This last week my son Josh wrote a story about his experiences in Myanmar last Christmas.  I felt it was blog worthy so here it is…

===============================

MOM, HURRY UP I’M STARVING” This is what I used to say before I got a chance to go to Myanmar where people are actually starving. There are people begging for food on the streets because they don’t have a few coins to buy food. Going to Myanmar was a life changing experience. 

Right as we landed in Myanamar there was a huge group of people there to greet us and celebrate that were here. The next day as we drove to the Orphanage, I really saw how poor Myanamar is. There were all these people begging for money with with no shoes and no shirts. Seeing this got me pretty sad and I realized how rich we are to them. Then when we got into the city we started to see little kids with no parents, abandoned on the streets all alone, with no clothing on and when we saw this it really got me sad.

The funny thing is that when we got to the Orphanage, the children there seemed really happy.  I asked myself why they were so happy even though they had little possessions. We brought presents from home and when we gave them to the kids it made their day. They were so happy for getting a good soccer ball, two footballs, coloring books, colored pencils, crayons and beanie babies. The tiniest things meant the world to them. The thing that made them the most happy was how we gave up our time to play and just hang out with them. They acted like we were royalty. On hot days they would fan us and hold umbrellas for us. Then when we would go to eat, there were kids fanning us to keep us cool, which I thought was awesome but we didn’t deserve getting fanned, because we were going there to serve them. While we ate chicken and rice, all they got was plain rice everyday!  So now I am better at not getting mad when I don’t get the food I want, because they have to eat the same thing every single day.

One day while we were there we gave adults in the village food because they didn’t get enough money to buy food for their family. All the parents were so afraid they wouldn’t get anything, that they were to the point where they were climbing on each other to get to the front.  It really made me think, while all the people in Myanmar are frantic to get food, people in America are frantic to get a good deal on a “T.V. or game console.”

Also their government is one of the top 5 strictest. Buddhist, Muslim and Christian religious groups get persecuted by them.  Also the chin people living in the northwest mountains of Myanamar are tortured and killed and put into forced labor. The government is accused of many human rights violations. After a cyclone hit they wouldn’t even let us bring them food or money even though many people lost their lives, their homes and had no where to live.

So as you see Myanmar and America are two COMPLETELY different places. People there have to beg for money to get food or sell some of their valuables to get a little bit of money.  But what I found at the orphanage is that when someone loves you, you can still be happy.  Our family is going to Myanmar again this year to hang out with the kids and help there instead of just doing a regular Christmas. Going to Myanmar will always be at the top of my list and i can’t wait to go this year and see the kids I got attached to.

=======================

So I don’t know if his story causes you to press pause…I just know that it did for me.

It was the 50th anniversary of Laura’s grandparents.  Every good birthday party has helium filled birthday balloons.  At the end of my childhood parties, we would open the balloons, breathe in the air and talk like Donald Duck!  Laura had a different idea.  She took one of helium filled anniversary balloons in one hand, a marker in the other and she wrote a message on a card.  On one sides she wrote, “PLEASE RETURN TO LAURA BUXTON.”  On the other side she wrote her address.

Laura let the balloon go from her grandparent’s home in Staffordshire, England.  The balloon came to rest 140 miles away in Wilt, England.  Not all that big a deal except that it landed in the yard of another family named BUXTON, who had a 10 year old daughter named LAURA.

So “Laura #2”, wrote a letter to “Laura #1” – After the first Laura got the letter, the two girls decided to meet, wouldn’t you?  When they did, they were surprised to discover more similarities:  They were the same height, had the same hair color, and they each had brought, their pet guinea pig to the meeting.  And they both left behind their pet rabbit and their 3 year old black lab.  That’s right two Laura Buxton’s, two guinea pigs, two rabbits, and two black labs.

Now what are the chances of that?

You might expect me to have a point.  Not really, either it’s an interesting coincidence, or God has a pretty cool sense of humor.  I think the latter.  Take some time this next week and keep your eyes open for signs of the God who is filled with joy!

Okay, so my mom read my “Man Rules” and has offered her own version, some are funny, some just good wisdom.  You’ll have to compare them to my list to get the full impact or the full laugh.  But I figured I should share them with you — mom’s words still carry some weight!  :)

==================================

So son let me give you a different perspective on your Man Rules…..and this comes after almost 48 years of  taking my journey together with your father.

1.  Neither of us cares  what positon the toilet seat is in…up..down….doesn’t matter
1.  Sunday sports….just like a flood too much of a good thing is still too much…..but that’s why we have two TV’s.
1.  Shopping…..years of experience has taught us…I shop, he sits in cosy chair in the mall and talks to other men…and forget Black Friday……he sleeps
1.  Amen…..the older we get the more direct…like Lynn needs a new floor, Teresa needs lights replace…you get the picture..and he is more than willing, if I just ask.
1.  Oh how beautiful are the lessons years teach us…..I can’t tell you how many times he has said I’m sorry when someone else hurts me. I love that he hurts when I am hurt and offers sympathy even when he didn’t inflick the pain.
1.  We have learned that if old hurts resurface than they were never really dealt with and we have to revisit the problem and settle it before it grows into a ugly duck sitting around quacking all the time.
1.  Angry and sad don’t go away just because we want them to.
1.  That’s what GPS was invented for.
1.  Another reason your dad doesn’t pick out furniture or wall paint.
1.  sure if it itches than by all means scratch it…in private
1.  Oh but it is worth the hassle.
1.  True, round is a shape…but also a smoking gun for a heart attack…we love you and want to have you around for many years

So these are how I see the Man Rules……but then marriage isn’t about rules…is it???

I’ve been meeting with 20+ college men, and a few older guys going through a study on authentic Biblical manhood.  And every once in awhile I run across a piece of information so important it’s just begs to garner a wider audience.  So without further description I present the Man Rules.  We always hear “the rules” from the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side. These are our rules! Please note… these are all numbered “1” ON PURPOSE!

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You’re a big girl. If it’s up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don’t hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports. It’s like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work!  Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That’s what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

1. Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a Vegetable. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say “nothing,” we will act like nothing’s wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. I am in shape. Round is a shape.

1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; but did you know men really don’t mind that? It’s like camping.

Yes, if you look closely — swishing around in the bottom of that tank — that’s me.  I am at the bottom of that tank filled with water which has had every calorie of heat sucked out of it by the sun-starved air.  We decided to hold our Fall-winter-Fest indoors this year, except we decided to keep the dunk tank outdoors. So that’s me swirling around on the bottom, trying to come up out of the water as quickly as possible.  Actually after the first 20 times that I got dunked I thought the water was warming up.  It wasn’t I was just getting numb.  So there I am in the antarctic in a tank working my way up from being dunked by…

It is much easier to see my loving wife Lynn.  She is the one with her arms outstretched out like she has just won the lottery.  She didn’t — win the lottery that is — she just finished dunking me.  I love my wife.

Actually I do love her, not in spite of the fact that she dunked me.  I love her because she dunked me.  I love her because she loves to laugh.  I love her because she loves to have fun.  I love her because of the quick glimpse I got of her face before I went under — surprise mixed with glee!  I love her because she dunked me.  I wouldn’t tell her that and if you tell her I’ll deny it.  I’m not sure I’m ready for her to find other gleeful activities quite yet.  :)

Okay, so I was just thinking that the title would attract a reader or two.  But here’s the deal, when it comes to homosexuality as an issue with which the evangelical church has had to wrestle with — and make no mistake it is probably one of the key issues that will face churches in the next decade — when it comes to this issue, it is surely the case that we have become known more for what we stand against, than who we stand for…

In the study presented in the book UNchristian, 91% of the next generation believes that Christians, specifically evangelical Christians, hate homosexuals.  David Kinnamon writes, “In our research, the perception that Christians are against gays and lesbians — not only objecting to their lifestyles but harboring irrational fear and unmerited scorn towards them — has reached critical mass.

Can I make this statement right up front.  This is not a simple issue.  When we try to simplify an issue that is very complex, what it typically means is that we don’t want to step into the mess.  But Jesus has never been afraid of stepping into our mess.  It is a mess filled with sincere people trying to interpret scripture.  It is a mess filled with parents agonizing over children’s choices and children’s pain.  It is a mess that’s left people feeling isolated, rejected and even hated.

I appreciated what I read from another pastor dealing with this topic.  He pointed out that in life there are some words that so completely go together that when you hear one, you automatically think of the other.  Like if I say to you…

• Peanut Butter and ________ you think of Jelly.  (A handful of you think mayonaise but you are abnormal.)
• Batman and _____________ you say Robin.
• If I say hugs and ___________ you say kisses.

When it comes to this issue the two words that must completely go together are the words conviction and compassion.  One is not enough, with only one we get imbalanced.  So let me give you three convictions and I think they are in the order of importance to me.

1) My first conviction is that we live in a culture that is filled — filled, filled, filled with sexual brokenness.  We have stores that market clothes to pre-teens that are designed to be sexually suggestive.  Our middle school students are experimenting with sex, our high school students are sexting.  College students are hooking up and the walk of shame is a right of passage.  From internet porn to adultery, from media to music, from incest to sexual abuse, and then add to all of that, Jesus’ indicator of sexual brokenness — In Matthew 5:27, he said, “Guys if you even look at a woman and think about using her sexually, you have already committed adultery in your heart.”

2) My second conviction is that the only way to find wholeness in the midst of this brokenness is to put sex in it’s proper place.  God never intended for people to be defined by their sexuality.  I believe it is a sign of the brokenness of our culture that we would even think to describe a whole lifestyle, define a whole person in terms of their sexuality.   God’s dream for humanity, his definition of people is envisioned in the phrase, in the image of God.  He created us to be in his image.

Now I am convicted that in God’s plan the proper place for sex is within a covenant marriage relationship between a man and a woman.  Within that relationship sex fosters wholeness.  Outside of that relationship, I believe it always leads to various levels of brokenness.  But hear me, that place, the proper place of sex, is a small place.  The reason the Bible rarely speaks to it, is because it is a small place that was never intended to define who we are.  Listen when we get to heaven, sex doesn’t even go with us!  I know, I lost some of you.  You are thinking how can it be heaven without sex?  It’s because there is something even better.

3)  Here is my third conviction. It is the one that I close with, and the one that I focused on in last week’s message (Click

to listen). It is the conviction that for me is the most important conviction of the three.  I am convicted that compassion is never optional.  You see it’s not just that we need to balance our convictions with compassion…it goes even farther… Compassion must be our conviction.

How would it change the relationship between baptists and homosexuals if compassion were our conviction?

With 143 million orphans in the world, the church has got to do something… so we thought we’d start with prayer.  Prayer to discover God’s heart for orphans, to intercede on their behalf, and to ask what we can/should do.

Calvary is hosting an orphan prayer event the weekend of National Orphan Sunday (Nov. 8). The event will be set up similar to our Easter Way of the Cross experience – experiential prayer stations designed to seek God’s heart and pray for orphans.  Spread the word.  This will be a great opportunity for groups to meet up, experience together, and perhaps discuss afterwards.  Also, there are plenty of opportunities to serve (set up and tear down).    If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me or Kendra Gettig at kendragettig@gmail.com.

Real Religion will take place on Friday November 6th from 4-9pm and on Saturday November 7th from 9-3pm.  It is self-guided, interactive, and family friendly. Take time to discover and reflect on what God has to say about orphans and to pray on their behalf.

Check out Real Religion for more information, and remember…  “Geniune Religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress…” – James 1:27 NLT

No it’s not how much money a full Beaver Stadium brings in.   It’s not how many cups of coffee I’ve had life-to-date, at least I don’t think so.  It’s not the number of times that Lynn has asked me to cut my hair, though she may hit that number before the scissors touch my hair.

It’s the number of orphans in the world today. 

143 Million children without a mom or dad.  143 Million children who have gone through the unimaginable hardship of losing the presence of parents.  143 Million children in serious need of love.

One of the things that I love about Calvary is that we are starting to take seriously the call to love and serve the orphans of the world.  From our 1% offering to people at Calvary heeding God’s call to adopt, to people who are giving their time and passion to serve children in Myanmar, Rwanda, and the Dominican Republic.

All of us have a part to play.  Begin preparing for our 1% offering — a year end offering at Calvary where we are challenged to give 1% of our annual income to serve the poor around the world.  Considering sponsoring a child in Myanmar, Rwanda or the Domican Republic.  Who knows perhaps God is even calling you to adopt.  Those of you at Calvary who have or are in the process of adopting.  You are my heroes!

One of our 1% offering projects this year will be to help people at Calvary go through the costly process of adoption.  I ran across this video, who knows maybe God will use it to draw you into adoption.

If you have time in the next few days, check out this PBS documentary.  Well done, heart-grabbing, it gives some insight into the needs and difficulties of orphans in Burma.  It reveals a bit of the devastation of Cyclone Nargis and it shows the beautiful spirit of these people.

PBS Eye of the Storm

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Jesus (Matthew 5:14-16)

In 1987 Mike Hayes of Rochelle, Illinois was a freshman at the University of Illinois.  He was trying to figure out how to pay for school.  He came up with an innovative solution.  He wrote to Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene, asking each of Greene’s readers to send Hayes a penny.  Greene liked the idea and asked each of his several million readers to send Hayes a penny.  In less than a month, the Pennies for Mike fund contained 2.3 million pennies.  In the end Mike raised $28,000 for four years tuition.  Mike asked for a little bit from a lot of people — and the pennies accumulated.

Sometimes we think that the only way we can make a difference is through a significant, solitary sacrifice, and I believe that God loves sacrifice.  But I also believe that He loves teamwork.  If you grew up in the church you might be familiar with the concept of a tithe.  To tithe is to give God the first 10% of what we own.  For many today the tithe seems like a significant, solitary sacrifice, but I think it was really more about teamwork than it was about sacrifice.

My 10% plus your 10% plus his 10% plus her 10%…  Did you know that if Americans who identify with the historically Christian church increased their giving to an average of 10% of income, there could be an additional $170 billion given to the church — annually.  About 5 billion dollars a year would prevent the majority of the poverty related deaths of children under the age of 5.

One person can’t give solve global poverty, but what if millions of us gave $10? $10 supports one Burmese orphan for two weeks.  It may not seem like much to us, but I guarantee you it seems like much to Abraham in Myanmar.

In the last post I mentioned this unique giving opportunity called AMERICA’S GIVING CHALLENGE. The challenge is to get many people involved in daily donations to our cause.  The challenge ends on November 6th with the top seven causes receiving between $10,000 – $50,000. In addition there is a daily challenge, the top daily cause receives a $1000.

Jesus says you are the light of the world.  You are not the sun.  Maybe not even a flashlight with ever-ready batteries.  Maybe you’re just a candle — a little birthday candle, but imagine if everyone lit their candle and let it shine.