Life is More

Seek first God's Story and His Justice, and everything else will be taken care of.

Last night, the youth shared what they've been working on at a dinner at church. For the last two months, we have read and thought about joining God's Story as agents of Justice in the world. They adopted four organizations to research and made their presentations last night. The goal was to inform people of the organization and demonstrate how easy it is to get involved. The youth used YouTube and PowerPoint, music and money, handcuffs and trivia, giveaways and laughter to spread their message. Here is a brief summary:

1. Christian Activity Center, East St. Louis, IL--

$100 will supply 1 child with afterschool homework tutoring, a light dinner, technology training, health education, lifeskills training, and a place to play for one month.

2. Blood: Water Mission--

$1 will provide 1 African clean water for 1 year.

$3,000 will build a new clean water well.

3. To Write Love on Her Arms--

18 million people in the United States suffer from depression. Depression in teenages leads to self-injury and suicide. Being a consistent, loving presence is a powerful force for those suffering depression.

4. Clapham Sect: Phase 2--

Every 8 seconds, a child is sold into sex trafficking. Every year, more than 20,000 people are trafficked into the United States as slaves. Raising awareness of modern-day slavery is the first and largest difference we can make. A second step is to adopt an abolition organization and donate $10/month. Though small, a simple, consistent gift helps keep abolitionists able to focus on work on the front lines.

Life is more than what we see. This is the theme of the new CD and the upcoming Spring Break youth retreat. The t-shirts came in last night, and I quickly took a picture of Kaylea in hers. She and Sophie share the limited edition children's pink shirts. If you look closely, you can see the missing tooth, too.