Blog Archives
What HE Doesn’t Say
“I don’t remember the cause of my hurting teenage heart. It may have been an onslaught of teenage drama or a sliver of dim disappointment, a bout with unmet expectations or a barrage of unkind words. It may have been unchecked pride or raging hormones. But whatever it was, by the time I arrived home from school, I was a hot swirl of ache and tears. I yelled at my sister and sassed my mom. I kicked a laundry basket and stomped across the floor. Then, after offending everyone in my wake, I announced I was taking a walk. I stormed out the front door without noticing the sullen sky was as angry as I was. Soon raindrops tangoed with the tears on my cheeks, and I wished the hurt in my heart would just seep into the puddles at my feet. After a few minutes, I heard the slog of steps on the pavement behind me. Suddenly, my mom was beside me, her feet keeping cadence with my soggy shuffle. She didn’t chide me for my outburst or minimize my pain. She didn’t assure me the sun would shine again or quote Scripture in the rain. On that day long ago, my mom simply walked me home, one soaking step at a time.” -Alicia Bruxvoort In John 11:33-35, we [continue reading…]
The New Normal
I was watching a scene in Kung Fu Panda 3 this morning where Master Shifu was taking to Po Panda: “So Po, how did the teaching go today?” asked Shifu. Po responded, “Humiliating! I don’t know how to teach, I am done! I don’t want to do this anymore!” “Done teaching, or being humiliated?” Said, Master Shifu. Po responded, “Both…” “If you do only what you can do, you’ll never be more than what you are. You need to grow and figure out who you are and what you can do.” Responded Master Shifu. I bursted out laughing when I heard Po Panda explaining how he feels, because I can relate to being humiliated in my own life, and then I was impressed with Master Shifu’s response to Po being frustrated with himself. Anytime you’re doing something New it can seem overwhelming. It sure does for me. It’s like seeing your own reflection in a mirror. This is who you are right now. You get a good look at yourself, you see your limitations and your flaws. And you instantly realize that you need to change. I was reminded of this scripture; “Take your every day life, ordinary life-your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life, and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does [continue reading…]
City Outreach
On June 18th, 2018, the Spokane City Council met to vote on Special Budget Ordinance ORD C35636, which proposes allocating $160,000 to the creation of four full-time outreach positions which would aid with homelessness outreach services and encampment response. Currently, the city supports two part-time positions which are stretched thin due to the increasing number of encampment responses and are unable to provide the one-on-one assistance that many of our homeless need in order to build relationships that will generate positive housing outcomes. The ordinance was met with a few protests from concerned citizens in the public forum who expressed their concerns that the funds would be wrongly allocated or ineffective at creating positive housing outcomes. These concerns were met with an emotional response by Council President Ben Stuckart who affirmed “We’ve been asking for more homeless outreach dollars for the past seven years because we know it works”, citing his father’s thirty-eight years of homeless outreach experience at SNAP and witnessing first-hand how outreach programs work. His sentiments towards this ordinance were paralleled by Council Member Karen Stratton who expressed how she ‘aches’ when she gets calls from her constituents about homeless people sleeping out in the cold on park benches knowing that she has no City resource to call to go reach out to that one person. “If [continue reading…]
Flipping People
My five-year-old son approached my wife the other day and asked her what the term “flipping houses” meant. Apparently he had heard this on a commercial and didn’t quite understand how someone could flip a house. My wife explained to him how people will look for old houses that are of little value, buy them, renovate them, and sell them for a profit. For the next few days I would catch him mumbling here and there every time he would come across something old or ugly…”Ugh, gross! Someone needs to flip this bathroom!” I heard him muttering through the bathroom stall at a local restaurant. Ah, kids…they keep us constantly amused! The whole “house flipping” trend has taken television and the internet by storm over the past few years, there are even “house flipping” seminars that I hear advertised almost constantly on the radio that promise for a small fee to turn you into a house-flipping millionaire. Outwardly it is easy to see why this phenomenon has taken hold of our collective interest. It is always fun to see the before-and-after photos of these run-down properties as they get a total makeover, but I believe that the draw to these types of shows runs much deeper than most of us are willing to admit. The process of house flipping goes [continue reading…]
Real Change
We would like to take a moment to bring attention to an initiative that the City of Spokane has taken called “Give Real Change”. Throughout downtown Spokane you will find a few oddly placed parking meters that have been painted bright orange. They are hard to miss. These meters offer an opportunity for passers-by to stop and donate any spare change, cash, or use their debit and credit cards to donate to local charities that are working to end homelessness. While this is not a fix for homelessness, it will help to facilitate donations for organizations like the House of Charity. We commend the City for stepping up to help make it easier for people to donate to these organizations. If you are interested in making even more of a difference, you can call 3-1-1 for more ways to give. You may also check out our resources page for a list of local and national charities and organizations that are striving to make a difference in the lives of those who are in need. We encourage you to stop by these orange meters downtown, at Riverpark Square, in the STA bus plaza and at the Spokane International Airport and make a donation to help end homelessness in Spokane! Be blessed!
Taste and See
I still remember the very first time I tasted Indian food. Growing up in rural Virginia, I had little exposure to ethnic cuisines other than the typical Italian, Mexican, or Chinese offered by nationally franchised chain restaurants. I had grown accustomed to sesame chicken, ravioli, and enchiladas. Because of my limited experience, I felt I had tried just about every flavor the world had to offer. Some I liked, some I loved, and some I couldn’t bear the taste of. Little did I know how that would all change in an instant. It was winter, and I was no longer living in Virginia. Far from my temperate home, I had migrated to the frigid plains of Minnesota to stay for some time with my sister. One particularly bitter evening we decided to try out this little Indian restaurant in a shopping center nearby. I remember distinctly opening the door to the restaurant and stepping out of the subarctic night into the warmth of this cozy little joint, the air was filled with pleasant and exotic fragrances that I knew not. As I took that first apprehensive bite of coconut curry, the foundation upon which I had based all of my assumptions about what I knew my taste buds were capable of crumbled. I tasted and saw that Indian food was [continue reading…]
Our Father’s Lap
As a Christian, I often find myself getting weighed down not just by the cares of the world but also by the joys of the world. Wait, what? How can you be weighed down by joy? Doesn’t that seem counter-intuitive? There are two kinds of joys in my life, the first comes from enjoying the things of this world; a good meal, a funny movie, a peaceful hike, a close football game. The second comes from the light of Christ within, from that intimacy with God the Father and Jesus Christ, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. While the former things are not bad things by any stretch of the imagination, they are however temporal things. Temporal things are those which will eventually come to an end. A good meal lasts a couple of hours at most, a good film the same. A peaceful hike can last longer, but eventually I will get tired and need to stop for rest or return home. Even spending time with family and friends comes to an (often bittersweet) end as friends move away or loved ones pass on. The latter joy is one that does not end, and although it is ever-present, it can wane the further we get from God. I liken it to a campfire: unless you are close to it, [continue reading…]
Stating the Obvious
“Where a tree falls, there it will lie.” You might be thinking, “thanks for stating the obvious”, but what if I told you that this is a biblical truth? King Solomon is lauded throughout history for his wisdom, with dignitaries from kingdoms around the world traveling great distances to meet him and hear his proverbs. Yet in the middle of the book of Ecclesiastes there exists this seemingly out of place statement of the obvious: “If the clouds are full of rain, They empty themselves upon the earth; And if a tree falls to the south or the north, In the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie.” (Ecclesiastes 11:3) So what exactly is the purpose of this rather odd statement of the obvious? After searching through dozens of alternative translations of this verse only to find very little variation between texts I was forced to come to one very simple conclusion. While many may try to imbue a much deeper meaning to this verse due to the fact that Solomon was known throughout history as the wisest man to ever live, the truth is often much simpler than we at first assume. Let us start with first acknowledging that although Solomon was the author of Ecclesiastes, the wisdom given to him came from God. In the New [continue reading…]
Christ, A Lover Scorned
Throughout the Bible we see Jesus Christ given a number of titles from Shepherd of Israel to Lion of Judah, each one evoking a particular personality trait of our Savior. Even so I find that we all too often place Him at a distance, far above the human race that He so loved. Remember that He came in the flesh, and walked among us as the Son of Man. As such He was very much an individual being, with His own personality. This is often lost in the antiquity of the texts, especially so when it comes to the Old Testament, an area where I have struggled at times to see the face of Christ in the vengeful condemnation of the God of Israel. And yet it is there that we find one of the most touching and human portrayals of Jesus Christ as that of a lover scorned. Nestled in the first several chapters of the book of Jeremiah we see a moving scenario play out between Christ the bride-groom and Israel His young bride. If we allow, the Holy Spirit will paint the picture for us: a troubled Christ, taking His young wife by the hand and sitting down opposite from her on the end of the marriage bed, perhaps brushing back her hair with His free hand [continue reading…]
Revenge: the Trap
Man isn’t it?! This is the fatal step of becoming the bait of Satan…retaliation. Revenge is completely unscriptural. Just look at what happened to Cain when he took revenge on his brother Abel for being the one who pleased God….he was cursed forever. I’m sure Potiphar’s wife may very well have gone to hell for lying about Joseph, the Lord’s anointed, and causing him to have gone to prison. Look at what happened to the young man who killed Saul-thinking that David would be pleased with this man having taken his “revenge” out on him for all the years of persecution… he, in turn, was killed. Revenge is one of the most well-known “no-no’s” in Christianity, but also one of the easiest to fall to. Romans 12:19 says, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” The Lord will cast the final judgment, therefore we do not need to. Vengeance rests with the Lord. I know there were several times (especially in my younger days) when I tried to take vengeance into my own hands. One episode in particular stands out in my mind: I was probably seven or eight years old, in daycare at my elementary school, and I remember that there was this one girl [continue reading…]