2020

Last week, my college friend Christina put out an appeal on her Facebook page. It included the above photo. She was asking her friends to purchase the items in the squares to provide for her community. Christina wrote: End 68 Hours of Hunger Lake Co. is currently providing food to 350 students in Lake Co., and as always, they need our help to provide food donations!! This food drive gives you a great opportunity to do something small on your end, yet it makes a huge impact in the life of a child who goes hungry over the weekend (hence the 68 hours, give or take, between lunch on Friday and school breakfast on Monday) when food might not be available in their home. My heart immediately stirred. Perhaps it is because I am in "giving mode" this month. Or the fact that I know my kids are luckier than many of their friends at school because my kids are guaranteed 3 meals and 2 snacks a day, 7 days a week. But the idea of a child having nothing to eat for a weekend is heartb...

On Thursday, while I was avoiding reality for a day, Randy and I happened to turn on the television just in time to catch an episode of Life Today . Life Today is the television program for the organization Life Outreach International, which focuses on bringing water and food and shoes and other necessities to the world. While I can't usually bring myself to watch the last 15 minutes of the program, with the sad pictures of children with flies in their eyes and distended bellies, the first 15 minutes always include an interview with individuals whose lives have been turned upside down for Jesus. And who are using that upside-down momentum to make a difference in the world. The stories are incredibly inspiring. I ALWAYS love those first 15 minutes of the show. Thursday was no different. Thursday's episode included an interview with Cassie Hammett, founder of The Hub: Urban Ministries . On The Hub's website, Cassie writes: The call to love the poor is clear in scr...

(Normally Sundays are a "rest day" from Lent, but today is serving as a makeup day for missing Thursday .) This week I gave money to my kindergarten kids who were raising money for the Red Cross . They brought home these adorable "purses" and offered to trade me a sticker for a donation. I gave 10 pesos (a little over 50 cents) and their little eyes lit up with joy. (Of course they then wanted to take a trip to the local market, but luckily it isn't so easy to get the money out once you put it in!) I figured since I had already donated a little, I might as well donate a few dollars more! Clara Barton founded the Red Cross in 1881 in the United States, but the Red Cross now exists in nearly 200 countries. In our little town in Mexico, volunteers from the Red Cross visit all of the area schools and provide free vaccinations for the children. While researching the Red Cross, I discovered that they are among the first relief responders to natural disaste...

Time for another guest blog! This one comes from my friend Nathan Sheets, who interned for me while I was the Communications Editor at Friends United Meeting in Richmond, Indiana. Now Nathan is working in Hollywood as the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of an organization that is working to end isolation and homelessness in Hollywood. What?! How incredible is that?! He shares with us just a taste of what The Center at Blessed Sacrament is all about: THE CENTER “The Center is a place that not only helps you. It’s been a place where I’ve discovered how to help myself.” Long before any of the current staff knew the place existed, "Social Services at Blessed Sacrament" and the staff/volunteers therein were devoted to facilitating a chaotic shower and (occasional) meal program, where people shuffled in as fast as the showers they were allowed. John F. was around in those days. “It wasn’t pretty,” he laughed as he talked, recalling how his life has transformed from tho...

I didn't participate in Lent yesterday. I was too sad. Randy and I are preparing to leave Baja. One of the catalysts for that decision was to spend more time with my grandmother. But we never got that chance. She died yesterday. And I was completely devastated by the news. I didn't have the energy to donate or write about a cause yesterday. I didn't want to hear all the Christian platitudes ("Be glad she was a Christian and is with Jesus now."). I just wanted to be sad. To cry and walk the beach and take a nap and cry some more. I woke up this morning hoping it had all been a terrible dream. You would think that you would always click with all of your family members. You share DNA. You share an upbringing. You have both nature and nurture going for you. But at times you can feel like an outsider within your own home. But I never felt that way with my grandmother. We were kindred spirits. She was an artist and a world traveler, a card player and an a...

I'm reading a book called " Fierce Convictions ." It's the story of Hannah More (1745-1833), a poet and abolitionist during the 18th and 19th centuries who worked with William Wilberforce , among other reformers of the time. Hannah was a devout member of the Church of England, yet many of her fiercest convictions (to abolish slavery or at least improve conditions for slaves, and to educate women and the poor, for example) went against their teachings. While many people whose views were in line with Hannah's were dissenting from the Church of England (including the Quakers), Hannah held firm. She insisted she could be both a member of the Church of England and a reformer. She repeatedly received criticism and public defamation of her character, causing her deep distress, both physically and emotionally. I thought of Hannah when an online friend of mine told me about The Reformation Project . The Mission of The Reformation Project is: The Reformation Proje...

Time for another guest blog! This one comes from my friend Jeff Laycock, who I went to high school with. When my nieces were born and spent time in the NICU, Jeff reached out to me to assure me that even though it was scary to see them so tiny, with IVs in their heads and tubes up their noses keeping them alive, it was also the safest, best place for them to be. He knew, because he had just been through it with his son, Hayden. Who has to be the cutest spokesperson for Nationwide Children's Hospital, BuckeyeThon, and ending Pediatric Cancer that I have ever seen. Here's their story: BUCKEYETHON Our story starts when my pregnant wife, Bri, and I went to her 20-week appointment to find out the sex of our baby. The excitement of the day soon turned to confusion, fear, and sadness as the doctor explained that the heartbeat of our unborn child, a boy, had dropped into the 50s from the typical 180s since the last time Bri had visited. He told us he suspected congenital he...

I'm giving $40 to 40 different ministries for the 40 days of Lent. Today is only day 5 and I'm already worn out! There is so much need in the world... and so many individuals and organizations doing so much good... it's exhausting! But Galatians 6:9 says: Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Another version says, "at just the right time we will reap a harvest." And yet another says, "you will be rewarded when the time is right." I don't know what God is thinking with this 40-40-40 adventure he has me on, but I do know that he is the mastermind behind it, therefore only good can come out of it. As long as I don't give up! As I fight against weariness, and consider that today is President's Day, I naturally think about how exhausting it must be to work in Washington. To constantly be under a microscope. To have the weight of the entire nation on your shoulders....

One of the blessings of living in San Felipe for the past 15 months has been the incredible friends we've made. Friends we can celebrate and lament with, go 4-wheeling with, out to dinner with, relax at their house with, call upon when we are in need of bagels or toilet paper or baby wipes. One of those couples are Don and Katie. While at their house one afternoon, Randy and Don were outside working on cars while Katie and I were talking and organizing things inside. When our conversation settled on family, Katie shared with me: Our grandson was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia. The only thing I know about schizophrenia is that when people go off their meds they end up killing people in schools and movie theaters. I don't want to think that about my grandson. It was perhaps the most honest thing anyone has ever said to me. Especially in light of the school shooting* in Parkland, Florida, this week, in which 17 were killed by a young man with a history of mental i...

One of the pieces of this 40-40-40 days of Lent campaign that God is undergoing in my heart that I am so fiercely passionate about, is that as I was seeking out organizations to support, I felt a nudge to speak to people who are directly involved with these ministries. So, intermittently throughout the next several weeks I will be featuring "guest bloggers" to share their stories. Our first guest blog comes from Rachel Mills, founder and director of " PEARLS in Haiti ". I didn't know Rachel before this Lent, though I did go to elementary/high school with her younger brother, so we are from neighboring home towns in Ohio. I trust that you will fall in love with her story just like I did when she first shared it with me... PEARLS in Haiti Back in 1996 God summoned me to Haiti. At that time I knew little to nothing about the island nation, but I was compelled to step out in faith. Over the course of four months I raised two year’s salary through donatio...

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday. She has given me 4 unique nieces and 1 charming nephew. I asked her to share with me a cause or organization she believes in, so that I could support it in honor of her birthday. Because when something is important to the people you love, it naturally becomes important to you too. To prove my point, Kari's response was, " Autism Speaks ." Why is Autism Awareness important to her, and why does this prove my point? Because her youngest niece has Autism. This is Marlee, her mom Kelly (Kari's sister), and her two big sisters. Kelly is an elementary school counselor, whose experience with kids on the Autism Spectrum helped her recognize some of the same signs in Marlee, namely that she was behind on a lot of milestones by her second birthday, refused to make eye contact, and wouldn't respond when you called her name. After having her hearing tested, which checked out fine, Marlee then went in for an "Autism screen...

Happy Valentine's Day! Happy Ash Wednesday! Happy first day of Lent! Today is DAY 1 of my 40-40-40 challenge. Of all the ministries in the entire world, there was ONE that I was 100% sure that I wanted to focus on for the first day of Lent. Shawn and Katrina McConaughey Shawn and Katrina McConaughey were recently called to serve in the Africa Ministries Office of Friends United Meeting , and are raising funds to get them to Kisumu, Kenya. If your religious affiliation isn't Quaker, you probably don't know about Friends United Meeting or the Africa Ministries Office, but trust me when I tell you that they do amazing work through schools, hospitals, evangelism, theological training, conflict resolution and more.  Shawn and Katrina share this about their call to serve: After 30 years of ministry among Friends in the Pacific Northwest, we are pulling up roots and joining in on what God is doing among Friends in East Africa! Friends United Meeting (FUM...

I've been thinking about "40" for the last several months. I turned 38 this week, which is just a stone's throw from 40, and I find myself super excited about it. Crazy, right?! But I'm so excited about spending the next two years becoming the kind of person I want to be on my 40th birthday. With that number 40 on my mind, it flows naturally into thoughts on Lent. The season of Lent -- the 40+ days leading up to Easter -- has made a HUGE impact on my life. In 2013, for the first time ever really participating in this part of the liturgical calendar, I felt God nudging me to read the ENTIRE Bible in 40 days. I didn't quite make it, needing another month or so to finish my reading (let's face it: Numbers and Chronicles are HARD to get through!), but I didn't give up. I remained faithful to the finish. And met God along the way. In 2014, God again called me to something grand: walking across Spain . Again, I didn't quite make it in 40 days,...