The Final Countdown

Whew, it was a busy weekend and a lazy week--gotta catch up on my thanks-giving pledge! Actually, I already wired the money to Kenya this afternoon, but I'll still tell you what I'm thankful for...

In case you haven't read, I'm acquainted with a pastor in Kenya who is keen to get an amplifier to aid in spreading the Gospel. He and the evangelists in his church have a fire for outreach and are seeing many people come to Jesus. But their gathering venues--an overcrowded tin-sided church for Sundays and a roadside for outreaches--really make an amplifier an invaluable asset.

There's no way I can provide the $400-500 an amplifier costs, but I can give $50 and encourage others to chip in, too. So I decided to give $5 thanks' offering for 10 things I'm thankful for, give that money to the church in Kenya, and encourage folks like you to join me in thanks-giving.

I've already blogged thanks for #1--Freedom, and #2--God-moments. Here's the rest of my list...

#3--Skype
What would I do without it? Thanks to Skype, I can see my whole family parade live in front of the camera with bellies full of turkey after Thanksgiving dinner. I can see if my Grandfather is keeping his bed made and room tidy. I can take tours of friends' new houses and they can see mine. Skype... the communication marvel of our time. It is well-deserving of $5.

#4--Books
They shape me, teach me, encourage me, stretch my mind. They prevent me from getting Alzheimer's...or over-exercising (haha). Seeing as how I've got books stacked horizontal on top of the upright ones on the shelf, they probably deserve an additional bookcase in addition to a mere $5. That'll have to wait...

#5--Normal Body
Well, excluding my height and hairy arms, which make me a bit of a freak in Korea. :-) But I'm so thankful I don't suffer from any food allergies, like glutin- or lactose-intolerance, which would make life oh-so-complicated. And I'm thankful that I can comfortably eat just about anything and do any normal physical activity without worrying or planning ahead (i.e. taking a shot of insulin, or packing an inhaler), and that I don't require any regular medicines or doctor's appointments.

#6--My Family (these are not listed in order of importance, haha)
From my immediate family to my grandparents and cousins, God has blessed me with an incredible, supportive family. I hope to resemble each one of them in some way, and I love them and appreciate their love so very much. It would take too long to commend them for all they are and all they do, so I'll leave it at this.

#6--My Adoptive Families
From the Dominican Republic to Goshen, IN to Busan, South Korea to my next-door neighbors (and especially my next-door neighbors!), God has blessed me with many sincere and loving guardians on my journey. I'm especially thankful for my Korean mom and dad, who love and care for me just like a daughter. Words can't express my gratitude for their presence in my life.

#7--My Private Bathroom
Being a bit of a germaphobe, I don't know how I'd handle sharing a bathroom with the 4 pre-schoolers and Kindergarteners in my house. I think I'd be willing to pay $5 x 100 for the privilege of having my own bathroom... but fortunately, it was included from day one. I think it adds more to my quality of life than my Western-style bed.

#8--School Food
Not only does our school have delicious food (most of the time), but it's free and organic! Eating healthy, organic food 5 days a week allows me to save money with simple, instant food on the weekends. And seeing how much I favor simple, instant food when left to my own devices, that healthy school food prevents me from getting fat or deficient in vitamins and minerals (now I'm sounding like an adult).

#9--My Down Coat
I don't usually remember it in the summer, but this is one item I wouldn't want to live without in the winter. Considering that I require two layers of pants in my house in the winter, you can imagine why a good winter coat would be essential outdoors. Or in an unheated cafeteria. :-P

#10--Vacation Time
This is appropriate for the last day of school, which is tomorrow! I'm sooo thankful for long vacations to go see family in the summer or catch up on studying in the winter. I think I'm really spoiled--but I'm thankful so that makes it okay, right?! ;)

Please consider chiming in on what you're thankful for and giving a thanks offering to the Church in Kenya. An amp would be so helpful to their ministry. And while they could technically survive without it--just like I can technically survive without 9/10 things on my list (#2 is pretty vital when you consider every breath to be a God-moment)--I know they would be very, VERY thankful and their outreach blessed by it. Or should I say, amplified? ;)

Pastor Lukas' church in Eldoret, Kenya

Home Cell Group with Evangelist Idimuli (far left)

$5 for God-Moments

God Moments. The time during my first year in Korea when I was craaaaving a hamburger, and *knock knock*, I open the door and there's a teacher thrusting a Burger King bag into my hands. Or the time I wasn't sure how finances were going to work out, and I felt a whisper in my heart telling me to check my online bank balance for any surprises--and there it was, an unexpected deposit for the amount I needed. Or the days I'm feeling down and a thoughtful card arrives in the mail. Those moments when God reveals His very intimate knowledge of my inner cravings, and material and emotional needs, by providing for me in just the right way at just the right time. Those moments when I'm overwhelmed by how much God LOVES me!

On this second day of "thanks-giving," I pledge a $5 donation in honor of those God Moments. In case you haven't read, for 10 days I'll be naming things I'm thankful for, making a $5 thanks offering for each one, and donating the $50 to Pastor Lukas in Kenya to help purchase an amp for outreach services. (Check previous posts for details.) Would you join me in naming your blessings and giving a thanks offering to help support the soul harvesters in Eldoret, Kenya?!

Young people dancing at a crusade in May 2012--Pastor Lukas (back right)

$5 for Freedom!

Being the 4th of July, I couldn't think of a more fitting or enormous blessing to give thanks for today. I'm neither very politically nor patriotically inclined, but I can say without a doubt that I'm thankful for the freedom we have in the United States. Political freedom, religious freedom, freedom to express radical views and vote and study and travel and pursue dreams. These are things which many around the world can hardly begin to imagine. I'm also thankful for the freedoms our culture offers, those individualistic values that the West is famous (or infamous) for. I know we take it too far sometimes, but living in Asia--and an intentional community besides--I often miss the freedom and convenience of a life uncontrolled by the (possible) feelings, whims, or thoughts of everyone else in the group. ;-)

Beyond the freedoms protected in the U.S. Constitution and encouraged by our culture, I am even more grateful for the freedom I have in Christ. Freedom to step off the religious treadmill of works-based salvation and fall into grace. Freedom to forgive others instead of harboring anger and resentment. Freedom to entrust my worries and burdens to the Lord. Freedom to live by faith, detached from the standards of this world.

Yes, I think FREEDOM is worth at least this...

 ... don't you?

In case you missed yesterday's post, starting today I will name 10 things I'm thankful for and pledge a $5 thanks offering for each one. The $50 will go to Pastor Lukas in Kenya to help purchase an amp for outreach services. (Check yesterday's post for details.) Would you join me in naming your blessings and giving a thanks offering to help buy this much-needed amp?!

Pastor Lukas is the shepherd of a quickly-growing church in Eldoret, Kenya. His passion is to reach the lost, and what a passion it is! His congregation has already distributed the 5000 gospel tracts they received earlier in the year, and he and another one or two evangelists are continuously reaching out to the slum-dwellers, drug addicts, witch doctors, and crippled in their community. And they are RIPE for the harvest! Their church has experienced rapid church growth and seen many new believers baptized this year. You can help them reach more people with the Gospel by helping provide an amplifier for their outdoor gatherings. Please contact me here, via email, or on Facebook if you'd like to get involved!

Pastor Lukas (left) at the baptism service on June 3, 2012.

Church in Eldoret, Kenya

Gratitude to Generosity: An Invitation to Thanks-Giving

I've been thinking a lot lately about my college summers up on Pine Mountain in Harlan, KY, working as a camp cook for a Mennonite home repair organization. Maybe it's the warm weather or early mornings or time outside at the picnic table, I'm not sure, but I've been filled this week with immense gratitude for that season of my life. There were lonely times and burned out times, but all in all, there were wonderful times of deep friendship, God encounters in nature, journaling, DQ runs, pranks among the staff, grocery shopping with three overloaded buggies, sightseeing, staff devotions, circle prayer in the fog, driving up and down the mountain in the so-called Wagon of Death (a decrepit old station wagon that lacked even power steering), trips to the library, frozen pizza on the weekends, swimming at the lake on Wednesdays, and so on. Looking back, I'm awed by how God blessed me with such rich "mountaintop" experiences there.

Being filled with gratitude for the past makes me aware that someday in the future I'll recall my present experiences with the same affection and thanksgiving. So why not try to recognize the preciousness of this moment now?

Tonight on my walk I tried to imagine what will stick out to me a couple years from now when I remember my life at Sarangbang. What will I be thankful for looking back? Thankful for bowls of cereal outside at the picnic table, for long, inconvenient walks to the bus stop, for the verdant green gardens and rice fields all around, for miniature deer and wild pig sightings, for walks and naps on the mountain, for trips with students, for my housemates, for afternoons at Sungmi's house, for morning prayer, for even the somewhat dreaded community meetings. :-)

Walking along in this train of thought, I noticed a 30-some year-old African man from Burkina Faso--he works at the African Cultural Center down the road--stepping inside the village shop. On summer evenings, a group of Africans can often be found enjoying cold beers on the platform outside. Just last evening they were playing the bongos, and I could hardly believe I was in a little ol' valley with nothing but one living-room size store. Knowing their life to be pretty difficult, I suddenly wondered what it would be like to be that man--but without my Christian faith.

When I go through hard times, I find near immediate peace just by remembering my Father God, by remembering that He knows and sees and cares for me. When I'm angry, I receive the freedom of forgiveness; when I'm hurt, I receive comfort and healing; when I'm worried, I hear His promise to take care of me; when I'm down, I feel His presence with me; when I'm confused and have all questions and not a single answer, I at least know that He knows and He's trustworthy. And so I thought to myself, it must be so frightening and depressing to go through life without knowing God. How would I make it through without that peace of being loved and cared for as God's child?

And so I realized my faith--or trusting in Jesus--is the biggest thing I'm thankful for. How could I offer that to others? And I remembered Pastor Lukas in Eldoret, Kenya, and his persistent plea for an amplifier for outdoor revival and outreach gatherings. The amp. The amp. It's been hanging over my head for weeks. This continuous cry for an amp to bring the Good News to the lost, and my lack of funds and know-how for how to make it materialize.

I've prayed for ideas and wisdom, I've considered different kinds of fund-raisers from bake sales to English lessons. I've wondered what words would be most persuasive to possible donors. I've wondered whom among my friends to send requests to, and how to awaken their interest in a pastor in Kenya who needs an amp for evangelism. But tonight I got a brainstorm.

Gratitude is the spring from which generosity flows. To be generous, we must first be grateful. And if we are grateful, generosity will naturally abound. It seems Koreans know this. At least the ones in my church do. Every week, there are a dozen names printed in our church bulletin of the people who volunteered to cook that Sunday's lunch or provide flowers for the altar. Next to each name is a short one- or two-word description of the reason for their generosity. Sometimes the phrase is 결혼 기념 (wedding anniversary), but usually it is 감사 (thanks). Often it is 생일 감사 (birthday thanks), sometimes 입대 감사 (college entrance thanks), 졸업 감사 (graduation thanks), 이사 감사 (moving thanks), or even 심방 감사 (thanks for someone visiting me). I often think I'll wait for something big to happen and then offer a gift of thanks. But even now, in the little things or in hard times, there is still so much to be thankful for. There is no occasion or blessing too trivial to give thanks for.

So tonight I decided to give a thanks offering to the Church in Eldoret, Kenya to go towards buying an amp. It should cost between $400-$500 and there's no way I can afford even half of it. But what if you and I and other readers pooled our thanks? What if we each thought of 10 things we're thankful for, and gave $5 thanks for each one? Together we could buy an amp to deliver the Good News to thousands of souls craving the peace of salvation we take for granted. We could give them something to be eternally grateful for.

Will you join me in giving gifts of thanks? Over the next 10 days, I will post 10 things I'm thankful for along with short testimonies and pictures from Brother Lukas' church in Kenya. If you'd like to join in the thanks-giving, please leave a comment, send me an email, or message me on facebook. I'd love to post your list of 10, too!!! I'm happy to wire you donation for you or I can give you Brother Lukas' contact info so you can wire it directly. Praying to hear from you soon!!