Remembering this Bleeding World

“Would you please pass the potatoes?”

Your friend complies, staring hungrily as the bowl of creamy potatoes leaves his hands.

From his chair across the table, he watches you eat. First the mashed potatoes. Then the croissant. Then the delicately marinated steak. Finally, he watches, puzzled, as you scrape the green beans around on your plate. Closing your eyes and holding your nose, you manage to stuff a couple of the green beans down.

It’s not that your friend isn’t hungry. He wants to eat. Only, he can’t, because he is without food.

About 24,000 people die of hunger-related problems each day. The problem feels distant, perhaps because of the thousands of miles stretching between our dinner tables and the slums of Haiti or the tsunami swept villages of Myanmar, but the problem is no less for the distance.

Today is the date of the fast, initiated by Compassion International, to bring attention to the global food crisis. The fast is meant to also be an encouragement to those Christians suffering from the food crisis, letting them know that their siblings in America are lifting them up in prayer. Reading about this fast, I am struck by two realizations:

One, as an American Christian, I’m so disconnected from the daily difficulties my brothers and sisters in Christ face across the world. While my parents have always tried to make us kids understand that picky eating is a form of selfishness, I do have the luxury of choosing what I want for lunch from a full kitchen cabinet. I’m inconvenienced if I’m craving tuna salad and can’t find any in the kitchen. Others count themselves blessed to have a bowl of rice. Even beyond food, I don’t understand other very real threats—such as persecution and imprisonment for my faith. Those things are incomprehensible.

Two, I realize how little I do to help. E-mail newsletters arrive in my inbox nearly every day, keeping me up to date on Gospel work in India, needs in Myanmar, and a note from a friend reminds me of world hunger. But what do I do?

Of course, if one of those starving people were sitting at my dinner table, I’d remember to feed them, right? I couldn’t just let them miserably watch me eat, could I? Of course, I’d pass them a plate and pile the mashed potatoes high.

If so, why do I allow a few longitude lines on a map stop me from helping them now? Because unless a starving person is sitting across the table from me, I am prone to forget starvation exists.

Hebrews 13:3 says “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” That verse was written for people like me, saying, “Remember! Don’t forget those people, even if you don’t see them on a daily basis. Remember their problems. Share in their sufferings!”

I’m reminded of what Rich Mullins once wrote: “…[T]he other side of the world is not so far away. The distance just dissolves into the love.” So let us remember. Prayer is meaningful and donations can provide aid, when compassion bridges the distance for us to remember to love.

Feeling Funky?

My mom likes calling it a "funk." I'm not sure what to call it, except an emotional roller coaster that seems to speed nowhere but down. You know what I mean: Bad Days.

How to escape the funk?

Common sense says proper sleep, exercise, eating right, and getting out in the sun for a while can get those endorphins pumping and brighten your day. But I'm learning that a great deal of my Bad Days can be traced to spiritual issues. Things like doubt, fears, and self-trust can billow up when I'm experiencing the blues.

Here's a list of questions and scriptures I've compiled to help fight the funk:

Am I reminding myself of God's truth?

"My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings....for they are life to those who find them and health to all their body." -Proverbs 4:20-22

Am I regarding sin in my heart?

"If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear." -Psalm 66:18

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." -Psalm 51:17

Am I continuing doing what is right, in spite of my emotions?

"Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not grow weary." -Galatians 6:9

Am I feeling all alone?

"For such is our God, forever and ever; He will guide us until death." -Psalm 49:14

Am I feeling like the first of God's people to ever be depressed?

"No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it." -1 Corinthians 10:18

Are my emotions based off circumstances or God's enduring faithfulness?

"Rejoice in the Lord always." -Philippians 4:4

"Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." - Psalm 62:8

'He Loves Thee Too Little...'

"This is the mind-set of the psalmist Asaph when he prays these radically God-exalting words: 'You guide me with Your counsel, and afterward You will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever' (Ps. 73:24-26).

....That must mean, first, that if every other good thing were lost, Asaph would still rejoice in God. And it must mean, second, that in and through all the other good things on earth and in heaven, Asaph sees God and loves Him. Everything is desired for what it shows of God. Augustine put it like this: 'He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee which He loves not for Thy sake.'"

-John Piper, God is the Gospel

Matchmaker, Matchmaker

I haven't always appreciated the story of Isaac and Rebekah. As a young woman of the 21st century, I'm more likely to know of someone who has thirty-eight tattoos than someone who had an arranged marriage. Yet there's something about the story that is intriguing.

The tale begins with a servant being given the job of picking out a wife for his boss's son, Isaac. Not a low pressure task. While I suspect the servant was a little nerve-wracked by the responsibility on his shoulders, Abraham, his boss, says to trust God. The servant then travels to Mesopotamia, picks the first girl he meets (literally), and returns home with the new bride.

One would think that this sort of marriage tactic was a recipe for ruin. For all this servant-turned-Tevye knew, the bride could be a brat. She could have had a not-so-respectable-reputation. She could be any number of things considered undesirable in the ancient world.

But the bride isn't some selfish, Mesopotamian teenager. Even though the servant didn't know the girl from Adam, she ended up being quite a catch. She was even from a good family; a relative of Abraham.

Her name was Rebekah.

We don't know much of her character, but first impressions speak volumes. Upon meeting the servant, Rebekah willingly gives him the water she just drew from the well. Then, she offers to water his camels. "So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw...." Not only did the girl show hospitality to a complete stranger, but she added extra work to her day in order to serve him.

What does this say of Rebekah? She had character. She was committed to doing the right thing, even if the only person watching was a dusty, thirsty servant. She was a stellar girl. Isaac couldn't have asked for more in a wife.

I'm not sure what the odds are for successful arranged marriages, but this one was so perfectly coordinated, one would almost suspect that God was behind it. And He was.

There are dozens of unexplainable "coincidences" in this story: How did the servant chance to meet a relative of his master in a foreign country? How did it happen that Rebekah was not only of a good family--but demonstrated an amazing servant's heart and a willingness to do anything that needed to be done? And in a broader sense, isn't it amazing that God could match a young man and a young woman who lived hundreds of miles away from each other?

Then, of course there are a myriad of "what-if's" this story brings to mind. What if Rebekah had tripped that morning on the way to the well, and the servant had bumped into another young lady? What if the servant had ridden his camel a little slower and arrived at the well after Rebekah left? What if Rebekah decided she wasn't in the mood to serve others? What if--



One of those little, everyday instances could've changed the Isaac and Rebekah's story drastically.



Robert Frost demonstrated this idea in his famous poem, "The Road Not Taken," when he wrote of finding two pathways in the forest. Both looked inviting, yet he was forced to choose one. Knowing the nature of destiny, and how one single decision can impact the future, he mused:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.



In the love story of Isaac and Rebekah, God didn't leave those details to chance. He made the servant's timing perfect and Rebekah didn't miss a beat.

Paul wrote: "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! ....For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things." (Romans 12:33,36)

This is the same God who calls us to trust Him with our own lives.

This is where the main theme of Isaac and Rebekah's story comes to the surface: Trust God. The story is not a formula to follow for a happily ever after, but it is a real-life example of what God can do and has, in fact, done. It's a testimony to God's graciousness that's as real as any modern day newspaper clipping. It's a story showing that picking our pathways may feel risky, but God ordains our steps; and that makes all the difference.

Back from Birmingham

Birmingham, Alabama is beautiful. Just beautiful. But unfortunately, you'll have to take our word for it, since it seems we've travelled 6,200 miles (combined) without taking any decent photos of the scenery. We did, however, get to meet and visit with new and old friends.

R-L: Lindsey, Me (Hannah) & Amanda (a friend)

We hope to post more soon, once we thoroughly recover from the trip. Until then, we're glad to announce the winner of our book giveaway:

Josiah R. of Teen Fellowship Group will be receiving Living the Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing in the mail from Monergism.com. Again, if you haven't yet read Living the Cross Centered Life, we encourage you to get your hands on a copy.

Keep your eyes open for more giveaways in the near future!

Book Giveaway

For this next entire week, Lindsey and I will be in Alabama for a speech tournament. We're excited. Not only will we be seeing each other again, but speech tournaments tend to give us lots of opportunities to talk, which is the other thing (besides writing) that we just love to do. (What can we say? We're girls.)


But let's get to the punch line. I'm sure you're wondering about the title of this post, and if I were you, I'd have already skipped through all the above fluff to reach this paragraph. A book giveaway? What's that about?


At the end of this coming week, Lindsey and I will be giving away a copy of one of the books that has been pivotal in our lives. Living the Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney has been read over and over, with quotes underlined, highlighted and pages dog-eared. Don't worry. The contest winner won't be receiving our well-worn editions.



The winner of this contest will be receiving a brand new copy. Free.

So how do you enter? Simply email us (contact.bfth[Remove_SPAM]@gmail.com) your name and the email address at which we can reach you. Then you'll be entered into a drawing, which will decide the book giveaway winner.


Note: Contest only open to U.S. residents. Contestants are welcome to enter once per day. The contest winner will be requested via email to send us their shipping address. If contest winner does not comply, contest winner does not receive foresaid prize. 'Tis the nature of the postal system.

Presumptuous Prayers?

The Practice of Godliness, by Jerry Bridges, is by far the most
deeply provoking and convicting book that I've read in a long time. In this short passage on fearing God, Bridges provides some solid food for thought about prayer.

"One of the more serious sins of Christians today may well be the almost flippant familiarity with which we often address God in prayer. None of the godly men of the Bible ever adopted this casual manner we often do. They always addressed God with reverence. The same writer who tells us that we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place, the throne room of God, also tells us that we should worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, "for our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 10:19 and 12:28-29).

There is a healthy tension in the godly person's heart between the reverential awe of God in his glory and the childlike confidence in God as heavenly Father. Without this tension, a Christian's filial confidence can easily degenerate into presumption.

In our day we must begin to recover a sense of awe and profound reverence for God. We must begin to view him once again in the infinite majesty that alone belongs to him who is the Creator and Supreme Ruler of the entire universe. There is an infinite gap in worth and dignity between God the Creator and man the creature, even though man has been created in the image of God. The fear of God is a heartfelt recognition of this gap-- not a put-down of man, but an exaltation of God."

(The Practice of Godliness, Jerry Bridges, page 27)