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Over the weekend I had a great chance to catch up with a friend I hadn’t talked to in some time. These days, keeping up with my friends is so hard because every day is SO full here at Giving Children Hope.
As she and I sat yesterday over coffee the time flew. I finished telling her about my week last week and she looked at me and said, “Most people don’t do all of that in 6 months, how do you do it all in a week?” I guess the answer is, when you work in the industry that I am in with the ever changing conflicts around the world (ie Gaza) and you work with so many different kinds of people to get in resources and give out resources, it means that a lot always happens in a week.
For those of us that need to be working in a fast-paced and interesting environment, it’s really perfect. Every day I am learning from the partners that we serve about what issues they are facing in their part of the world. Hopefully this blog is a good place to share them with you and keep you informed in ways that mainstream media can’t. If there are particular things you’d like to learn about, please submit your questions. I promise to listen, and I promise to inform you of the most pertinent information that our partners face and what you can do to make a difference.
Recently, Giving Children Hope is getting more involved with the issue of human slavery because so many of our partners are dealing with the issue of human slavery. We want people to know that when they support us that are assisting in practical ways to support this cause. In response, we’re having an art show on April 18th in our facility entitled My Hands Have a Voice. (www.MyHandsHaveaVoice.org). If you know of people that might like to participate as an artist, let me know. If you know of a celebrity that might like to attend or that can create art, let me know. Otherwise, just save the date and plan on attending.
Showing posts with label human slavery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label human slavery. Show all posts
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Could building medical clinics be the rebuilding of the Temple?
Today’s message in the church that I attend was on the temple and the fact that Christ dwells among us IN the temple. Meaning that WE are the temple and Christ is dwelling inside of us and the radicalness of this concept. He talked through the Old Testament where people could not catch simply a glimpse of the Presence of God and yet now Christ dwells inside of us.
As I contemplated this message some things about the Church and the rebuilding of the Temple came to mind. Now, I’m not a theologian or a scholar. But in the time of Jesus He talked about how the Temple would be raised in 3 days and the scholars of the day were very focused on the literal infrastructure and missed that Jesus was talking about Himself. Here they were in the very Presence of Christ and yet they missed the mark altogether because they failed to see how God was moving right in front of them.
I hear of many churches that are focused on end time scenarios and they spend much time studying the Words of the scripture and speculating about the physical rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. Many even spend great amounts of money to tour their congregation through the land (which is an amazing experience). They watch the political scene between Israel and Palestine and are awaiting the literal rebuilding of the Temple.
So I had this radical idea that perhaps the Church leaders of our day might be missing it too. If indeed WE are the Temple then perhaps it’s really about God building up His people as the Temple as opposed to the literal structure in Israel. Again, I’m not a scholar, but what I am is a quiet observer of watching how the Holy Spirit moves.
In my job as a Distribution Center of aid, we don’t dictate what projects need to be done next, we ask for people from communities to apply to us and we listen to how God is moving in their community. Because of this I meet with people on a regular basis from all over the world. While God does move different in different cultures, I’m actually amazed by some of the similarities. Many of the missionaries and non-profits come to us with stories from their communities about the poor and the meek. I hear stories of children dying at the age of two because they contracted a parasite and there were no medicines available. I hear stories of ten year old girls tricked into sex slavery and later rescued but not having the means to become healthy physically, spiritually and emotionally. I hear stories of twelve year old boys kidnapped at night and forced to kill in rebel armies. And then I hear the stories of the advocates on the front lines, quietly fighting to make things just a little bit better in the place where they live. So while each story is unique, the lack of access to the needed resources is consistent, and the steadfast people working behind the scenes where God has called them is consistent.
So I wonder, is God already building the Temple right now through these people and communities? Is THIS the Temple? Maybe instead of a physical brick being laid that brick is representative of a new school, shelter, or medical clinic that is erected? Maybe God is building His Temple right now with a bunch of ordinary people and the scholars of today are looking and waiting for that physical manifestation that may never be?
I’m not saying this is what is. But I wonder, if this were true, would we live our lives any different? What if instead of being spectators waiting for the Temple, we had an active part in building it? What if going into hard places and spending time in physical labor was an active part of building the Temple? What if every dollar that we spent providing life-saving medicines or every student that we sponsored to have an education meant that the Temple was a little bit further along? Would we live our lives any different as Christians? Would we see that we have a greater responsibility to rebuild the Temple then one of spectator simply awaiting someone else to do the work? I wonder.
Just so I’m clear, I’m not advocating any kind of works-based theology. But what I do try to do is to challenge Christians to take their Bible seriously. Faith without works is dead. So if you are a Christian, as you listen to God and watch the Holy Spirit move, let me know if you see what I see. Is God doing something unique in our time? What is He doing? And what is the part you play? Are we working together towards building the Temple? Or are we simply waiting for the Temple to be built?
As I contemplated this message some things about the Church and the rebuilding of the Temple came to mind. Now, I’m not a theologian or a scholar. But in the time of Jesus He talked about how the Temple would be raised in 3 days and the scholars of the day were very focused on the literal infrastructure and missed that Jesus was talking about Himself. Here they were in the very Presence of Christ and yet they missed the mark altogether because they failed to see how God was moving right in front of them.
I hear of many churches that are focused on end time scenarios and they spend much time studying the Words of the scripture and speculating about the physical rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. Many even spend great amounts of money to tour their congregation through the land (which is an amazing experience). They watch the political scene between Israel and Palestine and are awaiting the literal rebuilding of the Temple.
So I had this radical idea that perhaps the Church leaders of our day might be missing it too. If indeed WE are the Temple then perhaps it’s really about God building up His people as the Temple as opposed to the literal structure in Israel. Again, I’m not a scholar, but what I am is a quiet observer of watching how the Holy Spirit moves.
In my job as a Distribution Center of aid, we don’t dictate what projects need to be done next, we ask for people from communities to apply to us and we listen to how God is moving in their community. Because of this I meet with people on a regular basis from all over the world. While God does move different in different cultures, I’m actually amazed by some of the similarities. Many of the missionaries and non-profits come to us with stories from their communities about the poor and the meek. I hear stories of children dying at the age of two because they contracted a parasite and there were no medicines available. I hear stories of ten year old girls tricked into sex slavery and later rescued but not having the means to become healthy physically, spiritually and emotionally. I hear stories of twelve year old boys kidnapped at night and forced to kill in rebel armies. And then I hear the stories of the advocates on the front lines, quietly fighting to make things just a little bit better in the place where they live. So while each story is unique, the lack of access to the needed resources is consistent, and the steadfast people working behind the scenes where God has called them is consistent.
So I wonder, is God already building the Temple right now through these people and communities? Is THIS the Temple? Maybe instead of a physical brick being laid that brick is representative of a new school, shelter, or medical clinic that is erected? Maybe God is building His Temple right now with a bunch of ordinary people and the scholars of today are looking and waiting for that physical manifestation that may never be?
I’m not saying this is what is. But I wonder, if this were true, would we live our lives any different? What if instead of being spectators waiting for the Temple, we had an active part in building it? What if going into hard places and spending time in physical labor was an active part of building the Temple? What if every dollar that we spent providing life-saving medicines or every student that we sponsored to have an education meant that the Temple was a little bit further along? Would we live our lives any different as Christians? Would we see that we have a greater responsibility to rebuild the Temple then one of spectator simply awaiting someone else to do the work? I wonder.
Just so I’m clear, I’m not advocating any kind of works-based theology. But what I do try to do is to challenge Christians to take their Bible seriously. Faith without works is dead. So if you are a Christian, as you listen to God and watch the Holy Spirit move, let me know if you see what I see. Is God doing something unique in our time? What is He doing? And what is the part you play? Are we working together towards building the Temple? Or are we simply waiting for the Temple to be built?
Thursday, November 6, 2008
More on Human Trafficking
The last two days I’ve had conversations about the issue of human trafficking. If you are not familiar with this issue you will certainly be hearing more and more about it with the different advocacy efforts taking place.
Today I visited with my friend and non-profit partner David Batstone. I’ve known David for about 13 years now I think. Wow, I’m feeling old. I’ve long admired his commitment to teaching ethics and the passion and energy that David brings to solving global problems. David is the ED for the Not For Sale Campaign that is teaching advocacy efforts on the issue of human slavery. But NFS is also carrying out projects around the world. One such project is in partnership with Giving Children Hope to establish a new medical clinic in Northern Thailand to care for children that have been rescued out of slavery.
Yesterday I met with Peter from the Asia Innovative University that is located in Cambodia. Peter came to me looking for medicines for orphans and he’s now in search of funding for this project. When I asked Peter why there were so many orphans in Cambodia he explained to me that because there is a lack of economic opportunities so many of the adults are being tricked into slavery outside of the country. Others are willfully going to Thailand to be sex workers because they have no other choice. Unfortunately this is leaving a large orphaned community in Cambodia. The children are at their most vulnerable as they are picked up by gangsters and forced to work for no wages. Often times these children have no other choices. So AIU is creating safe houses with medical care for these vulnerable children.
An organization like Giving Children Hope can be a hard sell for people. Distribution of product isn’t a sexy thing to fund. But David said it best to me today as he toured our center “It’s amazing that you guys exist. Organizations on the ground need exactly what you do. You are really helping to address global problems in a practical way.” And as we say here at Giving Children Hope, we are only as strong as those who we partner with. We’re in it together. And together we can fight global issues like those of human slavery.
Today I visited with my friend and non-profit partner David Batstone. I’ve known David for about 13 years now I think. Wow, I’m feeling old. I’ve long admired his commitment to teaching ethics and the passion and energy that David brings to solving global problems. David is the ED for the Not For Sale Campaign that is teaching advocacy efforts on the issue of human slavery. But NFS is also carrying out projects around the world. One such project is in partnership with Giving Children Hope to establish a new medical clinic in Northern Thailand to care for children that have been rescued out of slavery.
Yesterday I met with Peter from the Asia Innovative University that is located in Cambodia. Peter came to me looking for medicines for orphans and he’s now in search of funding for this project. When I asked Peter why there were so many orphans in Cambodia he explained to me that because there is a lack of economic opportunities so many of the adults are being tricked into slavery outside of the country. Others are willfully going to Thailand to be sex workers because they have no other choice. Unfortunately this is leaving a large orphaned community in Cambodia. The children are at their most vulnerable as they are picked up by gangsters and forced to work for no wages. Often times these children have no other choices. So AIU is creating safe houses with medical care for these vulnerable children.
An organization like Giving Children Hope can be a hard sell for people. Distribution of product isn’t a sexy thing to fund. But David said it best to me today as he toured our center “It’s amazing that you guys exist. Organizations on the ground need exactly what you do. You are really helping to address global problems in a practical way.” And as we say here at Giving Children Hope, we are only as strong as those who we partner with. We’re in it together. And together we can fight global issues like those of human slavery.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Human Slavery
My favorite part about working for Giving Children Hope is all of the really cool people we get to meet and partner with to bring about positive change in the world.
Last night I was invited to the Hollywood premiere of Call + Response. Please, if you are going to see a movie this month, go see this film! Justin Dillon is a musician turned filmmaker to bring awareness of the issue of human slavery. He has a star-studded cast of activists, celebrities and bands. The best part, Justin made a film to not only bring awareness but funding to projects. What a concept.
I’ve blogged about the film before and I know Justin for some years now. The film is being released this weekend in limited release and the first project they are going to fund is a clinic in Thailand in partnership with Giving Children Hope and the Not for Sale Fund. We are excited to have product that comes in our facility in Buena Park travel to Thailand to make a practical difference against human slavery!
See a special thank you from Justin himself to Giving Children Hope http://www.gchope.org/the-power-of-you20.html. And be sure and buy tickets to the film if it is playing in your area!
Last night I was invited to the Hollywood premiere of Call + Response. Please, if you are going to see a movie this month, go see this film! Justin Dillon is a musician turned filmmaker to bring awareness of the issue of human slavery. He has a star-studded cast of activists, celebrities and bands. The best part, Justin made a film to not only bring awareness but funding to projects. What a concept.
I’ve blogged about the film before and I know Justin for some years now. The film is being released this weekend in limited release and the first project they are going to fund is a clinic in Thailand in partnership with Giving Children Hope and the Not for Sale Fund. We are excited to have product that comes in our facility in Buena Park travel to Thailand to make a practical difference against human slavery!
See a special thank you from Justin himself to Giving Children Hope http://www.gchope.org/the-power-of-you20.html. And be sure and buy tickets to the film if it is playing in your area!
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