The Sinner's Prayer

In my previous post "Pray for the Laurie Family", did you notice Pastor Greg Laurie asked those who were ready to pray the sinner's prayer to say the words out loud? In all the times I've seen an altar call or heard a pastor offer this prayer, I have never heard those who responded make their commitment verbally. During the prayer here, I wondered if any of those standing were new to the service and were caught by surprise since all other experiences I've had with offering this prayer the individual was asked to "pray these words in your heart".

If Christians are trying to follow a Biblical example of how to attain eternal life, we should look for examples in the Bible. In Romans, Paul writes a letter to the Christians in Rome about his concern for his fellow Jews who have not accepted Jesus as Lord.

Romans 10:1-10

1 Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

3 For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

5 For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.

6 But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: "DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, 'WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?' (that is, to bring Christ down),

7 or 'WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)."

8 But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART"--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,

9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Is offering the sinner's prayer a good example of following a Biblical guide to attain eternal life?

Pray for the Laurie Family

Please pray for the family of Pastor Greg Laurie as they face the death of their son, Christopher Laurie. Chris died on July 24 in a car accident in Southern California.

Greg Laurie is the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, CA and the leader of the Harvest Crusade which introduces thousands of people to Christ every year.

Chris leaves behind his daughter Stella and his wife Britanny, who is expecting another daughter in the fall.

Unbroken

Jeremiah 18:1-6

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying,

2 "Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will announce My words to you."

3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something on the wheel.

4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.

5 Then the word of the LORD came to me saying,

6 "Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel."

The LORD God is my potter. If I remain soft and pliable to His ways, He is able to do good things through me. However if I become hard to Him, He can break me to accomplish His will.

It's easy listening to Satan tell me God made me a smart and strong woman and I can make my own decision without asking permission from anyone. If I continue down the path of selfishness, I can always count on paying the price later.

I have been broken before, and I pray for my will to be broken every day.

Unbroken

Fallen to pieces
(I am undone)
The things you said
(Manipulation)
I trusted you like a fool
While you made all the rules
So you searched me out
And you took me down

To be unbroken, what would that be?
If words that were spoken, had not shattered me
If I was unbroken, I’d never know
The beauty of hope, and how far grace will go
To be unbroken
To be unbroken

The things you found
(To use against me)
Have lost their sound
(When mercy ensoothed me)
I fell to the Father’s feet
His words washed all over me
And all the scars you made
Watch them fade away

To be unbroken, what would that be?
If words that were spoken, had not shattered me
If I was unbroken, I’d never know
The beauty of hope, and how far grace will go
To be unbroken
To be unbroken

I’ve tasted bitter, tasted sweet
Embraced the victory, and some defeat
I’ve tasted bitter, tasted sweet
I found the beauty in the place they meet

To be unbroken, what would that be?
If words that were spoken, had not shattered me
If I was unbroken, I’d never know
The beauty of hope, and how far grace will go
To be unbroken
To be unbroken

Unbroken by Zoe Girl

You Are What You Eat

There is documented evidence on the detriment discarded plastic has on our environment. While I am not anti-plastic, I use some sort of plastic product every day, I have a love/hate relationship with plastic. I love the convenience that plastic affords busy moms and the many advances in modern medicine that would not have been accomplished without the use of plastic. What I hate about plastic is that I don't get to choose which plastics I expose to myself and my family and I have little control over what way those plastics come into our home.

In my college education to become a Biologist, I took almost 3 years of Chemistry, Biology, Zoology and Botany. Additionally, I worked seven years for B Braun Medical, a medical supply company that manufactures IV drugs and delivery systems. B Braun products are known in the medical field as superior for Intra-Veinous (IV) drug and blood delivery systems mainly because B Braun IV products do not contain plasticizers like DEHP in the PVC from which the IV products are made. PVC is mostly encountered in its rigid state as white tubes that plumbers use to get water into your house from the street. PVC is perfectly safe for water use in this hardened state. What most people don't know is that IV products are made from PVC then a plasticizer is added to make it flexible. The more pliable the plastic, the more plasticizers it contains. The problem health care providers have with using plastic containing DEHP for IV fluid containers and delivery systems is that plasticizers have been proven to leach into whatever product is contained in the plastic.

The medical industry has accepted the seriousness of exposure to plasticizers for patients in a compromised state of health (such as dialysis, surgery, ICU, etc) so they are willing to purchase a more expensive plastic product to ensure harmful plasticizers are not transfered to patients. But what about the massive amounts found in the every day lives of the "healthy" public? What about the exposure to small children whose bodies are not fully developed? What about the elderly or those in poor health?

Bisphenol A (BPA) is found in the plastic lining of cans containing soups, beans and soft drinks (organics too), reusable plastic water bottles and plastic baby bottles. Plastic manufacturers do not deny that BPA leaches into canned foods and beverages and is routinely ingested by humans. BPA is controversial because in the bodies of tested laboratory animals it mimics estrogen and thus induces hormonal responses. This means BPA is an estrogen receptor agonist and can act like the body's own hormones leading to similar physiological effects on the body such as weight gain, breast growth, possibly cancer in both male and female subjects. Studies by the CDC found BPA in the urine of 95% of adults sampled in 1988-1994 and in 93% of children and adults tested in 2003-04. Almost all exposure is through diet, and infants fed with liquid formula are among the most exposed through the plastic bottles used to feed babies the formula.

DEHP is used in medical IV supplies (with the exception of B Braun Medical products) as well as food packaging materials and some plastic children's toys like teething rings. DEHP has been shown to cause liver tumors in both rats and mice receiving DEHP in their diet throughout their entire life span. Based on the results of these cancer studies, the National Toxicology Program has classified DEHP as a substance that may reasonably be anticipated to be a carcinogen.

It may seem and impossible task to completely remove plastic from your every day life if you live in a typical American home. As the person who brings all the food and drink into the house from the market, I have a huge responsibility to my family for the safety of these products. Here are some ways I've been able to lessen my dependance on plastic in our home.

1. We use glass containers for storage of leftovers. Most people have something already in their fridge or pantry in a glass jar. Just wash well it when you're done (sterilizing is a good idea) and put that leftover spaghetti in there! Almost all food in the supermarkets are packaged in plastic, so some contact is unavoidable but there are ways to protect yourself from the most harmful of plastics. Plastic items are marked with a recycling identification code (the number surrounded by chasing arrows), which stands for:

1—polyethyelene terephthalate (PETE)
2—high-density polyethylene (HDPE)
3—vinyl, polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
4—low-density polyethylene (LDPE)
5—polypropylene (PP)
6—polystyrene (PS)
7—other (includes polycarbonate, acrylic, polylactic acid, fiberglass)

If you must use plastic for food storage (and purchases) be sure to choose 1, 2, 4 and 5. Learn to recognize and then avoid numbers 3 and 7 for food usage as they could be BPA leaching plastics. Beware of plastic lids for your glass containers... if they are coded 7, be sure the lid does not come in contact with the food.

2. I stopped using plastic baggies to store food. You can actually taste the plasticizers in your food if you leave it in a baggie for too long (that's scary). Use aluminum foil, wax paper, or small paper bags.

3. I NEVER microwave food in a plastic container or cover it with plastic wrap. The waves that heat food can knock DEHA plastic molecules from the container into your food. Put the food on a plate and then put a paper towel over it before microwaving your lunch.
Authors disclaimer: That's not my microwave in the picture!

4. We will stop purchasing bottled water. I've committed to invest in stainless steel bottles for our family to reuse for water bottles from now on. Plastic water bottles as well as yogurt, whipped topping, and margarine tub containers are not designed for reuse. Cleaning disposable plastics at high temperatures (like in the dishwasher) degrades the plastic which becomes unstable and more likely to leach plasticizers into your food from the container. Please be sure to always recycle disposable plastics responsibly.

Update 5/23/08 Here is another article from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy about harmful plastics and safer alternatives.

I Needed This...

What a sweet video. This made me smile today.

The Lord's Prayer

Surprise in Zimbabwe

The 2008 presidential election in Zimbabwe is over and President Robert Mugabe has lost the popular vote. While I think this is good news for the country of Zimbabwe, this result is a surprise to me since Mugabe has been the Zimbabwean president since their independence from England was official in 1980.

President Mugabe has been a controversial leader in southern Africa for decades, compared to Hitler by some. He is strongly anti-white to the detriment of the country as a whole and has been considered the reason Zimbabwe has gone from a food producer for much of the continent of Africa to dependance on the WFO for grain and staples for most Zimbabweans.

BBC News article about the Zimbabwe election can be read here.

More info on President Mugabe can be found here.

Corruption

After two months of questions about the situation in Kenya and praying for resolution, the power-sharing agreement that was signed last week was beginning to comfort some of the people here and abroad who love Africa and those who live there.

Just today, there is an accusation that the administration of President Kibaki was behind the early conflict that arose after the election in December as reported here by a BBC News undercover officer.

If these allegations are in fact true, this might be looked on as justification for more rioting and killing. However this time, most likely it would be done by other tribes as payback for the previous violence. Even if this is just a rumor, it could have the same effect at if it were true as there is so much corruption and deception among people in power over most all of Africa that many Africans don't trust leaders from another ethnic tribe.

Agreement

Although controversy has at times surrounded former UN leader Kofi Annan, he has done a great service for the people in Kenya. Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, the two leaders in Kenya, have now signed a deal for power sharing with the creation the post of Prime Minister to be occupied by Odinga with the Presidency still held by Kibaki. There has been peace in the country for several days and hopes are high that some sense of normalcy will return to Kenya in the future.

This article from BBC News details some of the points of the agreement between Kibaki and Odinga. The proposal contains strict guidelines for both sides that have to be adhered to and it is always possible that either side could walk out of the agreement at sometime in the future, putting everything back in question and leading to another period of unrest.

While this proposal has been signed and everyone looks to be in an agreeable mood at the moment, there is still a long way to go to return Kenya to the stable country that gave it decades of prosperity. Much of the peace in the past had accumulated over 30 years and it could take many years for a complete economic recovery for the people in Kenya.

Please continue with prayers for those who will need time to heal from physical and emotional wounds from the fighting. The latest number of victims are 1500 killed and 600,000 displaced. There is still much for Christians to do in Africa, and Kenya will need the love and peace of Jesus Christ to help move past the events of this election.

Responsibility

There is no current resolution in the peace process in Kenya. At this time, Kofi Annan has called off the talks until the both leaders can meet face to face so as to get beyond the name calling and accusations of dishonesty within the discussions. Please read this article from BBC News for more detail about the events this week.

The killing in Kenya has stopped for the time being, Praise God! However, the estimated number of refugees is now over 600,000. I can't fathom that many people on the run, it boggles the mind. The beginning of this battle in Kenya has been compared by some to the first days of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, a massive extermination of 800,000 Rwandans in 100 days at the hands of their brothers.

If you would like to know more about the Rwandan genocide, I highly recommend the 2005 Portuguese movie "Beyond the Gates", also known under the USA title "Shooting Dogs". It is the true story of a Catholic Technical school in Kigali that was a base for the UN peacekeeping forces in Rwanda and then became an emergency refugee camp. A BBC reporter has a line in the film that was chilling in its honesty.

"In Bosnia, it was the best stuff I've ever done. I cried every day. Strangely enough over here, not a tear. Anytime I saw a dead Bosnian woman, a white woman, I thought, that could be my mom. Over here, there just dead Africans. What a thing to say. We're all just selfish pieces of work in the end."

Although I knew the facts about the genocide in Rwanda, seeing this movie so well acted in graphic detail with personal characters was very difficult to watch but made it all the more real. On the verge of genocide in Africa again, what will we do right now... do we have a responsibility to people half a world away?

James 4:13-17
13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 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. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16 As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17 Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

Christians can not sit idle and allow genocide to happen when we have been given the chance to intervene.

Deadline

After two months of severe violence in Kenya, there is still no end in sight. There had been some hope to end the unrest at the beginning of the month as peace talks were orchestrated by Kofi Annan, but peace has not materialized.

The number of displaced people is now at over 300,000 and the number of dead is over 1000.

We need to be on our knees right now and for the next 5 days for the men, women and children trapped in Nairobi and the Rift Valley of Kenya. As this Reuters video states, there is a deadline proposed by the opposition for an agreement to be reached in one week. You can also read this AP article for more information about the process thus far.

I have great fear that if there is no resolution reached in the time given by the Orange Democratic Movement, we may have to reconcile the horror of another genocide in Africa.