The following is a quote from a book I've been reading...in the midst of some pretty serious research. I don't want this to be a harsh post....but a motivation to us all to "run our races well, with our eyes on the prize."
"There is a mindset in the prosperous west that we deserve painfree, trouble-free existence. When life deals us the opposite, we have a right not only to blame somebody or some system and to feel sorry for ourselves, but also to devote most of our time to coping, so that we have no time or energy left over for serving others.
This mind-set gives a trajectory to life that is almost universal-namely, away from stress and toward comfort and safety and relief. Then within that very natural trajectory some people begin to think of ministry and find ways of serving God inside the boundaries set by the aims of self-protection. Then churches grow up in this mind-set, and it never occurs to anyone in such a community of believers that choosing discomfort, stress, and danger might be the right thing-even the normal, biblical thing-to do." John Piper-The Roots of Endurance
"At conception, a human has come into being. For how long? Forever. Either in heaven or hell. There is no going out of existence...You exist forever. You and God are both in the universe to stay-either as friends on His terms, or as enemies. Which it will be is proven in this life..............When I think of the atrocities on the world, like the genocides of the 20th century, it makes me want to live my life with as few regrets as possible."John Piper-Life is a Vapor
Did You Know That.......
* 50% of the world lives on just $2.00 a day
*the average income of a peasant farmer in Jiangxi, China (where Katherine is from) is $850 per year. 1/3 of that is used for coal to heat their homes. This makes the $2.oo per day accurate.
*27,000-30,000 children in the world die EVERY DAY
* That's 1 child dying every 3 seconds
*According to UNICEF...a child is defined as age 5 or under (what about the ones 5-18??)
*What do they die of??....poverty, hunger, treatable and preventable diseases
*Last year there were ONE MILLION substantiated cases of child abuse in the U.S. alone
*Over 3 million child abuse reports were made last year.
*1973-present- over 40 million abortions performed in the U.S.
Please take 5 minutes to look at this site http://miniature-earth.com....it's not a Christian site but the statistics are impressive and will hopefully make you think. It's also on the Soteria Foundation blog. (thanks Jason!)
"When I think on these things, it makes me tremble at the prospect of living a trivial, self-serving, comfortable, middle-class, ordinary, untroubled American life. I can't keep eternity out of my mind. Life is short and eternity is long. Very long. It is a long time to regret a wasted life. ....Shall we not then live our lives-and prepare for heaven-by strategizing in all our vocations, and with all our talents and all our money , to relieve suffering (now and forever) for the glory of Jesus?.......Man is not getting better. But God will hold us accountable in the age to come not for what others have done. He will call us to account for what blood-bought hope freed US (emphasis added) to do for others in the name of Christ." John Piper-Life is a Vapor
We could not have said it better.This is our motivation.....the cross is our hope. This is what moves us as a family calling...
Gotta love John Piper...my current favorite author...
Hopefully, this stirs your heart as well.......The picture is from our "princess picnic" today with our friend Alexis. After much deliberation and decision making......Katie chose to be Tinkerbell. A huge deviation from the norm. :) The others had very long explainations about their choice of attire. We think they're all beautiful!
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