My heart is broken for the girl that cannot receive love.
Whose father wasn’t the spiritual leader in her home.
Whose brother never held her face and told her that he loved her.
Whose guy friends never protected her.
Whose mother never told her she was beautiful without the clothes and the make up.
Whose friends never told her of her true beauty.
Whose spiritual family never told her of her true value.
Whose best friends never prayed for her.
Whose spiritual leaders never called her to a higher standard.

She was never told she beautiful, she was never told she was special.
She was never told she was unique, she was never told she was worthy.
She was never told that she was loved, and that same love she never found.

And so, she searches on.

Who will find her, who will save her, who will love her and take her home?
Will she settle for less?  Will she search for more?
Will she live in the darkness?  Will she live in the light?
Will she be a slave?  Will she ever be free?

How did she get here?  How did this happen?  And whose fault could it be?

I am guilty.  You are guilty.  We are guilty.  She is guilty.

But she is innocent.  Because He is innocent.  Because she is His.  And He is hope.

Hope for freedom.
Hope for beauty.
Hope for protection.
Hope for acceptance.
Hope for honour.
Hope for grace.
Hope for worth.
Hope for a special place.
Hope for today.
Hope for tomorrow.
Hope forever.

Hope for love.

Four years ago I spent seven weeks doing missions work in Turkey. During my time there, I took a tour of Ephesus - a New Testament Historical site- where I saw the statue pictured above. Her name is ‘Diana’ (also known as Artemis,) the great goddess of fertility. Temples were built in her honor. Riots were formed in her defence. Somehow she captivated the hearts of the people and caused a lot of drama amongst the early Christians in Ephesus. (Acts 19)

Walking down the streets amongst the ruins and rubble of what was once a thriving city, I could easily pick out what these people once lived for: Diana. She was their idol.

Throughout the Bible, we are warned and commanded to stay away from idols. Sure as Christians in North America we are not faced with this sort of idolatry. We don’t wake up every morning and bow to a statue. Unfortunately, our idols are much more discrete… and often masquerade themselves so that we don`t realize they are there.

An idol- defined simply- is anything that takes top priority in our lives. They are the things we give most of our time to, spend most of our money on, and think about most often . It usually starts out as something good, but then we take it to the extreme,- devoting ourselves to it and somehow allowing it to define who we are. It could be a relationship, job, hobby, education, etc.

I think it’s safe to say we all have something we idolize in our lives. It’s time to find out what they are, get rid of them, and give Christ the  top priority He deserves.

Jess

I took a year off after high school and went to the African country of Namibia to help with two missionary families with their kids and volunteer in the community.  My time there was unbelievable; I have fond memories of trekking through the sand streets into town to get groceries, seeing countless wild elephants in the Caprivi Strip, waking up at 5:00 am to watch the glorious African sunrise, and witnessing lightning-filled rainstorms that were unlike anything I had ever experienced.  I developed a close friendship with my housemate Sarah, and the two of us would teach the missionary kids, volunteer at the Red Cross shelter, visit local preschools, and lead Saturday Club for the local kids in the neighbourhood.

However we were faced with some disappointments and challenges. One day, all our clothes were stolen off the line outside and we were left with bare necessities for the rest of our time there.  A deadly meningitis outbreak hit Rundu, the town we lived in, and the government declared a state of emergency right as we discovered that our immunizations for meningitis had long expired.  We came close to being attacked by a guy with a shovel one night, and once at the Red Cross shelter Sarah escaped from a man who tried to forcefully pull her into an isolated room.  Needless to say, we were exhausted and started to worry about our safety.

Every week the small missionary community would have a prayer meeting and Bible study.  It was at one of these that we discussed Philippians 4:6-7:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

One of the other girls pointed out that in traditional human warfare, we use walls, tanks, and guns to guard ourselves.  But God always flips everything on its head. His peace is what guards our hearts and minds.  This peace transcends circumstance, and it keeps us going through the hard times.  I found this to be very encouraging for the remainder of my time in Rundu.

Do you worry?  What are you worried about?  Why are you worried about it? If we obey God and use all the energy we usually spend worrying on praying instead, God promises to guard our hearts and minds with his peace.  I know I need that today, do you?

Michelle

I got an email through the Chat Line this week that I thought I’d share with you.  Call it a guest post…thanks Stephanie!

I am reading through Genesis right now, and I am just coming to an end on Noah and his ark.  Even after Joy last summer and the whole week focusing on Noah, I am constantly amazed at what God did.

But it shocks me that our amazing and wonderful God would wipe out a whole world and all that was on it.  Many people seem to skip over how rotten the world had become.   A lot of non-believers seem to favour this as an example, “well if your God is so great, why did he flood the earth??”.

Can you really blame him?!

Yesterday, I was at the mall and was about to go to my car.  A man approached me and explained that his name was Robert, him and his wife were from Chatham area and he was down in London getting surgery on his leg, (he then raised his pant leg to show me a fake metal leg).  He continued on to say that they were living in a motel and they only were surviving off of food stamps.  He didnt want money, just two subs; one for him and one for his wife (who was not present).  I was quickly praying in my head asking, ‘God guide me here, I need to first believe he is honest and true before I assume the worst.’ We walked into the mall, and he ordered two twelve inch subs.  I am a student at university.. I do not have money for two twelve inch subs!!  But, I bit my tongue and thought, ‘Lord, you love him, I need to help him.’ He said thank you many times, the usual ‘Godbless you sweetheart’ and then went on his way.

Later, as I was tellinig my friend this story, she was able to start it for me.  “Was his name Rob?  From Chatham? Fake leg?’  Mouth gaping wide open, I nodded.  “yea, he stopped my friend and me at a bank in September and used the EXACT same story‘

IT DISGUSTS ME!  This man flat out lied to me, and would take money and food from teenage girls.  Why do people do that?? I was actually heartbroken.

(I’m not saying we shouldn’t help those in need, I only say this to point out that we all need help)

Our humanity has gotten so bad, that in in my opinion, God needs to send another flood.  All these civil wars in Africa and the war in Iraq, sex trafficking, rape, murders, stealing, lying, etc.. it’s disturbing that we are ruining the world we have been given as a gift.  Why are we all like this? All of us have sinned.  And to God, every sin is seen equal in his eye.

(Thank God for grace!)

If everyone strived to be like Jesus, the world would be good and God would be proud.  I just pray for humankind; that we find it in our hearts to be more like Jesus.  It’s so heart-breaking to know that people are thinking the worst of people instead of the best, and when they do think the best; you are disappointed to find out that they weren’t.

In every scenario, in every minute of the day, we must ask ourselves ‘What would Jesus do?’

The whole world could use some help…and this is how change truly happens.

Today is the first post by Aaron McCartney.  He’ll be blogging at the Sex Rev twice a month or so.  Make sure you say hello!

“This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News.”

Think is the first thing that caught my eye while reading God’s word about a month and a half ago, and it’s still rocking my world. I’ve read Romans many times, and this verse has never struck anything inside at all. It was the phrase “a slave of Jesus Christ.” So, doing what any human this side of the universe would do, I jumped on Google and typed in “define:slave”.

These were some things that stuck out:
1. Nowhere in any definition did it say slaves worked for free.
2. Slaves were loyal to their masters.
3. Slaves were very hard workers.

Then it really hit me: God even had a good intention for slavery. As humans, we have put holes in the ozone. God intended our World to be a beautiful place, a place where everywhere we look we see God’s creation, not steel factories and strip joints. We also have created bad intentions and ideas for marriage. God intended marriage to be a harmonious unity of bodies that are one.

As humans, we messed up the actual meaning of slavery. God didn’t mean it to be torture, abuse, and harassment of “workers” who are sold and bought with no wages, barely any food and clothing, and crappy sleeping areas. God meant it to mean loyalty, working for a master and while expecting nothing, given good clothes, good food, and a private room for the deeds the slave does for his or her master.

We need to sell ourselves into slavery, just as Paul did, and do it God’s way. How does this apply to us? We have to die to ourselves and be alive in Jesus. That’s the basis of being a follower of Christ. For guys, that means living pure, leading your spouse, fiance, girlfriend. That means living in God’s Word and letting it bleed out of you. For girls, that means cover your bodies. I don’t want other guys to see my fiance’s cleavage. That’s for me in marriage; that’s off-limits, for no one else to see. Girls, save yourself the heartache. If enough guys date you because you’re exposing your double-Ds, eventually you will have a DD heart: Done like Dinner.

It`s not worth it!

Someday I want to be able to say “My name is Aaron McCartney, and I am a slave of Jesus Christ”. I pray to my Father that you can too.

Aaron