You Might Be Just One Person...But To One Person You Might Be The World!

One Person from Steven Kiefer on Vimeo.

Watoto Children's Ministries is a ministry near and dear to my heart. In 1998 and 1999 I went with short term teams from my church in Nashville to Kampala, Uganda to work with Kampala Pentecostal Church to put on a kids camps for these children. Watoto is a children's ministry in which children who's parents have died from AIDS are placed in homes of parents whose children have died of AIDS. Together, in Christ, they form a new family. At Watoto, they are shown the love of Christ, taught about God's word and given an opportunity to eat, sleep and go to school in a safe place. Watoto also rescues child soldiers from nearby villages, rehabilitates them and allows them to be a kid again in the freedom and love of Christ!

Here's a film project acted,filmed, directed and produced by Christians from a church called Oasis Church in California who are supporting Watoto Children's Ministries in Uganda. (The young white guy is a friend of ours from SC.) You can watch the trailor for the film and then there's an option to buy the film if you want to support the Uganda Film Project. The money goes directly to help children in Uganda, Africa this Christmas. The dvd will be mailed directly to your house. Please help support the Uganda Film Project and make a difference in someone's life this Christmas. To view the webiste and order the film, go to http://www.onepersonmovie.org/. And to pause the music on the blog so you can view the movie clip, scroll down and hit pause.

The Forgiveness of God

Sometimes there is just not enough time to get my thoughts together to write a new post. But when I read something that expresses what I know to be true in a much better way than I have or could express it, I will be posting it here. This is an entry from a favorite devotional of mine entitled "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. It is available online for those of you who would like to read more.

In Him we have . . . the forgiveness of sins . . . —Ephesians 1:7

Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.

Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm.

Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small. Sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. But the thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin. Paul never got away from this. Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.

Proud to Be an American

So, I stayed up all night Tuesday watching the election returns, yep, went to bed at 3:55 AM still unsure of the outcome although Ohio had just gone Obama. Yesterday I had CNN on all day long- we have CNN International so it's not exactly the same as the version in the States. It is, however, very enlightening. Throughout the campaigns, I have watched "the world's reaction" to the US presidential campaigns and heard all kinds of opinions. I must admit that after awhile I found it all very irritating and just wanted to know more of what Americans were saying about the candidates. After reading the party platforms and considering the issues, I found myself debating with the other American that I live with about who to vote for- based on the moral, ethical convictions that we share about life. But, alas, we were a split ticket family and his guy won.

The thing is, opening oneself up to another requires that we listen and adjust our point of view. Of course, we do not exchange all of our convictions but it's always good to look at the "other side" and try to understand the other's perspective. So, I married a Demoocrat, and I will say that after doing so, I realized that I only voted Republican because I come from a long line of Republicans and I have mainly hung out with Republicans, consequently, I had gone along with the whole Republican ideology because it, apparently, went along with my convictions in other areas such as life and marriage. Being married to him and hearing the opinions of others both here in France around the world, I see the value in their viewpoint and the Biblical basis of it as well in areas such as- a commitment to the poor, to finding solutions for using renewable resources for energy, to healthcare for all in our nation. As an aside, I must say that while living in France, I have been very impressed with the accessibility, efficiency, and quality of the universal healthcare system that they have here.

Yes, we should continue to fight for the unborn, for marriage, and for freedom in America! I don't want our country to become like France who has forgotten God. He is neither considered nor respected in any public arena in France. When I listen to the radio, I hear them sarcastically referring to the "croyant" (believing) Presidential candidates. They absolutley cannot understand why it is important to the American people for the president to be "croyant", because it is absolutely a faux pas to discuss such things here in the public arena. Such "personal beliefs" are considered absolutley irrelevant- thus God has become completely irrelevant in their society. But French Christians are not "conservative" either which also has really annoyed me until I realized that aside from the issues of life and marriage, I really do think that the Democrats are more biblical on most issues. We Republicans are fearful of bigger government because we are afraid that our freedom will be jeopardized. This is a real danger and something that we should fight against. I don't want the freedom of religion or speech, or expression to be cut off thus transforming our culture into a "laique" (nonreligious/ secular) society where God doesn't matter anymore. That is what it has become in France- Muslims can't wear their headcoverings to school, Christians can't wear their crosses. What infringment on personal freedom! And why? So that there can be a completely neutral, nonreligious state. Only, it isn't nonreligious, it's anti-religious. Students are ridiculed if they stand up in class and dare to insinuate that there is a God. Churches are investigated because cults are illegal and anything that is not a lukewarm body of believers is suspect of being a cult. This makes me sad. I am deeply saddened by the families that I know whose children have rejected the faith of their parents probably because it just seems so irrelevant in their world here. It is hard to be a Christian in France. They may be rejected because of their faith, so they are hesitant to speak of it.

So, no, I do not wish that for America or Americans. But we need to realize that the influence that Christians hold in America isn't to be taken for granted and that the conservative right appears to be selfish and anti-Christian to others around the world. Refrains of "Drill, baby, drill" come to mind. The caricature of McCain supporters that I have heard most recently on French radio is that of a racist conservative who thinks it is completely normal to fly the confederate flag and voices his concern only on the topics of "God, guns, and gays". How revolting! Yes, those of you who know me know that my dogs were named Rhett and Scarlett, my parents live on Stonewall Jackson Drive, and our doorbell used to play "Dixie". But I've come a long way, baby!

We are called to be salt and light in our society and to stand for what is right and to fight for justice to be done in our nation- for the unborn, for the poor, for those of other religions that we have welcomed to our land. We are Christians, and God has brought the nations to us, let us bless them and love them and take care of them. Why would we not want to be a nation in which all children and families have healthcare? Why would we not want to ensure that this planet that God has entrusted to us is actually around for our children and that we do not destroy it with industry and pollution and deplete it's nonrenewable resources completely? And why don't we want to address poverty at the government level? That doesn't negate the responsibility of the church, but it does make aid that comes from the church to the poor go that much further in ameliorating their situation. If we want our country to do what is right in protecting the unborn, don't we also want them to do what is right in doing justice to the poor? protecting and preserving the planet and it's resources? Those things are actually explicitly mandated in Scripture!

Although I didn't vote for President elect Obama, I am genuinely happy for our country! This is historic! The first African American president! I watched the tears of prominent and powerful African American leaders in our country. They said that they never thought they would see this day in their lifetime. I can only imagine what it is like to always be in the minority, to always be judged by the color of my skin, and to have fought for the right to be free, to vote, to have equal opportunity and access to education, housing, transportation, everything! Yesterday, I was proud to be an American. The French didn't think we would do it- they didn't think that America was ready for a black president. They thought that we were still stuck in the old ways of white superiority and racism, and I know that some of us still are. But on Tuesday, the majority of Americans decided that race doesn't matter, and they chose who they thought would be the best for the job. We have made a giant leap forward! What a celebration of praise and thanksgiving to God I saw in the Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King preached his message of nonviolent resistance! What fulfillment of the dream of a people who have been historically oppressed by their rights being withheld, by the attitudes and actions of others, and by the way our capitalistic society typically works for those who are the "have nots". I am genuinely happy- so happy for the African American community who must feel that finally they have been acknowledged as equally important, equally valued, members of our country who are equally able to contribute and now to have had one of their own chosen by the American people to lead our nation who leads the world!

After many conversations and much listening, I have come to this conclusion, the critique and the concern of the world is on America because we really are that influential in the world. Let us be influential for the good, for peace, for hope for all in our society. Let us be prayerful. Let us pray for the protection of President elect Obama and for God to grant him wisdom in the days ahead and let us pray for America! Let us pray also for France, for our brothers and sisters that are here- that they would find their voice and that this nation would turn back to God.

"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are His. He changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning." Daniel 2:20-21