2nd Rainbows of Hope Training

Children at Risk
Today we learned about children at risk. An clear way to think about children at risk is to first think of the attributes of a healthy child. They have vibrant social lives by building relationships, emotional ability, spiritual walk with Christ or at least the opportunity to learn about Christ, physical health, cognitive ability, education, safety, and security.
The Lord has been teaching me about what risk factors orphans have as they live in the world. Orphans are lacking in at least one of the areas of health listed above which leaves them vulnerable to the evil in the world. They are vulnerable to such things as sex trafficking, sexual exploitation (pornography,prostitution, and so forth), and gangs.

Job 24:9-11
9 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;
the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked;
they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
11 They crush olives among the terraces[a];
they tread the wine presses, yet suffer thirst.

This is a real danger to children that aren't protected and valued by adults. The Lord speaks against these acts.

Leviticus 19:29 Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.

The next question is how do Christians stops these things from happening? How do we protect the fatherless? Today Wendy from Rainbows of Hope shared an easy way to come up with a plan. When she did mission work in Africa, the church made a map of all the risk factors that could damage a child's health (gangs,drugs, pimps, satanic worship buildings) and resources they had in the community (health clinic, church building, soup kitchen). The church could look at the map and compare it to a list of needs of children in the community. When they saw a whole in their communities resources, they took them before God and asked for his guidance. It was another wonderful day of learning!

1st Rianbows of Hope Training

Tom Harvey with Rainbow's of Hope invited me to sit in on the training they provide for their team working at Casa Bernabe. Today I met these folks going to Casa Bernabe for 6 weeks at a Spanish speaking church service. We enjoyed worship then we spent a few hours practicing Spanish. It was a great experience and just the push I needed to jump start a crash course into learning Spanish. Practicing Spanish today was painful and embarrassing but hey I might have learned a few words. :) I have about 6 weeks before I will be sitting in Antique, Guatemala officially enrolled in a Spanish class. I bought the first 3 levels of Rosetta Stone a few years ago so my plan is to finish all 3 levels before I leave the country. That means I have a level and a half to go in 6 weeks. Woowee. I have a bit of work ahead of me.

My Life was Already Awesome

It's true! Nothing is wrong with my life. Actually my life seems, looks, is great. I have a nice house, nice car, nice family pet, nice roommates, and a nice income. I can honestly say that I enjoy my job. My principals are wonderful caring individuals that want the best for the kids I teach and they care about ME. I have the luxury of openly speaking about Christ with them and they can relate. Unheard of!
Strangely enough I have peace about leaving it all behind. I'm not freaking out because I resigned which means I won't have an income!
Here is the story about the day I resigned: The Lord told me that Thursday, May 26th was the day to leave my job. Well not exactly like that...I woke up with a real peace about the situation. I just knew it was the day to turn in my resignation. I have to say I sat on this knowledge until 3:45 in the afternoon that day. I had to leave the school at 4:00 to get to the gym for coaching on time. At 3:30 I began pacing around the room and packing boxes (yet I hadn't resigned. I decided to check my e-mail before I left for the day. A friend of mine sent me a message on gmail chat which said praying 2 Corinthians 10:5 for you. Here's the verse:"We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." Oh, man the Lord caught me. Yes, I had been speculating about all the terrible things that could happen if I gave up my job and all the terrible things that could go wrong at the orphanage. God knew my avoidance of being obedient. He knew my worries. My thoughts and, he saved me from being disobedient.
I grabbed my resignation letter I printed off that morning and ran it to the office to give it to my principal. Needless to say, it is hard to be obedient even when God tells you which steps to take.