A couple updates for the week:

Hope you are having a great week off with your kids.  Yeah for Spring Break.

Weekend services went really well, at all campuses.

The Easter tent (all 15,000 sq feet of it) will be set up Wednesday.  Come check it out.

The purple cards (Kindness Campaign) is officially launched!

Please SHARE YOUR PURPLE CARD STORIES WITH US.  Here is one example:  My daughter Katie and her boyfriend Jordan (who I love), went to the skate park in Battle Ground and took pizza to all the kids.  Then they invited all 30 kids to Easter.  

Here is an article (blog) I wrote for Catalyst, if you want to check it out:

http://www.catalystspace.com/content/read/john_bishop/

NEW BLOG

YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE.  Words I heard God speak into my heart about a decision I made a few weeks ago in Portland, Oregon.  The worst part of hearing those words from God is when you happen to be a pastor who has committed his life to loving and serving the people God created.

It was Saturday and my wife, daughter and I were having lunch.  I had prepared a message and was pushing the clock a little and needed to get back to the church for our 5:00 service, so that I could tell people about God’s love.

After lunch, my wife wanted to quickly go into a nearby mall, and even though I was worried a bit about the time, I figured we could make it.

As I walked into this mall, I walked past a young, apparently homeless teenage girl. (We have one of the highest populations of teen homelessness in the United States.)  I can still remember to this day what she looked like.  I can also remember the question she asked me and the words I said back to her.

As I walked by her, she simply asked me the same question she was asking all who were passing by, “Excuse me, do you have any extra money for bus fare?”

I never even thought about it, just simply responded with “no.”  As I look back on those few seconds, her question was met with an answer that was almost arrogant and even rude.  I continued to walk toward the glass entry doors, but did not get 3 steps into the mall when I heard in my heart those words that were piercingly convicting….YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE.

Check out the definition: 

Hyp-o-crite “A person who pretends to be what he or she is not; or one who pretends to be better than he or she really is.”

Who would ever hope to be called a hypocrite?  We get our English word hypocrite from a Greek word Hupokrites that means “actor, stage player, pretender, or one that wears a mask.”   

Dallas Willard in his writings “The Divine Conspiracy” had this to say about the term hypocrite….

“Hypocrite is a term used by Jesus alone in the New Testament, and he uses it seventeen times.

The term hypocrite in classical Greek primarily refers to an actor, such as one sees on the stage, but it came to refer also to anyone who practices deceit.  It is clear from the literary records that it was Jesus alone who brought this term and the corresponding character into the moral vocabulary of the western world.

When Jesus spoke of “the hypocrites", he was utilizing a very vivid image that effectively seized the minds of his hearers because of their familiarity with stage characters.  They were thus able to see much of the most obvious religious behavior of their day as the sham it in fact was.”

No one ever wants to be a pretender, but I think because we get so busy we can become what we would never want to be.

Activity can oftentimes be mistaken for ministry.  We can look busy and not see what matters.  And, I think we can say something, but really it is in our actions that our heart is authentically displayed for the world to see.  That was totally my story that Saturday in Portland.

The old adage is so true.  People do not care what you know until they know that you care.

The Bible says that GOD IS LOVE, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8

But what is love?

The Bible says “This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:16-18

Talk about convicting words.  Think about this.  I cannot prove you love God, or stated differently, you cannot prove you love God.  But how you love people absolutely proves the reality of whether or not God’s love is in your life.

In other words, it’s not what I say that is love, but rather what I do about what I say that is love.

God doesn’t just say He loves us, but his love resulted in doing what was best for us.  LOVE IS COSTLY.  To not love simply costs you more, because you will miss a blessing from God.

I think the truth is most of us are just too busy and can’t see what matters.  To be interrupted and be available isn’t in the “schedule".  I can be so busy trying to get somewhere, or get my agenda done that I miss where I am at right now.  I miss the opportunity in front of me.  As a student, I miss the person who just needs to know they matter.  I can plan so much that I have a tendency to plan God right out of my life.  For me I see so much and yet sometimes fail to see anything.

And, the irony is we never try to think this way, it is just the result of thinking the wrong way.

If you like to take notes, write this down.  CLARITY ALWAYS PRODUCES URGENCY.  Also, when clarity is diminished, so is urgency.  Why we don’t act is so often because we talk ourselves out of being kind.  We in essence begin to judge and think we are better.

When will we truly get over ourselves?  When will we authentically stop the madness and slow down enough to SEE people and to serve people.

My family and I love Australia and love Australians.  We think Aussies get this far better than Americans.  (Don’t tell them I said that.)

At the same time I think we all need to be reminded to slow down and see.  When we lose urgency for what matters, we become less action oriented and more apathy oriented.

All of us have a little bit of “acting” in us, but my prayer for Australia is that acting turns to action.  I dare you to love your city, to serve your families and to simply see today what maybe you have been missing.

You can’t change the past.  I couldn’t take the words back that I so flippantly said to that girl.  But what we can do and what I did do, was change.

As I heard those words, I simply backed up, went and found this young girl, who parenthetically is younger than my daughter, looked into her eyes and simply said, “Here is $5.00, and I am sorry that I lied to you.”

She said “Thanks” and I am so glad I listened to her words this time.

I love that God is all about the second chance.  He wants to use you to do something.

It seems like these days God is showing that my mission is right in front of me.  It’s that one moment I have to slow down, to really see and then respond to the divine thing God is doing now.

LOVE IS ALL ABOUT ACTION AND NOT ABOUT ACTING.

If we aren’t loving in action, I would say we aren’t loving at all.

Be the unlikely hero.  Do the one thing that is right today.  Don’t worry about who gets the credit.

For me, as a Christ Follower, the reality is if I carry His name I better imitate His character.

Jesus clearly said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” Mark 10:45

At times I get blown away at what happens at our church.  Occasionally we will get a call from someone to tell us that someone needs help.  Sometimes the first someone knows the second someone.  They call our church, almost as if there is a “someone” room, where people are just sitting and waiting to jump up and run out to serve.  I get frustrated because we just don’t get it.

FRIENDS.  YOU ARE THE SOMEONE that God wants to use to change someone in your world.

Be that someone today!  As you slow down, you will begin to see what matters.  In other words you will have clarity.  As clarity increases, so will urgency.  It is just the way it works.

Instead of being a hypocrite, let’s be a hero in the life of someone today.

The ball is in your court.

Lots of stuff is happening as I wrap up a message about an unlikely hero in the BIble who had a road trip, who had a choice, and whose story we are still reading 2000 years later.  

Think about the power of a life surrendered completely to ONLY GOD.   I love the Bible (really good thing for a pastor) and I love the real stories of real people, some who trusted, and many who played it safe.  Jesus came to do what He alone could do.  To love us, to show us what God is like, to die for our sins, to conquer death and rise from the dead, and then begin a movement to change the world.  

The ones who followed must have looked (and even felt) a little crazy.  It must have felt weird to be walking on dry ground, on the bottom of the Red Sea.  It must have felt crazy to listen to God and "strategically" march in broad daylight around a city whose walls were fortified and whose army would make UFC fighters look like babies.  I bet Joshua was glad he listened.  It must have felt crazy to be the Centurion who IN FAITH boldly asked Jesus to heal his servant, who was sick, and who most likely never met Jesus.  I bet the Centurion was glad he did.  Moreover, I bet the servant was glad for the faith his employer had.    

One of the most incredible verses in the New Testament is how Jesus responds to the Centurion's faith.  He says, and I quote, "When Jesus heard this, he was amazed.  Turning to the crowd, he said, "I tell you the truth, I haven't seen faith like this in all of the land of Israel!.."  Matthew 8:10

The greek word for "amazed" is better translated astonished.  The only time this Greek word appears in the New Testament is in this passage.  

I am so pumped about this because Jesus knew how it would turn out.  What amazed him was not what He could do, but what others believed He COULD do.   

FAITH MOVES THE HEART OF GOD.  Where have you stopped believing?  Who have you stopped reaching?  Where are doubts in your walk with God clouding your faith IN GOD?  Questions that matter so so so much.

Our journey is a walk of faith.  Trusting God one step at a time.  Oftentimes in our lives we will make decisions based on what we think the outcome may be instead of doing the right thing the way God defines right and leaving the ripple effects to him.

I want to blog about this whole area of making decisions.  But, to live a life of faith, you have to DO WHAT IS RIGHT and TRUST GOD TO DEAL WITH WHAT IS LEFT.

I talked to a good friend this week, who was "stuck" in a hard decision, and was tempted to see humanly and not see heavenly.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10).

How is your faith these days?  You will operate and make decisions in fear or in faith.

OK, side note, back to the the point of the blog.......

Story after story of people faithful enough to believe and crazy enough to act.  Think about a church who is just crazy enough to believe God could fill a little arena in Portland, Oregon.  Two years later, we think about the thousands who heard about Jesus and the hundreds who were baptized.  

EASTER 2009 WILL BE AMAZING, and is just 2 weeks away!!

2 weeks from today we will have a 15,000 square foot tent (150' x 100') on our property.  The tent will hold close to 1300 people.  

2 weeks from today we will have our auditorium transformed into an amazing kids space and hundreds of children will hear and respond to the message of Jesus.  Think about it.

2 weeks from today hundreds will be saved and their story of faith will begin.  

2 weeks from today, as Easter weekend begins, we will celebrate the lives of people who have been on their own road trip "away" from God will come home to the arms of their Father.  Their marriages will be different, their lives will be changed and their story will be celebrated in Heaven.

2 weeks from today, many people who haven't volunteered much will be changed because of their willingness to serve people.

2 weeks from today people will see their friends and relatives who at this moment are facing a Christless eterntiy be saved.

2 weeks from now,  every campus will be in permanent buildings.  Fisher's Landing is going amazing and by God's grace, all of our campus teams will be the feet and hands of Christ to their communities and have a location to use for mid week gatherings, Bible studies, youth ministries, etc.

2 weeks from now we will be tired, but it will be the best "tired" you have ever felt in your life. 

EASTER 2009 AT LIVING HOPE will be ONLY GOD.

Praying for us and every church that will share the gospel message of Jesus Christ around the globe.  Lifting up the arms of pastors who matter so much to God and so much to their communities.

John

Hello friends.

In my life, I have always felt a call and commitment to student ministry.  They are a constant source of inspiration, challenging me to think outside the box, and to see beyond my own perspective. 

Our teenagers are full of God's potential.  So many of the people who changed their world in the Bible where teenagers.  David, Mary, Gideon, Joseph, Daniel and his 3 friends and the list goes on and on.  The series we are doing mid-week at LSM is ROAD TRIPS about the lives of different young people.  My heart is to help them reach their God-given potential, to realize their dreams, their hopes and desires.   

I believe we have an unparalleled opportunity to shape the future when we choose to invest our time in the life of a teenager.  When we submit our experience, our mistakes, our wisdom and our time to God and allow him to use it, we can lead a legacy that will live on beyond us, and positively impact the students.  

What they need, ask, and long for is simple...unconditional belonging.  The questions they ask are things like:  Will you accept me?  Will you hear me?  Will you be there for me?  Will you believe in me?

I am putting out the call to anyone who feels led to "get involved" in the lives of our youth.  We need leaders who will be willing to commit to an ongoing relationship with a group of students.  Meeting each Wednesday and communicating regularly beyond that, giving time and energy, being available as needed, mentoring, caring, loving.  Is that You?

Please pray, and consider the commitment.  Consider the cost.  Consider the reward.

If this is your passion, or something you would like to know more about - please email us at LSM@livinghopechurch.com with your name and contact numbers and we will be in touch soon.

Thank you  in advance.  I am excited about what God is doing.

Last night we talked about Joseph's story.  The road of betrayal.  As students shared, I was amazed at their willingness to be real, and vulnerable and yet want "more" of God.  We talked about betrayal and how always it happens at the hands of someone you trust and whom is close to you.   Then they spent time in groups (awesome times) and when we got back together, spent a few minutes talking about how we have all betrayed God and had communion.   

Looking forward to next week.

JOHN

I am constantly amazed at the power of technology, especially in the area of communication and connection.

I can't say I fully understand it, but it seems we love the daily details of people in our world.  We love the updates, the installments, the comments, and the ramblings.  Our screens are filled with minutia of the people we "follow" and those who follow us.    

As a pastor I love the opportunity to keep in touch outside of the weekend.  I love how interactive we have become, and that we are constantly connecting.  I wonder if this is the modern day version of how the early church did life together?   

For whatever reason we do it, I'm glad we do.  Here are the ways you can connect with me and with Living Hope.

Facebook is a way to find old friends, post thoughts, photos, comments and a great way to keep in touch.  Check it out here:

Living Hope on Facebook

John Bishop on Facebook

Twitter is like a mini-blog.  140 characters to tell your friends, family and co-workers what you are doing.  It is both easy and really fun.  

Follow us here:

Living Hope on Twitter

John Bishop on Twitter

LSM on Twitter

Of course you know about our website and blog, but did you know we also have a youtube channel where you will find a selection of videos used in our weekend services?  You can visit the LSM page too.  They have made some great videos; I am always amazed at their creativity.

John Bishop YouTube

LSM Youtube

I am excited that we have now launched an LSM Myspace for the youth.  if you have a myspace page please add us as a friend.  Heres the link:

LSM Myspace

That should be enough right? 

Your blogging, tweeting, facebooking, myspacing, youtubing pastor,

JOHN

I have heard those words too many times to count.  I am usually the last to board the airplane, waiting till I hear them say it….Final boarding call.

I don’t know if it’s that I just don’t like planes, or If I like airports more than planes?  Or do I just put off the inevitable? 
I know this about me:  I HAVE A TENDENCY TO PROCRASTINATE!!  (I bet that blows you away, doesn't it?)

The reality about traveling is that the plane will leave with or without me.  What works for travel, works for eternity as well.  It was a lesson I learned in my life 20 years ago, when through a near death accident, God gave me a second chance to repent and turn to Christ.  That day my final boarding call was cancelled, by God's grace alone.

What that did for me is indescribable.  I realized how short and unpredictable life was/is and I learned that life here on earth isn't all there is.  I also learned that everyone of us will one day have a final boarding call, a day when we will leave this earth and enter the realm of eternity.

I have sat on the bedside of literally hundreds of people who were hearing in their heart the final boarding call.  As their physical body was about to expire, their spiritual life would move on to a different existence and a different reality that would not be bound by space or time.

The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 ‘…that man is destined to die once, and after that  face judgement.’ NIV

Yesterday I visited a woman who just a few months ago I had the privlege of leading to faith in Christ.  Her name is Laura Weaver.  She has lung cancer and is now in hospice.  Laura is in the final stages of getting ready to step into eternity.  I was blessed to pray with her and I ask you to pray for her and her beautiful family as well.

 Here is the picture I took with Laura, Saturday afternoon.

Sometimes there are verses of Scripture which create defining moments in our lives, and for me, it was one of the first verses I memorized as a new Christian, found in James  4:14  “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes”.  NIV

If you’re a person reading this and you don’t know about tomorrow, please surrender your life today.  If you are a follower of Christ with people around you who are uncertain, you may be the only voice they hear.

If you are a Pastor reading this I would say that you may not feel like an evangelist, but your church needs to be evangelistic.  Jesus came to seek and to save lost people.  We have to be intentional because there are people in our local communities that God has planted us in, that will face eternity somewhere.  They will have an ultimate and final boarding call. 

When the day is over, there will be the ultimate final boarding call; for every eye will see Jesus, for every ear will hear his voice and every knee will bow.

Bowing isn’t the issue, the question is will they bow and recognize Him as their Messiah and Savior or will they bow to him for the first time as their Judge.

Fortunately, I always make the plane.  I may be the last person to board, but I’d rather be the last one on than the one who missed the flight.

For those of us who know Christ, we have to spend the rest of our lives helping people hear that final boarding call.

Laura got it.  By God's grace, I got it.  Have you?  Sometimes we can forget what matters because other stuff "seems" to be so pressing.  

Paul said words that summarized his life's purpose, "My life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about God's wonderful kindness and love."  Acts 20:24

I am so glad to be part of a church and a community of ONLY GOD churches who simply get this.  It is work to tell people about Jesus but it is so worth it.

For Easter this year we are renting a huge tent that seats 1300 people, to hold 7 Easter services.  It is going to be set up in two weeks.  The children will be in our main auditorium and we will be in the tent.  It will be the most people on this campus in its history.  I am pretty pumped about it all.  I met the guy yesterday who will help our production crews set up, clean up, etc.  

If you can volunteer, we will need hundreds of volunteers.  

Work.... FOR SURE.  Will it cost us?  DEFINITELY.

My theology says it would cost more NOT to do everything we can possibly do and then trust ONLY GOD to do what He does.   

Looking forward to all that ONLY GOD will do this Easter in churches all around the world.  Lots of churches are doing spontaneous baptisms.  Think about the party that will erupt in Heaven as thousands upon thousands will find Christ, get baptized and do the work God has assigned them!!!

Some thoughts about final boarding.

John

3 years ago I heard words that I will never forget.  They came from H.B. London, "Live like it is done".

These are the very words I heard from HB London when I was diagnosed with cancer three years ago.  HB called to talk with me, pray for me and encourage me.  He said, “When the day is over, every day we ought to live like it is done”.   

They are also some of the words I shared with over 3500 people in India yesterday early morning.  

I both shared and compared my story of having cancer with all of our stories, that we have an incurable disease called sin. 

1/3 of the audience were Hindu, and I just got an email from Dr Kumar who reported that 317 stood indicating their decision to surrender to Jesus Christ.  

Hinduism represents between 800 and 825 million of the world’s population. 

Your diagnosis: “All have sinned and all of us, fall short of the God’s glory.” Romans 3:23.

Cancer affected 55 million Americans in 2006.  The year I got cancer.  Sin has affected every person who has walked on planet Earth (with the exception of Jesus Christ, who was both God and man).

Sin is the Greek word ‘harmatia’ which means we’ve missed the mark, we’ve missed the standard.

The prognosis is the probable outcome of a disease.

The prognosis for humans is that we all have sinned, Romans 6:23… “The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.”

If today were your last day, where would you spend eternity? 

I want to understand the cure, or the treatment.  Cure means to be restored to health.

Jesus said, I am The Way, The Truth and The Life and no one comes to the Father except through Me.   (John 14:6)

In Hinduism there is both a belief in reincarnation, worship of multiple Gods (3.3 million different Gods), and their society is built on what is known as the caste system.  It is all about societal positioning, based on the family you were born into, etc.  Not very much middle ground; you are either very rich or very very poor.  Most of the country lives on $2.00 per day or less. 

I talked alot to these special people about how you cannot earn your way to Heaven.  Specifically quoting Ephesians 2:8-10.  It says in verse 8, because of God's favor...

I think they very much connected with this.  Also that Jesus is the only cure for the disease that we all have.

You can’t just know the diagnosis and the prognosis and avoid the cure.  Jesus is the cure for our disease!

I talked through Romans 10:9-10, what it means to confess, repent, believe.

I spoke a little about what Jesus went through for each of us.  Jesus went through all the pain for us.  Crucifixion is one of the worst forms of capital punishment ever known to mankind.  After a person was brutally beaten they would pass out, and the soldiers would take a bucket of salt water and pour it on the wounds so that a person could regain enough strength to carry their cross.  They would spike nails through the wrists.

Romans 5:8 “But yet while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you.”

They then would spike both feet, and the person would be choked because they were carrying their weight and the only way to get a breath would be to press down on the nails through the feet and push up long enough to take a breath.
 

Below is an email from Dr Kumar who coordinates these meetings in Rajumundry, India.  This is where we also have an orphanage being built.

Greetings to you Pastor, to your Family, and to Living hope in the most precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I thank you Pastor, for preaching to the people in india by cell phone.

I just wanted to record these thoughts and share with you.  It's funny how God uses everything in our lives for His glory.  Having cancer was a terrible disease that has also been a platform for God to speak to so many people.  I just understand when someone tells me they have had cancer.  I really do.  I have walked in those shoes and to some extent can identify. 

One more thought.  God uses us in spite of us.  I am pretty tired these days (like so many).  I had to wake up early and after speaking at LSM the night before, I wasn't too much into getting my butt out of bed at 6 or 7 AM.  I wasn't having a good attitude.  I would love to report that I was up at 5:00 AM, thanking God for the opportunity, but that would not be the truth.  I was up and in fact saying how tired I was and how dumb the time was.  

As I spoke I could feel an overwhelming sense of the Holy Spirit and a connection with the audience (through a cell phone and a translator) and God began to show me how much He loves THE WORLD, and all people and how I was having an attitude because somehow it would impose on my "sleep".  How stupid is that?

God and I chatted about it.  I told Him He was right, He already knew He was, but used my life anyway to see over 300 people come to Christ.  People I may never meet this side of Heaven, but I can promise you that yesterday there was a party going on in Heaven for a few hundred people who heard and responded to the Gospel of Jesus in a city in India.

God isn't so much about our comfort.  He wants to use us to do whatever it will take to reach people that He has died for.  So simple and yet we become so easily distracted.

Just some thoughts.

JOHN

PS

Road Trip continues this weekend.  We are very excited about our Easter vision, which I will share more about later.  

I am personally very excited about the team that is beginning to develop within LSM

Tired, yes, but God is bigger than tired. 

Here is the video from our first road trip.

Thanks to everyone who was cool with being "randomly" visited.  Our family had alot of fun.

Here is the video if you haven't seen it.

Great start to what will be a good series.  Jonah.  All about going to the place you do not want to go, but God calls you to.  Jonah is so much like us, or maybe we are like him.  Things God calls us to do that we say no to or put off.   

I will post a different blog about our Easter vision for this year.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO.  

Road Trips.  We have all been on them, and we all remember them.

One of our favorite family road trips was 6 years ago when we drove our 22 year old motor home to California, totally figuring it out as we went.   Being the mechanic that I am it wasn't too much of an issue.  IT was an issue driving in LA traffic with a 30 foot motor home.  My kids will still bring up that trip.  We drove from Prineville, Oregon (after camping for a week) to California, all the way to San Diego and then up I-5.  Even crossed the Golden Gate bridge IN THE MOTOR HOME.  Talk about a stressful moment.  Point is our whole family loved that trip and can remember it clearly.  

In the Bible there are road trip stories.  I can guarantee that the people whose lives were changed remembered where they were when the change happened.  Paul was on a road to Damascus.  Jonah was on a road to Ninevah.  The Good Samaritan was on a road.  Abraham walked many different roads, including one road, which I have to think was probably the hardest road he had ever walked on. 

To me the most important road in the history of the world was the road Jesus walked to the hill outside Jerusalem that He was to be crucified on.  

This series will focus on different stories of people whose lives were changed on a road.  

The set is being built and Teresa, Eric and the rest of the team and they are working hard to make it everything it can be.

THE PLAN IS MICHELLE AND I WILL BE RANDOMLY STOPPING BY THIS WEEK AND EVERY WEEK to several people in the church.  It will be fun, are you ready?

Lots to share in the next couple weeks as we get close to Easter 2009.  I hope to see you this weekend.

John

P.S.  Thanks to everyone who gave for Sheri and Jim Curtiss.  Close to $8000.00 for given to them.  I am very blessed to be part of a church that steps up faithfully in times like these.

Also, thanks to some who have switched to a Saturday night service.  It has "momentarily" eased the tension from our 11:00AM service.  If you can and are able, especially as we get close to Easter, it will be appreciated by others who may not otherwise be able to come.

I wanted to quickly blog and update a few things.

John

I saw a movie while I was at a conference this week.  Not sure if you have seen it?  SLUM DOG MILLIONAIRE.  I rarely promote a movie, and am not necessarily promoting it, but this is one that spoke to my heart.  It was a movie that redefined my personal reality, and was a movie about hope.   

The title of the movie was a bit deceiving to me, but it helped me personally realize what matters and what doesn't.  

I am blessed that we have been able to partner with several pastors in India and other third world countries where the living conditions are mostly deplorable.   

India is a country that God has allowed us to serve in.  That isn't really the point of this blog.  God opens doors, but what is ironic is I thought as "Americans", why is it that we don't seem to care?  We create 40% of the garbage in the world and yet only represent 5% of the population.   

I think we live in a bubble that causes us to see the whole world through how we live "here".

Think about this.........

Poverty can be defined as a situation when people are unable to satisfy the basic needs of life.

Poverty in India is still rampant despite an impressive economic growth.  An estimated 250 million people (75%) are below the poverty line and approximately 75 percent of them are in the rural areas.  India holds the most poverty stricken people in the world.

Almost a quarter of India's 1.1 billion people live on less than $1 a day; 700 million more live on less than $2 a day.

74% of India’s youth are illiterate, and 40% overall (with women, tribal and scheduled castes particularly affected).

25% of the population live below the minimum level of dietary consumption.

40% of the population still live in the caste system, making it nearly impossible to change their living situation.

More people in India are living in what they describe as poor living conditions than live in all of the US and Canada combined.

More than 78 million people are homeless.

Causes of Poverty in India:
High level of dependence on primitive methods of agriculture
High population growth rate
High Illiteracy (about 35% of adult population)
Regional inequalities
Protectionist policies pursued till 1991 that prevented high foreign investment

Even more than 50 years after independence from almost two centuries of British rule, large scale poverty remains the most shameful blot on the face of India.

The DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH has been very uneven.

India still has the world’s largest number of poor people in a single country.

 AREN'T THOSE STATISTICS INCREDIBLE?

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Once India was touted the richest nation in the world. It is for this reason that traders braved the choppy seas to exchange trade deals with this nation. It is for this reason why the plunderers traveled for months together to rob the nation of its wealth.

Her wealth was known through the world, in a time when modes of travel were sea or foot and there was no kind of electronic communication. The word of mouth traveled far and wide.

Every foreigner visited this nation to bereft her further of her wealth, with each visitor she was getting all the more poorer, but yet she welcomed everyone and gave them generously. ..
 

This nation has never known how to disappoint her guests. And the last of her invaders left her as a poverty stricken country, and ever since poverty in India has been ever increasing.

While this is the basis of India being led to widespread poverty, the causes of its increasing status are numerous. One of the prime initial causes of poverty in India was the greed and jealousy amongst the numerous rulers of the nation. Each one greedy to eat into another king’s domain inviting powerful rulers from abroad. And in exchange of favors the greedier invaders went on a plundering spree. And today, one of the primary causes is the unequal distribution of wealth.

Urban poverty of India is because of the increasing migration from the rural areas to the cities and towns for want of more income. The people in the villages feel that the cities would provide them with better opportunities and when they migrate to a city they do not have enough money for basic decent living – only slum-dwelling or footpath sleeping.

Today, over 75% of the Indian population has people living under poverty line in India. They are all a matter of concern because of rampant illiteracy and unemployment. They cause epidemics and crimes largely breed amongst them. 

The poverty in India solutions does not just lie with the Government. In fact the sad but true fact is that all those in power are busy amassing wealth for themselves and contributing a few percent towards the benefit of the people in their jurisdiction. 

Leaving them aside the cure lies amongst every citizen of the country, who is in the position to contribute to a better India, in terms of time and money. Educating slum dwellers is amongst the prime needs today.

There is no real "motive" in this blog, except to hopefully bring a level of awareness that will result in action.  We can't solve all of the poverty issues in the world, but we can do something.  

Pray.  Allow God to authentically change your heart.  It is so so so easy to focus on what we can "see" and miss what God sees.   

Take a look at a few pictures.

I thank God so much for the blessings we have as a country.  I hope we can be a people who will care (really care) about what matters to Jesus.   

As I watched the movie, and now look at these pictures, the verse that so piercingly touches my heart is in Matthew 25, "I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these...you were doing it to me!"  Matthew 25:40

God will separate the real disciples from the posers.  That my friends is reality.  The real evidence of your belief in Jesus isn't about words, but about actions.  

Question:  Do we treat everyone we meet as if they were Jesus?  I know I don't.  I wonder why we don't?  Mercy, kindness, love, patience, simple acts of grace.  All things that are what Jesus was about that we mostly avoid.

Pretty convicting.  Maybe it ought to be?

See the movie if you can.  See others whether you can or not.

John

Do you have plans for Friday night?   

DETAILS:   

WHAT:  A special night of praise and worship at Living Hope Church called "Our God Lives"

WHERE:  Brush Prairie campus

WHEN:  7:00 PM  (seriously, be early if you can)

WHY: Our first ever live recording for a CD and a DVD.  

HOW:  We have off the hook musicians and leaders who get it done.

This will be a great night of worshipping ONLY GOD!  I hope to see you there.

The wannabe worship guy, who is making a 'joyful' noise as he types.

John

PS (a couple other things, since I have your attention)

Men's event 10:00 AM Saturday morning at the Brush Prairie campus, Richard Twiss is speaking.  Great time to come and connect with other men.

Time change this weekend, so if you farm you are in luck, if you don't you lose an hour of sleep (yes I am protesting)

This weekend, we end the BOY MEETS GIRL series.  I am super excited about the story you will hear.  A story of love, through good stuff and not good stuff.  A legacy of love.  I really encourage you to invite a friend this weekend and also if you can, think Saturday.  In a building that has 550 seats, we regularly have between 900 and 1000 just at the 11:00 service, including kids.  You will love Saturday.  Try it.  5:00 PM or 7:00 PM.  Come on, just once.

I am wrestling today a little.  Getting ready to get on yet another plane to talk to a bunch of church planters (back Thursday) and really mad.

Still thinking about the family who lost their 13 year old daughter to a violent, unthinkable crime.  Maranda and Jason (Alycia's parents) are such good people and the horrific crime and senseless death of their daughter was met with so many tears, confusion and so much pain.   

I spoke at the funeral, and can honestly say it was the absolute hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life in regard to speaking.

Earlier that day, I sat talking with my youngest daughter Hannah who is 14.  As I sat there, I thought how easy we can count on everything to work out like we think and like we hope, but in a second everything can change.  In a second we can go from dreaming to planning a funeral.  That is how life is.  It sucks and it is not fair.  

During the time of sharing, I watched as students nervously walked to the microphone in front of hundreds of people and shared how Alycia touched their lives.  One student after another.  All "children" having to bear the weight of the loss of a friend because of a crime that is unthinkable.  

In times like this all of the stuff I learned in seminary just doesn't seem to "work".  God works all things for good.  That verse in Romans sounds so good and preaches so well until you have to walk it out in real, raw life.

Psalm 23 says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me...."

God was with Alycia.  At the same time, God hates evil and sin.  He allows things we cannot understand.  It is the age old question that frankly we don't have answers for. 

To prepare, I talked to my friend and theology professor, Dr Breshears (Dr B).

The most quoted verse in the Bible BY THE BIBLE is Exodus 34:6, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness."

We can't know why.  We have to be ok not to be ok.  We can't figure it out.  We can't choose to pay back.  We can choose to allow the reality that God hates sin and yet is a compassionate and loving God.

We can choose to trust Him.  He is a good God.  

We can choose to live today as if it were our last day.  Alycia did well at that.

We can choose to love the ones who the world doesn't love.  Alycia did that!  Students shared stories of her "watching out for others".

We can choose to use the energy we want to use to hate and choose to love others.

We can do what she did.  She chose Jesus Christ.  

Alycia was baptized at our Rose Garden Easter service a couple years ago.  Her mom said after she prayed to ask Christ in her heart, she "bolted" out of her seat to the pools on the floor of the Rose Garden arena.  She chose life!

So the God that was there during that horrific crime is the same God she is with right now.  

There were many many people that because of her faith, yesterday accepted Jesus Christ into their hearts.

Alycia's young life affected more people in her 13 young years than most people will in their entire life.

She lived.

She laughed.

She loved.

....then she left this world.

She is now dancing with Jesus.  Perhaps with purple shoes (she loved colors).  Perhaps she is singing.  I know that there was a moment when God wiped tears from her face and now she is where hopefully many of us will be.

She believed Jesus.  She trusted Him.  She boldly lived for Him.  She is a young hero!

Please pray for the family.  Pray for Maranda and Jason.  Pray for all of her friends.  Pray that her life will continue to be lived through the hearts of so many.

Just had thoughts that I needed to share.

Thanks to everyone who helped make a really hard day a blessing to hundreds.

Off to the airport.

John