5 Major Themes of 2009: Theme #4

Theme #4: Gain Awareness. Give Sacrificially. Live Differently.

These are the key points to our Kids In Need focus this year.

1. Gain awareness of the needs facing kids worldwide.
2. Give sacrificially of our time, talents and treasures toward those needs.
3. Live differently because of Kids In Need.
   

This focus is messing with me personally in major ways. I can't look at things the same way as I'm learning and seeking to be a catalyst of vision and practicality for our students. The big thing I'm learning that gain, give and live applies to my life beyond simply Kids In Need.

I want to be a part of something significant. Something bigger than me. The minute I entered into a relationship with Christ, I did just that. It was actually on September 20, 1995 I made a public stand saying accepting what Christ had done for me and wanting to live out a relationship with Christ. After 18 years of religion, I made a commitment with God that it would be all or nothing.

What followed and continues to follow has looked like this:

1. Gain awareness of an area of my life that deserves attention or a ministry opportunity God is leading me toward.
2. Give sacrificially of my time talents and/or treasures to address the issue in my life, or toward that opportunity.
3. Live differently because of the awareness gained and the time/talents/treasures given.

This process has been one that is filled with great joys and powerful encounters with God.
The process has been shared by others, shared alongside others, and shared to others.
The process has produced fruit I never could have imagined.
The process has been filled with hiccups, bumbles and fumbles.
The process has seen failures and lack of follow through.

Sometimes give and live take up a different order. I rarely find the process healthy when Give or Live jump in front of Gain.

Austin Hostetter is an NMC grad now attending Ball State University. Last week he attended a lecture from Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (a book now on my "to read" list). Beah is a young man from Sierra Leone who was forced into an army, given drugs to get him addicted, and taught to kill. He was eventually rescued and rehabilitated. On his blog, Austin posted some reflections on the lecture. This little section from the post especially struck me...

Towards the end, a student asked how we could help Sierra Leone.

Beah stated that the only way to help a cause is to learn about it. Through learning about the situation, you will find what you need to do. He went on to tell a story about a school who asked him a similar question, and he gave them the same response. The school then took time to research what had happened in Sierra Leone and realized that many schools were destroyed during the war. So the children raised money to build a new school, and even went down to Sierra Leone to build it. Beah said this experience gave them a connection with the cause they were supporting.

As we worked through the focus of Kids In Need, and came agreed upon gain, give and live, I was struck with how much this is a life theme for me.

Gain awareness... I never want to stop learning.
Give sacrificially... I never want to grow weary of serving.
Live differently... I never want to stop growing.

God has been continually bringing opportunities to gain, give and live. Through that process, I have continually found myself connected to things bigger than myself.