They've already built 3 wells, bringing life-giving water & eradicating water-borne illnesses & death.  They have 3 more scheduled, which need funding.  They aren't the only ones digging wells, either!  World Vision has a way to donate towards wells also.  It's a wonderful feeling to know that we're helping give clean water to those who haven't previously had access.

Contemplating Christmas - Part 2

Yesterday, I told y'all that we're changing the way we celebrate Christmas, mainly in that we're not buying gifts for ourselves or the adults in our lives.  We have some other ways to give gifts that don't stuff our already overflowing closets & drawers, ways to give to others who are in need.  Doing this has warmed our hearts.  We hope you'll join us in . . .

     -Sponsoring a child.  We sponsor two precious children - a beautiful boy & girl who live in Ethiopia - through Compassion.  There are other organizations that have child sponsorship programs as well, like World Vision.  We chose Compassion (& fully endorse World Vision) because of the connection to the local church & because of their financial transparency.  We love that these organizations aren't about giving hand-outs, but extending a hand-up, not just financially, but educationally, & - most of all - spiritually.  Our babies are learning about Christ while their families are being helped out of dire poverty through education.  We spend $38 a month per child, which is completely doable, even for a one-income family like us!  And I have to tell you, I cried when we got our first picture from our boy, Abel.  To see the drastic difference in his hair, his skin, even his eyes from his sponsor picture took my breath away!  To think that we have a hand in saving these precious children & making sure they know of Christ - well, it's a gift from God to us.


Compassion International from Student Life on Vimeo.

Contemplating Christmas

The onslaught of Christmas has begun. Or at least, what society has put in the place of Christmas. Last year, I explained my reservations with all of the secular trappings of Christmas & the way this holiday is celebrated, despite growing up as a Christmas fanatic.

This year, I'd like to share with you one major way we've decided to change things. I want to make it clear, though, that I'm not prescribing this for anyone else. How we celebrate this precious holiday has come about through a lot of introspection & evaluation of our hearts in light of God's Word. You must do the same, too, & if you genuinely come to a different conclusion, don't expect to face judgment from us because it's not our way. We all desire to live in a way that reverences & glorifies Christ, & that will sometimes work itself out in different ways for different families. The goal is to honor & glorify the One whose birth we are celebrating.

So, the major change in our household is that we won't be buying presents for each other or the adults in our lives. We're still buying for our nieces & nephews, but it has to be things that point to Christ & guide in the worship of Him. Gifts like The Big Picture Story Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, or "I Want To Be Like Jesus" are excellent! Why have we ditched presents? Well, we Christians celebrate this day as Christ's birth, right? You can sometimes even hear us say, "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" If it's His birthday, why are we getting presents for ourselves? Especially presents that have absolutely nothing to do with Christ. After all, we don't get presents on others' birthdays at any other time of the year. But, all gifting isn't off-limits. We asked ourselves what kind of giving would glorify Christ, what kind of giving would be done in His Spirit? Christ gave of Himself in ministering to others when He was here on this earth. There are so many ways for us to follow in His stead! People are all familiar with visiting nursing homes & serving in soup kitchens. These are wonderful ways of ministering to others, & we highly recommend them, but we'd like to take this next week to share with you some other ways that you may not be as familiar with.  Each day, starting tomorrow, we'll highlight a particular ministry that we've substituted for traditional gift-giving.  We hope you'll search your heart & consider doing the same.