I heard this on my news podcast this morning. The interview was really funny with the Bag Monster himself.
Now, I am just as guilty as the next person for getting plastic bags…but we re-use them…multiple times…in our house. Do we still apply for contributing to the Bag Monster phenomena?
[waits for an answer]
Oh dear…I better go buy another eco-bag.
I was just listening to this song this morning and thought I’d share the beautiful lyrics with you. Enjoy!
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Seems simple enough
When everyone is gone
And the halls are empty
And my song remains unsung
Take a second to breathe
Hope for change, a breakthrough
Begin to pray for relief
From lies that silence the truth
chorus
Would You break my fall
Even though I don’t deserve it at all
Would You call my name
And heal the wounds of lonely days
When lost love mocks the heart and stains the soul
Makes it hard
Could you make these pieces into something beautiful?
I wanna be… beautiful
In the midst of it all
Try to regain composure
By first confessing this fall
That proves my need for a savior
Words and Music by Lanae’ Hale
©2009 Centricity Music Publishing/ASCAP
The wife of a new family in church had one of the coolest bags I had seen lately. Upon asking her about it, I found out that it was re-purposed from old coffee sacks! I’m a huge fan of re-purposing and so had to investigate further. It was made by an organization called “I Know Hope” which was founded by my new friend’s mother-in-law. Here are some of the details of the history of this group:
Know Hope was founded in 2009 by Connie Baker. Connie was born with a heart to help children around the world. Especially the desperate and the suffering ones. In 2005, Connie began taking teams of people into mountain villages around Tijuana, Mexico to build houses, churches, and orphanages. It was through these trips that her eyes were opened to the desperate children in the world.
In 2009, shortly after hearing a message preached on Matthew 25, we launched this non-profit organization called Know Hope. Our mission is to get the message to children around the world, that there is hope in Jesus Christ. The way we send that message is by bringing food to the hungry, shelter to the homeless, and aid to the orphans of this world.
So what they do is gather empty burlap coffee sacks and pull the best part of the bag and make sweet hand-bags. These are on sale throughout the US and Canada at different shops, or you can just go to their online site: Know Hope Store
Here are some examples of the bags:
I really like this one. It’s like totally my style, especially with the big “S” on the front. 🙂 It’s a midi bag measuring 8″ high and 12″ wide. Has matching blue liner with 1″ strap.
I believe this one is $25.
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I like this one as well. Just the colors are really nice. Brown and blue go together so well…and teal is a kind of blue! Measures 12″ high and 14″ wide (medio size) with a 1 1/2″ thick strap. This one/size costs $35.
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This last one is my favorite! I love the rhino and the colors! It’s super-cool. I would totally buy it for myself, but I’ve placed a moratorium on spending (we’ll see how long that lasts) until the end of summer. You can get this particular design as either a medio (12″H x 14″W) or a grande (insert big smile here) which can hold a 15″ laptop. Cool, huh?
And it all goes to a good cause: feeding hungry children around the world. That’s something that I can get behind easily. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I’m not trying to detract from those who have served the United States in the military during a war, so please don’t think that I don’t appreciate what they have offered and sacrificed.
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I’ve recently been confronted over and over with the knowledge of just how patriotic I am. It runs deep in me. I bleed the colors of my allegiance.
I will be the first to admit that I am American, by birth. I will also be the first to admit that I love traveling the globe and meeting people around the world. I crave learning and being around other cultures (those within my country and those without). The summertime is chock-full of holidays in the US to celebrate this great nation. Festivals, concerts, etc are scattered throughout the season and peppered with the cheese-ball post-9/11 American music and red, white and blue waving from the corners of every tent.
This is not what I mean though. I went to the Butler County Fair a couple of weeks ago, and it was everywhere. I went to the remote-control air show at the Butler County Regional Airport this Sunday (I know…feel free to judge my nerdiness, but I had a great time with good company!) and it was everywhere as well. What gets to me is when they ask for the Veterans to stand up. I love it. I may not have served in the US armed forces, but the honor of having gone somewhere and served your country, on the front lines, or even just in small side-skirmishes – it’s inspiring.
Something inside of me wants to stand up too when they make that call. I’ve not been in battle or brandished arms, but I have been a soldier in the Lord’s army. My allegiance is with God. He’s my portion, my captain, my commander. I have been in the reserves – at home, going about business, waiting for the call to take up and go – and have had to leave everything to go serve Him. I have been on the frontlines of spiritual battles. I have been in the small side-skirmishes. I’ve also been on the relief team and covered others in prayer who were on the field.
But, just because I am home now, does that mean I am retired? Can I consider myself a veteran just yet? I’m not sure how the military handles things. Is it that once you’ve been in active duty then you can be considered a veteran? Or do you have to serve a full active duty term until you are discharged or are too injured to continue?
The truth of it is that my heart aligns so much more with my God than with my country. I have a sort of apathy that I’m not fully proud of concerning being an American. But this is not just national apathy. It’s also global. I may not truly feel like this country is my original home, but I neither feel like any other country is my home. This is my place of residence, and when I am living in a country, I abide by their laws because that is what Jesus said to do. But it doesn’t make it my home. It’s where I live.
And I am so thankful for that. And with this proclamation, I’m asking all you veterans for the kingdom of God to stand up and be acknowledged. Those of you in active duty (which, I guess, would be all of us!), stand as well and be honored. We fight in a glorious battle against the evil one, and it’s already won.
(Not sure how much this post makes sense, but it’s what I woke up with on my mind this morning.)
Today’s sermon was on vigilence in contending for the faith, based on Jude 1-4. I don’t get through to Jude very often, but it’s a really nice little book. Here are key points I marked down:
vs 1. – “…kept/preserved for Jesus Christ.” ~ I love this promise, that no matter what, God holds us in His hands and will preserve us through the end.
vs 3 – “…contend for the faith…” ~ dictionary.com says that to contend is to struggle in opposition. But I like the other definition for this verse: to assert or maintain earnestly.
What faith is this? – the faith delivered to the saints.
Faith is not: a verb.
How do you contend for the faith?
Have any of you ever noticed how you can begin a prayer one way and by the end of it, your whole demeaner, content, and desire has changed? I’ve often begun a prayer angry and frustrated about something, or depressed and wounded. It’s a sick feeling when you feel the only thing left to do is to cry out to God. And you know the words that you utter are filled with hate and despair, and nothing to grace the ears of your King with, but I am so grateful that He still listens to them. Note that I didn’t say “He still hears them”: He listens to them, with the attention of a lover listening to his beloved.
As I am speaking to Him my sorrow, His Spirit is working in me, and comforting me. He whispers sweet words of love to my heart so that my mind is not wholly aware of a change of atmosphere. My words filled with guile are now resting on adoration, and express hope and praise to Him. I was accusing Him and now I am thanking Him. Ever notice that? Not only is my attitude changed to Him, but also to the one or ones who filled me with that anger in the first place.
What kind of a God can do that?! I am amazed every time at His mercy and His sincere love for me. With some recent events, I noticed that God changed my prayer from revealing the secret to salvation of the person who has afflicted me. I despise when someone’s character is assaulted, and this time, when it was mine, I had all sorts of wild and crazy emotions that flew through me. I was exhausted. I was overly emotional. And while it is still fresh, my emotions have since settled into the peace that comes from God.
I know that He will protect me. I am His precious child. I have faith that He will because He has proven to me over and over again. He has placed that faith into my heart, so that when circumstances arise, and I could easily be knocked down, that faith is already my support and my shelter. The wind may howl and beat against my faith, but I am protected within.
Our God is greater, stronger, He is higher than any other, healer, and He is awesome in power. And if our God is for us, then who can ever stop us? And if our God is with us, then what could stand against? Nothing and no one…that’s who. Praise Jesus!
Something that I am very passionate about is the fight against human trafficking. Living in Cincinnati has made me very proud of the heritage this city has with the fight to end slavery in the United States back during Civil War time. But now, a new kind of slavery exists that stretches across nation borders and discriminates against no one. My favorite abolitionist organization is the Polaris Project. I have it listed in my blogroll, but I want to highlight it for you in a post. Check out their stuff:
Hello, and welcome to my brand new baby blog. I don’t have much up here, as you can see. I’m kind of going through a big deal at the moment, but I will hopefully get something more up here soon for y’all.
Thanks for stopping by!
In Him,
Sarah ><>
Hey everyone: faithful readers and not so much…I have fallen in love with WordPress as a blog platform, and so am relocating there. I’ve had this blog for forever and would love to just take everything with me, but I think I need a face-lift and a chance for my blog to grow up with me. So, here’s the new address:
https://xapatotheworld.wordpress.com
And so, there you are! Hope to see you on the flip-side. I’m going to keep this one up indefinitely until I feel the transition has completely happened. Also, there’s not much up there just yet, but I will be posting some stuff this afternoon after work.
Later and God bless!
In Him,
Sarah ><>
I’m currently tutoring two Chinese restaurant waitresses in English. They are lovely young women, both about 23 years old, and we are having a great time together. I’m always amazed how friendships can be forged, even through language barriers (the most common means of communication), and God has not failed in growing a strong relationship between me and these women.
I meet with each of them tête-à-tête once a week. Our time together consists of 15 mins (or so) of Bible Time and then 1.25 hrs English study. This is based on the format we used when I was in Japan, and I found it worked so well there that I brought it over to my classes here. The Bible Times are in simplified English, so even if they don’t like the subject matter, they are still practicing and learning English. They seldom argue against, but frequently act surprised, or withhold questions just so it will be over with sooner.
We use a kids Bible, since the vocabulary is simpler and the pictures help explain any confusing points. Idioms are aplenty, however, so it is helpful for learning new expressions. I find myself laughing at some of the expressions we use everyday that I had never thought much of before. It’s refreshing to know that many of the idioms we use are duplicated in some manner in other languages. No matter where you are, or what language you speak, there are certain concepts that are always best explained using an idiom.
We have been going in order through the Bible, starting with creation, through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I am on through to Joseph with one woman, but the other is just now in the middle of Jacob’s story. When I was in Japan, teaching these lessons, it was very easy for my students to pick up how Jacob was a cheat and a liar. He didn’t care who he stepped on, just so long as he got what he wanted. This made the redemption of God still choosing him and using him all the more grand because they clearly saw what his sinful character was like.
However, with my Chinese students, I am having a harder time getting this message across. When I was in China many years ago, I learned an expression, translated into English. It went something like this:
Despite this sort of negative conclusion, there has been some good stuff happening. This last week, the women went with me to a youth revival at my church. I was helping worship, so bringing them was a lot of fun. They could see me perform, but also, it was prime opportunity for them to read the Bible in their own language. I had been hesitant to bring my Chinese/English Bible with me to our lessons, because I didn’t want them to think that I only care about making them Christians. I do care a great deal about that, but under the umbrella of that goal is to help them assimilate into our country (as much as possible), learn the language, and develop friendships outside of their workplace.
I showed them the Chinese Bible pretty quickly and answered any questions they might have about them. When I asked one woman what her favorite story was that we’ve read in Bible Time, she thought a moment and said, “Jacob.” I found it for her and she began reading, not lifting her head either until she was done with most of the story and it was time for the meeting to start. When I showed her where the message would be given from, she glanced over at it, but then went back to reading, this time about Joseph. The other woman was a bit different. I started her on the story of the message, The Samaritan woman at the Well, who had done everything wrong, and continued to do everything wrong, but Jesus choosing her anyway. She seemed captivated with the story. She read from the beginning of that chapter through two others. On our way back to her house, she said that it had been “the best day!” and she was so happy.
Please pray for these women. I don’t want to give their names, but you can call them Lee and Sharon. I appreciate you covering our English lessons (Mondays and Wednesdays) with prayer as well.
Thanks for reading!
The Scalding
June 22nd, 2010
The drip-drip of water into the pot.
Setting it on the stove,
I turn the dial slowly to “Hot” and watch
And wait.
The result is already known:
Heat + water = boiling and steam.
As the bubbles form at the bottom,
I stick my hand over the pot to feel
The heat rising. And rising.
And rising.
Not ready yet though.
Finally, cascading to the surface – it’s time.
I plunge my hand in,
Feeling the water scald my skin,
My muscles and nerves screaming out.
But I cannot pull back.
The pot must be emptied.
Inside, I’m shouting, “No, no, NO!”
But I raise the pot over my head
And pour the rest out.
As the boiling water joins my tears,
My cheeks red from shame, pain, and fears,
I set the pot in the sink.
The drip-drip of water into the pot.
I’ll be healed when it’s full, to do it again.
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Sorry…don’t be scared by this. It was something inside that I had to let out and this was the best way. Thanks for reading.
Xapa to the World 