~Enigmatic Meanderings~

Something screwy is going on with my blog.

Some of you may have gotten a weird message from me in your RSS feed.

I’m sorry.

I’ve deleted what I believe to be the culprit post, and, hopefully, that has fixed the issue.

If not, please let me know.

Thanks.

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So, the past couple of posts that I actually published here were about Haiti.  I figure it only appropriate that this one be as well.

I’ve been continuing to try to figure out just how I can help the people of Haiti.  Of course I pray and give but I want to do more.  I’m even considering going.  Maybe you’d like to join me.  At the very least I want to let you know about something else that people are doing and that you have the opportunity to be a part of.

I figured that the outpouring of support would end pretty quickly following a week or two after the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12.  However, here we are a little over a month later, and, while I’m certain that donations have probably slowed, there are still some people actively working in Haiti and others who continue to see what they can do to raise awareness, funds and supplies for the ongoing relief effort there.  Right now there’s a group of youth ministry bloggers there with Adventures in Missions.  They went to survey what was happening, make connections and help out wherever they could.  And they’re seeing some incredible things.  You can find out more about it here.

I previously wrote about how you could help tremendously simply by giving to Compassion International’s disaster relief fund (which you can still do).  I now want to let you know about something else that Compassion is doing.  Shaun Groves (a great songwriter and musician who works with Compassion Bloggers and whom I’ve written about before) has been working tirelessly to see if he couldn’t make something big happen to help Haiti.  His idea has been to host a concerts in two different cities to raise awareness and money for Compassion’s efforts in Haiti and to simulcast those concerts.  It’s a big idea, especially considering the time-frame in which he has wanted to pull it off.

Well, a number of people have caught Shaun’s vision and joined him and making this idea a reality.  The result is Help Haiti Live.  Here’s the skinny.

On February 27 two concerts will happen, one at the Ryman in Nashville and the other at the Wiltern Theater in L.A.  The lineup for these events is incredible.  Big Kenny.  Alison Krauss with Union Station (featuring Jerry Douglas).  Jars of Clay.  Mat Kearney.  Dave Barnes.  Matt Wertz.  Brandon Heath.  Francis Chan.  Amy Grant.  LeAnn Rimes.  Rebecca St. James.  NEEDTOBREATHE.  And as if that weren’t enough, there’s promise of a “to-be-announced special guest headliner” for the L.A. event.

Tickets have gone on sale today.  So all of you who live around Nashvegas or the City of Angels, get ‘em now.  For those of you who don’t, have no fear.  The concerts will be broadcast live at HelpHaitiLive.com.

It’s not just Shaun and these artists that have come together to make this happen.  This whole thing is being made possible through the effort of numerous other individuals and corporations who all care deeply about the plight of the people of Haiti and who see Compassion’s work there as essential and effective and want to help equip them further with what they need to continue releasing the children of Haiti from poverty in Jesus’ name.

That’s why all the proceeds from Help Haiti Live will go to Compassion’s Haiti disaster relief fund.

All money raised in response to the Haiti earthquake will be used immediately to re-equip Compassion’s local support structure and to provide for the immediate needs of Compassion-assisted children and families.

Compassion has been meeting the physical and spiritual needs of Haitians for more than forty years and will continue to serve them in this time of extreme need. Already Compassion International has supplied more than 15,000 families with clean water, food, blankets, temporary shelter, medical supplies and counseling.  Donations will lay bricks, feed, educate, clothe, heal and rebuild Haiti for many months to come.

Compassion International is the world’s largest Christian child development organization that permanently releases children from poverty. Founded in 1952, Compassion successfully tackles global poverty one child at a time, serving more than 1 million children in 26 of the world’s poorest countries. Recognizing that poverty is more than a lack of money, Compassion works holistically through local churches to address the individual physical, economic, educational and spiritual needs of children, enabling them to thrive, not just survive. Charity Navigator, America’s largest charity evaluator, has awarded Compassion its highest rating “four stars” for eight consecutive years.

So don’t let the opportunity pass you by to join this great group of people in helping some others who could really use it.  Just because a month has passed, don’t think that the need is any less great, any less vital, any less urgent.

You can make a difference.

Today.

Won’t you?

Help Haiti February 27th – HelpHaitiLive.com from Compassion International on Vimeo.

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I’ve written about Aaron Ivey before and how I not only greatly love and respect him as a person but also as an artist and activist.  I think his latest album is fantastic, and one of my favorite cuts is “Amos Story.”

Perhaps it’s that while Liza and I haven’t adopted yet, we share Aaron and Jamie’s passion for adoption.  Maybe it’s because I’ve been able to watch their journey with Amos and Story from afar and have been continuously blessed to be reminded of the faithfulness of God they’ve experienced along the way.  It could be that our daughters share the same name (which I might have subconsciously stolen from him, though I really don’t think that’s what happened).  Whatever the reason, this song has touched me as one who’s an adopted heir of our Abba Father, as a parent, as a (hopefully and prayerfully) future adoptive parent, and as just a human being.

Today Amos is still in Haiti.  He’s relatively okay following all of the destruction his native country has experienced from the earthquake last week.  However, I can’t imagine how much more he wants now to be home with his Papa and Mama and brothers and sister.  I also can’t imagine how much Aaron and Jamie want him home.  You can find out more about Amos and Story as well as the rest of the Ivey’s over at Aaron’s site.  But at the very least, please pray for them and for Amos and that their family might finally be united together soon.

Today Aaron posted the music video for “Amos Story,” and I wanted to make sure I shared it with all of you.  Be sure to click over to his site and let him know how much you like it.

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I’m a little late to the ball game here but this is too important to let pass by.

Unless you’ve been completely out of touch you know that Haiti was hit by a 7.0 earthquake Tuesday, a catastrophe whose epicenter was right around the capital, Port Au Prince.

Government buildings have collapsed.  Hospitals have collapsed.  Hotels have collapsed.  Grocery stores have collapsed.  The U.N. headquarters has collapsed.  Thousand of homes have been destroyed.  The airport is in disarray.  Hundreds of thousands are dead and more are homeless.

All of this in a nation that is the poorest in the western hemisphere where two-thirds already live in abject poverty many on less than $2-a-day.

I have friends who have and are adopting from Haiti.  They’ve both been able to hear that their children are okay.  However, thousands of children are not.

I have friends who have had the privilege to visit Haiti.  They’ve walked the streets, slept in the hotels, ate the food and been blessed by the people.  They can’t get them out of their minds.

There are people I respect immediately there who are literally serving as first responders in a country that basically has none.

James 1:27 reads “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

The world is full of orphans and widows in distress.  Right now Haiti is full of them.  You are called by almighty God to look after them.

You’re called to do something.

You can do something.

You have to do something.

For those of you who know me or have been readers of this blog for any amount of time you know that I love Compassion International and the work they’re doing around the world to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

I’d like to ask you to consider helping those affected by the Haiti earthquake by giving financially to their disaster relief fund.  Literally any amount you give will make a difference, but here’s a breakdown of just how your money will be transformed into aid that is desperately needed.

Actually, scratch that.  I don’t want you to consider giving.  I want you to give.

Compassion’s work in Haiti is run by Haitians.  The cream of the crop in Haiti.  They don’t have to send people in.  They have people there.  They are in the right position to make a difference there right now.

There are a lot of people out there warning you to be weary of who you give money to, to make sure that it is actually going to help those in Haiti.  Maybe it’s good enough for you that you’ll just take my word for it that Compassion is the real deal and that you can trust him.  But if that’s not enough (I don’t take it personally) then check them out over at Charity Navigator.

Please.

Give.

Perhaps, go one further and sponsor a child in Haiti or one of Compassion’s twenty-five other countries.

Do.

Something.

Now.

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I’m out of town all this week.  I’m speaking for the spiritual emphasis week at Calvary Day School in Savannah, GA.  Any and all prayers are much needed and appreciated.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, here’s a video we produced back before the holidays that just released recently.  It’s a spoken word on the concept of repentance.  It’s part of our effort to introduce some of the words associated with “Re,” this summer’s camp theme.

Actually, this is just a short edit of the piece.  The full cut will be released in association with studentlifeBIBLEstudy.

Enjoy!

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There are any number of strategies that are recommended when trying to produce a good blog.  One, of course, is to offer valuable content.  Amongst content that will be considered valuable is the ever-popular “how to” post.  I’ve decided to tackle a big one.  How to live in 2010.  The following are not steps to be taken in a given order, but are, instead, what I consider to be essential qualities to life.  I hope you find them helpful.

1.  Breathe

2.  Eat

3.  Drink

4.  Rest

5.  Play

6.  Love

7.  Hope

8.  Believe

9.  Laugh

10.  Run

11.  Jump

12.  Watch

13.  Listen

14.  Think

15.  Speak

16.  Taste

17.  Feel

18.  Forgive

19.  Dream

20.  Care

21.  Sit

22.  Go

23.  Ponder

24.  Retreat

25.  Renew

26.  Pray

27.  Quit

28.  Smell

29.  Begin

30.  Read

31.  Share

32.  Converse

33.  Smile

34.  Confess

35.  Cry

There you go.  What did I miss?

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As everyone’s aware (hopefully) we have entered a new year.

Amongst other happenings, this is significant because it becomes a time for many people to set out on the road to the rest of their life with a fresh start.  Many people mark this renewal by making resolutions, a list of hopes/dreams/aspirations/goals that they plan to accomplish in the next year.

I have often been counted among these people.  While I’ve never really taken it too seriously and often can’t recall on December 31 what I had resolved to by then on January 1, I’ve still fulfilled my duty as a festive new year celebrator by making the list anyway.

But not anymore.

I will not be making any resolutions this year whatsoever.

Though I can’t remember what they all were, I am confident in saying that for at least the past three years I have completely failed at every single of my new year resolutions. That’s right.  Every.  Single.  One.  No one’s going to be drafting me for their fantasy new year resolution league.  I suck at it.

I was coming to this realization recently as I was considering what resolutions I might make for this next year.  I didn’t really get down on myself about it (after all, what good does that do), but I did find myself wishing that more people talked about their own failures.

You see, just in case you didn’t know it, I fail.  A lot.  Way more often than I care to admit or am comfortable talking about.  I blow it.  I mess up.  I fall short.  I make mistakes.  I’m wrong.  I misunderstand.  I even… sin.

And the thing is.  So do you.

But that’s no big news flash.  We all do, of course.

However, there are people out there, experts, who seem to have it all together and even tell people how to be as awesome as they are.  Yet, they never want to talk about their failures.  And when those failures do happen to become unearthed by some inconvenient news source, these people all of a sudden want to decry the invasion of their privacy and seek to have the whole thing expunged from their public record.

We love to have our accomplishments lauded publicly, but we all want to pretend we have the illusion of being perfect and never failing even though we know that’s not true.

Failure is not an option.

Failure is fact.

Failure is the norm.

This past year was a big time of change for me.  Personally.  Professionally.  Spiritually.  If there’s anything that I want to see happen this next year, it’s just this: I want to be different on December 31 than I am on January 1.  Different for the better, of course.

There’s some things that I can name specifically that I’d like to be different.  So, why not make them a resolution, then?  After all, what’s the harm?

There’s not any.  But the reason I want resolve to change these things or let you guys know about them is simply because of failure.  More specifically, fear of failure.

If I’m honest, I’m often paralyzed by it.

And I have a feeling you are too.

So, why don’t try to give ourselves and each other a little room to fail? Why don’t we offer ourselves and each other a little more grace than usual, some encouragement even, to go for it, regardless of risk?  Why don’t we commit to be there and celebrate all the accomplishments with the full extent of all of our party-throwing prowess but also to Pick each other up and let ourselves be supported after the failures?

Won’t you join me?

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I’ve been having a bit of a blogidentity crisis.

I don’t use the past tense here because I’m not sure I’m really through it.

So, what’s a blogidentity?  Simply put, I’m defining it as who you are in the realm of social media.  Some might define it as your personal online brand.  And as is quoted by so many books and blogs on branding, your brand isn’t who you say you are.  It’s who they say you are.

But what if they aren’t saying anything about you? Or worse, what if they don’t really care at all?

That’s a bit overdramatic, I know.  But it’s a harsh truth of the blogosphere.  I watched some video somewhere at some point where Seth Godin (marketing guru) made the point that, with regards to your blog and social media presence, “I don’t care about you.  I care about me.”

What that means is all of you readers of Enigmatic Meanderings, for the most part, don’t really care what I have to say simply because you like me or something.  You only care in as much as what I have to say (what I write) matters to you.

To be honest, I haven’t gotten that.

I wrote a little while back about the best use of my blog ever.  I had huge readership for a few days.  Though I continued to post, this quickly trickled off because people didn’t care about the other stuff I was writing about.  They cared about Sterling.  And that’s great, except…

I interpreted their rejection of my content as a rejection of me.

And it doesn’t help that I’ve been away from this blog for basically a month and not one person has asked if or when I’d be back at it.

I don’t say all that to throw a pity party for myself.  I write it to let you know that I (once again) am just having to re-evaluate this whole thing and try to decide what to do.

If I say I’m writing just for the sake of doing it, because I enjoy it, because it’s good to just create, because I’m an “artist” or whatever and making “art” is what I do… I’d just be lying.

I write to be read.  Any writer who says they do otherwise is probably full of it, to be honest.

So, thank you for reading.

And every now and then, if you don’t mind and it’s not too much trouble, let me know you’re there.

How do you deal with/embrace/overcome/develop your blogidentity?

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I have a posts lined up for all of December to get back into this thing.  I had planned on launching the first today.

However, today is World AIDS Day, and I can’t let it go by without some sort of commemoration.

I should have planned better, but I didn’t.  So, I give you a re-post, what I wrote for World AIDS Day last year.

Thanks.

Today is World AIDS Day. Not quite as celebratory of a day as we recently experienced with Thanksgiving, but one that people will commemorate around the world in various ways. Some will wear a red ribbon to show their awareness and support. Some will go to Starbucks and purchase one of their specialty holiday drinks so that $0.05 can be donated to the (RED) campaign. Some will give a speech. Some will examine patients. Some will stand in line for their ARV’s. Some will slowly and painfully pass from this world to the next. And some will go about their day blissfully unaware that any of the rest of this is happening at all.

What will you do?

The vast majority of the people I’m surrounded by on a daily basis are lucky enough to have not really been affected by the AIDS pandemic in a personal way. Many people I know haven’t even ever come into contact with anyone who has HIV/AIDS. On some level I’m thankful for that. I’m thankful that my city, my state, my country hasn’t been so ravaged by this disease that it is commonplace, that part of a person’s daily existence is a constant state of fear over when it will strike, when their luck, or the luck of a family member or friend, will finally run out. On some level I’m thankful that on World Aids Day there are a lot of people who can’t think of a single person with the disease that they can do something for, that the extent of their involvement really is ordering a grande peppermint mocha or joining a Facebook group that at least says they will. I’m thankful that this discussion of this disease can be dealt with in such a manner that junior high students in my country are more educated about it than the presidents of other nations. I’m thankful that we can make movies about it that make us cry and give Oscars to actors “brave” enough to play such a role with true, heartfelt empathy. I’m thankful that some of our largest companies can jump onboard with a campaign that spends more money on promoting awareness of the disease than it raises to help fight the disease. On some level I’m thankful for all these things. I really am.

However, I understand that the world in which I live, in which AIDS is a cause for action and not of death, is not the real world. I’m lucky. I’m blessed. That’s the only thing that separates me from those who live in constant fear and ignorance of this disease every moment of every day.

I understand this because I am not one of the people I’m surrounded by that have not been affected by the AIDS pandemic in a personal way. But again, I’m just blessed, lucky, in that the way in which I have been affected is in perhaps the most positive way possible. AIDS didn’t take a family member from me. Instead, it gave me one I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Most of you have heard me talk about or have read my writings about my youngest brother, Alfie. Alfie is of the Tswana tribe in South Africa. He is four years old (He’ll turn five in January), and his adoption by my parents became official in September of 2007, though he’s lived with them since he was about eighteen months. Alfie is also one of the millions of children around the world that have been orphaned because of AIDS (in fact, a child is orphaned by AIDS every 14 seconds. How many orphans does that make in the amount of time it’s taken you to read this post so far?).

Alfie’s biological father is unknown and his birth-mother died when he was just a baby from AIDS. She was just another one of the thousands living with the disease made more complicated because they are stricken with poverty as well. I don’t say that to make light of her death, but to express the general attitude that is often taken towards those with the disease. When she died, Alfie was sent to live with his uncle who has children of his own, lives in a squatter camp outside Pretoria, and works as a day laborer if he can. He also has a drinking problem. Alfie has very bad allergies. So, you can imagine that a squatter camp wouldn’t be the best environment for him to be in. When my parents found him, he was really sick. They offered to take Alfie to get some medical treatment and to stay with them until he was better. This led to my parents wanting to adopt him. For a number of reasons, it was a really long process, but now he is a Kinsley (to be fair, I’ve just vastly oversimplified his story. Perhaps at another time I can do it justice, but that’s not really the point of this post).

Alfie is lucky. He’s blessed. His story is definitely not typical for these children. He comes from a continent that is ravaged by the disease. It still carries a heavy social stigma with it so that most people don’t want to talk about it and complete ignorance is the norm. I’ve sat and talked with other AIDS orphans who actually contracted the disease from their mother before she died. I’ve listened to their stories, their fears, their worries. I’ve heard them talk about how much they hate their medication, though it’s the only thing keeping them alive. I’ve seen the marks of the witch doctors on children they are “treating,” the same witch doctors that often prescribe to older men with AIDS to have sex with the youngest virgin they can find in order to be healed. I’ll allow you to take that to its conclusion for yourself. I’ve knelt beside a “bed” in a shack in a squatter camp and held and prayed for a young woman no older than myself and prayed for strength in healing as she faces the final stages of the disease.

In some ways I’ve had the opportunity to stare the monster of AIDS in the face, and I’ll tell you this: it scares the hell out of me. Literally. It makes me cling to the things of Heaven, the things of God, to Him and His wisdom and His will and His plan and His timing. I have to trust him. It’s too big for me to deal with on my own. Every country in the world is affected by HIV/AIDS. Every single one. Some, like mine, have stemmed the tide. Others, like Alfie’s native country, are on the verge of being awash in it. Still others are struggling to keep their heads afloat.

But I do what I can, and I hope you will too. Today, I hope you wear your ribbon. I hope you buy your peppermint mocha and join your Facebook group. I hope you have some conversation with someone who didn’t even know there was a World AIDS Day and open their eyes.

But if you want to think about maybe doing a little bit more, here’s some suggestions for you.

1. Sponsor a Compassion child. I know. It seems like there are tons of us within my circle that won’t shut up about Compassion. Well, there’s a reason for that. We’ve seen it first hand, and we know that it works. Some of those hit hardest and most affected by the AIDS pandemic are those who live in poverty. Compassion is releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name. They focus on working with a child holistically throught their local church in six areas of development in their life: mentally, emotionally, spiritually, economically, socially and physically. For $32 a month you can help a child in one of Compassion’s 25 countries to ensure that they are educated and have access to all that they need so that they not only can avoid being a victim of this disease but of all the other trappings of poverty. I have other posts here you can read to hear about just what it’s like to sponsor a child, but I want you to hear me clearly right now. If you don’t sponsor a child with Compassion, you should. It’s easy and it changes their life and will lead to lasting change in their family, community, country and eventually, the world. Do it. Please. You can, very easily, by clicking here.

2. If you already sponsor or, for whatever reason, don’t feel like you can right now, then consider giving toward’s Compassions AIDS iInitiative. I give an additional $8 a month to Compassions work to fight this disease in addition to the children I sponsor. For that little bit (which goes a much longer way than the 10 cents that would be donated to (RED) if I spent that 8 bucks on two Starbucks) I’m able to be a part of making sure that communities are educated about AIDS and that those who need treatment are able to have access to it when they wouldn’t otherwise. Incidentally, the first prority in Compassion’s AIDS initiative is to promote abstinence before marriage and faithfulness inside of marriage. So, if you’re worried about condoms being handed out all over Africa because of your 8 dollars, then consider your fears relieved. Right now they do focus this work on the continent of Africa but have plans to expand it further to all of the countries in which they work. You can find out more about this by clicking here or read a blog post about their work by clicking here or on their blog in my blogroll at the right..

3. Contact your local hospital or health clinic for information about volunteering with AIDS hospice care.

4. Pick a country in the world to which you have some connection and find out how to be inolved there. You can do so by searching the various AIDS foundations through the World AIDS Campaign website by clicking here.

5. Forward this post to someone you know who is one of those going about their day blissfully unaware. Rock their world a little bit. Enlighten them. Make it happen.

Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, I think we should pray. I’m a huge believer in prayer. I believe it actually affects change in the world. What if all of the millions of Christians were united in prayer today for God to intervene miraculously in the world with regards to eradicating AIDS? I believe He’s listening.

I know that right now a lot of different ideas are being thrown at us about how we can and should be involved with various causes around the world. That’s great, but I know that it can either be overhelming or just become part of the noise surrounding us. I also know how easy it is to become cynical about it all.

So, my hope is that you can sift through the noise and discover where your involvement can be most effective.

Thanks for reading.

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