Sometimes I Write

The following comes to you from Mike Cope’s blog. I vowed to spread this story to everyone I know. Please read on, and to read the comments that followed this post, Click Here.

Rwanda and Sudan.
For those who read and pray about what’s happening in the world, those are two countries that bring shivers. The former suffered a genocide a decade ago; the latter is experiencing one now (in the area of Darfur).

This summer, two young couples from Highland–grad students at ACU–are traveling to those countries to consider the possibility of planting mission teams there. They’re going with their eyes wide open, eager to see what God may have prepared. I almost don’t have words to describe my admiration for their faith and spiritual passion. Greg and Sara Kendall-Ball will be visiting Rwanda, and Houston and Kelly Shearin will be going to Sudan. (They will be in the southern part of the Sudan–quite a ways away from Darfur.) Both are going to be with older, more experienced missionaries as they survey and pray.

Think of all the prayers we’ve lifted for these two countries. Think of how often we’ve prayed for the Shalom of Christ to fall on them, and of how often we’ve prayed “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Both of these trips are very expensive. But how could they really commit to a long-term mission without visiting first? Highland has made generous donations to both couples, and both have been trying to raise money from friends, family, and other churches. But both still need several thousand dollars. (Think, for example, of the expense of having to charter a private plane just to get into Sudan.)

If you’re interested in joining Diane and me in helping them, you can make a check out to “Highland Church of Christ” and mark either “Shearins/Sudan” or “Kendall-Balls/Rwanda.” Also, if you’re possibly interested but would like to visit with either couple by phone or e-mail, please let me know (e-mail gina@highlandchurch.org) and I’ll pass that along to them. I don’t think I’ve ever done this before in the history of my little blog. But this is weighing on me.

We’ve asked the Lord to raise up workers and now workers have been raised up. Will we send them?

I received a forwarded email today from my friend Toine. *Just a warning to all of you out there who love to forward stuff to me, I don’t read it if it says FWD in the subject line.* If you want to snail mail me that stuff, that’s great, but my computer time is precious to me and I would rather spend it reading blogs :)! Here’s the exception to the rule. Her email also said it was about Breast Cancer Research. My dear friend Toine lost her mother to a rare form of breast cancer, so I read it. I have edited it to save space, but the important info. is still there.

Those of you who are great at forwarding information to your e-mail network, please read and pass this on. As you may be aware, the US Postal Service recently released its new “Fund the Cure” stamp to help fund breast cancer research. The stamp was designed by Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, Maryland. It is important that we take a stand against this disease that affects so many of our mothers, sisters and friends. Instead of 37 cents for a stamp, this one costs 40 cents. The additional 3 cents will go to breast cancer research. A “normal”book costs $7.40. This one is only $8.00. It takes a few minutes in line at the Post Office and means so much. If all stamps are sold, it will raise an additional $35,000,000 for this vital research. Just as important as the money is our support. I would urge you to do two things TODAY: 1. Go out and purchase some of these stamps. 2. E-mail your friends to do the same. We all know women and their families whose lives are turned upside-down by breast cancer. It takes so little to do so much in this drive. I think we can all afford the additional 60 cents the new book costs. Please help & pass this on.

I would also add that when I purchased stamps this week, I had the privilege of buying “Stop Family Violence” stamps. These stamps are .45 each (book of 20 = $9.00) Same concept, the “extra” goes to the Department of Health and Human Services to support domestic violence programs. Both of these causes hit close to home for me, and I’m happy to do my part – as small as it seems. So start buying stamps people! Use one of them to drop me a letter – I love mail in any form – as long as it’s not a forward! 🙂 May I also remind you that though we live in the wealthiest country in the world, we have the cheapest postage. ( I used to work for the USPS, so I know)

Six years ago today I came home from work early and spent the rest of the day glued to the T.V. and the telephone. Every channel had footage of the Columbine High School massacre taking place. The live coverage sent my heart racing as I quickly called Benny and had him call our friends three hours away in Littleton. Our friend Alan was the youth minister at the Littleton c of C, and Benny had just been there to do a retreat for them a few weeks earlier. I was worried that one of the kids we know might be trapped in the school. It turned out that one of them was. Shannon was on the last bus of the kids taken to the library to meet anxious parents. The waiting was agonizing. Not just for news of Shannon, but for news that it was finally over. Now, six years later, the last of the lawsuits has been settled or dropped. There are still unanswered questions, parents without children, a wife without her husband, and a school that remembers.

The Oklahoma City bombing was also remembered this week. I watched a mother on the news remember her two young sons that were killed in the blast. She said it gets easier, but the mourning never ends.

The Challenger exploded in front of my eyes when I was in 7th grade. Our school was watching it on T.V. and we took special interest in it because our Science teacher was one of the 100 finalists of teachers that had applied. He was in a daze the rest of the day.

On September 11th, I was at BSF when I got the news of the World Trade Center attack. I didn’t yet know about the other two flights. Someone turned on a T.V. in the auditorium just before the first building fell. I watched in horror as my mind tried to grasp that it was really happening. My very first thought was that I had to get home. My husband and baby were there and we needed to be together NOW. If anything was going to happen to me, I wanted to be with them.

T.V. can be both a blessing and a curse. It brought me news of all of these terrible tragedies. I have long since tired of eager reporters not having all of the facts before they speak, stations claiming they are the only ones with the exclusive reports, and witnessing other peoples lives being torn apart on national T.V. It’s so much to take in.

My response is the same…I want to go HOME!

It’s one of my favorite things about blogging. It’s the reason I’m posting right now. A few feet away from me, on a small table next to the couch, lies my checkbook and a bank print out. It is calling my name and I’m internally screaming “Do I have to?” I really hate balancing my checkbook! It’s a good thing to know how much money we have or don’t have. It’s a good thing to write down each and every transaction as we make them. It’s a good thing that we even have enough money to have a checking account. It’s a bad thing when I ignore all of the above. Ugh!

I’d rather be taking a nap, but I couldn’t go to sleep lastnight because I napped too long yesterday afternoon. I’d like to enjoy bedtime tonight, so here I sit.

I’d rather read a book. I have three started that are just waiting for me to pick them up and tune out the rest of the world.

I’d rather go fly a kite. It’s windy enough today, but we have no kites.

I’d rather chat on the phone. Who would I call? Maybe they’re all napping. Maybe they’re busy having family time. Maybe they’re out enjoying a beautiful Spring Sunday afternoon.

I know, I know – I’m full of excuses today.

I know I’ll feel better once I get the dreaded task done, and I’m making it into a bigger deal than it really is. Funny how that applies to most hard tasks in life. We spend so much time dreading what we HAVE to do that the task seems to grow so big that the weight of it threatens to crush us. When we finally give up our excuses and just do it, we realize that it wasn’t that big of a deal in the first place and we feel a little foolish for making it one.

The moral of the story is…
I’d rather philosophize than balance my check book! 🙂

Today my mother turned 53. I hope she doesn’t kill me for revealing her age! Since I am a bad daughter and didn’t get a card or anything mailed out to her, I am honoring her in a post on my blog! I’m not sure that competes with a card, but I know she’ll read it when she gets up in the morning. So, here’s to you Mom! (Your days of telling everyone you’re my older sister are numbered lady! :))

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, you look like a ….wait, that’s what you used to sing to me when I was little…or what Lennie and Mike would sing to you now. HaHa (I’m a little surprised that they didn’t)

Happy Birthday Mom! I’m glad we got to chat on the phone for a bit. I wish we could have visited in person. I hope you enjoyed your day! I love you!

P.S. 13 years ago today Benny and I started dating! How the time flies!