The Wonder of Twelve
Have you ever stopped to ponder the wonder of twelve? "Twelve what?", you ask. Twelve tones!The next time you listen to a favorite melody, attend the symphony, sing in the choir, play an instrument, or just hum a tune ~ stop to ponder this.Somehow, in his astounding creative genius, God gave us ears to hear twelve individual tones. That's all ~ just twelve. Well, OK, maybe there are some tones somewhere in the cracks, but in the West, our scale contains only twelve different musical notes. Twelve sounds from which mankind has in turn created a world full of music! We've made scales and chords; melodies and harmonies; sweet sounds and discord. Every single piece of music ever written, from Mary Had A Little Lamb, to Hayden's Messiah, all contain only twelve tones.Isn't that awesome?Don't let anyone tell you there is no God!
Disposable Living; Throw-away Lives
Jesse and I have been traveling, but you don't have to do that to realize that we're living in a world full of disposables.Everywhere you go these days you see it! As a matter of fact I'm eating yogurt from a throw away container as I write this. Please note: I am not using a plastic spoon!! Just the other day I saw a mom in a restaurant peeling back the seal on a little container of what looked like strained peas, so she could feed her little one with a tiny disposable spoon. No wonder the landfills are becoming mountains!But ~ on the other hand, I guess we can think of all the jobs that have been created to recycle our throw-aways and invovative thought that's gone into developing things like lawn chairs made from plastic milk jugs. We do love those kinds of challenges! "What do you do for a living?" "I dream up ways to use the tons and tons of recycled paper in the world."I'll have my coffee in a china cup, if you please ~ with a linen napkin, thank you!!What really concerns me though, are the throw away lives that litter our streets, sleep under our bridges, and accumulate in rundown trailer parks. What are we doing to recycle these precious commodities? Who's dreaming up ways to take the trash these lives have become and make a brand new thing? Is such a thing even possible?Yes, it is. With God, all things are possible. Here's an example.One woman in Surrey, BC, saw some throw-away people sleeping in a snow bank. She said to God, "Someone needs to do something about that," and you guessed it ~ God said, "Yes, you should." Two and a half years later, NIGHTSHIFT is feeding between one and two hundred street people, on the sidewalk, every night of the year!! And slowly ~ ever so slowly ~ lives are being changed, one at a time. Thrown away men and women are seeing Christ in the hands and feet of hundreds of volunteers who make it all happen. During our ministry week in the Vancouver area, we had the privilege of helping feed and clothe the Thursday night group while we were in Surrey. Some have become believers, several are in rehab, others returned to home and family. It's a painfully slow process, but praise God it's getting the attention of the Church in Surrey. Please pray that this godless city, that won't even acknowledge there are any throw-aways littering their streets, will begin to assist NIGHTSHIFT.The vision and purpose of grace in ACTION usa is to see the kind of change in people's lives which turns these disposable, throw away people into a piece of priceless china. Will you help? How, you say? Find a throw-away near you and begin to pray for God to show you ways to reclaim that life for Christ!!
