Do not click this link

http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article750838.ece



The girl in this picture is nine. She was officially adopted in October of 2007. When she was rescued from her home in July of 2005 she was found by the police.

First he saw the girl's eyes: dark and wide, unfocused, unblinking. She wasn't looking at him so much as through him.

She lay on a torn, moldy mattress on the floor. She was curled on her side, long legs tucked into her emaciated chest. Her ribs and collarbone jutted out; one skinny arm was slung over her face; her black hair was matted, crawling with lice. Insect bites, rashes and sores pocked her skin. Though she looked old enough to be in school, she was naked — except for a swollen diaper.

She was seven years old.



Now, she can feed herself chicken nuggets and she doesn't bite her own hands when she is angry. She has an older brother now that loves her deeply. She can swim.

In her new room, she has a window she can look out of. When she wants to see outside, all she has to do is raise her arms and her dad is right behind her, waiting to pick her up.

So whatever you do, do not click this link.

The Girl in the Window

The Good Samaritan

Apparently today is the day that I get riled up at our society and the church at how we are exactly like the Scribes and Pharisees that Jesus was accusing in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

As we are all familiar with the parable, but just for a paraphrased recap. A guy got attacked, robbed and left to die by thugs. Three "Christians" walked past, but none stopped to help. Then, a person, despised by the "Christians" stopped to help. He was a Samaritan. He helped the man. Took him to a hospital and paid for everything.

Sound familiar? We "Christians" get so upset at the "liberals" and their help for the poor and downtrodden. And we have a valid reason. We get upset because they are doing our job. Oh, wait. That's not it at all. We get upset because they are using our money to do it. Wait, so we are called to help the poor and downtrodden with everything that we have, yet we get upset that they are using "my money" to help the poor and downtrodden?

So I realize that I am oversimplifying the situation, but aren't we supposed to "lean into Jesus" with everything that we have. Doesn't that mean push the envelope of what is possible, trusting Him to catch us when we fall.

In the defense of Christians, we have every right, and ought to critical of the way in which society abandons the poor as being too much to care for. Of encouraging the disabled and depressed to commit suicide, because they don't "have a life worth living." We should protest our government enabling suicide in Oregon and now Washington, and hopefully not Hawaii.

However, we are supposed to be salt and light. We ought to be leading the way. And when we take a long hard look into the mirror, we can see that we are. We abandon the orphans and the widows, when we should taking them into our homes and our lives. We encourage the pre-born and the depressed, vulnerable pregnant mothers to abort by abandoning them to a soceity that tells them they cannot have a life worth living with a child; that their child will be un-loved and un-wanted, rejected by the rest of the world. These mothers are desperate. They look at the world around them and everything they see tells them that the story they are hearing from the abortion worker is correct.

Again, to be fair, there are points of light, we have billboards out there. We have charities and crises pregnancy centers willing and able to help the women that walk through their doors.

But we have so few. We have so few. Because of two reasons, money and help. That's all we need. More money for things like ultrasound machines and adoption help. More help to drive young mothers to parents classes rather than abortion clinics. You know the amazing thing. Those are the only things that the good Samaritan had as well. He gave of his time and of his money.

Crises Pregnancy Centers and Adoption Agencies should be like McDonald's and Burger King. Wherever you see a Planed Parenthood, you know that within a block or two, you will find a CPC/Adoption agency. It's insane that I have to drive 90 minutes to find an agency that is willing to talk to me about adoption and not about how much money I will pay them for the adoption. And the funny thing is, I'm paying more for it. Because I'm not concerned about the money. God has the windows of heaven ready to pour out on me.

Why do we live in big houses and go into debt for new TV's and new cars when we could, even should, be giving to life instead? Not that cars or TV's are bad or sinful, but we use them like a drug. We have to get the latest. We have to have the newest. Wait three years. Don't get the newest, you will save a lot of money and you can store up treasures in heaven with the difference. It's the new "Buy term; invest the difference" cliche. We have a temporary life here. We should invest the difference between what we don't spend on making our temporary life crazy comfortable in the Bank of Heaven.

To end this rather long post, I will paraphrase what our Pastor said a few weeks ago. "Do something. Do anything. I don't care what you do or how little is. It's better than what you are doing now, which is nothing."

Love Takes Time

The child's scream filled the house. Somehow, between her instruction to go upstairs and get in her pajamas and actually doing so, she had been mortally wounded. My wife and I looked at each other, silently negotiating who would go comfort this particular wound.

I volunteered.

I met the mortally wounded child halfway up the stairs. Her face round, red and puffy and her voice shaking to much to be understood. The best I could make out was that she had somehow been stabbed by her brother with the fingernail clippers after he had thrown something at her. In the past, I have asked some questions regarding this type of situation. It has always ended the same. Yes, he did it on purpose. And yes, he was trying to kill me. I didn't try that this time.

I looked at her had, where she had been "stabbed." There was, as expected, nothing discernible. No nick, no scratch, not even a red dot. Nothing. And yet, here was my daughter, completely falling apart.

So I was faced with a choice. Do I send her marching back upstairs with firm instructions to only fall apart when she is "missing a limb" or do I care for her heart, which is what truly had been mortally wounded. God reminded me of this phrase that I have been thinking about the last few days, "love takes time", and instead of sending her upstairs, I sat down on the stairs with her, put her on my lap and we talked.

I don't remember what we talked about. I doubt that she remembers the words of the conversation. What I do remember is that I loved her. And I took the time to show that to her. I asked if her mortal wound needed a kiss. It did. So I kissed that spot that was indicated; the side of her wrist.

Afterwards, she turned to me, put her arms around my neck and said, "Daddy, will you brush my teeff."

Yes, I will. Because Love takes time.

The sad state of our churches

A lot has been made in the "blog-o-sphere" wondering why McCain didn't talk about Jeremiah Wright and the Black Liberation Theology at the church that Obama attended for 20 years.

The simple answer is this: People don't listen to their pastors.

It's really that simple. People don't listen the the things their pastors say, so the idea that Obama would, even could, be influenced by such an insignificant person in his life as a pastor, well that, my friends, is inconceivable.

Why don't people listen to their pastors?

Lots of reasons. They don't like what he says. They don't actually attend very often because they don't like what he says. They don't read the bible. At all. And the television sucked their brain out. So the "media" does all their thinking for them.

Urgent Call To Prayer

Urgent Call to Prayer
Lou Engle

Before the elections of 2004, 50 young men and women gathered for 50 days and 50 nights to continuously fast and pray for the ending of abortion and for God’s hand of mercy in establishing governmental leaders. It was prior to this intense time of intercession that a young lady from Las Vegas sent me a dream.

In the dream, there was a basketball court with an evil obstruction resting on it, and all around the court were young people weeping and crying out for the removal of this evil obstruction. In the dream I stepped onto the court wearing a referee’s shirt. (Note that a referee acts as a judge over the court.) As I walked onto the court, a 17-year-old girl fervently began declaring, “Lou Engle, it’s your turn now! Lou Engle, it’s your turn now!” Then, in the climax of this powerful dream, I took the hands of the young people, and together we swept the obstruction off the court.

The dream was very significant to me, as I have played basketball for many years. The dream used the analogy of a basketball court to speak to me concerning my place in raising up a movement of prayer to end abortion in the courts. I felt that the dream implied that a young generation was crying out for the Supreme Court to overrule Roe v. Wade.

Three days before the elections of 2004, we called our group of young people who were standing in prayer in front of the Supreme Court to a three-day Esther fast (no food and no water.) We took this from the biblical account of Esther where Haman had issued a decree for the destruction and annihilation of the Jewish peoples in the empire of Persia. Esther called a three-day fast of no food and no water in order to appeal to the Supreme Court of Heaven to overrule the edicts of the Supreme Court of Haman. I told those kids that we have to have a pro-life president who will appoint judges who will rule for the life of the unborn. We, in essence, were bringing our case before the highest court in the land—God’s court.

At the beginning of this three-day fast, I received a phone call from someone who worked in the Supreme Court asking if I wanted a special tour, an offer to which I readily agreed. Upon meeting her, this employee told me that years before, someone had given her a prophetic word declaring, “that one day she would move to DC and get a job in the Supreme Court building.” It was clear that she was living according to her prophetic destiny.

Out of curiosity, I asked her if there was basketball court in the Supreme Court building. Surprisingly, she answered that there was indeed a basketball court and that it rested precisely on top of where the Supreme Court holds its hearings. I stood there in amazement and promptly asked her to take me to court! Still in amazement at the existence of an actual basketball court, I stood and prayed that God would give us judges who will rule for the life of the unborn. Since that day, two judges have been removed and two new judges have taken their place. Our present court has ruled to uphold the ban on the gruesome procedure of partial birth abortion, and yet we cannot stop here!

This coming election will define the future of millions of unborn children and millions of women who will experience the agonizing pain and regret of post-abortion trauma. One of the current presidential candidates has declared that the first thing that he will do when elected is pass the Freedom of Choice Act. This terrifying act would effectively remove every abortion restriction that has been passed since Roe v. Wade.

Today, I believe we are in an Esther moment in America. In the day of Esther’s three-day fast, God shifted the entire public policy of Persia in a moment. God intervened at the cry of Esther’s voice, Haman was removed, and Mordecai took his place. One woman’s posture of prayer and fasting initiated movement in the heavens, and the result was that an evil death decree was reversed.

I believe that today fasting and prayer can release a divine breakthrough of undeserved mercy. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. We don’t know what’s going to happen in these critical days, but we have scriptural precedent for appeal. Therefore, from November 2 to November 4, we are calling all of those whose hearts are moved to fast for these three days to do so as the Lord would lead them.

We know of many who will be going without food and water, and yet we have no guarantees. Mordecai said to Esther, “Who knows?” I believe that it is this same “Who knows?” which today is pregnant with divine possibilities. Consider that maybe it was for such a time as this that we have come into the kingdom.

For America,

Lou Engle