Haiti: A Year Later

Today marks the one year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. We have all seen or heard of its destruction and the devastation that has followed it. Just last week I read an article about how a number of women living in the tent cities are now pregnant as a result of being raped by gangs of men. Many of these women lost their husbands in the earthquake, were struggling to make a new life for their children, only to raped by men who clearly have no grasp of what it means to be a man at all. Please pray for the people of Haiti. I am grateful that our church, Central, is sending a team of people to Haiti in February to partner with Mission of Hope to be part of bringing relief, recovery and rebirth to the people of Haiti. Please pray for the gospel to be shared, the compassion of Christ to be expressed and the hope of God given away in abundance.

American or Early: Which Do You Want to Be?

Please check out the link below. It will take you to an article that I think is both challenging and accurate. The article raises an important question for me: Am i going to be content to be an American Christian, or more like the followers of Jesus in the early church? The early church folks turned the world upside down. The American church is not doing well. I should probably take some time and ponder the last two sentences.

http://www.churchcentral.com/blog/Barna-and-M.-Green-on-the-American-Church

A Thought from a Verse

This morning I read through Psalm 101. I think every time I read that Psalm, verse 3 jumps out at me. It starts out like this:

I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; . . .

In a culture that is too often entangled in pornography the importance of that verse can not be understated. It is an expression that should mark and inform our lives. Sadly, I have seen too many marriages devastated and destroyed by putting worthless things before a person's eyes, normally the husband's. There are a number of things that should be purged from life. I honest believe one of those things is pornography. All it does is damage people. Now some might argue it a personal or a private thing so it is not that big of a deal. Such a thought clearly does not understand the impact of looking at worthless things. Here is a link to a poem written by a a woman's whose life and marriage has been charred by the out of control wild fire of pornography. reading the poem reinforced to me the divine imperative to heed Psalm 101:3. As a father of three sons and one daughter, I know I do not want them to experience this poem, nor do I want it be a part of my marriage.

http://www.challies.com/quotes/i-looked-for-love-in-your-eyes