New Year Greetings and Sharing from Guideposts

A Hunger of the Soul He was a reporter. Objective. Detached. But this was one story he couldn't let go of. By Roger Thurow, Chicago, IL

Let me tell you about an African woman named Leonida Wanyama. For Christmas dinner her family had boiled bananas. That’s all there was. In the hills of western Kenya, Christmas comes during the dry season when fall harvests are often already depleted. Farm families live on tiny portions of corn, tea, bananas, sweet potatoes, beans and a few vegetables. Babies cry with hunger. Children’s eyes dull with exhaustion. It happens every year. Here, as in so many parts of Africa, farmers, the women and men who grow the food, go hungry. Except that this year Leonida Wanyama vowed that things would be different. A neighboring farmer had told her that an American organization called One Acre Fund was looking for farmers willing to try something new. If the farmers agreed, One Acre Fund would supply them with hardy seeds, a bit of fertilizer, credit to pay for it and classes teaching modern farming methods. “They promise you will grow more than you have ever grown,” the farmer told Leonida. Leonida is a woman of faith. She leads the choir at her village church. She prayed about the farmer’s offer Feeding Africa and studied her Bible. She came to this passage in Exodus: “I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Was this offer from One Acre Fund God’s deliverance from a lifetime of hunger? Leonida didn’t know. She decided to trust anyway. I met Leonida for a very simple reason. My life, too, was changed by a verse from Scripture. Though in my case the verse was from Matthew: “For I was hungry and you gave me food.” Those words gripped me the moment I read them. I’m not sure why.

I grew up in a place vastly different from Lutacho, Kenya. I was raised in Crystal Lake, Illinois, outside Chicago—the heartland, where modern farming methods have produced harvests that are the envy of the world. Teachers at my Lutheran grade school made us memorize Bible verses. That verse from Matthew planted itself in my heart like a seed. For a long time the seed lay dormant. I became a journalist, traveling the world covering stories. In 2003 I landed in Ethiopia to report on a famine for The Wall Street Journal. I walked into an emergency medical tent filled with severely malnourished children. A farmer was there with his five-year-old son. Just one year earlier the farmer had carried surplus sacks of grain to sell at market. Now he carried his starving son to this feeding tent. His son weighed 27 pounds. I stared into the boy’s eyes. Emptiness stared back at me. For I was hungry.... I left that tent struggling to understand how such misery could exist in the twenty-first century, in a world bursting with food. How could a farmer, a person who brought food out of the ground...be hungry? For the complete article, go to Guideposts

You Are A Traveling Who?

So finally, after 20+ years of playing it safe, I decided to take the plunge and am now working as a travel nurse case manager with American Mobile Nurses. My first week I thought I made a horrible mistake. Each time I was introduced someone would respond, "A travelling who? I didn't know there was such a thing as a travelling Case Manager." By week two I broke the ice by saying, "I'm the oddity - a traveling Case Manager."

My first assignment is Lady Lake (close to Leesburg), at The Villages Regional Hospital, November through March 2013. In hospital nursing some things never change: too few nurses, too many demanding patients, too many really sick people, and not enough time to fulfill everyone's expectations. Learning a new software, policies and procedures, providers to refer patients for services after discharge is also the same. What is a little unnerving is the lack of attachment and believe me that is mutual - on the part of the traveler, me and that of the staff who are not that interested in forming a temporary relationship. Personally, I find the thought of not being at a locale long enough to see "the underbelly"attractive. Unless flaws are glaringly and persistently obvious, it's hard to get a truly negative picture in only three months. For those who may not want to jump into travel nursing blindfolded and with both feet, this site may provide some helpful links. Happy trails!http://www.medicalsolutions.com/guide-to-becoming-a-travel-nurse/

Guide to Becoming a Travel Nurse

www.medicalsolutions.com

Finding the right Travel Nurse company for you and your career goals can be a job in itself, though it doesn’t have to be. 

Israel and The End Times

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem," Psalm 122:6. As we rest in the afterglow of Thanksgiving and probably plan new disguises for leftovers in the coming week, let's not forget Israel. What affects them ultimately affects the world and Christians in particular. Christ said to use their events as a calendar to inform us when his coming is close. The Bible is being fulfilled right before our very eyes.
There is no use trying to deny the reality of an "end time." Ecclesiastes tells us God has placed eternity in our hearts. Today movie producers, authors, scientists and Christians all speak with some conviction of this time the Bible refers to as that day or the Day of the Lord.

Fortunately, just as God used Israel to be the bearer of Redemption he is also using them to chronicle the progression and the eventual end of earthly history. Christ says when we see all that has happened to Israel since 1948 to the present, we are to take notice; "look up for our redemption draws near." Whose redemption? That of the church and believers in Christ. Israel's final conflict will also herald the earths death throes and the ushering in of a glorious eternity with Christ for those who believe. No nation, no matter how powerful or how much nuclear capability they have at their disposal, will be able to annihilate Israel. It's not on God's calendar.

If you have any doubts that God fights for Israel now as he did against the nations of antiquity, read the events of the "Six Day War" http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/7133#.UK-hTeSukkw
God is still able. Last, God is also true and will not go back on his word. Pray for Israel, pray for their aggressors, and pray that Christians will rise to the challenge of standing with the Chosen People, the earthly relatives of our Lord and our Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Its Travelling time. Do you know what your fees are?

On my recent trip to St. Thomas USVI, my hosts booked with Spirit Airlines because of an attractivly low fare. I packed carefully making sure my bag was well under fity pounds (because I thought that was the limit) and had a nice carry on, handbag and computer. Oops! One piece two many. The computer would count as one carry on, and I would need to pay $45 for the legitimate carry-on or $50 to have it checked. I choose the later and found the first piece of checked luggage was also $50. In  other words, I paid $100.00 for my duffle bag and one carry-on-size piece of luggage. Aggravation number one.

Did I miss something? When did airlines start charging for a glass of water? Spirit Airlines has no in-flight hospitality whatsoever. Two and a half hours to St. Thomas from Fort Lauderdale and if you get thirsty they are more than happy to sell you a bottle of water. Angst number 2, though I purchased water and snack before boarding. Just the principle of the thing.

On the way back to Florida I exercised the same care packing and this time the bag was 49 lbs. Still under fifty, right? Not as far as  Spirit was concerned. My hosts were with me and heard when I was told I was 9 lbs over weight. So now my one piece of checked baggage should weigh only 40lbs??? I re-shuffled some stuff and checked in at 45 or 44lbs. Rub number 3.

Aside from being put out by the hassle, I guess the point I am making is simply to reiterate the old saw: "If it looks too good to be true it usually is." In these days of fluid pricing, read the fine print when you book a flight. All airlines do not have the same weight limits or luggage charge. AirTran for example charges $20 for the first checked piece and $25 for the second (Ft. Lauderdale to Atlanta). Look out for additional charges on bulkhead or window seats (Spirit will hit you up for an additional $50 for "the big front seat." By now you know, this relationship just ended. Spirit Airlines will not be my carrier of choice (or that of my hosts).

The good note? I had a marvellous trip.

I'm a Grandma or a Mimi to be exact ...

Well the last few weeks have flown by in a blissful haze as my husband and I completed another rite of passage i.e. becoming grandparents. Our daughter Lauren and Tyson gave us a beautiful grandson - Anthony Tyson Johnson on October 19th.
It seemed surreal sitting in the labor and delivery room listening to the muted whump-whump, whump of the baby's heartbeat, and watch the contractions peak and subside on the monitor. Who can begin to describe the memories of 29 years ago when I, without all the aids and devices that are now standard hospital equipment,waited for what I intuitively knew, would be our baby girl. Now here she was bravely waiting for her son.

I could not help wondering, at what point did this child "become" a human being? At his conception, his first heartbeat, the first quiver of movement, or now as we watched his heartbeats rise and fall on the monitor? Maybe, none of those maybe it happened at the moment when he made his complete entry in a rush of warm fluid, at the moment the doctor flipped him over and his eyes popped opened in the glaring light of day, for the first time.

Later you say? Possibly when the nurses rubbed and patted him all over to elicit the life-giving, lung expanding first cry? Surely, somewhere along the line, he evolved into personhood, but when???
Psalm 139 springs to memory. My grandson was known of God as a human being the moment he was knitted together in his mother's womb, in God's book all his tiny members were written before they were formed; from the moment of conception. What a glorious miracle!

So, going into his third week of life he is gorgeous (of course) is out of his newborn diapers into size one's was has gained over two lbs and grown some 2.5 inches. On Monday he weight 8+ lbs and is 21.5 inches long. Welcome little Guy Mimi and Papa love you to pieces!

Julie Gorman via mail.feedblitz.com	Nov 5 (2 days ago)
to me

Remember WHO GOD IS Today's Word of Encouragement... Remember WHO GOD IS More Recent Articles Search His Love Extended Ever feel in over your head? Tested beyond your perceived strength? Positioned in a place where you question God what are you doing? Why am I here? What are you calling me to?  If so, be encouraged and remember...Our deliverance, our victory, and our ability to obey is provided through trusting in WHO GOD IS and WHAT HE IS CAPABLE OF. In Genesis 22:1-12, God tells Abraham, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." And so, "the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants," Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." Then, "Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." (NIV) Whew. Can you imagine? I know I've been called to sacrifice many things, things I loved, but my own flesh and blood...WOW! So, where did Abraham muster his courage to offer up Isaac? How could he live so abandoned to God's command? There are many possible solutions to these questions but I believe none as pertinent as the answer found in Hebrew 11:17-19. It says, "By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him," It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death." (NIV) Abraham's obedience resided in His complete confidence of in WHO GOD IS AND IN GOD'S ABILITY, not his own. He didn't focus on what he could or couldn't do...instead...he shifted his attention to remember GOD! He trusted in God's goodness and in God's power. So.... When fear grips your heart and challenges your faith...Remember WHO GOD I! When you don't feel like you can do what He has called you to...Remember WHAT HE HAS PROMISED. When you feel alone...Remember GOD IS FOR YOU. When your faith is assaulted and you face huge battles...Remember God's character and His power! Friend, God can be trusted. He is faithful. And, He loves you. I pray God strengthens you and fills you with His presence so that you have the strength to declare (as the Apostle Paul did in 2 Timothy 1:12) "I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day." (NIV)

God Requires Risky Obedience

“Risk your life and get more than you ever dreamed of.” (Luke 19:26 MSG)

 

If God tells you to take a step of faith but you hesitate to take it until he shows you what the second step will be, you’re not waiting on God. He’s waiting on you.

 

God uses risks, large and small, to push us into a deeper faith. And so he wants us to step forward in faith, even if we don’t know where the second step will take us. The not knowing is what requires faith, and the not knowing compels us to rely on God to guide us forward.

 

Regardless of what we see on the other side of a God-directed risk, the reality is God is there. What seems to be a no-guarantee situation actually comes with the greatest guarantee of all — a God-guarantee — that he’s working in your life.

 

With this guarantee from God, you can enter into the risky obedience of attempting things that are impossible unless God gives you his strength to do them.

 

With this guarantee from God, you can enter into the risky obedience of loving other believers so deeply and so richly that you prove to the world that God’s love is flowing through you.

 

With this guarantee from God, you can enter into the risky obedience of loving your unlovable neighbors just as God loved you, even when you seemed unlovable.

 

With this guarantee from God, you can enter into the risky obedience of changing your priorities to match God’s priorities, sacrificing, in faith, what you cannot keep for the things that can never be taken away.

 

With this guarantee from God, you can engage in the risky obedience of making disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them that the risky obedience of following Jesus comes with a God-guarantee (Matthew 28:19-20).

 

What task is before you that seems impossible?

How should your approach to that task change when you believe it comes from God?

 

Jon Walker’s new book, Breakfast with Bonhoeffer, is a story of God’s faithfulness during struggles with bipolar disorder, divorce, and economic uncertainty.

 

This devotional © Copyright 2012 Jon Walker. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

 

The post God Requires Risky Obedience appeared first on Grace Creates.