July Focus of the Month: Howard and Jannie Johnson of NAIM

To read about our July focus of the month, read my wife's post.

Fun with dogs

Last night the wife and I had the pleasure of spending time with my friends Jessica and Kyle. They are fun folks to be around, not just because they are cool people in general, but because of their heart for animal rescue. They have a few dogs and cats of their own, but there are often fosters with them temporarily as they find homes. We had an awesome time loving on the dogs and listening to Jessica and Kyle share their (contagious) passion with us. The animals were all pretty excited and wound-up so I decided not to try to waste time getting blurry photos, especially when I knew that Jessica already had some pics from her blog I could borrow. Now, I'd like to introduce you to some of my new friends.

This is Emma (left) and Rocco after they graduated from Pet Manners 1.

This is Lizzie hard at work

And this is Maddie, who they have temporarily, and who broke our hearts.

Maddie came in to the shelter with some huge nasty burns on her neck and back. The vet staff suspected that it was likely some sort of branding for dog fighting or shady breeding purposes.

In the words of Jessica, "The day before she was set to be euthanized, people from across the country were calling and emailing rescues everywhere begging them to take her in their program. These people opened their homes for fostering and their wallets to cover her expenses and make a nice donation to the rescue group that agreed to take her." She will soon be going to a new foster home in Minnesota where she'll have the opportunity to be cared for and free from abuse.

How does that sound, Maddie?

We also got the opportunity to support Rocco's candidacy for "Hound Dog Homecoming", which is a fun annual fundraiser/event that the Humane Society puts on. Read more about it here, and also see some hilarious attack ads from Rocco's competition here! They will be taking donations until June 25th. Contact Jessica on her site for more details.

Ok, one more picture of Maddie to end with. Couldn't leave this one out.

June Focus of the Month: Spend Yourself

(Kudos to my wife Jenny's blog for this entry.  She puts it so well I didn't want to change it much.)

For our June focus of the month, we chose a company which our friends have recently started. According to their website, SpendYourself  "is an apparel company with a heart for social justice and a vision to drive positive change in the world." SpendYourself will be selling a series of shirts in order to raise funds for specific causes across the globe. By doing so, they hope to help fund sustainable solutions to different social injustices, as well as to raise awareness, not only for each specific cause, but also for the need to be well-informed of what is happening in our world today. How can we fight social injustice if we do not know it is happening? By bringing attention to those individuals suffering under these injustices, we are helping to give a voice to those whose voice was taken away.

Currently, there are two shirts for sale on the SpendYourself website; one is the SpendYourself logo shirt (which I have), and the other is the Omed Hope shirt (which my wife Jenny has). The proceeds of the Omed Hope shirt benefit Sozo International, working in Afghanistan to build a school for the children living in the Barek Aub camp, a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP). The people living in this camp fled during the fall of the Taliban regime and returned to their home to find nothing left but empty shells of houses and buildings and fields covered in land mines. Their homes are now uninhabitable. The families traveled to Kabul in search of a new beginning, but the Afghan government eventually transferred the families to the area now called Barek Aub.

Baruk Aub means "broken water" or "fragile water" in Dari. Water was originally delivered to the site of the camp, but half of it was undrinkable. In addition to the lack of clean water, the individuals living in the camp found it almost impossible to attain employment because of the remote location of their new 'home'. The families were quickly reduced to poverty at no fault of their own.

Please visit the SpendYourself website to read more about the people of Barek Aub and the efforts to help them. They will be adding more shirts to their line (I believe the next shirt will be benefiting a project in Africa), so be sure to check back often.

Voice of the Martyrs

May is almost over and I have forgotten to update my page for the focus of the month!  My apologies.

That being said, our Focus of the Month is The Voice of the Martyrs.  This is an amazing organization that serves the persecuted church around the world as well as educating us in the west who are largely clueless of such things.  Do yourself a favor and go over to their website and get a FREE copy of Richard Wurmbrand's (the VOM founder) Tortured for Christ.  Also, sign up for their FREE monthly newsletter that gives you updates about the persecuted church.  Link arms with your persecuted brothers and sisters around the world!  There is so much you can do through VOM.  You can write letters to people being imprisoned for their faith, encouraging them in the name of Christ.  You can get updated prayer requests from around the world.  You can be a part of a program they have that sends Bibles into extremely closed nations.  

If you need any more encouragement to get involved, read Hebrews 13:3:

"Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated since you also are in the body."

Guest post

My good friend Barry Wallace gave me the opportunity to do a guest post over at his blog. Waltz on over and check it out! The title of the post is Turning Sorrow into Worship.

Hiding the Word of God in your Heart

There are many places in the scriptures that exhort us to memorize scripture.

Psalm 119:9 - How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

Joshua 1:8 - This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.  For then you will make your ways prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Psalm 119:11 - I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

And this is not mentioning the countless times Jesus and the apostles quoted the Old Testament. 

In our men's small group, we have a new verse each week that we memorize, and each week we quiz each other on our past memory verses.  It's not always pretty, but we agree that it's been an incredible encouragement in our individual walks with the Lord.   We've had verses that have served as exhortations against sin as well as verses explaining key doctrine.  

This week, our verse is Romans 8:28 - And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

What an amazing verse to have hidden in your heart!  To know that no matter the circumstance, God's sovereign hand is over His people.  We can draw strength from this verse in any and every calamity.  God works all things for the good of those who love Him.  

So what verses have been useful for you to have hidden in your heart, and why?  Certainly all scripture is beneficial for us, but what are some "especially" verses that are close to your heart?

   

Oh Help My Unbelief

I wanted to share with you the lyrics to a song I've haven't been able to stop listening to this week.  We sang this song while worshiping with Sojourn Community Church in Louisville last Sunday.  You can find it on Indelible Grace's latest album, and can listen to the song in it's entirity here.

O Help My Unbelief

by Isaac Watts

How sad our state by nature is

Our sin, how deep it stains

And Satan binds our captive minds

Fast in his slavish chains

But there's a voice of sovereign grace

Sounds from the sacred word:

"O ye despairing sinners come,

And trust upon the Lord"

My soul obeys the almighty call

And runs to this relief

I would believe thy promise, Lord,

O help my unbelief

To the dear fountain of thy blood

Incarnate God, I fly

Here let me wash my spotted soul,

From crimes of deepest dye

Stretch out thine arm, victorious King

My reigning sins subdue

Drive the old dragon from his seat

With all his hellish crew

A guilty weak and helpless worm

On thy kind arms I fall

Be thou my strength and righteousness

My Jesus and my all