In the busyness of Christmas, might we pause to glorify God and rejoice in our Savior and remember all God has done for us.

And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
…for the Mighty One has done great things for me—  holy is his name!
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”

Thanksgiving was and SHOULD always be about giving thanks to our creator, provider, savior and king. To the One who does not need us or anything from us, but who loves us and desires us.  The One who is holy, majestic, righteous, pure and true.  The One whose glory, strength and power is beyond all compare, all description, all worth and all understanding. To this One I give thanks.

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good:
His love endures forever – Psalm 136
His steadfast love never ends; His mercies never fail; They are new every morning; Great is His faithfulness  Lamentations 3:22-23
His faithfulness reaches to the skies (Psalm 57:10) and endures forever (Psalm 117:2)
His purposes are great and mighty – Jeremiah 32:19
His righteousness is like the mighty mountains – Psalm 36:6
His joy is my strength – Nehemiah 8:10
His word is right and true – Psalm 33:4

If I were to go on forever to write of His glory, righteousness, holiness, purity, majesty, strength, power, justice, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, joy, hope, wisdom, understanding, grace, mercy, love and all other things that you are, I could never even begin to capture the essence of the great and awesome, one and only true God.

But today, I give to you my God, all glory and honor and praise and thanks for who you are.
You are the Father of our only savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who you sent as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world – even for me and my sins.
You are the strength and power that raised Jesus from the dead.
You are the righteous, sovereign, just, perfect and true judge of the earth.
You are the powerful creator of the universe, who spoke the words and created every living thing.
You are the eternal one – the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.
You are the giver of every good and perfect gift.
You are the one who brings the sun up each day and send water upon the earth, and gives us life each day.
You are the only Jehovah Jira – the provider of everything – our daily bread, the water we drink, clothing, shelter and even the air we breathe.
You are the God who gives us even the ability to produce wealth – the mind to think, the strength to work, the job we have.
You are the king of the earth – the whole earth and all who live on it belong to you (Psalm 24:1; 47:2)
You are our forgiver and healer.
You are the one true God and eternal life – 1 John 5:20 & John 17:3
You are everything to me, and I love you. You are my daddy – my Father in heaven who I long to be with for eternity worshipping you.

It was amazing to me that in this city of millions of people, some 10,000 miles from my home, I would “happen” to run into 6 different people, including 3 Americans, that I have met in various different places in the past 2 years.  It made me think of the multitude of people I will one day be reunited with for eternity together.

Revelation 7:9-12

⁹After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.

Last year we struggled with the decision of re-enrolling the four kids – torn by the cost and whether we should be spending that money on a Christian education when it could go so far to help those in need across the world. It’s that continual balance we fight to find between our needs and wants (and what we feel is important for our kids) and helping others.

Well, two weeks after school started last fall we found out that Luke and Beza qualified for a $6,000 scholarship, reducing our total tuition by half. We were also blessed with friends who used the Arizona Christian School Tuition tax credit which further reduced our costs.

God knew the desire of our hearts (Christian education AND helping others) and provided.

While we originally thought the scholarship was a one year only thing we have been blessed to apply for and receive the scholarship for this year as well.

Because of God’s blessing we want to pay it forward and one of the ways we’re doing that is to help these beautiful kids at one of World Orphans projects in Uganda go to school. Education is a VITAL piece in breaking the cycle of orphaning and abandonment.

There are 20 kids. School fees are $62 each.

So here’s the challenge…  – (NOTE – With your help we met the goal in 1 day and now have the school fees for these 20 kids!  Thanks.  More opportunities to come :)

You pay half, we pay half!

We’ll match every dollar you guys donate on our campaign page
until we reach the goal ($1193) and all these kids school fees are paid.

If you donate $36, we’ll donate $36 and that’s one child educated.

We’ll match any amount $1, $5, $100.

Because no challenge is any fun without a deadline we’re going to give you ONE WEEK!

How to Give:

1. Go to our campaign page.
2. There’s buttons for $5 and $40 donations or you can click “other” and enter any amount you want.
3. You can pay by debit, credit or echeck.

1. We faced many trials and speed bumps from the moment we began our trip, but despite Satan’s attempts the team has not missed a beat. God has been faithful in providing and sustaining our team and the people we are serving.

2. Successful kids camp at Woliso Church despite last minute changes. Pure joy written on children’s faces. God’s word being shared.

3. Visit to the HIV/AIDS ministry. Got to hug, pray, listen and love on these families as well as present them a gift and pray with them.

4. Home visits – heard the stories of broken people but found hope in God’s word and promise of love and grace.

5. Witnessed a church taking Christ’s call to go and spread his church so literally that they keep planting with a passion and haste to ensure everyone has a place to worship.

6. Prayed over new churches and saw the promise of great things God has planned for that place. “Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city.”

7. Bought jewelry from HIV+ women who have found work and physical and spiritual healing through an incredible ministry for that community.

8. Entered Woliso only greeted with timid smiles and hand shakes, but left in a flurry of hugs, kisses and tears.

9. Four people came to Christ after Dave got to preach on Sunday at church.

10. Worshiped, prayed, evangelized, loved and found hope in a place that could seem hopeless at first glance, but is full of a people who have no limits to their generosity and love unconditionally, taking in the widows and orphans as commanded of us in James 1.

New church plant near Wolisso Ethiopia

Would we show up to these churches walking through and standing in several inches of water in the middle of a field, with no chairs to sit in and listen to our pastor preach and sing praises to God with just our voices for 2+ hours?

The people of these churches in Ethiopia REALLY believe that the church is not about a building…  I have the mud covering my shoes and pants, and the memory of hugs and tears of joy to prove it  :)

Let us continue to strive to be a faithful church that displays good deeds and is dependent on God to provide as we use our resources to help meet the needs of those who are really in need like the early church did.  Let us not be a lukewarm church that is rich and not in need of a thing.

Revelation 3:14-22

¹⁴“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:  These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. ¹⁵I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. ¹⁹Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. ²⁰Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. ²¹To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²²He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

My last trip to Ethiopia in April he introduced me to an Ethiopian pastor who is a good friend of his.  I had a wonderful time with Pastor Fekadu and came to find out that his boyhood friend from Ethiopia now lives in Phoenix.  So upon returning to Phoenix, I met his friend of many years and enjoyed sharing about the ministry and personal life of his best friend. While having coffee with him, I learned that I had met him before when we attended a service for Ethiopian adoptive families in Phoenix, and he is an elder at the Ethiopian church in Phoenix that started the orphanage in Ethiopia that Julie I and served at for a week before picking up Wendemagegn and Beza in Dec 2008.  (If you are still tracking with this web of intricate coincidences its a miracle).

All of this to say, I was very saddened and actually feeling guilty as I came back to Ethiopia, that while leading a team of 16 people out to the country in Wolisso, we would not be in Addis to see my new Pastor friend.  So as I stood in the airport waiting to pick up the team, I am left utterly amazed at God’s sovereignty yet again as I found myself in a city of 5 million+ people standing in a crazy mob at the airport next to my long lost friend, Pastor Fekadu.  He was waiting to pick up a good friend who had just lost their son.  I had a chance to pray with him, and I know that God orchestrated this meeting if for no other reason than for two brothers, separated by oceans and continents, languages and skin color, to pray together united as we all will be one day as all nations, tribes and tounges become one before an all-knowing, all-powerful sovereign God.

We embraced in a hug of joy and amazement that said it all – It’s not just a small world, but with God there are no such thing as coincidences.

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Psalm 37:4

Later in the day we visited a unique ministry of a local Ethiopian church that empowers/equips and employs over 120 HIV positive women making jewelry and coffee to sell to both local and international buyers.  They not only provide them with jobs to feed them and their children, but also help restore them to community when they have been ostracized and shunned by even their own families.  Most importantly they are introduced to what the love of Jesus Christ is all about and hope not only for today, but for eternity.    This was a bright shining example of what the local church can do to reach out and make a difference in the lives of people in their community in practical ways while sharing the good news of true eternal hope.

Let your light shine before men that they might see your good works and praise your father in heaven. – Matthew 5:16

The apostle Peter wrote about this same hope these women are experiencing in 1 Peter 1:3-12 – read it today.

I continue to see God opening new doors and bringing new individuals and churches to the calling of God to care for the orphan and the widow.  I am excited to see the rollout of 10 new church partnerships in Haiti on June 1st – the culmination of months of work. The way things have come together and the people God has connected in this effort, both large churches like John Piper’s Bethlehem Baptist, as well as small churches with hearts like the Macedonian church in 2 Corinthians 8 giving sacrificially, is nothing short of a miracle.

While in Ethiopia, I had a great time with Pastor Trev and Shaun from our home church, Crossings.  We visited 2 World Orphans partner churches – casting vision for orphan and compassion care and seeing the great work they are doing in their communities.    I also had the joy of reconnecting with the beautiful children at Hope for the Hopeless where Julie and spent a week in Dec. 2008 when we traveled to pickup Wendemagegn and Beza. The children have grown so much – what a special group of kids that have such a deep love for each other and for us “Feringe’s” :-)

As I sat watching the soccer game and reading a book to a couple of the younger kids who didn’t understand a lot of English, I was reminded that love transcends all things – tribes (people groups), tongues (language barriers), nations, distance, time, sickness/disease, heartbreak, abandonment, neglect, abuse. These things can be devastating, but I continue to see the love of God transform and bring hope and joy to children.  God is so good!

One day there will be no more pain, sorrow, tears, and no more orphans. Even though it broke my heart to leave those kids behind once again, I take heart knowing that God is the father to the fatherless and the defender/provider for the orphan and the widow. One day I will be reunited for all eternity with many of those children because they have learned of the love of God through the gift of forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

I look forward to leading another trip back to Ethiopia in early October. If anyone is interested in going to see the work of World Orphans, or if you know of pastors or church leaders that may be interested, please let me know.

You can see more of my trip pictures online.

As the news of the earthquake came to me that Tuesday, I was transported in an instant to be with Guillo and Francklin at the pastor training center in Port-Au-Prince – now destroyed. To be with Jonathan, a pastoral student who was our driver and guide – how are he and his dear wife with whom we shared a wonderful dinner? To be with Jean-Manuel, a university student who I talked to at length, as he came to church seeking what it might mean to know and follow God. To be with the beautiful, precious children that I held and hugged and watched their faces transformed with smiles, intrigued by this white man and the hair on his arms as I handed out candy. To be with Pastor Emmanuel and the amazing people at Value Baptist Church. It was there that I experienced some of the most passionate and authentic worship of God I have ever seen, from a people who walked miles and climbed a mountain to come to church together.

Where are they all today? How many have lost everything they own? How many have lost loved ones? How many are suffering from amputated arms or legs, crushed by the building that collapsed? How many are orphaned and abandoned, separated from family by death or destruction or just the chaos? How many are widowed and in need of comfort and hope?

Tears stream down my face as I type these words and my heart aches, for these are not just faces from a photo or video on CNN. These are people I know – fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters to someone. Friends and brothers and sisters in Christ to me who are in need of our help.

1 John 3:16-18
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

Will you help us help them? We at World Orphans are working implement disaster relief and long term holistic care for those affected in Haiti by connecting YOU, individuals and churches here in the U.S., with strategic churches in Haiti who are reaching out and caring for the people in their communities.

Whether you want to give a one time or monthly donation, or whether you want information on how your church can partner with us, please take a minute to email me, mark @worldorphans.org
You can give securely online now at www.WorldOrphans.org/Haiti

For more information about the Haiti Orphan Relief Team (HORT), a collaborative effort of ministries that World Orphans is a part of, go to http://haitiorphanreliefteam.blogspot.com

Dinner with our Haitian ministry friends - Guillo & family, Jonathan & his wife, and my friend Francklin

The beautiful kids from Vallue Baptist Church outside Port-Au-Prince

Palace with our driver Jonathan

Palace after the earthquake