Keeper of Hearts

I'm continuing to read (and take copious notes on) Ministries of Mercy by Timothy Keller. It's an outstanding book and I can't even tell you how much I've learned from this book.

I came upon this quote last night:

The person should remember that God is the keeper of hearts. If you have a burden, then God put it there; it is not the result of your innate goodness and love.

This really speaks to something that's been bothering me for some time. Is this interest in Africa just a passing thing with me? Is this just something that caught my eye? How do I know that this is just from God and not just a good idea?

Then I read this quote and got hit with some perspective. It's hard to accept that nothing good could be coming just from me. It's just a matter of my motivation in approaching the good things that are from God. God is the keeper of my heart.

When I Count My Blessings...

at this time of year, I always count Clariton twice. This is a bad year for allergies and I'm almost thankful when it rains hard or gets cold because I get a break from the itching and sniffling.

Yesterday was especially fun with the pollen, Easter lilies and the perfumy people at church.

Another blessing? I wasn't in Halifax for the Easter Blizzard of '07. That really sucks.

Had a nice relaxing afternoon with friends eating Easter Dinner (and Easter dessert - no more Lent - yay). After dinner I got to see a whole new side of my friend Bert as he put the smack-down (literally) on my friend Jen's huge teddybear Snuggles. It was like a WWF show. Poor Snuggles just laid there and took it.

Got more books and resources for the justice study. It's going to be a spring of reading for me. I have to head out tomorrow and look at buying another bookcase. Or, buy a table cloth to drape over the piles of books and start using them as furniture.

New Life

One of the great thing about this justice project has been the new authors I've been reading and seeing the questions they are asking.

One of these new authors is Timothy Keller. His Ministries of Mercy has this great quote that is perfect for Easter:

"The kingdom of God is the means for the renewal of the entire world and all the dimensions of life. From the throne of Jesus Christ flows new life and power such that no disease, decay, poverty, blemish, or pain can stand before it."

Freedom Day

March 25 has been declared Freedom Day to spread the word about human trafficking and to work to eliminate modern slavery. Tell a friend, tell two. Pray! Sign the global declaration.

Justice Part I

Since last November I've had justice on my mind. It's taken different forms - the Caregiver Kit project, researching fair trade with my small group, reading whatever I can get my hands on to get a better grasp on how to balance social justice within all that I've been learning on prayer and holiness, and learning more about Africa and the many layered crisis there.

The first book I read was Pete Greig's "Awakening Cry". The book traces the historical patterns of revival and ties it in with what we know of God's character and intent for our relationship with Him. The book was amazing for that, and then I got to the chapter on social justice. I have always had a heart for social justice, but I never really understood exactly why. Greig ties together revival and social justice as inseparable. He says that if you're praying and preparing for revival, you can't separate that from working for social justice. Revolutionary.

I feel like there's a whole library of materials I still need to read. Where to turn next?

My current crisis is just being overwhelmed. The Caregiver Kit project is a nice start to mobilize and educate the church, but it's a really short term project. The more I read about the crisis in Africa, the more overwhelmed I feel. Like this article. How can I read this stuff without screaming? And watching the movie Amazing Grace didn't help much. How did Wilberforce do it? And I'm no Wilberforce. How do you take on the huge issues of our world?

I'm praying for guidance, vision and next steps. I'm also praying for what I'm going to say to my church on Sunday to build on the momentum on the AIDS/Africa issue.

Any advice?

Don't Miss Out

The Passion 07 conference started last night. I'm particularly interested in this year's conference because of their "Do Something Now" project that includes work with many global ministries and impacting Atlanta while they are there. Each person attending brought a towel and socks for the homeless shelters in the city because Louie said that when 15,000 followers of Christ decend on a city they city should know they are there. Cool idea.

Anyhow, for those of us not able to go to the conference, they are streaming the main sessions on their website. Just go to ENTER and then Watch Passion 07 Main Sessions Here. They are up for 24 hours each (so, the one up right now is last night's session). The sessions are about 2 hours and include the worship and the talk each night. Right now I'm an hour in and the worship has been amazing.

Speaking of missing out, I'm still sick and at home missing out on everything. Well, I guess not everything. Instead of doing work I'm watching Louie preaching, so it's not all bad!

Join Red

When I first saw the announcement of RED I was a little skeptical. The message that just going shopping was enough to change the world seemed a little weak. I went through the website and wondered at how Armani, Converse, Gap, Apple and American Express were going to save the world with some t-shirts. I also wondered whether I should buy a pair of Converse just to be supportive of the project. And I thought, and I read more, and I thought some more.

Here's why I'm supportive of the RED project.

1. It's Bono. Don't laugh. Bono is really visionary and has an ability to think out of the box that I don't have. He's able to see a level of connection that I don't see and I trust that even if this doesn't look that substantial to me, there's something deeper going on that I'm not aware of yet. I've gone through the process before of being sceptical of his ideas (like ONE) when they first came out and later realized how brilliant they are.

2. This project is much bigger in England and has raised a high level of public awareness. I'm not a fan of tokenism or slacktivism, but if it helps people be drawn into the movement, then I'm willing to give it some leeway. Also, England tends to be ahead of the US on social justice issues, so watching what works there can be a good barometer of what can work here.

3. (and related to two) One of the kick off events in the US was a televised shopping trip by Bono and Oprah. Initially this turned me off the project until I realized how many people who had no previous exposure and would never look at ONE mentioned this event to me. They would never have listened to the more political message of ONE, but they were willing to listen to RED.

4. When I talked to a friend who has a strong background in social justice and social activism about it, he raised the point that this is providing a new model of corporate engagement in social activitivism. I wouldn't underestimate the importance of this point. If this is successful it will just be the start. Years ago people were laughing at the concept of "Fair Trade" goods.

I firmly believe that RED is just a small step in a bigger plan on this issue. If this step is successful, I think more companies will become involved and more layers of it will be revealed.

I don't think RED is the be all and end all. I think it's one small piece of a much larger puzzle of solving the problem of AIDS in Africa. It's not the most substantial piece and it's not the most aggressive piece, but I think it's the most populist piece. Solving the problem is going to take a multi-layered approach. I think this is just one of those layers. Seeing this roll out at the same time as Bono has been working with American churches on more faith-based initiatives to address the same issue tells me that Bono only sees this as one piece as well.

I totally respect the decision to support ONE and not RED, but I think it deserves more consideration than just as a shopping trip. Sometimes it takes a little while to understand and catch the vision. I'm willing to make the jump now.

Take a watch of the (RED) Manifesto below. I've got RED on my links so you can take a closer look.