Lives to be changed

A little girl aged about five looks up at me. She’s one of the latest to arrive at the Esther Home, a place for girls rescued from the sex trade. There she will receive food, a bed, an education.

Just one life saved in a nation of over a billion. But I learned a long time ago I can’t change a nation. Lives I can change. One at a time.



My thanks to the team who went with me. We did Bible Weeks, Medical Missions and the Esther Home. Well done Jane, Slim, Jen, Becky, Gill and Chris. Of course it’s not just their lives that get changed. As a result of the India work, every one of us on the team will have a better handle on the crazy world we live in.

In parts of India, there is no credit to ‘crunch’. But there are always lives to be changed.

Another day, a different world.

It’s snowing again. Hopefully not enough to stop the flight tomorrow.

From snow to heat. Temperatures around 100F. Another day, but a very different world.

Tomorrow I take a team of 7 to Andhra Pradesh, India for 8 days of mission and charity work. I’ll be doing some teaching in the church, and as a team we will also be working in the villages, taking out medical supplies, and working with a local doctor. Many villagers are too poor to be able to get to a doctor, and sadly some who do go in for operations, come out of hospital without body parts, sold off through the black market.

One of the trip highlights will be working in the Esther homes. These are homes for rescued girls of sex workers. Their mothers have asked us to care for them, to give them a hope and a future different to the one the mothers have endured as temple prostitutes.

Through the local church we help the mothers too. Some want to get away from their current lifestyles. We offer them training as seamstresses. Once qualified, they get a sewing machine and an offer of help from a church somewhere else, away from the temptation to return to their old way of life.

Girls born to poor families in India sometimes face a bleak future. They may even be discarded at birth, due to the dowry system and the fact the parents would not be able to pay for a future marriage. We help in a small way, supporting local churches to care for unwanted children, rescuing them, giving them an education.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11

Another day. A different world.

Mr Darwin, Mr Attenborough and God

I love the BBC natural world documentaries, especially those fronted by David Attenborough. His series over the years such as Planet Earth, Life on Earth and the Life of Birds have been amazing. I see the incredible world we live in and just can’t stop thanking God for the wonder of it all.

David Attenborough takes a different stance though. That was clear from the first week of his new series ‘Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life’. I’m sure Darwin is right as regards animals adapting and evolving, but then to argue- as David Attenborough did in just a few links at the end of the programme- that man is evolved from apes, is quite a leap of faith!

Just because man and apes share some DNA doesn’t mean we come from them. There is a missing link between apes and the supposed evolving of man. That link will never be found, because it doesn’t exist.

Look around at the world. Re-live the world by watching the many excellent BBC documentaries. And allow it to form in you a wonder for this world we live in. From the beauty of a snowflake to the vastness of the oceans. From the speed of a cheetah to the sloth of a …. sloth! God has made an amazing world.

I don’t know whether David Attenborough would call himself an atheist or an agnostic. What I do know is it takes much more faith to believe there is not a God, that this world came into existence by chance molecules, than to believe in a Creator.

Cluttered desks

I've had the computer guy in this week, so had to clear my home office desk. I'm not exactly tidy, so it took a while. What's that quote about cluttered desks and cluttered minds?

I prefer the one from Albert Einstein:

"If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?"

The Presidents Pastor

I was delighted at President Obama's choice of the 'Presidents Pastor' - the person asked to pray at the inauguration and likely to be consulting the president in the future. Rick Warren is a great guy, and has written one of the best books ever- 'The Purpose Driven Life'. (If you've not read it, irrespective of your beliefs or lack of them, I recommend it!)

Here is a transcript of the prayer Rick Warren prayed at the inauguration of President Obama:

Almighty God, our Father:
Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone. It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory.

History is your story.

The Scripture tells us, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today, we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American president of the United States.

We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans—united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you—forgive us.

When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone—forgive us.

When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve—forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all.

May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.

And may we never forget that one day, all nations--and all people--will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, 'Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus—who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Obama's day

"Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run. Obama's running so we all can fly."
Jay Z

Prayer resolution

It's that time of year. Resolutions are made. Fitness clubs and slimming programmes get oversubscribed. Then, for most, the promises are forgotten in the hurly burly of daily life.

My own resolve- which I hope I will be able to keep- is to pray more. I know prayer works. I've seen the results. But so often, it gets crowded out. A good example of the urgent replacing the important.

So this year, I will pray more. For my family, the city I live in, the nation I am part of, the world I can affect.

C H Spurgeon, the great 19th century preacher, said "prayer is the lisping of the believing infant, the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of the dying saint." I'm ready to shout.