http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/index/ InspiredToAction.com - Inspiring other to take action on behalf of those in need. en moamorama@yahoo.com Copyright 2008 2008-09-03T19:52:00-06:00 http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/reading-and-blogging-for-darfur/ http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/reading-and-blogging-for-darfur/#When:19:52:00Z At Inspired to Action, we understand the difference blogs can make in awareness and action.  That’s why I was thrilled to see one of more popular book bloggers, Natasha of Maw Books, start a campaign on her blog to bring awareness to and make a difference in the situation in Darfur. She writes: I’d like to announce that during the entire month of September I will be reading and blogging in an effort to create awareness and raise funds for the people of Darfur. There is a genocide going on right now in Darfur, Sudan. If you regularly follow my blog, I have written several times about it...Hundreds of thousands of people have died, many more are displaced. I can not sit idly by knowing that this blog has given me the opportunity to make a difference. Why choose Darfur as my soapbox of the month? After reading about Darfur and watching documentaries about Darfur, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Isn’t that reason enough to stand up and do something about it? So what exactly is Reading for Darfur? During September every book I read, every post I write, every comment left on this blog, and every book that you read about Darfur will make a difference. How? The difference will be you. This won’t work if I’m doing it all by myself. So I ask for everybody to get involved. There are a lot of different levels on which you can do just that, so choose the one that you are the most comfortable with. HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED: Commit to write a post (if you have a blog or website) dedicated to the Reading for Darfur campaign. Use the button shown here and link back to this page. For every person who does this I will donate 25 cents to a organization that makes a difference in Darfur (list of these organizations follow below). Put the button in your sidebar linking to this post during the entire month of September and I will donate 25 cents more. Commit to visit my blog on a consistent basis during September. For each comment left anywhere on my blog all month I will donate 10 cents. Commit to read any of the books or watch any of the documentaries listed on this page. For every book that you read or video you watch during September, I will donate 50 cents. If you have a blog and review that book or video I will donate $1. Leave me a comment on this post once you do, so I don’t have to hunt you down. I will link to your reviews during my weekly recaps. Commit to donate a penny for every single page that I read during September (excluding picture books and easy readers). Commit to donate 50 cents for every single post I publish during September. Commit to donate a penny for every page I read AND 50 cents for every single post I publish. And heck, if you want to write the post, put the button in your sidebar, comment on my blog, read a book, and sponsor me in my reading and blogging, then I won’t stop you! The numbers may seem small, a penny here, ten cents there, but I’m hoping to make the donation reasonable for everybody involved. Visit her blog at Maw Books to find out how you can get involved! News 2008-09-03T19:52:00-06:00 http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/gustav-damage/ http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/gustav-damage/#When:13:07:00Z It looks like Hurricane Gustav was not as damaging as Hurricane Katrina, but had the 2 million evacuees stayed, there could’ve been more damage.  I am sure they are grateful for the mandatory evacuation.  7 deaths are linked to the hurricane, power poles and trees down.  Heavy wind and rain are still going on there, but hopefully it will lessen soon.  Hurricane Hanna is on it’s way hitting other parts of the world, so continue praying for these people going through this.  I can not imagine facing another hurricane after experiencing hurricane Katrina.  It must be a very scary and stressful feeling.  *To read the official news story, go to CNN. *To read a personal account of the recent hurricane, read this blog.  Anyone out there have relatives or friends being affected by this, now?  News 2008-09-02T13:07:00-06:00 http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/hurricane-gustav/ http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/hurricane-gustav/#When:12:23:00Z “(CNN)—Hurricane Gustav began to lash the southern Louisiana coastline early Monday as it moved closer to an expected midday landfall, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. Forecasters warned Monday morning Gustav could stall over Louisiana and northeast Texas for several days, which would “exacerbate the threat of heavy rains and inland flooding.” With hurricane-force winds extending 70 miles (113 kilometers) from the center, the islands and shoreline were already feeling the reach of Gustav’s fury. Nearly all of the roughly 2 million people in coastal Louisiana and the New Orleans area had cleared out ahead of Gustav on Sunday night.” READ MORE News 2008-09-01T12:23:00-06:00 http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/going-behind-the-mask/ http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/going-behind-the-mask/#When:18:10:00Z The other evening, while I was dropping my little girl off for bible class at church, I passed an old friend in the hall.  We exchanged greetings with smiles, and I asked her how she was doing.  Her response was a chipper “Everything’s great!” She doesn’t know it, but I know that’s a lie.  I was told by a mutual friend that her husband, the father of her three kids, is having an affair with a girl nearly half his age.  He won’t leave her, he’s said.  Their house is in foreclosure, she’s filed for divorce, and life’s a wreck. Now, in all fairness, standing in front of a class of five-year olds is not the place to go into this.  And, even though I’ve known her the better part of a quarter century, we’re not the closest of friends and I’m not her confidant - there are others whom I know are there for her.  But that needn’t stop me from praying. I often think that, were Jesus here in the flesh today, one of His biggest beefs with the modern church (the modern world, in general) is near-idolization of personal privacy coupled with egos that won’t admit need.  These things have led us to schizophrenic lives, filled with the pressure to appear well manicured even while we wallow in despair and hopelessness underneath the thin veneer.  But it leaves us with the quandary of how to help those who won’t admit the need for help.  Encountering my friend, knowing something of her secret problems, has raised within me the desire to be more proactive about these things. I want to go behind the mask; and I thing God has wanted us to do this all along.  Beginning with the first recorded sins we find excuses for ignorance that fall flat on holy ears - Cain’s complaint that he is not his brother’s keeper is both a diversion from the truth and an excuse for his feigned ignorance.  And we see throughout scripture that we are to be a community, involved in one another’s lives and sharing our needs and joys.  But when things get too personal, or when it seems we might no long fit in were a situation revealed, we quite easily close up and shut out that community intended for our help and comfort.  So I want to see beyond the masks that we wear, to know when (and how) to help.  Not in a nosy, gossipy way, and not so that I can hold things against people; I want to be able to help as I can, ans especially to pray for them. If the least I can do is to pray for a person, then I believe I truly done a lot.  Perhaps if more of us (myself included) did not politely look the other way but took active interest in lives - especially in praying for those lives - then we would see a different world.  Often, a lot more than prayer can be offered without much effort.  Lives can be changed, hearts healed, and people given hope.  All by seeing through a mask. Inspirations, Personal Change 2008-08-26T18:10:00-06:00 http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/israel-frees-200-palestinian-prisoners/ http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/israel-frees-200-palestinian-prisoners/#When:13:52:01Z “JERUSALEM (CNN)—Israel released nearly 200 prisoners into the West Bank Monday, a move it says is a goodwill gesture aimed at bolstering efforts to end decades of conflict in the region. Speaking to CNN shortly after the government approved the deal, Regev said the prisoner release is “an important confidence-building measure” that Israel hopes will show the Palestinian people that Abbas’ government “can in fact deliver much more for their own people than the extremists, than the terrorists ever can.” Full Story News 2008-08-25T13:52:01-06:00 http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/the-charis-project/ http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/the-charis-project/#When:00:23:00Z There is an organization called the Charis project which is working in Burma, to help the minority groups who are being annihilated by the Burmese government.  Many of these people are living as refugees on the borders, along with orphaned children.  The Charis project is working along with the tribal elders: THE PROJECT The immediate goals of The Charis Project are as follows: *Raise money to help take care of the children orphaned by the Burmese government who have managed to escape to Thailand alone. Their immediate needs are food and shelter. *Establish a permant base in Chiang Mai to work from. *Develop good working relationships with the elders in the Lahu villages and refugee camps. *Research and lay the groundwork for establishing the long term goals. Long Term Goals *Clean water in the villages and camps. *Seminars in sustainable agriculture techniques, and business management. *Literacy *Teaching English *Social businesses that will work within the confines of refugee camps. *Education, and long term care for orphans and placement in family groups. *Generating income for the community through online stores that sell their handcrafts. *Rebuild Burma. *Transform a country destroyed by war and violence into a country governed by love and peace. Find ways you can help, HERE. Organizations 2008-08-18T00:23:00-06:00 http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/rock-stars-and-craigslist-can-change-the-world/ http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/rock-stars-and-craigslist-can-change-the-world/#When:03:50:00Z Jenny Simmons, the lead singer from the band, Addison Road was searching Craigslist the other day and ended up changing the lives of several little girls and giving hope to a family in need. Click here to read this amazing (and well written) story. Inspirations 2008-08-12T03:50:00-06:00 http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/it-feels-like-it-might-be/ http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/it-feels-like-it-might-be/#When:11:00:00Z This week we among the Inspired to Action staff have been talking about what the 40 Day Fast meant to each of us on a personal level.  Kristin talked about being ready for action, while Kat emphasized small steps over huge change, Laura was moved by thoughts of our responsibility to the poor, and Amy was most impacted by the actual sacrifice of the fast. For me, the impact was not in the organizations. I’ve known about - even talked about - many of these same (or similar) groups in the past, and so know them well.  It wasn’t in the grouping of such a number of people devoted to this purpose of prayer and sacrifice as devotion to those in need, in the name of God - though this is truly an awesome thing.  It also was not the words of any one participant in the fast, though many of the posts affected me deeply.  The lasting impact in me is the beautiful portrait of hope painted over the past 40+ days. God calls us to hold on, in faith, and to hope in Him.  This is too easy for those of us sitting in recliners in climate controlled rooms; but for those for whom we’ve been fasting and praying, hope is a tangible necessaty of life.  As much as water or food, as much as medicine or freedom, people need hope.  Hope that there is more than the bonds of this mortal life, hope that relief from pain and suffering may come, hope that someone will care enough about us to lift us from our pit of despair.  Hope, even when there is no reason to have hope. My lasting thoughts for this 40 Day Fast are this: I cannot save the world, I cannot even begin to help all the people who are out there trying to save the world.  No matter what I do, what any of us does, there is evil in the world that will result in the suffering of others.  What I can do is my best to bring hope to people.  Hope that someone cares, hope that someone wants to help them, hope that God hears their pleas, and hope that He will answer their cry.  Part of how I will do this is through some of the groups that have been highlighted the last 40 days, but part of it will be my personal effort.  Not hiding behind the auspices of some other group, I must show people God’s love, personally, and let them know of His hope for us all. What can we all do to spread the hope of God - the hope of His provision for our needs and of our salvation - to those around the world? Personal Change 2008-08-08T11:00:00-06:00 http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/the-joy-of-fasting/ http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/the-joy-of-fasting/#When:06:00:00Z The most significant day of the 40 Day Fast this year for me was my actual day of fasting. I’m going to be totally honest here and tell you that I don’t particularly enjoy fasting.  I like food.  I have a hard time relishing the joys of delayed gratification.  The blood that runs through my veins is all too American. This year, I was sort of nervous about my day of fasting because it’s a particularly difficult day of the week at work for me.  I tutor adults in reading improvement and I had a day crammed with students that exercise my patience muscle.  Being hungry didn’t seem like a good ingredient to throw into the mix.  But God, in the way only He can do, surprised me.  As I wrote my post, my thoughts and my heart were re-centered on the privilege of what I get to do.  That the moments that make up my day are tiny building blocks to improving another person’s life.  People who are loved by God.  As my stomach growled, I rejoiced in the fact that I was choosing to go without food.  Choosing.  While others in the world struggle to even find food, I had the luxury of choice...today I will go without food. That realization is changing me.  I want to fast more often now, and I want to do it to set aside the time to pray for the sort of causes we fasted for during the last 40 Days.  And I want to do it to remember that God is the One who provides the food.  Not my job.  Not the grocery store.  God. How was your day of fasting? News 2008-08-07T06:00:00-06:00 http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/losing-life-to-find-it/ http://inspiredtoaction.com/index.php/site/losing-life-to-find-it/#When:06:00:00Z This year, the 40 Day Fast challenged me not so much about particular issues as on the overall depth of human need in this world.  I loved hearing about ministries like the Rescue Center in Haiti and Eli’s Angels that work with some of the world’s most neglected people. But the thing from this year’s fast that has impacted me the most is something I believe God has been dealing with in my heart for a long time now:  a concern that the church is not fulfilling our mission to care for the poor.  I cannot reconcile the fact that, as the American church, we spend billions of dollars on ourselves while other people live in abject poverty.  I can’t justify multimillion dollar church facilities when we neglect children who die from hunger and diarrhea and other preventable causes. And I think that because of this, God calls us to live our lives - both in the church and as the church - more simply.  As Ronald Sider, author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger puts it, “It is not because food, clothes, wealth, and property are inherently evil that Christians today must lower their standard of living.  It is because others are starving.” I do not know how to reconcile what God is teaching me with my lifestyle, or the way my church spends money, or the popular teachings of the American church.  I’m pretty sure that that’s the point. My sister likes to say that God works through broken vessels.  I believe she’s right about that.  I also believe that there’s a reason that there are more verses in the Bible about how we treat the poor than there are on any other topic - including evangelism, church growth, and engagement in the political system.  God has a serious concern for the poor, and God expects us to be the hands and feet of Christ in doing something to end the needless suffering of innocent people.  But if that’s going to happen, something has to change in my life, and something has to change in your life, and something has to change in the church.  In a big way.  So that’s how I leave this year’s fast:  deeply unsettled and unable to continue with the way things have been in my life up to now.  I am grateful for a world where it’s harder and harder for us to live in ignorance of the suffering so many others must endure.  And I am challenged to dig deeper into this process of losing my life to find it, and learning how to love more fully. News 2008-08-06T06:00:00-06:00