Friday, July 29, 2011

Preparations

Have spent the last couple days preparing.

Bob is making lists of things the girls will need to do around the house/pool during the weeks we'll be gone. We went out today to purchase tools and other items needed for the work in Zambia. Hopefully we will be able to transport everything safely.

Mostly I have been preparing my heart/mind.

I've been listening to "When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without hurting the Poor..and Yourself" by B. Fikkert and reading "Serving With Eyes Wide Open" by D. Livermore. I am still 'processing' my recent trip to Ethiopia and want to study missions on a deeper level. I keep coming back to the fact that we have been given a limited amount of time and resources and will someday be held accountable for those. The need is so great, what is the best way to 'spend ourselves' in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed? (Isaiah 58:10)

Please pray we'll be fully prepared.
For His Glory.

Isaiah 58


1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
   Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
   and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
   they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
   and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
   and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
   ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
   and you have not noticed?’

   “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
   and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
   and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
   and expect your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
   only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
   and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
   a day acceptable to the LORD?
 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
   and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
   and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
   and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
   and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
   you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

   “If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
   with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
   and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
   and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
   he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
   and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
   like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
   and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
   Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
 13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
   and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
   and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
   and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
   and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
   and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
            For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Counting Down

Hello. This blog will follow the Buehrers and the Reeds from Cornerstone Baptist Church of  Morton, IL as we travel to Zambia with Every Orphan's Hope, August 4th - 18th, 2011.

As members of the construction team will be to help with the building of a My Father's House home, which when completed, will house a Zambian widow and 8 orphans.

We are so excited to be able to share this time with you . As we go, we ask you to pray that God's love will permeate everything we do and say as we make this journey.

For His Glory.

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