Wonderings and Wanderings

Good Morning, Kailey.  You need to blog on your website.  Like yesterday. It is completely selfish of you to come here and read my site and not leave the littlest bit of word on your blog.

Get to it.

Love,
Melissa

One of my former youth, Kristen Vogel, is working in Uganda for the next two years as part of the Halo Foundation.  Kristen has committed two years to serving as an International HALO Ambassador, and moved to Uganda in September 2007. She is directing HALO programs in three orphanages in Kenya, three programs in Uganda, and one orphanage in India. She is also expanding HALO’s scope by accessing needs of additional orphans and developing project proposals for HALO’s future. Kristen will also oversee construction of our HALO House Orphanage in Uganda.

If you have a chance to check out the Halo Foundation or Kristen’s blog, do so.  There is amazing work going on all around the world and I’m challenged by Kristen’s choice to serve.

My new favorite song by the Leeland. The song is titled Tears From the Saints.

Lyrics:
There are many prodigal sons
On our city streets they run
Searching for shelter
There are homes broken down
People’s hopes have fallen to the ground
From failures

This is an emergency!

There are tears from the saints
For the lost and unsaved
We’re crying for them come back home
We’re crying for them come back home
And all your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

There are schools full of hatred
Even churches have forsaken
Love and mercy
May we see this generation
In it’s state of desperation
For Your glory

This is an emergency!

Sinner, reach out your hands!
Children in Christ you stand!
Sinner, reach out your hands!
Children in Christ you stand!

And all Your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

Words & Music by Leeland Dayton Mooring and Jack Anthony Mooring / © 2006 Meaux Mercy (BMI) / Meaux Jeaux (SESAC)

Behind the Song:
Leeland Mooring says it was a Sunday afternoon during a quiet devotional time that he sensed what he calls a presence of God. “I was playing piano, just worshiping, and I asked in prayer, ‘God, just give me your heart for the lost.’” It was a hope to feel the longing God feels for people struggling to find their way. “And then I started crying—it was as if God gave me a little glimpse of his heart,” Leeland continues. “‘Tears of the Saints’ came out, and it’s about how for every person who is out there lost there is probably about five people praying for them.” More, the track illuminates the vision the band has for its ministry. “We want to see kids saved,” the songwriter affirms. “What’s awesome about this song live, is how it touches people,” bassist Jake Holtz adds. “The Lord is just blessing people. You can see change coming across their faces. It’s nothing we’re doing. God’s just working through us with this song.”

Tonight we hosted the Belarusian National Christian Choir for part of their US tour.  My dad has helped coordinate this portion of the tour and although he has put in a lot of work, it has been worth it.  They gave a tremendous performance. By the time they return to Belarus on Monday, they will have performed 36 times in 30 days.  They are beat, exhausted and ready to return home.  Yet they gave their all and received a standing ovation.

You can check them out at Future Leadership Foundation.

I’m very excited about a new blog designed that I will be debuting very soon here at Wonderings and Wanderings!  I can’t wait.  I think you’ll really enjoy it.  It definitely reflects this sight and me. And its all about me, right?  Right?

Tonight’s c-group was great.  The youth were more wound up then usual but we got to a really great discussion on experiencing God – or the lack thereof.  It was just one of the moments – one of those small groups that gets to that cool point where the sharings and the participants are in the moment. I love those times. It makes all the other times, where you wonder if anything productive happened, worthwhile.

The youth went trick or treating Saturday for the Samaritan Center – our local food bank.  It was lots of fun and they collected a lot of food.  We just went to random neighborhoods dressed up and explained what we were doing.  People were very generous – especially to teenagers showing up to their front door in costumes two weeks before Halloween.

I dressed up as a nun.  I was very convincing. I think it got us more food. 

I also went with my sister and mom to take my niece and nephew to a fall festival in our downtown area.  They were adorable.  Blake was a pit crew for Cars and Morgan was Snow White. Super cute. 

I took today off.  A perfect Monday to stay home.  It was cold and rainy all day long.  It was wonderful to just take it easy and to have a quiet day.

I decided to cook supper tonight.  In doing so, I realized that the two back burners do not work. 

Now, the natural question someone would ask is, "How long have they not worked?".  But this is where, my dear friends, lies the rub.

I can’t remember the last time I used the back burners. It has been awhile since I’ve used even two but the back burners?  Gosh…. the closest occasion I can think of as a possibility would be Mother’s Day.

Yes, Mother’s Day.  In May.  Today is October 22. 

But I’m not sure I even used it then.  I think I only used two burners that day.

So . . . how long have my back burners not functioned?

I have no idea.

This is a gut-wrenching video. If this little boy’s face and tears don’t break your heart, well . . . I pray that it will. There are so many casualties of war.  So many wounds that go unnoticed or unmentioned by the masses.  Yet, these wounds cut deep in family rooms around the world – whether a small town in Northwest Washington State or a bombed-out concrete shelter in Baghdad, Iraq.  For this little boy running in this American classroom, there his is equal – running through the debris-filled street in Tikrit, running through the crumbling downtown of Kabul, running through the protestors in Myanmar. 

All are casualties of war.

*Thanks to Jonathan Brink for the link.