Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Please Help Haiti


I don't normally solicit for anything but the Earth Quake in Haiti has hit close to my heart. My Church helps to support a man by the name of Hudson Michele who runs 3 schools in Haiti with 250 students and he also pastors a church of 150 people. He's a GREAT man, one who cares nothing for fame or fortune. Hudson cares about trying to meet the physical, intellectual, and spiritual needs of his community.

A Pastor at my church - Andy Lehmann - went to Haiti a year and a half ago without any real plans other than the knowledge that the Holy Spirit would guide him. He flew to Santa Domingo then went over the boarder into Haiti, where he met a Haitian who was starting a little church and Christian School. Through that meeting a relationship has grown with the Haitian Pastor Hudson Michelle and my Church - Allison Park Church.

Hudson is concerned with meeting real world needs of the people of Haiti and has started 3 Christian schools with 250 students as well as pastoring a church of 150 people. In addition to giving these children an education they insure that they eat one real meal a day - which is far above the average for Haiti which is three meals a WEEK. When Andy was there the children were literally eating mud pies just to fill their empty bellies. And now with the earth quake things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.

Andy heard from Hudson this morning and he is fine, his home did not fall down, but we still don't know how the school and all the families and children have fared.

If you want to help in some way but worry that your money might be used for administrative things and not for feeding, clothing, and helping those honestly in need you might want to look at this web site that talks about Hudson and how you can help. Like I said I don't solicit, but I give you my solemn word that if you gave to this cause every single penny would go to Hudson who is a man of great integrity and has a heart for his suffering people. In a country such as Haiti that is filled with Government corruption it's hard to know exactly where emergency relief is going. In this case you'd know it's going to help Hudson's kids and community.

The Web site is promoting our general Haiti project that went into effect last year. The emergency relief stuff isn't there yet, so you'd want to make sure to note that your contribution is earmarked for the 'Earthquake':

http://generationsprojects.com/index.php?id=7

Here is a video made by Brian Lippert at our Church using photo's and Video made by Pastor Andy during his trip to Haiti - this was made well before the Earthquake.

If you want more information and want to call our Pastor Andy you can reach him through the Church at 412-487-7220 x360. I'm at x350.

Thank you and please pray for Pastor Hudson and all the people of Haiti during this desperate time.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

The year of seeing through Jesus' eyes


“Teach us to number our days aright,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
—Psalm 90:12

Pastors Jeff and Melodie Leake taught me to name each year as a symbol of what and how you want to become closer to the Lord. This year is my year of 'seeing through Jesus' eyes'.

God is truth, and to see through the eyes of our Lord is to see what is real. Only what you see through his eyes is real. All else is lies and deception.

When we see others through the eyes of Jesus we see who they are in Christ, and we can not help but love them. Everything created by our Lord is pure and wonderful. I want what the world has done to be meaningless and inconsequential - I want to see the perfection and excellence that the Lord intends in my fellow human beings.

I want to see each and every situation through the eyes of Jesus. How might I serve him, do his will upon the earth.

And lastly - and perhaps the most difficult - I want to see myself through the eyes of Jesus. This is absolutely the key to it all. If I can see myself through the eyes of Jesus I can accomplish the two goals above without effort - because that's the person I already am - in his eyes.

This past year was the "Year of Leaning Forward" into the arms of Jesus. It was a year to grow my faith, and I think I did okay. I prayed this year for better health for my daughter, and he answered that prayer by telling me to improve my own. Reluctantly I did, exercising and losing 47 lbs. When people would ask how I was able to find the motivation I said I didn't know other than the Lord told me to. But that was not the truth and I wanted to know why too. I began to pray and study exactly what was going on. I learned that the Lord was slowly revealing to me exactly who and what I am in truth. Who and what he made me to be. Who I ALREADY AM in his eyes. And WOW that revelation makes all the difference!!!!

My prayer for everyone on this planet is that we can begin to truly see who we are in Christ - who he has made us to be. Who we already are in TRUTH. What we are in this world has been warped and contaminated - but through Jesus we can come a lot closer to who we are in his eyes.

That is my goal for this year. To become ever closer to the woman that Jesus made me to be.