Prayer for VT

Campus Crusade for Christ is calling all students and campuses to prayer tomorrow (April 19th) for the students of Virginia Tech. From their website:

"How You Can Pray

The staff team invites the watching world to join with them in prayer. Specifically, they ask people to pray for:

1. families and friends of the students who were killed, including the 4 students involved with Campus Crusade.
2. students who were injured during the shooting and are still in the hospital.
3. survivors of the shootings who witnessed the horrors of that day.
4. wisdom for the Campus Crusade staff members and other campus ministers and pastors as they seek to counsel and love the hurting students."

The Reality of 24/7

This afternoon a bunch of friends and I went to take part in a local week of 24/7 prayer.

Now, I've read Red Moon Rising and done 24/7 as part of a week in Liverpool, England, so 24/7 isn't new for me. I went on the 24/7 site and found that a local group was doing it and decided it was important to give it a try on American soil and also to support them.

Walking into the room it was nothing special - it was pretty spare. An old couch, a chair, a bench and a table with a CD player. A sheet of newsprint on the wall and a map of the world on another. No special formula and thankfully no scented candles.

Yet somehow there was something special in that room. No distractions. Nothing else happening. Nothing else to focus on. We spent 2 1/2 hours in that room spending time alone and then praying as a group. Pretty amazing.

It was exciting to see that happening in a non-descript building in the middle of a non-descript town. Equally exciting to me was that it was a Salvation Army activity. The Salvation Army that I grew up with didn't do 24/7 prayer. I'm glad to see I was wrong.

While the setting was underwhelming, it was good to see 24/7 starting to come to life in the real world. No bells and whistles.

A very cool way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

The Plan (a Continuation of The Project)

So, now I have this great World Vision project idea in my head and can't get rid of it. So I prayed about it some more. Slowly it started taking shape in my head.

I already had a planned meeting with one of the church deacons that week and added the project at the end of the discussion. "Happened" that the deacons were meeting that weekend and would bring it up. That weekend I talked to the pastor (who, by chance is on sabbatical until March) and got his approval. Got the approval of one of the leaders willing to take it under their "umbrella" and got at least passing approval from a member of our African congregation.

And this thing is just over a week old.

Before I leave for Christmas I write a few more emails and contact the World Vision folks to let them know we're doing this. They ask what # of boxes is the goal. Without thinking I write down 100. Don't know why now, but it was definitely 100.

Fast forward to after Christmas. I ask my prayer group to start praying. This is when things start to speed up. I hear back from my friend who's a member of the African congregation and not only are they on board, but they want to be a big part of this happening. He asked what work could be done. This is a huge answer to prayer, since I need help and I also felt I needed visible support of the African congregation. When I talk to the whole African congregation they are very excited and ask me how what my goal of boxes filled for the church is. I'm a little afraid as I admit 100 boxes (which seemed ambitious to me). They laugh and say they will fill 100 boxes and will challenge the church to match that. Keep in mind each box costs about $25, so 100 boxes is a lot of money.

My friend who's an IV leader on campus signs up to bring this to the campus.

I present the plan to my small group. One of my friends in the small group had previously commented that our group should commit in a big way and go for 50 boxes (our group has 12 people). Seems impossible. Group members start signing up and someone comes to this friend and offers a matching donation of up to $500. Um.... wow!

Then I go to visit the youth group. I blogged about this. They are a pretty terrifying lot - about 40 of them and most junior high boys. As I'm talking they're talking, throwing things, eating, etc. Yet, at the end of the night they commit to 40 boxes. The youth leader puts down a $100 bill and tells them it's only their's if they can match it. Then, during the week another $500 matching offer comes in to the youth group.

Seriously??

I'm not even announcing this to the church until February 18th and already we have $1100 in matching funds put up and almost twice my original goal commited.

It's a bit odd to be on such a runaway train. Exciting, but overwhelming. As the days pass since I first realized this was what I had to do I've learned more and more and felt the burden heavier and heavier on my heart. Each and every time there was something I needed and I prayed for it, the answer would be right there. "Coincidences" keep happening that can't just be coincidences. And through it all it's been so obvious that this has nothing at all to do with me. It's been a fun way to learn that lesson.

So, for those of you out there who have read the saga, care to join the runaway train? We still need money for shipping and I'm quite sure the youth group or my small group would be happy to take donations as well. All the money is going through my church, so it's tax deductable. I also really need people praying. Let me know know if you want to do either so I can fill you in with more details.

Something big is happening and I'm just so excited to be a witness to it all.

Moving a Little Faster

Thanks to all who have been praying for my health. I got a good night's sleep last night and am feeling more myself today. Still slower than usual and in more pain, but at least I'm moving now.

Uh oh

Well, what I was afraid of happened tonight. Nice big fat allergy attack with all the trimmings. One person who didn't think perfume included..... perfume..... and I'm down for the count. Spent a chunk of tonight wheezing, crying and trying to remember what day it was. Oh, and trying to figure out if I could get a plane ticket for tomorrow morning and fly home pronto.

The problem is that now I'm much more sensitive for the next couple of days. So, no Christmas Eve church for me. I don't remember the last time I was able to make it through a whole Christmas Eve service without getting sick. Merry Christmas to me.

So, please pray. The next week and a half are jam packed with travel, conference, etc and another incident like tonight will be pretty serious.

Nothing says Christmas cheer like being able to hear your lungs rattle like the ghost of Christmas past!

World AIDS Day

Last year on World AIDS Day I took a few minutes to look around the DATA site (www.DATA.org) and saw some statistics that blew me out of the water.

In Botswana, 38.8% of the population is HIV infected or has AIDS (here's an interactive map at DATA that lets you look at the percentages in the various countries) . Think about that for a minute. What if 40% of the people around you had AIDS. If you were in an elevator with 2 other people, at least one of them has AIDS. In your family, chances are at least one person has AIDS. And these numbers aren't the result of the success of anti-viral drugs in keeping people alive. The death tolls are outrageous. In Zimbabwe many of the cities have declared their cemetaries full. Not surprising, since they have 3,500 HIV related deaths a week!

It's estimated that there are currently 39.5 million people living with HIV in the world (63% of them in Africa). That number sounded familiar, so I looked some stuff up. Sure enough - that's more than the number of people in Canada.

Obviously, it's a multilayered problem. There are the health issues of treating the patients and providing medication. There are the moral issues of prevention. There are the compassion issues of dealing with the dying. There are the social issues of whole generations of Africans dying.

I'm still struggling with what to do to help. World Vision has a great list of suggestions on their site. I particularly like their project for caregiver kits and am going to try to do something about that in the new year. The One campaign has lots of suggestions as well, including resources for getting churches involved. If you're more shopping minded, check out the RED campaign (and for an added bonus, there's a message from Bono up on their site today).

But the first thing I'm going to do is to pray. Tonight there is a regular prayer gathering in my area and part of the night is set aside for the AIDS crisis in Africa. I think it's where we need to start. To intercede for the people there and for the organizations trying to make a difference. More than that though, to ask God to break our hearts for what breaks His heart. I can't help but think that what's happening in Africa is one of those things.

p.s. Thanks to Bono for bringing this to my attention and to Roy for reminding me that small groups of people can make a difference, especially if what you do is grounded in prayer.

Random Mumblings

Today my brain's full of random thoughts and not necessarily one thought strong or cohesive enough for a whole post.

1. What's with Christmas coming? I'm seriously not ready for it. It's not so much the presents (pretty close to done) or the cards (got them started). Mostly I'm just not emotionally ready for Christmas. Who do I talk to about getting another week in November?

2. Three weeks until I jet off to Canada. Whoo hoo! Hoping this year it will be less frantic before I go. I know. I'm naive.

3. I started a new book this week called Let Prayer Change Your Life by Becky Tirabassi. So far it's really interesting and inspiring. I do somewhat suspect (given her reliance on her own experience as a stay at home mom) that you need to be a stay at home mom to let prayer change your life. Anyhow, it's been good to be challenged by her writing about answers to prayer and how often we ignore them. Last night my small group had what could have been a really conflict-ridden night. Instead it was a really good discussion. I came home and thought "Wow - I guess I didn't need to be concerned and pray so much about it." BZZZZ WRONG. Maybe it went well BECAUSE we all prayed so much about it. I can be pretty dense. Maybe this book will beat some of that out of me.

4. This morning one of my non-bosses sends me something for review and comment. I read it, hate it, shred it, send it back to her. Oops. Evidently by "review and comment" she meant "skim and tell me I'm brilliant". You'd think people that work with me would know me well enough to know that when you ask for honest feedback you're going to get it.

5. McDonalds has applied for a patent on the making of sandwiches. That's a little freaky to me. In other news, I'm told Google wants to run my life. They can duke it out with God.

6. Conflict. What's with all the conflict in my life? And what's with these things coming in clumps? Everything seems fine and then one day everyone seems to be at everyone else's throats. Is it something in the water? Was there a memo I didn't see?