Let me first begin by saying that I will be preaching to myself in this post.
(in case those of you who know me want to remind me to take my own advice.)

We all have passions.  We all have gifts and abilities.  More often that not, these talents directly align with our passions.  Funny how that works…

I’m passionate about music, especially writing it.  I love the creative process of a song coming to life from a simple thought.  While I’m clearly not the best at writing music, I have found that I enjoy it, and the songs themselves don’t sound horrible.  Of course, I’m a little biased when it comes to that.

I’m also passionate about helping the least of these- particularly concerning the issues of human trafficking and extreme poverty.  You can read some earlier posts on these issues by starting at the beginning of this fairly young blog.

I’ve been fortunate to play some of my music in order to raise awareness for the human trafficking problem in Phoenix, which is a much larger problem than people think.  This has caused me to think a lot about how I can use what I’m gifted at to help with the issues that I’m passionate about.  It would make sense to use my gifts that way.

It’s probably the reason I was given the gift in the first place.

You have gifts and passions.  All of you.  And because of that, you all have the potential to be a part of God’s much larger story of redemption on this little planet we live on.  Of course that also means that we get to live a better story as well.

We’re called to.

If you’re afraid to put yourself out there because of fear, I want to encourage you to take that step.  There is much more at stake here than our feelings.  Remember, we’ve been given these talents to use them, not bury them in the ground.

So, I ask you (and me) : What’s your passion?

And, more importantly, what are you (we) doing to invest in them?

Our talents are just as valuable as a million bucks. Sure, if you’ve been blessed with a lot of money, give away.  But, if you’re not a millionaire, give of yourself.  You’re worth more than you’ll ever think.

Folks,we must do something.  There isn’t a lack of need in this world.

We need only to look around.

*NOTE*  Some of you who read this blog are doing some amazing things for the Kingdom of God.  I’d love for you to share what you’re doing as well.  Perhaps there are those that are unaware and would like to partner with you.  Plug away shamelessly in the comments.

image: sam

Got plans for Saturday?

How about going here?  I would encourage you to either get tickets to go if you’re near Nashville or watch online (how cool is that).  And, if you’re able to, donate towards relief efforts in Haiti.  I realize that it’s been long enough now that it may just be a fading memory.  But, please remember the people of Haiti.  There is a lot of work left to do, and they need you and I.

So, take the time to enjoy some good music that’s about something so important, would you?

We’ll hear from CS Lewis next Friday, but this is too good important to pass up.

Have a good weekend.

This is Kate.

Kate is six.  And, I don’t know about you, but those eyes are telling me a story.

She has an aggressive brain tumor that is ravaging both her body, as well as the hearts of many around the world who have followed her story.

I ask that you would please pray on Kate’s behalf.  Pray for amazing things.  (1) Pray that God would completely baffle the doctors with the disappearance of the tumor.  (2) Pray for Kate’s parents, Aaron and Holly, that they would have peace, comfort, clarity & wisdom through this difficult time.

Starting today, little Kate will have a year’s worth of chemotherapy administered in six days.  Since her body will be stripped of so many cells, she will need to undergo a stem-cell procedure that use healthy stems harvested before the treatment to rescue her.

As you can probably imagine, this will be a grueling period of time for little Kate physically and emotionally.  She will be isolated for several weeks to avoid infection, which has got to be horrible for such a little girl, let alone that she has a severe brain tumor.  Please pray that her heart be protected through this time, and that she know that she’s not alone in this.

God, in His infinite power, has the ability to immediately heal little Kate, so let’s ask Him to do just that.  However, if His timing is different, let us pray that He use the sufferings of this family to bring glory to His name.  And, let the McRae’s story model to us what it means to suffer well for Christ.

Please visit Kate’s caring bridge site for updates, as well as her site for more information.  Blog about her, twitter about her [with #katemcrae as the hashtag], post something on Facebook to your friends with a link to her site-use your sphere of influence to get as many people as possible to pray on behalf of this little girl.

God hears the cries of His people.  Let’s not grow weary in praying for Kate.

When something seems hopeless it’s easy to shut down.

Here we are just over a week removed from the unfathomable disaster that struck Haiti, and I have to saythat I’m still unbelievably heartsick over this.  Perhaps numb would be the appropriate term to describe me this week in regards to Haiti.  If you have the time, please take a look at the devastating pictures from the Boston Globe: Haiti six days later. 

I will warn you that these images are nothing short of both gripping and challenging.  I mean, can you imagine someone you love being among the piles of bodies in a mass grave?  I know I can’t.  You can do one of two things when seeing these images…

Shut down or react. 

The first option is so easy to do.  Questions like, “what in the world can I do?” and “would anything I could give make any kind of difference?” are common among us all.  It’s hard for me to think that my small amount of money could do anything in a country who’s citizens either died or became homeless. 

The second is obviously more difficult.  Giving to the point of being uncomfortable is just that…uncomfortable.  But, to put it bluntly, it’s Biblical.  Jesus never said it would be comfortable.  I need to remember that. 

I blogged about Haiti needing us last week, and with each day the need increases tremendously.  Would you consider doing something to help?  Anything will.  I can promise you that.

January has been declared “National Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month.”  There was a call to highlight local organziations/ministries that are fighting this problem.
Today I will highlight Streetlight Phoenix, an organization here in Phoenix.

Streetlight is an organization here in Phoenix who is rescuing child prostitutes and rehabilitating them physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  They are set to open up a campus around a safehouse in the city in 2010, which will immediately double the number of safehouse beds in all of the U.S.  If you read this blog and are in Arizona, would you consider checking Streetlight out, and perhaps donating to it?  They also have some volunteer opportunities as well if you want to look into that.

The president of Streetlight is a pastor here in the Valley.  The goal is to partner with churches around the city to join in with the fight.  I like the idea of different churches putting aside their differences, denominations, worship style, etc. to help the least of these.  Can you imagine what that would look like?

Let me know what’s going in with regards to this issue in your town or city.  I’d love to know about it.  Perhaps you would consider writing a blog post this month to highlight an organization even.  That’d be great, too!

Feel free to link to your post (only one link or spam filter will catch it) and share it.