Prayers for the Philippines

I hope that all of you will join me and so many others in praying for the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.

If you'd like to do something a bit more down-to-earth, GreaterGood.com currently has a click-to-donate where money from the clicks is donated to relief efforts in the Philippines.
(Correction: the daily click on GreaterGood.com is no longer for relief in the Philipines.)

Not For Sale

I'm going to mix it up a bit today and post about a book I just finished titled Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade--and How We Can Fight It, by David Batstone.

Not for Sale was both heart-breaking and riveting. It tells stories of both modern slaves and those fighting to free the slaves, with each chapter focusing on a different region or country. It was a hard book to read; most of the slaves underwent unimaginably horrible conditions, and those fighting against slavery were incredibly dedicated. Both sets of stories were challenging in different ways.

I know that merely reading a book about an issue does absolutely nothing. I also know, however, that knowing about an issue and the real-life people who are affected by it can completely change your perspective on it. I knew before reading Not for Sale that slavery was still an issue in the world today, but now I know how very pervasive it is, and now I have faces and stories to go with the huge idea of "slavery."

It also includes a section at the end about how you can get involved in the fight to end human slavery. This section was perhaps the only one that it may not be worthwhile to read, as it was almost 10 years out of date in my edition, but there is a newer edition available. For up-to-date information, you can also check out their website, http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/.

I would encourage you to read Not for Sale if you have any interest in modern-day slavery--or, if there's another issue you're passionate about (or just curious about), read up on it. Perhaps you can't read a whole book, but you can search around the internet a bit. Be informed--find out about a new issue today, and how you can make a difference.

Toys

A set of photos of how toys are made in China: Click here.

(Please excuse the language on the page. The photos are good enough that I'm posting this link anyway.)

New Day

Sometimes God's creation just says exactly what I needed to hear. Yesterday, after a truly awful day the day before (as in I spent the whole night crying on and off), I woke up to the most gorgeous day imaginable.

Every day is a new day.

MY impact?

A lot of the rhetoric these days around activism and helping people focuses on this idea that every person can "make a difference." In some ways this language is helpful (it reminds people that God can use even the smallest action to do amazing things, for instance), but in other ways it is incredibly destructive. It puts all of the pressure on US--it is the person who is making the difference, not the God who is working through her/him. It's an incredible amount of pressure, to feel that each person must go out and almost force change to happen, or that each person must make change despite their pitiful contribution or unresolved sin or finite amount of time.

Yes, the actions of each person are so important--God cannot act if we do not choose to act! But God's actions are so much more vital. God is the one who is changing hearts, fighting the spiritual battles, giving us strength when we have none, opening doors, making possible the impossible, pointing out problems that no one sees...

God is the one who will create change. So when you feel that you cannot possibly make a difference, that you don't have enough money or energy or time or anything else, just remember that God is the one who does all the real work. You will not fail or succeed based on your own strength or intelligence or passion.

Trash

Trash is something that we simply accept as part of modern life. What would we do without disposable ... well, everything?

Think about it. What do you use that can be used only once or a few times?
-paper plates and napkins
-trash bags
-contact lenses
-play programs/church bulletins/class handouts
-plastic bottles and containers (for soap, food, toys, gadgets....)
-aluminum cans
-wrapping paper
-tissues
-"to-go" food and drink containers...

I'm sure I could have thought of more. The average American produces 4.5 pounds of trash every day!! That is just beyond ridiculous. (The problems this creates are also ridiculous: this trash must be either buried or burned, but we're running out of places to bury it, and there's so many chemicals in everything that burning it is literally dangerous. A lot of this waste ends up being shipped to other countries, where poorer people get to deal with it. There is almost literally an island of trash in the Pacific Ocean, wreaking utter havoc on the wildlife and ecosystems there.)

All this trash is just incredibly wasteful. God's creation is not infinite, and filling it with trash does not honor its Creator.

I have stopped using disposable plates/food containers/silverware whenever possible. I have stopped using disposable feminine products. I recycle anything I can. What can you do to lessen what you throw away?

Prayer for Syria

Today I went to a service dedicated to prayer for Syria. Specifically we prayed for the civil war to come to an end, and for the welfare and safety of the people affected by the war. It was truly incredible to pray in a group, to together acknowledge the awful pain in this world but also take time to express our faith in God's power to overcome that pain.