Regarding Chelsea's entry "God Moments", we have received a number of incredible emails and comments from family, friends, work colleagues, and complete strangers, wanting to get involved! Thank you so much! And we were thrilled to be able to add 5 chidren to the list of new sponsorships in the last 48 hours - Mario, Rosy, Rashid, Khethang, and Davi Luna!! We are committed to praying for each of these children by name and hope the list grows exponentially. We have found tremendous peace and inspiration from Isaiah 58. It directly correlates our own healing with helping those in need. We are praying each day to remain open to God's will in our lives and how he wants us to use Chase's story for good. Isaiah 58:10-11 says:
..and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the need of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like noonday
The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs
in a sun-scorched land and will stregthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
On that note, I want to share a detail from Chase's story, that has left a lasting impression on me. The day after we learned of Chase passing away, Dr. Rick Lytle - my college professor, father of 3 girls-mentor, and family friend - challenged me with the following words:
"I know you are grieving tremendously.
I also know that God will see you through this.
Lean on him. Cry. Be still.
But know that He can teach you something
you need to know through this tragedy."
"He can teach you something you need to know".....has not left my mind ever since! And I can say with certainty, that God has clearly taught/revealed many things to me since we lost Chase. One revelation has been just how "OBLIVIOUS" I had become to the rest of the world and the needs that exist and how we all can help. I had established quite the safe "out of site, out of mind" comfort zone...and that is being shattered each and everyday now.
As Chelsea mentioned, we started reading, "The Hole in Our Gospel", by Richard Stearns, World Vision CEO. I can sum it up in this way: Me being a 30 something, caucasion male, with a college education, born and raised in the United States, who works in corporate America, etc, etc,....this book is making me very "uncomfortable".....and I am only on pg. 108! A couple of "brutal reality" statistics to chew on:
- 26,575 children die each day of largely preventable causes related to their poverty
- Almost 10,000,000 children will be dead in the course of a year
Former President Jimmy Carter, is quoted in the book saying: "The greatest problem of our time is the growing gap between the richest and poorest people on earth. He also goes on to point out that unlike any other generation, we are AWARE, have ACCESS, and the ABILITY to make an impact.
"We can be the generation that no longer accepts that an accident of latitude determines whether a child lives or dies - but will we be that generation? Will we in the West realize our potential or will we sleep in the comfort of our affluence with apathy and indifference murmuring softly in our ears......We can't say our generation didn't know how to do it. We can't say our generation could't afford it. And we can't say our generation didn't have reason to do it. It's up to us? Bono
Stearns describes Bono as "a modern-day profit - a voice of both passion and vision." He goes on to say, "I wish I could say this voice belongs to one of the great Church leaders of our day, one who is leading the Church of Jesus Christ to the front lines of the battle against poverty and injustice in our world. But, no, this voice that should shake our churches to the core with its high call to moral responsibility is the voice of a rock star - one who may have done more to advance the cause of the poor in the last 25 years than anyone else alive!"
OK, it's getting late and I need to jump off this soapbox, that I stole from my beautiful wife tonight. As we have seen throughout, God has been at work for GOOD throughout our grieving of Chase. Thanks to each of you again for all your prayers, encouragement, and friendship! I will finsh my blogging debut with Psalms 82:3-4: Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the week and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
The statistics are daunting and the task seems insurmountable.....but each of those "numbers" has a name and a face who was made in the image of God. One child at a time, we can make a difference!
Mark
3 comments:
Love it, Mark.
Irresistible Revolution is a book that shook me up and convicted me in a big way. Add that to your list if you haven't already.
What's great about your new awareness is that you have three precious girls who are sponges and ready for you to disciple them and teach them what you're discovering. I saw recently a thing my church did that showed how far the gospel could spread through growing disciples and it compared speaking to a large group and sharing the message to just creating one disciple. It was astronomical the amount of time it would take for the gospel to reach the entire world by starting with just one person! It multiplies so quickly because then that one person disciples someone and does life with them, etc.
Anyway, all that to say, you and Chelsea have such great momentum to teach your children these "lessons" you are being taught through your tragedy, and one day they will pass that on to others and together we can grow so many disciples because of what you've faced! I'm so proud of y'all for allowing the spirit to teach. It's so neat to watch as an outsider looking in. Such a great lesson for all! Love you both!
So good to hear your thoughts, Mark! I'm still praying for you guys as you walk this journey. Remember that grief is a journey and it definitely is a chance to learn something that God wants to teach you. The raw hurt you feel makes you much more vulnerable and helps shake through what is really important in this life and what is not.
The previous comment is so right in that not only will you and Chelsea be forever changed, but your girls will be too. They will have a softness for others who have experienced loss that they may not have had before. I've always said that my Megan will be a more compassionate person b/c of having a sister with special needs than if both my girls were "typical". What a blessing that is for my family and it will be also for yours. You and Chelsea are amazing parents! I love reading about how God is working through (and in spite of) this tragedy.
I love you friend! :)
Ann
Mark,
I appreciate your thoughts ... a bit convicting to me ...I know you know that Lou and I are with you ... but I am going to say it again anyway ... we are with you.
Ron
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