"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" Isaiah 6:8
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Check out this ministry if you love Africa. its call Children's HopeChest. This is one of their blogs. Its involved with many different countries in Africa one being Swaziland. Swaziland is also known as the Land of AIDS, it has the highest rate of HIV in the world, life expectancy is age 30, and Swaziland contains the most orphans in all of Africa.
Monday, October 26, 2009
" WE WERE A SILENT, HIDDEN THOUGHT IN THE FOLDS OF OBLIVION, AND WE HAVE BECOME A VOICE THAT CAUSES THE HEAVENS TO TREMBLE."
You might have noticed that i changed the header of my blog. it no longer says Kenzi lee. i have been trying to figure out if i want to keep my blog or get rid of it. trying to figure out what the purpose of it is now that all i am doing is going to school. yes it might be interesting to some to hear me vent about college, but i feel God pulling me another way. I have changed the header because the more i thought about it, the more it became not about me.
Love God. Love People.
i have heard this on many occasions. it keeps coming up in conversation and at different times my pastor has preached about it. the more i thought about it the more i thought this is something i want to live by.
all i want to do is Love God and Love People. that is my passion.
Today when i was spending time with the Lord i was reading in psalms 139-145. man there are some powerful words in those chapters. it was awesome to read because it started out talking about how Christ made us beautifully and fearfully. It continues in 140 about being delivered from evil. David said "i know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy." (140:12) praise Jesus for His love. in 141 and 142 we discover that He hears our cries and that He is our refuge. 143 is a cry of the soul. "Teach me to do you will, for you are my God!" (143:10). 144 and 145 teaches us how Christ is our rock and our fortress and that our God is SO great! before we can love people we must first love Christ. Then we are free to poor that love on to others. These chapters came as a story to me. a story of a baby growing up and maturing into a warrior. a baby in Christ growing to be a warrior for The Kingdom of God. little by little Christ is maturing each of us to understand Him more; to understand His love and then to turn around and poor it out others.
Hillsong is coming out with a new film Nov. 4!! check out the link below for a sneak preview!
http://vimeo.com/6172173
I Heart the Revolution: We're all in this together.
I-HEART is a movement of people helping people - showing the love of God in practical ways, wherever need exists. Right here, real soon, you'll find an online community with the sole purpose of offline action - sharing ideas, being inspired, shoulder to shoulder, part of the solution - transforming local initiatives into a collaborative global impact. But in the meantime, let's take time to look beyond ourselves and truly see others...Their worth, their needs, their future. Because it's together that we love... and think... and act. As one, I-HEART.
One nice thing about my classes is that i am actually interested in them this year. Since i am a sociology major i get the pleasure of learning about people, societal problems, and the hot topic right now, poverty. I am seriously learning about some type of poverty in every one of my classes. I have learned that The Elizabethan Poor Laws were the first proposal in 1601 to help fight poverty. This law would try and distinguish the deserving poor and the undeserving poor with outdoor and indoor relief. The New Deal offered programs to help combat poverty such as social security, unemployment, and job programs. LBJ’s head start, food stamps, Medicaid and Medicare all helped greatly in the fight by allowing impoverished Americans the help they needed. I don't mind learning about it. i mean i wouldn't have a desire for missions if i didn't have some interest in poverty right? However, it is a little harder when you have to hear about it everyday in a classroom and cant really do anything about it. I sit for an hour and hear a lecture about poverty, then i get an assignment to go home and write a 4 page paper about poverty and give a 10min. speech about it. I really enjoy the research of the papers i just wish i could write about poverty the way i want to. once again i don't want to follow the rules but i will so i can make mom and dad proud with my awesome grades I'm going to get. :) but honestly i would prefer to write about how we can help fight poverty rather than give 2 paragraphs that sum up an article, make sure the paper contributes to the literature, list 2 or 3 weakness about the article, and then have to come up with 2 discussion questions. The discussion question are kind of nice because i get the opportunity to ask people some tough questions about poverty and how we can help, as long as i stay on topic. Which is hard for a girl that could about one country, Africa, all day long. Anyways, all this talk about poverty and how the government is attempting to help really got me interested at what God had to say about poverty.
In Psalms 41: 1-2 God tells us that "Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to he will of his enemies." Back in Deuteronomy 15:7-11 we learn "If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, 'The seventh year, the year of release is near,' and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'" God flat out tells us that there will never cease to be poor in the land. We are always going to be fighting poverty! its a never ending war. It is because of this that God is calling us to be his hands and feet and look after the widow and fatherless child. ---"You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, i will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sward and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless" (Ex 22:22-24, little harsh, i agree, but its God so don't argue). ---We need to stop complaining about health cares and who qualifies for this or that. These issues are never going to end. The only solution we have right now, is to look after our poor brother. That is what God told us to do.
I heard a pastor say once that if all the answers to life are in the bible, college students would save a lot of money if they would just study the bible. Not gonna lie, my first reaction was "Amen!" i mean clearly God told us how to deal with poverty. I have learned a lot about poverty, in the classroom and in my time with the Lord. God is slowly calming my spirit with this huge desire to Go and just give it a peace about where i am now. I hope y'all learned something from this. if you have any insight into poverty and would like to share your thoughts please feel free to. I still have 3 papers to write over it.
words in those chapters. it was awesome to read because it started out talking about how Christ made us beautifully and fearfully. It continues in 140 about being delivered from evil. David said "i know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy." (140:12) praise Jesus for His love. in 141 and 142 we discover that He hears our cries and that He is our refuge. 143 is a cry of the soul. "Teach me to do you will, for you are my God!" (143:10). 144 and 145 teaches us how Christ is our rock and our fortress and that our God is SO great! before we can love people we must first love Christ. Then we are free to poor that love on to others. These chapters came as a story to me. a story of a baby growing up and maturing into a warrior. a baby in Christ growing to be a warrior for The Kingdom of God. little by little Christ is maturing each of us to understand Him more; to understand His love and then to turn around and poor it out others.
