Those in Distress...

Adoption has been so heavy on my heart lately. Possibly spurred on by the week with my little sister...


But, also by the blogs I've been reading... Check some of these out.

Ethiopia or Bust!

A Bushel and A Peck

Or check out RLC's site for LOTS of different adoption blogs


Right now there is a "green famine" in Ethiopia... That means their fields are full of green vibrant plants - that are not yet ready to be harvested. In a few months, they will be able to harvest that food, however right now - they are starving. And the harvest will help those able to harvest the food... for others, especially those in urban areas, the cost of food is too high. They can't buy enough, if any, to fill their empty bellies.


My heart is breaking for people all around the world waking up with empty bellies and little hope of filling them today. Especially when I sit here in my comfy apartment with my pantry stocked... I may not like the 5 cans of sweet peas I have and I'll probably throw away my mushy cucumber today - and the most food-associated stuff I'll worry about today is what dessert I'm making to take to friends and if I'll like what they make for dinner.


I can't feed all of the starving people in Africa or Asia or even here in America... but God has laid such an incredible burden inside of me. I'm not sure what He will do or where He will lead me - but I can't just sit here, shed a few tears, and then go munch on some Oreos.



God calls us all to different things...

• My Uncle Stu & Aunt Marsha have gone to Kampala, Uganda with the Rafiki Foundation.



• Our friends the Bushes will be leaving for Mozambique in a week. They are with Children's Relief International.



• God has called my parents to "secular" jobs, to be the youth leaders at their church, and to adopt my youngest sister.



• Cory & I have been called to Rochester, NY - to work full-time with the youth of Lakeshore Community Church and the surrounding area.

For some of us - He calls us overseas to work through and in the daily grind of poverty and hunger. For some of us - He calls us to create a refuge and bring children out of that life of hunger and into our life. For some of us - He calls us to financially & spiritually support those on the front-lines.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." James 1:27a

What are you doing to look after the orphans and widows that are in distress? Maybe you don't know any orphans or widows in your day-to-day life... but, do you see people in distress around you? What are you doing for them? Are you contenting yourself with simply a pitying glance and a quick prayer. Or are you allowing yourself to get messy? I'm not suggesting that you participate in anything sinful (James 1:27b says, "and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.") BUT - I am asking you to join with me and do something!

Cory has mentioned this article, "The Role of the Righteous Wealthy," before - but if you haven't read it before - I can't encourage you enough to read it now!

I know I've kinda jumped on a soapbox... and I'm not sorry. :) Thanks for listening!

you just need to be committed

so i'm in the atrium after church talking with some people and a guy comes up to me all fired up about the next men's ministry meeting and how i really should be there, bla bla bla. our church has a really fantastic ministry to men and have been doing some really great things for God, but let me tell ya, this guy was a little too zealous and wasn't getting the point i kept trying to slip into the conversation. my comment was..."yeah i'd like to get there and i'll try to make it if i can". and then he came back with "you just need to be committed".

so...that got me thinking about commitment. maybe actually it got me thinking more about guilt trips, but whatever. i think we all want to be committed...in fact i think every person is deeply committed to something or somethings...it's just different from person to person. what i wanted to tell my "more committed" friend is...
- today i committed to going to the church picnic, then visiting a friend in the hospital
- on monday night i committed to going to dinner with some other friends, then committed to being at church till about 9:30/10:00pm with the teens
- committed to playing and coaching softball every tuesday night which actually has turned into lots of ministry on my sabbath
- committed to having some people over on wednesday night
- committed to pouring ourselves into the teens till late thursday night
- thinking we probably should commit to having a couple from the church over on friday night to encourage them
- right now i'm not sure saturday morning FOR ME is a healthy commitment to make, even though it's a GREAT opportunity...

i can't be fully committed to everything. i'm not superman...and i'm not God. and even if i were God i still would leave people unhealed and hungry (he did that quite often, right?).

so will i join the men at 8am saturday morning? maybe...maybe not...not sure yet...but i do know that guilt trips won't get me there. i just have to figure out if it's worth committing to.

this is awesome!!!

if i were to write a book…

…i’d call it “dangerous love” and talk about the frustrating tension between loving people and the danger that we put ourselves in by loving them. because we love people, we go into their world…but in so doing we often leave safety and refuge for a time. had a great conversation a few weeks ago with another member on staff, about how we have been commissioned by God to reach people, and if in fact we’re committed to reaching people who are broken and messy, we’re inevitably gonna get wounded in the process. if we’re gonna speak intelligently to culture, we need to know it’s influences, and in the process we’re gonna hear profanity and we’re gonna see brokenness and we will get hit where we’re weak. we want to be smart about it, but not be so naïve to think that we’ll just “reach” them by them driving by our church sign and reading the nice little one-liner underneath it while we sit comfortably in the church. nor do we want to be so confident by thinking that we’re Jesus talking with the woman at the well, totally invincible to the danger around us. God wants his people at the hub of culture, speaking to the culture without catching and integrating the culture’s values personally. and it’s in that tension that we so struggle to find balance. so many take the easy road and go to one extreme or the other, but God has called us to the middle…to love people with a dangerous love. it’s a surprisingly messy business…

but i’m still trying to stay caught up on emails…so there’ll be no books anytime soon…

crazy C Clan

I had a great weekend visiting with family. My parents rented a car for me to drive down. That way Cory wouldn't have to ride my pink bike around town. lol. We went to airport @ 7AM Friday and picked up my white Chevy Malibu. Then, went out to breakfast @ Perkins. I left here around 11:00AM. I HATE driving. I mean - I really despise driving, but its a necessary evil and I'm pretty proud of myself for making it all the way down & back with no incidents. I picked up Anna a little early from Camp and then we headed to Mom & Dad's.

That night the Coiner clan came over for our July birthdays (Happy Birthday Pap & Brooke!). What a blast - We did a create-a-S'more for dessert. Yum! I just ate the chocolate w/o melting my marshmellow. lol. Then, we opened presents and simply enjoyed being together. I know I miss being with my family - but it becomes so obvious when I'm sitting there with everyone... It was great fun to laugh with everyone and know that this is my family and I belong. :)

Then, Saturday was the 6th Annual Clark Pig Roast! Uncle John & Aunt Anna have it at their campground. The heat was incredible - poor JC's cheeks were soooo red. The pig was great - I sat with Dad & Alaina and watched them take it off the spit, then carve it. Grant jumped right in. I am amazed every time I see my little brother - when did that annoying little middle school boy grow into a hot & salty man? lol. I'm proud of him.

Anyways - after watching them and seeing the pig's head - I couldn't eat much pork. Some of the little kids kept calling it bacon - didn't matter what part - it was just "bacon". Uncle John & Aunt Anna put on a great party - and there were no lightening strikes - so I guess its all good.

Anna & I drove home Sunday - we left around 7:45AM and made it here by 1ish. I was so tired - so I stopped A LOT. I made Anna walk around at the rest stops with me. She slept for probably 4 hours of our 5.5 hour trip. haha. But, the last hour or so - she became a chatter box. A fact that I'm incredibly grateful & hopeful as I look forward to spending an entire week with my little sister.