Book Review: The Hole in Our Gospel

Although largely autobiographical in nature, The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns provides more than just a glimpse into his life story. It presents a challenge to today's church--and to us as individuals--as to how we will respond to injustice and poverty in the world around us.

The book begins with some background on Stearns. After working as a successful CEO for several of the U.S.'s largest corporations, Stearns was approached by World Vision to become its President. Through a series of incidents, Stearns sensed that God was calling him to leave behind the trappings of the corporate world and take the helm at World Vision. Still, he battled with the decision to step into the role at the relief organization. I appreciated his honesty that, although he knew that God was calling him to do it, it was not an easy decision to follow through on.

Throughout the book, Stearns shares his experiences with World Vision and his confrontations with extreme poverty and brokenness. He shares many statistics on diseases such as HIV and AIDS that are orphaning children at alarming rates. He also discusses several factors such as illiteracy, lack of education, and war that contribute to poverty and injustice.

The bulk of the book addresses the church's responsibility to help the poor and the sick, a responsibility that, sadly, many of us ignore or expect someone else to handle. One of the most challenging chapters to read was entitled "What Are You Going to Do about It?" As someone living in an affluent country, surrounded by material possessions, access to good healthcare, and a loving and generous support system, it is too easy for me to forget about the billions of men, women and children around the world--and even across town--who live in abject poverty. It's tempting to expect other people and humanitarian organizations to take up the cause and work to relieve it. But as Stearns points out, the admonition to care for those in need is addressed to ALL Christians.

The Hole in Our Gospel challenged my thinking on social issues and reminded me that I have a responsibility to use the gifts, talents and resources that God has gifted me with to help others. I pray that I would be more sensitive to the world's suffering and take action to do something to alleviate it, no matter how insignificant my efforts may seem.

Jesus, Bring the Rain

To help raise money for our upcoming mission trips, a few friends and I held a yard sale last Saturday. Once again, I had the opportunity to witness first hand God's provision in unexpected ways.

For starters, we had several friends, family members and co-workers who donated items to the yard sale. And they donated a LOT of items. So much that my friend Aleah, who was hosting the yard sale at her house, could barely walk around her house in the days leading up to the sale. Her dining room was crammed full, much of her living room was stacked high with enough clothes to open a full-service boutique, and there were more items in the guest bedroom. To say that it was going to be a big yard sale is quite an understatement.

We prayed multiple times about every aspect of the sale, including good weather. The forecast called for rain late in the afternoon but Saturday morning was looking good. That morning we hauled all eight million and one items into the front yard and worked on getting them into some semblance of organization as car after car of shoppers began to arrive.

About an hour into the yard sale, much to our chagrin, down came the rain. We quickly uttered prayers that God would drive the rain away so as to not lose customers. And after a few minutes, the rain let up--only to return with a vengeance later. For most of our yard sale, we were huddled under umbrellas, shivering in the cold rain as we prayed desperately for the rain to go away.

Instead of stopping the rain (which He could have easily done, of course), God chose to do something different. In spite of pouring down rain, the customers not only stayed, but kept on coming. Kept on shopping. Even without umbrellas. Apparently cold, rainy, yucky weather wasn't enough to deter them from snagging some bargains. In fact, we were slammed with customers for most of the yard sale.

We ended up making a little more than $700 from our yard sale--our wet, rainy, cold yard sale. Let me add that this is more money than we've ever made at any yard sale, even on the most beautiful day.

While we would have much preferred to stay warm and dry and have gorgeous weather that day, we think that God gained even more glory by proving to us that even in the most unlikely of weather circumstances, He could still provide customers for us.

I was reminded of the chorus from the song "Jesus Bring the Rain" by Mercy Me:

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings
You glory And I know there'll
be days When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to
praise You Jesus, bring the rain

As I said, once again God has proven His status as the Ultimate Provider in ALL circumstances.

And thanks to my cut from the yard sale and a couple of other contributions that have come in this week, I have now exceeded my fundraising goal for my mission trip! Or rather, God has exceeded it for me. He has continually provided for me through some unexpected means. To Him be the glory.

Something from Nothing

In a little over two months, I'll be leaving with a team from my church for a mission trip in a Muslim country in the near east. As we prepare for our trip, there are many things I'm having to learn, including a new language and new cultural customs, but perhaps one of the biggest lessons I'm learning is more about the provision of God.

Each team member is responsible for raising the funding for our trip. Much of that funding comes from family and friends who we solicit to give through letters and emails. After sending out letters to potential donors I had several donations come in right away, but then the donations seemed to slow to a trickle.

I have to confess that I began to worry about whether or not I'd be able to raise the money. Even though I'd seen God provide in unexpected ways when I went on my first mission trip to Guatemala two years ago. Even though I'd trusted that God would provide for me when I signed up for this new mission trip. Despite all that, I still wrestled with worrying over whether or not the donations would come in. After all, the economy is far worse off than it was when I went to Guatemala. Money is tight. People aren't as willing to part with their hardearned cash as they were previously. Perhaps I should just plan on paying the bulk of the trip expenses out of my own pocket and not try to count on anyone's support.

Then I read Psalm 65. A Psalm about--you guessed it--God's provision. And I was particularly struck by verse 12:

The wilderness becomes a lush pasture, and the hillsides blossom with joy.

A lush pasture out of a wilderness. Something from seemingly nothing. And not just something, but something lush. Abundant. Plentiful.

God was telling me that just as He can produce lush greenery in a barren plot of land, so too can He produce funding from seemingly out of nowhere.

I prayed that God would THAT WEEK provide a donation from an unexpected source. And He did, the very next day. And then He did it again. And once again today. Not just providing--providing abundantly.

And so while I gained some much needed funding for my trip, I gained even more faith in God's ability and desire to provide for His children. Of course, this applies not only to providing financial means for this trip, but in every other area of my life--and your life. Sometimes He uses those barren places, places where we can't see any growth or any hope of change, to demonstrate His almighty power and sovereignty. He is able and willing to bring something from nothing.

Delighting in Darkness

If I were stranded on a deserted island and could only have one book of the Bible with me, I would probably choose Psalms. I love the Psalms for their honesty and realness, particularly when it comes to dealing with trials or discouragement. Whenever I'm struggling with my emotions and want to find words of comfort and encouragement, Psalms is usually the book I turn to first.

Though I've read all of the Psalms more than once, I'm still constantly finding certain words or phrases to leap out at me at different times. It's amazing how often God will reveal some little nugget of truth about Himself just when I need it the most.

This week has been no exception. A couple of days ago I found myself hunkered down in Psalm 63, which is one of the many Psalms written by David. According to the footnote in my Bible, this Psalm was probably one of the ones David wrote when he was on the run from his son Absalom. The verse that caught my attention this day was verse 7:

I think how much you have helped me; I sing for joy in the shadow of your protecting wings.

I thought about the phrase, "the shadow of your protecting wings." A shadow implies darkness, and darkness isn't something that we always like. We don't necessarily see it as a good thing. But here, David saw the darkness--the shadow--as a form of protection.

I wonder how many times I've seen darkness in my life and didn't recognize it as God's shadow of protection over me. I am sure that there are many things that I've cried about and complained about that God withheld from me out of a desire to protect me. There are doors that He has closed in order to provide me with something better. I want, like David, to be able to rejoice in God's protective shadow.