Intermission: a pause in, or temporary discontinuation of, an activity (Encarta Dictionary)

Please excuse us as we take a brief intermission from posting on the getcompelled.com blog. Stay tuned, as we plan to return to blogging in January with a redesigned and reenergized format.

See you in January!

Heads up:  The following guest post is rated PG-13.  The content is more graphic than we usually include in this blog, but the subject matter merits our attention.

By Lisa Hicks

“My mother decided that she wanted to start a little business of her own … so she asked me to buy her a noodle cart. As a dutiful daughter, I gave her the money. After a few months, she grew tired of the work and threw away the cart. She didn’t fully ‘get’ what it cost me. You see, I had to give sexual pleasure to ten old men to pay for the noodle cart that she so carelessly threw away.” Lon – age 15

In our country …
• There are more than 430,000 prostitutes – many ages 13, 14, 15.
• 80% of them come from the northeastern and poorest region in the country.
• The oldest daughter is responsible to financially care for the family.
• Moms actually pimp their own daughters in many of the major cities.
• The value is placed on the income rather than what the girl feels forced to do.

“When I was barely 14 … I sold my virginity. His name was Hans and he looked to be about fifty. At first, I was excited thinking about the money I could send my family, but as we drove closer to his hotel, I started getting scared… thinking about what I’d have to do for the money. In his room, I remember when he removed my clothes, I tried to cover myself with my hands, and he laughed. I have chosen not to remember anything else about that night.” Lon   *Quotes and statistics taken from Only 13 by Derek Kent.

At a very early age, these beautiful young girls are subjected to the most degrading, disgusting, vile acts known to man …
• A common term for these precious girls is LBFM (little brown _____ machines).
• Most of the men they service are old, sweaty and have been drinking.
• Some of the men are pedophiles desiring very young girls.
• Some of the men are into S&M … urinating on the girls, hitting their tiny bodies, and/or making them say, “I’m a piece of _____.”

A common expression in our country is “keep a cool heart” … and there is nothing much more effective in killing a young, tender heart than the degradation of being used sexually time after time. My heart goes out to these little girls … at age 13, 14, 15 instead of going to school, dancing to Justin Bieber singing on the radio, giggling about boys … they’re dancing nude and/or performing several kinds of sex on old men night after night. It makes me sick. It makes me weep. It makes me angry.

It makes me want to help …

Concerning the overall problem of prostitution … there is no easy, quick solution. Often, churches in the States, with good intentions, try to come up with answers …

However, they don’t understand the culture, the economic complexity, the spiritual darkness, or how utterly hopeless these people feel.

What the people of our country need is the renewing of their minds and the transforming of their hearts … which ultimately comes through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There is a local proverb that says “women are pawns in time of need” … that’s how these precious girls are seen. This is how mothers justify forcing them into prostitution to meet the family’s financial needs. Something needs to be done about the poverty, the corruption, the lack of education…

However, without the power of the gospel, it’s like putting a band aid on cancer.
• Change needs to come from within the hearts of the people.
• Sin needs to be cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus.
• Lies need to be challenged by the Truth of the Word of God.

Real change rarely happens, without the people having long-term relationships with global servants who live out the love of Jesus day in and day out, year after year after year. After trust is established (which takes time) some do accept Jesus Christ as their Savior … then in turn, witness to their families and friends …who accept Christ and witness to their families and friends.

What can you do?

Pray …
• Pray for the global servants who are faithfully reaching out to their villages with truth and love.
• Pray for us as we encourage and counsel global servants living in this region.
• Please pray for these young girls, working as prostitutes, to find the strength (from Jesus) to quit and healing (from Jesus) for their wounded hearts.
• Pray for our country’s new prime minister … she’s a woman. There’s hope here that she will work to bring about good changes.

Give …
• To long-term global servants out there fighting prostitution at its very core … reaching into the very heart of the people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• To long-term people/organizations who encourage global servants.
• To well established organizations working to bring about change.

*For specific information you may write to Lisa at hicks@barnabas.org.

Our country is known as the “land of a thousand smiles” … however, this is a very spiritually dark place that desperately needs to find real joy and truth and love through Jesus Christ.

Lisa Hicks

Posted by David Bell

Short term trips are incredible opportunities to see God move. As a team of Access members joined together for a week at Penelakut Island, British Columbia, what became apparent was that the movement of God for this trip happened the day we were invited to come and stay on the island with the people of the Penelakut tribe months prior. Our experience the final week of July became the opportunity to plumb the depths of God’s move as we began relationships with the people and entered into partnership with Tim Christensen and Tal James as well as the community of people who live at Penelakut.

Penelakut Island is located off the east coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It is home to roughly 400 people all of the First Nations Penelakut tribe. Years ago on this island was a residential school run by Christians. This school brought oppression and abuse as First Nations members were forced to abandon their culture, language, history, religion – everything – through attendance in the school and forced Christianity. Though the school is no longer there, the memories are, living within the stories of the community as well as in the minds of older community members who were part of the school. Tim and Tal’s presence there for the past 5 years is the result of Tal’s identification with the people as a member of the Penelakut tribe and Tim and Tal’s commitment to bring restoration to the name of Jesus that the people might come to experience the true love of God that is everything opposite to the residential school.

And to that context came our team – people who represent the very church and name of Jesus that had been used to oppress and abuse – people who came in the hope of serving and loving, representing Jesus as He ought to be represented – people invited to stay on this island for the week because of Tim and Tal’s love and service in the community. This was God’s move; this was peace and reconciliation exemplified. This was God’s kingdom expanding on earth!

We spent the week “doing” multiple things. Some served under the leadership of island residents to help run the day camp for children. Others worked with Tim and Tal to do some work projects in support of their program for young people on the island called ROOTS. A few participated in a self-defense class to teach women how to protect themselves. All of us began new friendships, shared stories, and encountered God in ways we could not have expected and it was highlighted by a cookout at the end of the week when our new friends in the community from children to elders honored us by joining us for food, conversation, and moments of public declarations of acceptance in friendship, thank you’s, and gift giving. It was, as one team member said, a picture of God’s kingdom at work as a community of people with a legacy of hurt at the hands of Christians chose to receive and embrace those of the same heritage, albeit with a different agenda: an agenda of love.

This week was nothing less than an honor to be present on Penelakut island, an honor whose depth none of us on the team could fathom, but an honor that all of us sought to understand. And it was all at the hands of God’s movement!

I want to share a blog post from Aubree Dell, a young woman from Grace who is spending 2 years in Haiti serving with Nehemiah Vision Ministries.  She is a nurse, and deals daily with issues that we rarely have to confront in suburbia.  Read on as Aubre shares her heart:

Between Vancouver Island and the mainland Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada, lays an island with 8.66 square kilometers of land. Formerly known as Kuper Island, this island was renamed in 2010 in honor of the 300-400 people who live there —- the Penelakut First Nation, a tribe of native Americans.

Last week, a group of families from Grace Community Church was invited to stay on the island and began to build relationships with the people of Penelakut. Next week, a group from Grace’s ministry to college students and young adults will spend a week on the island. Our long-term missionaries, Tim and Julie Christensen and native believers within the tribe have built the relationships that make such visits possible.

 Our short-term team last week participated in things like summer day camps for elementary children and energetic soccer games. They were embraced by the community, and shed tears as they said goodbye at the end of the week.  This reception is remarkable when you consider that the people of Penelakut Island suffered years of injustice and intentional marginalization, often at the hands of those who claimed to represent the Church.

A peacemaker is one who actively pursues reconciliation between people, and that kind of restoration is one of the evidences that the Kingdom of God is near. We are thankful for the on-going long-term work that is happening on Penelakut Island…..and we are grateful that our short-term teams can be a part of this peacemaking process.

Matthew 5:9  ”Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

Eness Jarvis led a team of college students and young adults to Toronto for a week of purposeful interaction with the city and its residents. Eness shares some thoughts about the trip below…

When our team left for Toronto last week our prayer was that God would give us eyes to see Jesus, opportunities to be Jesus and in the words of one of our team members, “to put love where love is not.” God faithfully answered those prayers in a number of ways; in conversations with homeless men and women, quiet moments of reflection at the AIDS Memorial, in prayerful letters offered to the girls who work the streets. Each one of us was touched and changed both through these interactions and as we processed our experiences with each other. There is one event that stands out in each one of our memories: the night of the ninja game.

On Friday night our group headed to Dundas Square, a public meeting space where people gather to enjoy concerts, outdoor movie nights, the sights and sounds of a big city. When we arrived the concert was winding up and someone suggested we play a game of ninja; we circled up, counted to 3 and struck a Ninja pose and then proceeded to “attack” each other with our ninja moves, eliminating each other, one-by-one, until there was only one person left. At the end of the game we discovered we’d attracted quite a crowd. We invited people to join us and within a very short time we’d taken over Dundas Square with four or five games going at the same time with anywhere between 30 to 40 people playing at once. There were people of all nationalities playing the game, people who only spoke German or French or Arabic, mothers and fathers and grandparents playing alongside their children, people across all socio-economic lines, all playing, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. For a moment, God had pulled back the veil of this world and we got a picture of what His kingdom is really like and what it will be like in its fullness. We learned what it means to pray, “Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”

We sent two teams to Ukraine this summer, and both have spent time helping Mission to Ukraine with a camp for disabled children and young adults. The blog for both teams can be found here: http://graceinukraine.wordpress.com/, and it includes some VERY COMPELLING stories. The first team told us about a father they met who is lovingly caring for his disabled daughter (see June 29 post entitled “This is Love”). Today’s post from the current Ukraine team focuses on…..The Moms.

The Moms

July 13, 2011 by graceinukraine As we have spent time with the moms of the campers this week, invariably we are astounded at the level of grace in their lives. Let me just give you a sampling of examples:

• Most of the moms were told by their doctor upon the birth of their disabled child to give the child up. Don’t bother even trying to take care of the child. There is no hope. They will never amount to anything. They are not worth putting any effort into because they will never be “normal.” They will never be able to walk, talk, play, laugh, learn . . . you name it.
• At least half of the moms were abandoned by their husbands upon the discovery that their child was disabled. The stories ranged from: “he lost interest in me” to “he found other girls and drugs” to “he left when I paid too much attention to our child” to “he didn’t love me anymore.” Over and over again the women were abandoned in their time of need, and their child(ren) have grown up without a father.
• None of these moms have found any support in society (outside of Mission to Ukraine) for help and guidance with their disabled child. Every improvement, therapy, or idea they have had to search out on their own and discover. Everyone tells them there is no hope for their child and the message is always, “you can’t.”
• None of these moms have the advantage of wealth and resources. They are poor and barely can feed their family. They have to do everything themselves without the help of any modern conveniences or support network.
• If they ever want to go anywhere with their child, they have to figure out how to navigate a world using all public transportation, no ramps or accessible buildings, and oftentimes in bitter cold.
• And yet, when we were talking about their situation yesterday in the moms’ group, the prevailing sentiment was feeling sympathy for people who have it worse than they do, for diabled children who do not have families.
  

Anya and her grandmother, Nadeerna, Veronica and her mom Liana

Here are some of the quotes from the moms this week:

• “Camp makes me feel like I am living.”
• “At camp I can leave all of my problems behind me.”
• “We have to live, believe, survive, and share God with those around us.”
• “This is completely differernt than my life back home.”
• “This supports and sustains me.”
• “She (my daughter) needs to live!”
• “When my mom died the heavens fell down to earth. Within two months I had a visit from an MTU nurse. This was a sign from above. I needed help. She talked and I opened up and this was the beginning of our life. MTU gave me attention noone else did.”
• “I came here with many questions. I have found the answers to my questions.”

All for one and one for all…..

It’s hard to sum up into words what we saw yesterday. Chaos was spread everywhere… destruction at every turn. We were in the Prefecture of Mayagi. Shichigahama is where the volunteer center is located and we went on the coast of Shichigahama for our day of work.

Gambaro (Gum-bah-do) is the phrase that is ringing through the land, “let’s do this together!” That was our team’s philosophy when we went to work. When we arrived at night time, you could see elements of the destruction. Foundations were illuminated by the occasional street lamp. Car lights quickly gave you a preview of what we would see come sunrise. We awoke in the morning and as we got in the vans, I’ll never forget the first sight of acres of debris, tractors, boats, houses, rubble and twisted metal spread across the land… it hit me really hard.

When we pulled up, a frail lady was walking quietly outside of a home. This would be the home we would be working on. You could tell at one time it was a beautiful home. Janet Kuennecke immediately started to talk with her. She found out that this was the second Tsunami this woman had lived through. In her home water rose about 2 meters above the second floor.

We immediately got to work. All of us began shoveling up sand and dirt that washed into the home’s crawlspace. Amongst shards of glass and debris we worked together as a team. I often thought of the old lady whose home we were in. What was she thinking, how was she feeling… it’s so hard to tell. I wanted to hug her and tell her I was sorry.

We grabbed our shovels and got to work. Some of us on hand and knee, others laying across the structure that held the floor boards. No matter what you did, there was no easy way of doing it. The best thing was to get in, suck it up and get dirty. I felt a rush of excitement, it made me feel so good to be doing something I had wanted to do for a long time. Seeing all the destruction made me wonder at times if any of this was making a difference. But we had to push on. Every truck load was going to make a difference, so was every shovel full.

At the end of the day we looked at the work we had done… not much compared to what was around. Still so many questions to be answered, how and when will they rebuild? How long until Japan is at a new normal? How many more times will the beaches and coastal areas have to be recleaned? It’s hard to say. As we left, the owners of the home set out tea and Aquarius for us along with some muffins and other snacks. In all their frustration and weary spirits, they are still giving. They are still the honorable people that they are known to be.

The scope is hard to imagine...

We took a quick drive around the area … and to think this damage goes on for kilometers. Some areas got struck from both sides and if you were near a river it could have been even worse. This morning Janet showed me a map of just the Shichigahama area. She then showed me where Tagajo was at on the map. It was quite far inland… and it was ravaged. It’s so hard to put into words what we saw, touched, and smelled. What our eyes saw is nearly impossible to describe. Pictures don’t do it justice. No wonder the Japanese are all in this together. All for one, and one for all.

Gambardo!!!

by Curtis Honeycutt

Okay, I’ll admit…I’m feeling a bit sheepish right now.

Why? Well, this week I’ve gone on and on about doing justice as opposed to sitting around and talking about it…

…today I want to share with you a great opportunity to talk about doing justice.

Sometimes learning can be a great catalyst to action. This is one of those times.

On Saturday, August 6, author and speaker Amy Sherman will lead our next justice seminar that we’re calling Doing Justice: As The Church, Through Our Vocations, For the Common Good. Amy is an expert in the field of engaging the church in local justice initiatives, referencing many biblical mandates that call us to serve those in need. Her book Sharing God’s Heart for the Poor has shaped how we have approached local outreach for several years now at Grace.

Amy Sherman

God’s call to do justice and love mercy is unmistakable. But how can the Church address poverty and oppression effectively…and how can individual believers be a part of the effort, using their unique gifts and talents? This seminar takes up such questions, describing the kinds of seeing and serving Christians can do that advances genuine community transformation and brings deep joy for all involved.

The Church needs a better diagnosis of the multiple causes of persistent poverty, so as to offer better prescriptions. And we need more creativity in garnering and deploying the vocational power of believers to advance tangible foretastes of the Kingdom of God.  Come join us for an engaging exploration of how, corporately and individually, we can live missionally for the common good in our beautiful but broken world.

So join us Saturday morning, August 6 at 9:00 a.m. for three hours of engaging and stimulating discussion that will leave us with no choice but to act. Here’s the link to register. We also encourage you to take advantage of the lunch breakout session after the seminar concludes. The seminar itself is free, but the breakout is $5, with lunch provided by Jason’s Deli.

We’d love to see you there!

by Curtis Honeycutt

As an upfront aside: Jon, this one’s for you. You’re right–sometimes we need to put our books down and go simply “be”.

—-

The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.
-Søren Kierkegaard, Provocations, Spiritual Writings of Søren Kierkegaard

First of all, a point for me for using the O with the line through it.

Secondly, if yesterday’s post didn’t get you fired up to do something, this one should.

I’m a book worm–a reader–a burner-outer of book-light bulbs. I stay up into the early morning hours reading epic quests, books on church stuff, and anything related to The Beatles.

Does that make me a nerd? Oh, most definitely, yes.

Does that put me in danger of becoming irrelevant? Yes.

I don’t write this to downplay knowing what and why we believe–I think it’s critical to know the basics of our faith; but one thing I struggle with is knowing when to spring into action. If we’re too busy talking/pondering/discussing/conversing/studying/arguing/reading about approaches to the Christian faith, then we run out of time to actually live it. This is why many people find a traditional seminary approach frustrating.

(This also applies to listeners of books.)

Obviously you’re reading this right now. I am taking the time to write it. Let’s make a deal and put this faith stuff into action…deal?

Deal.