Would you let your daughter live in #Uganda… alone? #kissesfromkatie #amazima #Psalm37:4

What if your daughter asked you if she could live in Uganda?

This could easily be a book review about the book Kisses from Katie, but it’s not.  After all – I purchased the book on Saturday and lost it to my wife on Sunday- who snatched it away from me so she could read it – after only getting to read the introduction.

But reading the introduction as the author – Katie Davis – begins to describe her journey to not just living in Uganda, but adopting 14 girls left me wondering…  How would I handle a situation where my teenage daugther asked me if she could go live in Uganda, Poland or just about anywhere else?

At this point, I want to share a quote (from the introduction, of course):

For as long as I can remember, one of my favorite Bible verses has been Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  I used to believe it meant that if I did what the Lord asked of me, followed His commandments, and was a “good girl,” He would grant all my desires and make my dreams come true.  Today, this is still one of my favorite passages of Scripture, but I have learned to interpret it in a totally different way.  It is not about God making my dreams come true but about God changing my dreams into His dreams for my life.

Wow!  How many of us adults can learn from this young lady?  Many of us spend our days following OUR dreams, OUR passions – and sometimes all in the name of God.  And who suffers?  Our children.  Our marriages.  Our friends.  And most importantly, our relationship with our Saviour.

(Steps down off of my soapbox)

Now onto the question at hand.

I have a beautiful 8-year old daughter and this question scares me – just as it did for Katie’s dad.  But – I have decided to prepare for her to ask me the question by preparing her to be willing to ask and accept the question.   That question doesn’t necessarily have to be “I feel God is calling me to go and live in Uganda… can I?”  However it is seeking to do God’s will – no matter what His will is.

There is a big difference in my opinion in seeking to do His will and seeking to do His work.  You can certainly and quite easily do God’s work following your own will.  But it is very difficult to follow His will while doing your own work.

So the process of answering those big life questions begins by daily reminding myself of Katie’s instruction.  It’s not about God making my dreams come true but about God changing my dreams into His dreams for my life.  Only when our children see that in us and how we live our lives, can they accept and follow it for themselves.

Our Growing #Water Problem: A #Christian’s Response

You wouldn’t expect to find a dire water shortage warning on an investment firm’s website.  But read this:

It takes 35 gallons of water to make one cup of coffee. Why? Because of all the water used to cultivate coffee beans. Similarly, it can take about 635 gallons to make one hamburger because of all the water required to grow feed for the cows.

The need for clean fresh water is increasing rapidly, too, as populations rise and standards of living improve around the world. In some places — such as central California, the North China Plains, and parts of India — the demand for water is already outstripping the local supply.

Because global water consumption is expected to increase by 40% over the next 20 years, water shortages may get more acute and widespread, spurring more reliance on desalination technologies, water reuse, and conservation. The results could have massive economic, ecological, and geopolitical consequences…

Great information… but here is the pitch:

…creating investing opportunities in places you may never have considered.

Whether you believe in “saving the earth” or not, the fact is that we are rapidly consuming our most vital resource – and it’s not oil.  According to the United Nations:

By 2025, it is estimated that about two thirds of the world’s population – about 5.5 billion people – will live in areas facing moderate to severe water stress.

Jesus says in Mathew 24:7 that as the end of times approaches there will be great famines.  He describes this time in Luke 17 as “days of Noah”

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also it be in the days of the Son of Man.  People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark.  Then the flood came and destroyed all of them.

Alarmingly, there are going to be a great number of people who are going to party it up during these days – like nothing is happening in the world around them.

Are we as Christians included with these party goers?  Many biblical scholars believe that the 7 churches that Jesus speaks about in the book of Revelation as the 7 periods of church history beginning with the early church up to today’s modern church.  If that is true, and we are living in the age of the last church or the days of Noah… here is what Jesus says about us:

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

If this is true, God is not happy with us and saving the earth’s water may seem to be the least of our concerns.  But, it may be a starting place to be the Church that Christ has called us to be.  How?

1 – We need to be bold in proclaiming our faith no matter the circumstance.  Social justice issues are not excuses to be wishy washy in who we are and what we stand for.

2 – We need to take bold steps to help the extreme poor.  The “Age of Noah” cannot be an an excuse to sit around and wait for Christ’s return.  Yes, we need to be mindful that he will be back soon, but it would be sin to party while people around us are dying because they don’t have clean water to drink.

Here is one easy way we could work together to give clean water to those in extreme poverty.  If each Christian and their families pledged to cut one minute off of each of their shower times – it would save tens of millions of gallons of water a day.

After a month, you should see savings on your water bill.  It may not be much, perhaps $10.  But that money can go a long way if you pledge to donate it to a Christian non profit such as The Water Project. LifeWater or charity: water who are all working to bring clean water to the extreme poor.

Water is an investment and so are those who lives it saves when it is clean – especially if they learn about the Savior who offers Living Water to all that believe.  It is one topic all Christians can agree to.