Five Ways Christians Must Stop Failing the Poor

Read this post over at deeperstory.com. Check it out here.

T-Shirt Blitz! Fundraising for Guatemala Mission Trip!

Who wants to own a really cool t-shirt and support us at the same time?

We are having a T-SHIRT BLITZ from... NOW until September 30th. 

We have partnered with Kari Gibson over at My Crazy Adoption blog to 

offer these  awesome t-shirts with a great message. 

100% of the profits from the t-shirt sales will be for our missions trip. 

If we do well with the T-SHIRT BLITZ this month 

then we can offer them again along with other cool products!

Click HERE to go to our website and to order your t-shirts!

We are pre-selling the shirts for $15.00 each.

This is a pre-sell only and I do not have samples of the shirts. 

The t-shirts are high quality brands. 

The two styles for women are "junior fit" but I would suggest 

ordering a size or two up if you don't like it snug.

That's what I am going to do.

I would love to sell these t-shirts along with other products year round to 

raise money for other ministries and missions!

We are headed back to Guatemala in January 2013!

We are very excited about going back to Guatemala in January! We originally planned to go in November of this year but we truly believe we were getting ahead of the Lord. Our kids are thrilled and counting down until they see their little buddies at the Malnutrition Center again. More information to come soon!

Face Value

I am not a theologian. I don’t own a Greek or Hebrew Lexicon. There are many people I know that are gifted in teaching and research. My study of the Bible is pretty simple. I just read what the Bible says at “face value”. I try to listen to the Holy Spirit and then try to live out what the Bible says.

Simply put, I desperately want to read God’s word and not add anything to it.

Here are a few examples… maybe we can all relate to these.

The Bible says, numerous times, “Love one another”. The Bible doesn’t say- Love one another only when you are loved back.

Jesus says in John 14:15, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my words.” It doesn’t say- If anyone loves me, he can keep my words when it is convenient to his circumstances.

Jesus says in Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.” It doesn’t say- Do not worry about your life, well except when you lose your job or when money is tight.

Reading the Bible at “face value” is enough to keep me going for a lifetime. I sin, fail, pray and keep getting back up trusting what His word says. I believe His word but it is hard to live out. His word also says in Luke 11:28, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” It says that I will be blessed if I hear the word and obey it.

So, if I believe what God’s word says at “face value” then another verse to live out is James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Some may say that’s not literal. He’s just using that as examples. He could be using it as examples of what religion should “look like” but what if we actually lived out the specific examples mentioned in the verses. I am certain you would agree that it may actually help someone else and even ourselves... that’s my thinking anyways.

This “face value” kind of faith journey our family is attempting to live out is what took us to Guatemala. By the way, we will be going back sooner than later.

The trip to Guatemala allowed us to see more of Jesus & His glory! It allowed us to bring Him glory even in our failed attempts. That’s amazing! God did just what His Word says. If we obey His word… He will bless us! That’s what we experienced as we took care of orphans in their distress.

I want to encourage you to simply read God’s Word at “face value” if you aren’t already doing so.

Our Visit with Zuly & her family

After our visit with Zuly Elizabeth & her family today I tried to think of the words to describe it.

Blessed...that's what came to mind. We have sponsored her for about 4 years now and only seen a few pictures, drawings and letters. The experience today made it so incredibly real and tangible.

When we arrived we introduced ourselves even though she had received letters and pictures from us today. It was hard to believe we were meeting her. Zuly didn't know this but for us it felt like we were meeting someone famous.

We shared with Zuly, her mother and sisters how we pray for them almost daily as a family. Seeing them live and in person was truly amazing!

It was obvious they were nervous or unsure. Mike broke the ice by pulling out a Frisbee we brought for Zuly. They had never seen a Frisbee before so we started showing them how to use it. Zuly got out there and was having fun giving it a try.

It is so obvious that the mother loves her six girls very much. She was a joy as well as the rest of the family. It was a little overwhelming to see the conditions they live in and the structures they call their home and kitchen. I know God is in control and I truly pray they know that as well in their hearts. It was just hard to believe that all of them live in such a small area.

I think of the lyrics from a Brooke Fraser song. It is about her visit to Rwanda and a girl she meets- Albertine. It speaks to me now about Guatemala and our visit with Zuly.

Here's the chorus to the song Albertine:

Now that I have seen, I am responsible

Faith without works is dead

Now that I have held you in my own arms, I cannot let go till you are

I am on a plane across a distant sea

But I carry you in me

and the dust on, the dust on, the dust on my feet

There are so many other things to share but I am still processing it all. We will share more words and pictures soon.

We were blessed beyond words by the whole experience.

Mitzi

Mealtime at the Malnutrition Center

Here are two of my favorite pictures.

This is little Elena.

The top one is during here meal.

The bottom one is after her meal.

She did wake up after much prompting.

After Elena woke up she started finishing off her meal with her eyes closed.

Most all of the children would eat every last morsel on their plate. They wouldn't receive their leche(milk) until they ate everything on their plate. Food is a precious commodity for these children.

Thursday, January 12th

Today was our final day at the Malnutrition Center. It was filled with joy and emotion. The “Ducks and Squirrels” enjoyed puzzle time and taking a walk outside. They covered the pavilion in sidewalk chalk. Several of the children wanted us to outline them on the ground. They were covered in chalk as they walked back inside. It was precious to see little Victoria join the Squirrels over the last couple of days. Her face lit up when she went down the slide for the first time.

Right before lunch most of the children had the opportunity to help unload supplies for the center. We couldn’t believe how excited the children were to carry a container of wipes & diapers. They ran back and forth to the van without any whining or complaining. It was a joyful experience.

In the afternoon, the staff provided a wonderful snack for us as a send off… Authentic Guatemalan food. They had fun taking pictures and we had a chance to see more of their personalities come out despite the language barrier. A smile and laughter are universal.

As we prepared to say good-bye, the kids were given packages of Oreos. We loved seeing them with chocolate outlining their mouths and faces. They enjoyed every morsel and I think they left some clean up for the workers at the center too.

This day was no different than the previous three days in regard to the way we would leave each afternoon. The children and staff would all come out and wave good-bye until we were out of sight. What was different about today was the fact that we wouldn't physically be back tomorrow. Our team may not be at the center tomorrow but a part of our hearts will always be there. What a joy and a blessing the Lord gave us this week!

We (the Fountain family) will be in Guatemala until Tuesday, the 17th. The Baggotts and Parkisions will be leaving us Saturday. On Monday, we will go visit our World Vision child, Zuly Elizabeth. We are very excited to see her and her family. Starting tomorrow we plan on visiting some sights in and around Antigua. It is a beautiful city. We have taken lots of pictures of the center and Antigua that we plan to share soon.

Tuesday, January 10th 2nd post of pictures

Tuesday, January 10th

Another great day at the Malnutrition Center! The “Ducks & Squirrels” had some time coloring and play on the playground. Several of the children can’t get enough of the slide. Lunch time was very entertaining as they ate chicken (on the bone) and beets. Yes, beets. All the “ducks & squirrels” ate every bite because they wanted strawberry jell-o for dessert. So, just imagine about 15 children feeding themselves RED beets & RED jell-o. Each one had pink palms for the rest of the day.

We had the opportunity to spend some time in San Juan after lunch. What an experience. This is where you find the truly authentic Guatemalan foods. Some of the foods we couldn’t identify. We also saw the “real” side of Guatemala. Antigua s more of a tourist are while San Juan is more traditional.

When we came back to the center we were able to do some cleaning while the kids took their nap time. Some team members wiped down chairs, others washed play mats and some repairs were completed. When the kids woke up after the nap time, many of us were on diaper duty/bathroom duty. Just imagine with me how long it takes to changes diapers or take 66 kids to the bathroom. We are all amazed at how the fulltime workers get all this done without volunteer teams. They are our heroes.

God has shown us that it doesn’t matter what country you are in or what you are called to do. It all comes down to God’s glory. We simply show up and let His glory be revealed by each of us being willing to play with children, observe culture and even clean a malnutrition center. It’s all about Him no matter where we are.

A Great First Day at the Center

What a great first day at the Malnutrition Center! It took us an hour through the 5 F's to get there: freeway, forest, farming, furniture building and flowers. There are 66 children there and only about 4 ladies that have to feed, bath, change diapers, play and do everything else with these children 24/7. Our team split up among the different ages and helped these ladies all day. I was challenged as I was trained how to feed 25 children soup, spagetti, tortillas, and leche (milk). Man was I worn out come 2 pm. The water wasn't working at the center yesterday so we didn't get to help with washing dishes and a lot of cleaning we wanted to do. Hopefully the water will be working fine today. We just arrived back home around 7 pm Atlanta time. I really can't put into words how awesome today was. Thank you Lord!

Sunday January 8th

Our day began with a wonderful worship service with our team. We shared songs together, talked about how God many times chooses the impossible to reveal His glory to us. Ethan started us off with a song. Rebecca read a scripture. Mike shared from the book of John on how God provides even when we think there's not enough.

Beautiful, protected & childlike faith were just a few of the words used to describe today during our WOW time tonight. We had the opportunity to see God’s beautiful and stunning creation today as we went as a group zip lining across the mountain canyons. We even got to see one of the volcanoes erupt several times today. Most mission trips have a "free" day. Today was ours.

Even though the ministry to the malnutrition center didn’t begin today, teambuilding did. Our team seemed to connect almost instantly from the children to the adults. We can’t wait to see what happens as God uses all of us to do His work this week. Tomorrow begins a full week of ministry! Enjoy some pictures we posted from today.

More pictures from Sunday January 8th

Some Pictures from Sunday January 8th

We're packed and ready to go!

It's been almost one year from when we first posted about our trip to Guatemala. This past year has been a year of faith building, a year of fundraising, a year of passport challenges, a year of being showered in prayer from our friends, a year of anonymous checks in the mail, a year of watching as our children's faith grew, and a year of watching God just be GOD. To Him be the praise and glory!

So here we sit, bags all packed, counting down the hours until we board the plane for the Guatemala City airport. It's like the night before Christmas morning for us! We're meeting the Parkison family at 6 am to head to the airport. I think the kids are really looking forward to flying on a plane. Me - I'll be gripping the seatback at takeoff and landing as usual.

Once we arrive, we'll meet up with Ron our team leader and his family along with another couple from Florida that we haven't met. From there we'll drive an hour to the beautiful city of Antigua. Hopefully, we'll have another post tomorrow night after we've reached this point.

Finally, the team going from Atlanta is:

Kirk, Amy, John Daniel, Olsen and Sam Baggott

Taylor and Jenna Parkison (brother and sister)

Mike, Mitzi, Ethan, Rebecca, Sarah and Anderson Fountain

Guatemala, here we come!!!!

Mission Trip Update

We are so excited to have dates now for the trip. The trip is planned for November 5-12, 2011.

There is now a website set-up about the trip and our fundraising efforts.

Guatemala...Here we come!

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!

Family Promise of Gwinnett

If your in the Gwinnett county area there is a wonderful ministry that you and your children can be a part of...Family Promise of Gwinnett. My husband and I attended the volunteer training a few weeks back and we were very impressed with the mission of this organization.

Here's the basics of the program:

Family Promise brings shelter, meals and support to families without homes through a network of church congregations. The congregations host families(5-6 families) for a week and provides lodging, three meals a day and caring hospitality 3-4 times a year.

During the day, guest families (as they are called) use a local day center to purse employment, care for preschool children, shower and do laundry. The day center is located on Sugarloaf Parkway in Lawrenceville.

The guest families stay in the program for up to 90 days.

Family Promise desires to end homelessness one family at a time.

How can you and your family be involved?

Serve at a nearby host church by providing a meal, playing with the kids, helping set-up etc.

Our family will be serving on New Year's day here in Lawrenceville. We plan on playing with the children of the guests! We are bringing our Lego's.

Family Promise encourages the whole family to serve together. If you haven't noticed yet they only serve families. The guests must have at least one child to enter the program.

If you would like more info go to the Family Promise website or contact me.

One Thing Leads to Another-Fundraising-Guatemala

The holidays are approaching quickly which leads to a new year. A new year leads to my thoughts and the reality that we are planning to take a missions trip to Guatemala in 2011. Since we are planning a missions trip~ we are actively and creatively coming up with ways to raise the money it will take to serve in Guatemala.

Here are a few things we have been doing:

• Collecting all of our pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters in a container that sits on our kitchen counter. We have a can for dollar bills too.
• Collecting aluminum cans and recycling for .60 cents a pound. This will raise the money for meals most likely. Every little bit helps. You can help with this too!
• Yard Sale- We had a yard sale a few weeks back and will have another one in the Spring.
• Creating bottle cap necklaces that we will be selling for $5.00 each. More info to come.

Other Fundraising plans for 2011:

• Spring Yard Sale~ If you have items you would like to donate let me know.
• Lego Contest and Party for local homeschool kids! We did this a couple of years ago and it was a huge success. All the entry fees received will go towards the missions trip. Dates and details to follow.
• Cupcake class ~ All registration fees will go towards the missions trip.
• T-Shirts~ Awesome t-shirt designs for all ages to benefit the Guatemalan missions trip!

As you can see we are going to busy in the coming year. We are looking forward to how God will work in us as a family through it all! One thing leads to another...God is always working!

Orphan Sunday

Hope is Fading – Orphan Sunday from Allan Rosenow on Vimeo.

What is Orphan Sunday?

On Orphan Sunday, Christians stand for the orphan . We are a people called to defend the fatherless…to care for the child that has no family…to visit orphans in their distress.

From many sources, one voice. Hundreds of events across America and beyond, all sharing a single goal: that God’s great love for the orphan will find echo in our lives as well.

Each as they are led. Sermons and small groups, concerts and prayer gatherings—each rousing believers with God’s call to care for the orphan…and what we can do in response.

Orphan Sunday is your opportunity to rouse church, community and friends to God’s call to care for the orphan. (Taken from My Crazy Adoption)

(Part 2 of First Things First) An Amazing God

God is Holy. God is eternal. God is all-knowing. God is all-powerful. God is fair and just. God is Love.

So, I left off with a question- How Big is Your God? Here are some attributes of God to have a better understanding of the God we serve.

God is Holy~ A lot of people would say whatever you believe about God is fine as long as you are sincere. But that is comparable to describing a friend in one instance as a 6 ft. Japanese Sumo wrestler and in another instance as a 5-ft 2 in. gymnast. No matter how sincere you are in your explanations, both descriptions of your friend can not be true.

We have to have a standard to live by.

To say that God is Holy is to say He is set-apart, distinct from us… His perfect Holiness, assures us that we cannot contain Him.

Isn’t it comforting to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?

Revelation 4:8 “…Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

God is eternal~ There is no way for us to ever grasp this concept ~Eternal. Not being able to fully understand God is frustrating, at times, but it is ridiculous for us to think we have the right to limit God to something that we are capable of comprehending. He created us. We didn’t create Him.

Psalm 102:12, 27.”But you, O Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations…But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”

God is all-knowing~ Isn’t this an intimidating thought? All-knowing. We forget this when we “hide” our sins from God.

Hebrews 4:13 says~ “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Now, I am one of these people and I hope you are to that I believe what the Bible says for what it says. We can dress up sometimes by calling our manipulation ~ “encouragement” or our gossip “sharing a prayer request”. We have all done it.

All knowing~ This can be a scary knowledge but it also can be comforting. There is not a problem or struggle that He doesn’t know about.

God is all-powerful~ Colossians 1:16 tells us that everything was created for God: “For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him.

Here are some questions I want you to ask yourself:

Can you worship a God who isn’t obligated to explain His actions to you? He is all-powerful

Could it be your pride or arrogance that makes you think God owes you an explanation?

God is Fair & Just~ God is the only being that is truly good so the standard is up to Him…The creator.

You may not think the standard is very appealing. But to put it bluntly, when you get your own universe, you can make your own standards. When we disagree with God let’s not assume it’s His reasoning that needs correction. It takes a lot for us to comprehend God’s hatred for sin. For instance let’s take pride. Yeah, we would all agree it is sin but we say…”We all struggle with pride. It’s human nature. It’s just life.”

God’s Word says in Proverbs 8:13, “I hate pride and arrogance.”

God never excuses sin. And He is always consistent with that ethic. There are consequences to it.

God is Love.~ I’ll post about this attribute next time. We could feel defeated if we didn’t have love. He is Love or we would be a hopeless human race.

(Part 1 of First Things First) - An Amazing God

This year I have had the privilege of speaking at two different women’s retreats.
I am not a natural "speaker". Nonetheless, the Holy Spirit has been leading me to share with other women the truths of God’s Word.
I will post over the next few weeks what I have been sharing as a foundation for our walk in Christ. The posts may seem a bit choppy because I am typing them from my notes.

Focal Scripture:
Matt. 6:33- “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Matthew 22:36-38 – “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.”

Watch the video before you read any further…please.

Taken from Crazy Love by Francis Chan

Speechless? Amazed? Humbled?

When I first watched those images I was completely humbled to the point I said to myself …”Who do I think I am?”

It’s wild to think that most of these galaxies have been discovered only in the past few years. They’ve been in the universe for thousands of years without humans even knowing about them. They were not created for us. They were created for God’s glory.

R.C. Sproul writes, “Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.”

Have you ever thought about how diverse and creative God is?

He didn’t have to put 3,000 different species of trees within one square mile in the Amazon jungle, but He did. How about the way plants defy gravity by drawing water upward from the ground into their stems and veins? Did you know that when you get goose bumps, the hair in your follicles is actually helping you stay warmer by trapping body heat? I could go on and on and have a science class but I will stop with those very few examples.

Whatever God’s reason for such diversity, creativity and sophistication in the universe, on earth and in our own bodies, the point of it all is HIS glory not ours. He didn’t even really create it for us. We are privileged enough to be a part of it.

“The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

² Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

³ There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

⁴ Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,”

No matter how many pictures we see of His glory in the galaxies and His creation... No matter how many sunsets we see... We still forget. How awe struck we should be of the Creator. We are suffering from amnesia: loss of a large block of interrelated memories; complete or partial loss of memory.

I need to let you know of a spiritual amnesia that is going around and none of us are immune to it and it is caused by our own human and sinful nature and the enemy.

Most of us know that we should to love and fear God; that we should read our Bibles and pray so that we can get to know Him better; that we should worship Him with our lives. But actually living it out is challenging. I think the biggest problem is not remembering whose we are.

This is where keeping First Things First comes into play. I am convinced only because it is in God’s Word that if we focus on the First Things in God’s Word will we truly experience all God has for us.

You know what? It is hard to keep that in focus. It confuses us when loving God is hard. Shouldn’t it be easy to love a God so wonderful? When we love God because we feel we should love Him, instead of genuinely loving Him out of our true selves, we have forgotten who God really is. Our amnesia is flaring up again and we need a cure.

We have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him.

We are programmed to focus on what we don’t have, instead of being content with what we do have. We are bombarded multiple times throughout the day with what we need to buy that will make us feel happier or more at peace. This dissatisfaction transfers over to our thinking about God. If we are a follower of Christ and have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior then we already have everything we need in Him. We just forget that.

We absolutely must entertain the magnitude of God’s grandness and greatness on a regularly basis because it will fuel how we act, speak and respond to the ones around us and to Him.

The first question to ask is...How Big is God to me?