tomorrow.
you will want to make sure to check back here tomorrow.
in the spirit of it being 8/13, i will schedule the post to go up at 8:13 am central time.
what’s this post about?
it’s about you.
you have done something incredible and i don’t think you even realize it.
8:13 tomorrow.
i can’t wait to see your faces.
last night, i asked you what you’d like to hear if you were attending a breakout session or workshop about burnout.
“how do i say no?” was probably one of the most answered responses.
so…now i get to ask you, why can’t we say no? should we say no? how can we discern when to say no?
you are going to a conference.
you decided to attend a breakout session on burnout.
what do you need to hear in those 45 minutes?
stories from survivors? statistics? practical steps? broad things to ponder?
no stupid answers…anything is possible.
what helps you?
“you’re not quite there, but you’re on the low side of healthy.”
and even though i’m from texas, i’ve never been a steak girl. in fact, slowly, i’ve been eliminating meat from my diet…not for any ethical reason…i just really don’t like the taste of it (except bacon! YUM!) and it’s getting really expensive, too.
i went to the doctor last week for something minor, and since i was a new patient, he did a full work up on me, including blood work and a stress test (my dad has a wicked heart history).
the results came back early this week, and evidently, i’m starting to get old.
first, i was “mildly anemic.” no more dancing on the edge. i had crossed the line into low red blood counts.
so, he told me to start on some iron supplements. or start eating more meat. i chose the supplements.
then he told me my heart beat was funny after i ran on my exercise stress test.
psshh. whatever.
and he told me to start taking a low dose beta blocker for a month to see if it helps. so, i started those this week too.
ummm….is this what being almost thirty is like?
los angeles is 1700 miles away from nashville.
this is where people eat.
haiti is 1700 miles from nasvhille.
this is where people eat.
i got this email from brian yesterday, updating us on the food crisis in haiti. it is written by one of the compassion international staff serving there.
The unprecedented rise in the cost of foodstuffs raise concerns in the Haitian community especially those whose daily income is less than $2US. They are all wondering if they will survive at all. Despite the promises made by the Haitian government and the aid programs conducted by the international community, food prices do not stop skyrocketing.
“There is no hope that things are going to be improved; the situation is worsening. The population is silently starving and no one seems to care?? said angrily a young professional.
brian also sent a list of staple food costs.
it.
blew.
my.
mind.
1 half full-sized bag of rice has gone from $28 US to $35 US.
1 full-sized bag of beans has gone from $54.6 US to $63.6 US.
1 full-sized bag of sugar has gone from $25.3 US to $34.8 US.
i responded to brian and asked if children in compassion international projects were guaranteed food, to which he said every child in every project receives at least one meal a day. some receive two hot meals…and they are working very hard to keep adding projects to the two-meal program.
naiva is one of many children in haiti who need to be sponsored. she has been waiting for more than six months. it’s just $32 a month, and with that, you can know that one more child is getting the food she needs to survive.
if she is already sponsored, you can click here to find another child.
you can also make a donation to the global food crisis fund here.
honestly, it is so difficult for me to understand why this happens. it still makes me feel sad, and angry, and guilty, and motivated, and desperate.
you?
monday, i asked the question, “how do you feel when you go to church?”
the responses were all over the place…”at home”…”worried”…”disgusted”…”excited”
today, the question is…
how does the church feel about you?
there are so many comparisons between physical anatomy and the body of christ in scripture.? and similar to our physical health, we should be striving for harmony and unity amongst all the body’s parts.
when i was twenty six, i had my gallbladder removed.? it stopped functioning and died.? and it was making me incredibly sick. even eating a little bit of food would make me throw up and have tremendous amounts of pain.
but once it was removed, everything started working better.
so…how does the church feel about you? are you functioning and encouraging growth and health? or are you a dead organ that needs to be removed?
?A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.? ~Lao Tzu
fill in the blank:
when i go to church, i feel _________.