Salt or Vinegar: Musings of a Wanna-Be Revolutionary

Many things have been weighing on my heart and mind lately as we close out another year. This year has been one of the most intense and rewarding years in my personal journey of faith. As we end the season of Advent and our hearts are most reflective, these are the things that are stirring in me and what I pray that God reveals to the church as a whole so that we may return to our First Love and be the body that Jesus envisioned that was exemplified in the book of Acts.



Now, this is my current journey of faith and I understand that we are all in different phases of our walk with Christ so I realize not all I share will be agreed with and perhaps it may even cause some backlash. Everything we say and do, must be measured against the Word of God and I want to clearly state that these are truths that are resounding with me and so far in comparing it to the Word, I believe these thoughts should challenge us into closer relationship with Jesus.



Maybe it’s the fact that it’s been a huge political year and a year of many tragedies that have highlighted hot topics like gun control, sanctity of life and the such. My question to us all is how often do we put the hope of our future into the hands of politicians, legislation, celebrities, the economy and even Christian leaders. How have we forgotten that Jesus is our hope, our present and our future? Could it be that we have readily embraced a western mindset of entitlement, privilege and if we just work hard enough, we deserve every material manifestation that makes our life in Christ a walk in the park? News flash: the areas where the Gospel thrives the most is where there is suffering, brokenness and yes, even persecution.



While we have been spending our time claiming that Jesus was a Republican and picketing everything that we decide that we are against, the enemy has been having a field day keeping us distracted from our First Love and in turn, we are no longer loving our neighbor. Heck, do we even know our neighbor? We say “hate the sin, love the sinner”, but we don’t really mean that. We’re great at the first part of it, but maybe we hate the sin because we see a reflection of sin ourselves and it’s easier to hate the “greater sin”. What would be more productive: picketing at an abortion clinic or loving the girl who is scared out of her mind and inviting her into your life no matter what choice she makes? We have to think long term when it comes to the Gospel, it’s not just about stopping an abortion (before you crucify me, I believe every child has a right to life) but about lasting fruit that can only come through authentic love…and that means putting yourself in the position to jump off the cliff of compassion. This means entering someone else’s suffering, pain and insecurities and the beautiful redemption is that God heals us too when we allow this vulnerability.



People crave community for a reason. They want to be listened to, understood, known. It is how God created us. I submit that maybe the “hot topic” discussions can just be a doorway into building relationship with someone we wouldn’t normally “associate” with…relationship does not mean we condone a belief or lifestyle but that we care enough about someone’s soul to listen and try to understand and identify with a person even if it makes us a tiny bit uncomfortable or the traditional church mad at us. At the root, it’s not about the issues, it’s about the person being loved and accepted. The Christian culture has created it’s own industries to the point that if we never wanted to interact with the “world”, we honestly don’t have to…what a sterilized, unfruitful life! I’ve come to think that our community should include people that we do not agree with ideologically, morally and spiritually – how else can Jesus be made known, how else can we be the salt? Instead of being salt, the church has become vinegar. This is the greatest tragedy of our time.



Understanding that Jesus came to establish a new way, a new Kingdom. We sometimes confuse our patriotism for righteousness…and though there is a war going on, we forget that it’s not one of flesh and blood but a spiritual one and the weapons of our warfare must change. The church culture has gone from one of faith in action, caring for the poor to one of self-defense and control both of which are rooted in fear. I challenge you to find Jesus teaching violence anywhere in the NT. I’m not advocating rebellion, but revolution. Everything about Jesus was counter-cultural to the political and religious scene of His day…now I’m starting to see a huge similarity to the religious culture of our day and the one of His day. The people were looking for a Savior and expected Him to come through political channels to establish His Kingdom on earth. We are looking for that same thing now, the earth is truly groaning and never more than now have I felt myself pleading for Jesus to return and establish true justice and peace on the earth. But friends, the Bride is not ready. We don’t understand that the Kingdom is about downward mobility where we decrease and He increases – not through our picketing, but through our genuine and authentic desire to see the Kingdom of God come to earth through His love in us.



Many of what I’m sharing on this post may have you wondering if I’ve “backslidden”, but my heart is after Jesus and His truth alone no matter what our cultural traditions have engrained in our belief systems. I’m exploring the tension that keeps us balanced in our seeking of His truth through His Word in a very sick and diseased Christian culture. In seeking and longing for Jesus, I find that my greatest and most time consuming activity is unlearning. What would happen if we let the truth of the living Gospel completely undo our prejudices, which in turn would allow the Savior to be lifted up and ourselves humbled.



May next year be the year of a new way…the way of Christ beautifying His Bride…it starts with me and it starts with you.

Brokenness and Contentment

A link to our latest post on brokenness and contentment... https://www.facebook.com/notes/caleb-david/the-place-of-brokenness-and-contentment/10151207585740915

Good Christian B______s - Mockery or Perception?

GCB

Many in the Christian community have been in quite the uproar about the new ABC sitcom, GCB. If you want to know what the original acronym stands for, well, you’re just going to have to look it up yourself, but I will tell you that it is based on a book written by Kim Gatlin. Now, I do not like my faith being made light of in the eyes of the world but something told me that there was something for me to learn from it. So, if you dare to hear a new take on it, join me in my short, personal journey through GCB.

Kristen Chenoweth has always been a favorite around our home…but now…well, I wasn’t so sure anymore. To be honest, I was enraged because my faith is not a joke to me, so how is it that it could be perceived this way and created into a national sitcom that seems to berate Christianity? Time for me to take a deep breath, lay aside my offense and see beyond to what could be gleaned from this borderline blasphemous endeavor of mine.

Is perception reality? Well, yes and no. There are just too many variables and not enough time to delve into that whole topic but that though crossed my mind while watching it. Is that really how Christians are perceived? I know it’s not completely accurate, but there has to be some truth to the perception. A comedy is not comedy without an element of truth to be the baseline of the joke. It’s just that I personally don’t like to be put into stereotypical generalization that I’m a rich, white conservative. Not that it’s wrong to be any of those things, I just feel that people are more than their labels but I haven’t always been that way. To be honest, somehow I find myself slipping from time to time to profiling people based on their geographic location, race, belief or political stance. I hate that about me because that is not how Jesus was or is. Here’s a brief exchange of words between two of the characters, one searching for redemption and the other…well, represents more of a Pharisee.

Amanda,” Jesus hung around whore and thieves.”
Carlene, “Not in my neighborhood.”

Offended yet? For me, it struck me more like an “ouch!” I made this a challenge to turn inward and see what it is that causes others outside the “Christian” circles to view the body of Christ in that way. When a prominent evangelical figure falls, are we rushing in to love and redeem or cast the first stone? None of us want to condone sin, but we have made certain sins greater than others. Now, before you decide to de-friend me on Facebook – I need to state that all sin has consequences, some greater than other. But what if we didn’t shoot our wounded? What if we didn’t feel the need to be perfect, polished Christians? What if we shed our veneer and acknowledged our constant need for our Savior?

My personal opinion is that we have taken the whole concept of “being in the world and not of it” to such an extreme that we have created an alternate reality and mega subcultures in society that we can very easily lose touch with anyone who might not believe the same way as us or have a differing thought, opinion or belief system than ours. What if we created those walls because we just weren’t confident enough in who we are in Christ and felt safer patting each other on the back the safe confines of the fellowship hall? Slowly my rage starts turning into shame.

I take a brief break from writing and read portions in the book of James and I realize that his letter to body is for us today…and it hurts. I’m reading in the Complete Jewish version and I encourage you to read it all but this is what just kicked me in the teeth.

“Don’t deceive yourselves by only hearing what the Word says, but do it! For whoever hears the Word but doesn’t do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror, who looks at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” James 1:22-24

I saw the below tweet this morning and there’s much truth to it:
“It's nearly impossible to be defensive and see the truth at the same time. #justsayin'” @brandonhatmaker

Isn’t that just what we’ve become and as of late, GCB seems to be the instigator. The Word of God is amazing, but sometimes it is painful…but it’s because God loves us enough to not leave us the same way. We have GOT to stop looking at the surface and the symptoms and become introspective based on the perfect law of liberty. And here’s something that I have got to get out, we have to stop our obsession with picketing and boycotting and deal with the root issues. That would be me and that would be you. We have to change and be transformed into the image of God and live a life that bleeds His love IN the world. We must be known for what we are FOR not what we are AGAINST. Nothing will change in society until we change. It’s not going to be a quick and easy solution, but it is the only solution.

GBC or any other show or book can be a personal attack upon your faith only if you allow it to be. If you were to see portions of GCB, you’d realize that almost all of us relate to the people, church humor and the situations presented. I’m not promoting the show, I’m simply pointing out that we can learn from anything and make the necessary adjustments. A dear friend of mine that I discussed this with put it like this, “They are not mocking my Jesus.” We have to know the difference between what we have become as the body (remember to some, perception is their reality) and Who Jesus is and how much more we need to look to Him to teach us to love.

Ultimately, are we going to change the world by signing petitions and getting major show sponsors to get the show off the air? Is that all that is required of us? I think we are called to something much higher, but that takes us picking up the cross and dropping the GCB stated equation, “2+2 = a double standard.” It’s time to drop the double standard. What if our words matched our deeds? What if we became more like the Acts church that organically grew directly out of Jesus’ sacrifice?

“Anyone who thinks he is religiously observant but does not control his tongue is deceiving himself, and his observance counts for nothing. The religious observation that God the Father considers pure and faultless is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being contaminated by the world.” James 1:26-27

I submit to you that it’s time for the body of Christ to rise up with the quiet and consistent strength of humility, to do justly and love mercy as we walk with our God. That is Who He is and if you don’t know Him, we would love to share His good news with you.

We welcome your comments and feedback, and if you’d like to know how you can get involved in Biblical orphan and widow care, email our office or message us on Facebook and we’d love to connect you. Through serving practically those who are physically orphaned, we believe those also spiritually orphaned will come to a beautiful redemption in Christ.

Compassion and Justice for the Orphan,
Caleb David
One Child Campaign

"7": The Raccoon and the Band Wagon...

I looked in the mirror this morning and saw a raccoon. I did a double take. Oooohhhh...when did those huge black circles appear and turn me into a ring-tailed, garbage-diving mammal? I mean, I have been elbow deep in the compost bin a couple times over the past week or so...but that's not enough to make me an oversized rodent, is it? Thinking back through the fog that was last night: one of our children woke us up at 3am (seems to be a pattern right now) and then right as we finally fell back asleep after an hour of tossing and turning, the other one was up at 5am (another pattern) and he never really went back to sleep...likewise for us...I digress...

Patterns are good and patterns are bad...in the case of the "up all night" pattern, I just want it broken. Some patterns like checkerboard and plaid stick to the lines and the rules, there's a strict method. I'm one to typically rebel against that hard core rules mentality for the more creative, but I will say I appreciate basic structure. Maybe "rebel" is too strong of a word...let's go with "thinking outside the box". See where I'm going with this yet?

I'm telling you, this process is CHANGING us. I cannot say enough how amazing the "7" experience has been for us and how needed it has been for our family. We are almost through 4 weeks of our 7 week challenge. The garden is thriving so far and it's exciting each morning to see how much more the herbs have grown or if the zucchini has burst through the soil in the backyard. Recycling is not as hard as you imagine, it just takes a little effort - set up a system that works for you and you're good to go. But by a long shot, the thing that has affected me most is the sacred pauses. I don't do them religiously, but when I'm able to stop, breathe and pause - it changes my world. It's re-centered. All of the above paragraph really does tie in beautifully because it's not necessarily about each of the practices and changes individually, but how there are ways to see the sacred woven in the midst of daily life. Things as simple as picking up a piece of wrapper on the floor becomes a mindful act of worship. Sounds silly, right? Don't judge until you walk the road, my friend. It's like the spirit, soul and body becomes connected again with an urgent sense of simply being MINDFUL of Christ, others and the life that surrounds us daily. You become less busy and more productive...you become more present.

In all honestly, the past week or so has been a bit of a challenge in that we've had some unexpected, emotional situations come up that needed our attention. This is not an excuse by any means, because how this process has changed me inside has not really left much room for excuses or guilt. The journey is what it is and I believe somewhere in the past I promised to be transparent and real about our process. Soooo...here goes...Last week, we missed our Shabbat dinner due to some crazy schedules and you know, we felt the difference. That family time around the table is so incredibly centering and calming. We also had a couple meals this past week that were outside our guidelines, partially because of what we had available in the house, the current unexpected circumstances and partially because we had some family in town and we just had to take them to Chuy's. Ok, that last one was an excuse. I'll own it. We wanted to feast.

As you may know, one of the main things I gave up was coffee, coffee is liquid glory and that thing that forces me to get out of bed in the morning because sometimes, let's face it, I need the motivation. Something switched in my mind over the last week though. I wasn't getting out of bed for coffee, but to eagerly face my day with joy, creativity and passion. The result of living mindfully. I was no longer dependent on it for survival...although, today after seeing that coon face in the mirror...it might be necessary, but for now, it's tea with agave nectar. Insert low-glycemic plug here: agave nectar is awesome, try it on whole wheat banana pancakes and you'll probably break up with high-fructose corn syrup that's artificially flavored and colored.

I wanted to share something that I read in the "Seven Sacred Pauses" by Macrina Wiederkehr that really spoke to me. She says,"I love feasts because they suggest that there is always something in the midst of ordinary life to celebrate." That is why I love Thanksgiving so much...great food, no pressure, just gratefulness. That said, I have a confession of sorts: I fell off the "no coffee" band wagon...a few times. Again simply, no excuse and no guilt because I was able to celebrate the fact that I no longer NEEDED the coffee, but I could mindfully enjoy every sip and with each sip give thanks to God for His goodness, His faithfulness and more than anything for Who He is. It became about Him and not about my need for the comfort of the tasty, warm goodness. The act of having a strong cup of Ethiopian coffee has in a sense become an intent prayer and act of worship. I drank coffee and I liked it.

2 Day HUUUGGEEEE Campaign Giveaway! Please Share.

For Thine be the Kingdom, and the power and the glory forever!

We are to seek first the Kingdom of God and sometimes this means that we lock arms with strategic Kingdom-minded partners and we do what we can to serve them. In that spirit, One Child Campaign is donating 5 Campaign Gear gift packs to the Man Up and Simply Love/ Children's Hopechest shirt fundraiser and mission trip giveaway. We are also grateful to Project 117 (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-117/269368376408145) for donating the aluminum water bottles in the packs. You will see all the gear pictured below and each pack is valued at over $130!!!

We only have 2 days left and we need to sell 500 more shirts to reach the goal of 1,000 shirts where all proceeds will go to help girls in Moldova who have been trafficked and also to an impoverished village, Pignon, in Haiti. This is the fast that God has chosen for us - to loose the bonds of injustice! So, give up your Sunday afternoon restaurant meal and buy shirts instead that will measurably change lives. 100% of the proceeds are going directly to these causes, no one is "making" a dime.

For EVERY shirt purchase, you are entered automatically into a mission trip giveaway valued at $3,000 - however, if you can't go, STILL buy shirts because you can give away the trip if you win it. And now, you have an extra incentive to get your shirts (yes, buy multiple) because when we hit 600 shirts sold, the 600th person will win the One Child gift pack AND the giveaways will continue for the 700th, 800th, 900th and 1,000th shirt sold!



NOW IT'S TIME TO TAKE ACTION!!! Follow this link and order how many shirts that God puts on your heart:

https://secure3.convio.net/chc/site/Ecommerce?store_id=1541

NEXT, SHARE THIS POST ALL OVER FACEBOOK, TWITTER OR EMAIL AND ENGAGE YOUR COMMUNITIES!

www.hopechest.org
www.mycrazyadoption.org
www.onechildcampaign.com

Check out the Campaign Gear gift pack below:

Break My Heart/Africa Messenger Bag: $30 value
Mission Ethiopia Clay Necklace/Bracelet: $30 value
Official Tee: $20 value
Long Live Compassion Pillow Case: $15 value
Project 117 Aluminum Water Bottle: $20 value
Silicon Wrist Bands (2): $6 value
Luggage Tags (2): $10 value
Bumper Sticker: $1 value

Man Up...and Simply Love: A Call to Hope

Some days, I wait for inspiration to write. Some days, I try to force some deep thoughts and feelings to come to the surface. Some days, it flows without me asking for it. I realized this afternoon when asked to write a new post, that I don’t need pretty words, I need REAL words.

My “realness” for you today is simply this…

6"Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

 7Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house?--when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

 8Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rearward.

 9Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, `Here I am.' If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and speaking vanity,

 10and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noonday.

 11And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.

 12And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Paths to dwell in.

This is the calling of the church. YOU are the church. To be Jesus in the earth to man up and simply love. That’s it. It reminds me of Matthew 6:33 where we are commanded to seek first HIS kingdom. Though I have so many other earthly things to think about and “worry” about, my question to you today is what are you doing right now, today to affect eternity. How often have I put the Great Commission over the Greatest Commandment? I think almost daily. Today, I would like to call you to a fast, it might sound a little absurd and out of the box, but think about fasting a few cups of great coffee, or fast going out to eat next Sunday or skip a few trips to the mall and instead help us by joining forces.

I hope that you will join One Child Campaign in our complete support of Kingdom partners that are right now being the Repairer of the Breach to trafficked women in Moldova and an impoverished village in Haiti. Two of our strongest partners in ministry are Tom Davis of Children’s Hopechest and Roger and Kari Gibson of “Simply Love” and “Man Up for Orphans”. Beyond partners, we are honored to call them friends.



The rest of this week only, we need to share the message of hope that only Jesus brings by purchasing a total of 1,000 shirts. We have only a few more days, you may not “need” another shirt but girls in Moldova and a whole village in Pignon, Haiti have needs that we could never imagine being without. This is not a hand-out, it’s a call to action, a call of advocacy. A call for you to fulfill what the prophet Isaiah talks about…the time for the compassion and justice to rise is now.

Here is the link, let’s DO the impossible…share it with everyone you know, because I know for a fact that these causes are ones worth fighting for…these are causes we have given our lives for and for us to sit back and think we cannot do anything is a lie of the enemy. Not that you need any more incentive, but for every shirt that you buy, you are entered in a drawing to win a free mission trip. You are needed on the frontlines and ou need to SEE the frontlines…click this link and lock arms with us. Nuff said.

http://mycrazyadoption.org/mission-trip-giveaway-starts-today-childrens-hopechest-project/

Caleb David
Founder
One Child Campaign
www.onechildcampaign.com

Week 2 of "7 Challenge" complete...

Well, it's the end of week two...well, technically, the beginning of week three...as awesome as it's been, why is time going by so slowly??! I guess that's actually that is a good thing. This week was the week that we chose to just wear seven items of clothing fall week long as per our family 7 Manifesto. Here were my choices:



It was trickier than I imagined in my mind. Thankfully, we office out of the house, but I still had a very full week of meetings, phone calls, work outs, office and home projects out the wazoo. In this always changing Oklahoma weather, any given day is a gamble to know what the temperature will be. While we've still been really enjoying our food, we're realizing that we are blowing through our food budget way faster than we imagined due to how much chicken and fresh fruits and veggies we are consuming. We're both still down about 5 pounds, but for the sake of the budget we may switch our meat to beef, as we have a freezer full of grain-fed cow.

As well as the first week went, I was feeling quite confident that I could tackle this week with ease. Nope. Turns out, I have more issues. I like the creative process of choosing what to wear and though my closet has been almost cut in half (and Becca cleaned out 110 items from her side), I still have so many choices...and I wore my sleep/work out combo of shorts and a tee seems like every day for hours at a time. I did cheat on Thursday by putting on a blazer: partly because I had a very important meeting and it was a good choice as we had sleet and cold rain most of the day compared to the almost 80 degrees the day before. Ahhhh Okie weather. In full transparency, I also had to incorporate a belt on Saturday and Sunday as we had a One Child event and church - and though I haven't lost more weight...the inches are going away and my pants were falling off. Nuff said.

I just finished a much needed sacred pause due to the lack of pauses this past week and the serious lack of sleep due to children up all night...and for the safety of my family and the general public, I had my first glorious cup of Ethiopian liquid glory this morning in over 2.5 weeks. Trust me, it was necessary. In exchange for this, I will be choosing another thing that I love to give up for the next several days. It's not about the law people, but the guidelines are appreciated and being kept for the most part. We've had a couple of extra spending situations this week including taking Sakari to the doctor and pharmacy for poison ivy that she got on her face after distinctly disobeying Momma's orders...hello, obedience and consequences discussion with our almost 5 year old.

We're happy to report that so far, no plants have been killed and our indoor herb garden is coming along nicely and I can't wait to rip into some fresh basil! My mouth just watered as I typed basil. Too far? Oh well, this is who I am. Enjoy this picture of the herb growth on the dining room table.



We also enjoyed another relaxing Shabbat dinner, I don't know, there's just something about it. Yesterday evening, we set up our outdoor garden (still a little work to do) and plan to plant seeds in just a few minutes (yes, in the middle of my work day). We will also be adding one more "row" of dirt in our homemade planting bins as known as Rubbermaid tubs with drainage holes drilled by the power tool queen (Becca) which we set on top of their lids for extra good drainage on the west side of our home. We thought we would try this idea because we despise weeding and it will be manageable and right out our dining room and kitchen, next to our compost bin. If you look closely to this picture you can see a cute little guy looking on...and yes, recycling is still fun...if only for the exercise of it.



Cheers, my friends! Have a great week!

One week of "7" down...

Most people I know would not consider me a tree hugger or a hippie. I mean, I respect creation and the beauty in nature and so on and so forth...but never quite to the point where in a state (Oklahoma) where they make it so hard to recycle, that I would finally take a step closer to it this week...I guess you could say that I'm pulling the classic dating move of the "slow yawn and swinging my arm around the back of the chair/shoulder" on the tree.

Let's back up a little and give you all some feedback on this first week. Honestly, the food has been easy...it's actually been fun to see what we come up with and by limiting our food options aka our hurried lifestyle crutches, we've discovered some amazing new food. I love complex spices of Indian food and tasting coffee's nuances and the such but there's something to be said about simple, good food. It might only take 3 or 4 fresh ingredients to make a masterpiece. Such a piece of art was created by my wife, Becca, this week and I thought you might be interested in it.
- whole wheat pita (cut so it was fully round and open like a tortilla)
- pieces of organic chicken pulled off the bone
- cheddar cheese (Cabot Vermont extra sharp cheddar)
- roasted red bell peppers
The above items were all assembled and put into the oven for just enough time for the cheese to get all nice and melty, then it was topped with greek yogurt guacamole that had nothing in it but avocado, greek yogurt and salsa.

Seriously, heavenly.

To date, without us even trying specifically, we have each lost between 3-4 pounds. And we're LOVING the food. I've had a few serious coffee cravings, though I am happy to report that I have not given in yet. Today, I see or hear the word "coffee" and my mouth waters while something in my soul dies a little. It doesn't help that in the Seven Sacred Pauses, she mentions coffee in just about every chapter and what a beautiful thing it is...hey, I just want to enjoy God's creation...and isn't coffee technically a BEAN?!?! I'm allowed right?! Shut up, Caleb - be strong. I can do this...6 more weeks.


Recycling Station in the Kitchen for plastic, paper and actual waste, we have metal and glass safely away from the kids in the garage.


I was LEAST looking forward to recycling. I mean, it's WORK! Or so I thought...it took some time to set up our system, but I'm currently obsessed with it. I literally look around the house for stray pieces of paper or plastic just so eager to place them in a home with other members of their family. This is a huge deal for me, you can judge all day long, but don't knock it until you've tried it. In just a week, when I see stuff that can be recycled just sitting around or being neglected, it makes me sad. A wonderful side effect of my new OCD habit, is that our house seems WAY less cluttered with old mail and random junk. We've got a ways to go and we haven't dropped off any recycling yet, but I'm hopeful. I think the transformation came for me when I realized how little is ACTUALLY waste! We usually take out about 4-6 full bags of trash a week, this week, it was literally one that was barely 2/3rds of the way full!!!!!! And we hosted a dinner at our home for about 20 people! God forgive me for my self consumed life of convenience and lack of composting!

Compost

PIctured here are Becca and Sakari drilling holes in our new compost bin that sits on our back porch now, just outside our kitchen/dining room. It's been so fun to engage our kids in this and the constant thinking of ways to be resourceful has been refreshing. We've slowed down. We talk more. The TV has only been on for an hour a day, but our time is spent living and enjoying together. Much of our trash has ended up in our compost bin that will soon feed our newly planted herb garden and also our vegetable garden which is still in process of being created.

Herb Garden


Clothing update: Becca just cleared out her closet yesterday and we're still awaiting a tally of items. In the meantime, I had been praying for how and where to give my clothes away to those who most needed it. I still have some left, but I heard of a need of one of our ministry partners in Cambodia who have men from remote villages living in their dorms who need clothing. I was able to get a box sent to a friend who is going there in a few weeks. I was also so inspired by our friends, Roger and Kari Gibson, who were serving about 5 families near their home in Branson, MO whose homes were destroyed by tornadoes last week. A box is on the way to them. I didn't just want to take everything to Goodwill and call it good, no pun intended, but I wanted it to be personal something that God laid on my heart very specifically.

I've been working on taking the Seven Sacred Pauses (by Macrina Wiederkehr) and haven't done all seven in a day but doing what I can and I can tell a massive difference in my stress level. There's SO much good in this book, though as with almost any, you've got to weed out the stuff that doesn't resound in your spirit. Truly, I have underlined so much and thought about sharing it all with you who are following our journey or tweeting it, but I might just annoy you and my massive (hahaha!) Twitter following might drop in numbers. We've had time to start working on tiny projects around the house and begin to clean out closets and see what else we have hidden away that we don't need and someone else might. We've even had time to attack the STACKS, serious stacks of travel magazines that have accumulated over the past couple years that we never had time to enjoy. Those expiring frequent flyer miles used for subscriptions are officially being used now. Something about seeing and reading about the world is soothing and inspiring.

As a family, we have also begun taking part in Shabbat each week and this day of rest, as commanded in the Bible has been wonderful for our family. There are many resources online that you can find to research Shabbat, it's purpose, traditions and significance. We are slowly incorporating that day of rest into our lives and loving it so far. This call to living a life of mindfulness towards God in every little thing has begun to make me so much more grateful for His provision, my family and who He has surrounded us with on our journey.

My Dark Side...

I knew God wanted to do some work in me, dealing with my heart's motivation and how He wants to consistently re-center my sense of identity.

Today (the 27th) is the first official full day of the 7 week challenge that our family is taking. But already I have the lump in my throat and slight dread that God's about to go in for a deep work. And I know it's not the last time.

The last few days we've been preparing for this experience - it's really more of a fast, I guess. I started by cutting coffee the last few days and by cleaning out my closet.



Simple, right?! Wrong. More like freaking intense, raw and emotional. I figured God would ease me into this, not so much. I mean, couldn't He have waited until week 5 or something? Instead, He hit me up before this really even began.

My prayer is this: " God, have Your way. You know who I am, where I'm at and what I need. Do Your thing."

I don't know how many times I've wincingly whispered this prayer. It's like praying, " God, break my heart for what breaks Yours". He is very near to the words and He senses the state of our spirit and soul. Ultimately, I want Him, but that means that "I" must die more. And it just hurts.

You can ask my family - the past few days, the symptoms I've experienced have been mostly outbursts of anger. Emotions that are a sign that something needs to be detoxified in me. I just made 2 simple moves: 1. a decision to surrender 2. gave up coffee and 126 pieces of clothing. Even Sakari got into the spirit of purging and giving away...



Did I think that those 2 moves would reveal the status of my soul and pierce through my motivations and identity? Nope. But here I sit with a mountain of office work to do and I can't concentrate because I know that though I could suppress what's going on in me, I don't want to give up on this chance to be torn down and built back up.

Using what I've learned the hard way, I'm taking a long, hard look into myself and into the mirror of the Word. I want to take this opportunity to recommend the book, " The Search for Significance" and I'm applying the methods I learned from it to go to the core of the symptoms. At the end of the day, it all goes back to our identity. How the enemy fights and slanders our true identity!

Question: Do I really, truly believe in Kingdom mindedness? Living it out is way more difficult that merely saying that I am. Here are just a few things that were stirred up in me: Inadequate, fear, feeling pulled, criticism, people pleasing, unrealistic expectations, selfishness, anger, depression, trust issues, pride, insecurity, self-branding vs. Jesus...

Solution: Time to close my eyes, lay flat on the floor of the office and visually place Jesus back on the throne of my heart.

BRANDING

This morning I was praying and asking God to show me how to pray (not just in the understanding, but in the Spirit). When I was praying and listening, I heard the word "branding" come up. It seemed odd at first, but then He gently showed how careful we (mostly me) have been to brand the ministry and myself. Ouch. There's the good side to that, it's smart business and who we are should be clear to the world. But how quickly we can use people, opinions and popular stances to brand ourselves.

I think of Mother Teresa....she was branded by nothing but humility, faith and obedience. Blind to the opinion of others. She was enveloped, consumed and enthralled in Love. Her branding - Jesus.

Hello, conviction. I haven't heard from you in approximately 2 minutes.

Tearing down, building up.

What if I lost myself in Love? What if I decreased and He increased?

It should be obvious that this will not be easy and will be a war that we will have to fight for our whole lives. But I want to be branded. Simply. Branded and consumed by none but Jesus.

Humbly.
Caleb David




Ending on a fun note, here is Sakari planting the first of what hope will be our green thumb home garden!

Season of Simplicity

Seasons of One Child Campaign. Past. Present. Future.  Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Season's Past...Present...and Future...    Recently something has been stirring in me. And by stirring, I mean more of a tornado of tillers in my soul. I have becoming more and more aware of the times and seasons in life and though far from where I can be, I know that when we made the first crazy act of obedience a little over two years ago to launch One Child Campaign, we opened Pandora’s Box. Typically, the “Box” has negative implications but for us this was good. It’s been the hardest two years of life, yet the most rewarding.  Let me say this with complete authenticity, this letter is not a “hey, look what I can do!” …in fact, it might be more of “look what I haven’t been able to do”. What we are feeling is raw, it’s real, and it’s fresh. So, if anything shared is offensive to you or you just don’t get it…it’s ok, because a lot of this post is to keep us accountable to what God is doing inside of us.  To give you an idea of the past two years, it’s consisted of us starting One Child with zero seed money, zero monthly supporters and more zeros that I care to ever see again in my lifetime until there is a larger number and commas involved. We sold our paid-off dream vehicle – Blue Steel, yes she had a name – our 2005 Toyota 4Runner in exchange for a gift given to us in the form of a 1996 Lincoln Town Car dubbed, the Tuna Boat. We have gone several months at a time with no income and trying to cut down the budget to the bare minimum – goodbye HGTV, Food Network and Bravo. No income meaning, pretty much nothing other than what personal items we could sell on Craigslist. We still don’t know how we will pay family bills month to month, but God is faithful. To be honest, much of what we have accomplished was done in our own strength and through a works mindset…and as a result, we have ended up with loads of personal debt to see the ministry get off the ground. I can admit this isn’t the ideal situation but we did the best that we could in our humanness. Didn’t I mention this would be raw? Just when we thought we couldn’t last another day of fighting, and we just wanted to “cruise” through life a little, God decides it’s time to peel off another layer to go deeper and those aforementioned tornadoes arrived… Discontent - the good kind - has officially set in. Even after all that we have given up as a family, we’re discovering that things still own us and our Western mindset and culture has created a sense of misguided independence that sometimes rears it’s head in the form of community isolation. I’m frustrated with the church, I don’t mean my church per se, but the church as a whole. This is not me pointing a finger outward, it’s a realization that I am the church and I’m frustrated with what we’ve become. I don’t want the church to be a weekly club with all its programs. For me personally, I want the Acts church full of fellowship, meetings needs of orphans and widows, shared food and no hidden agendas – genuine Gospel community. Hang on with me, though it’s going to seem like I’m all over the place (I am), it all ties in together. Trust me.  The past year especially has been a time that God has brought a slew of new friends and contacts into our life and it’s almost like He knows what He is doing. I find it ironic that I didn’t realize that it was Ash Wednesday until the restlessness inside of us got so intense that we made the decision this morning that today was the day we were going to make some drastic changes and start to simplify. Now, don’t judge us because what is drastic to us might be commonplace to you…nevertheless, we know we are about to get our butt kicked with an early spiritual, emotional and physical spring-cleaning of sorts. God needed us in this place and has worked on us for over two years using authors, friends, family, pastors and leadership.  What pushed us over the edge this time? Well, I’d like to happily (and slightly begrudgingly) point the finger at two of our new friends that we met this past year. Enter: Brandon and Jen Hatmaker. We met under dire circumstances in both of our families’ adoptions from Ethiopia in 2011. We knew we loved them, enjoyed our time together eating, comparing tattoos (you guys totally win) and the such amid a glory cloud of frankincense (thanks, Jimmy!). What we didn’t know was that they were both authors and that they would one day return to our lives with conviction veiled in fun and sarcastic banter.  If you haven’t read “Barefoot Church” by Brandon or “7-An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess” by Jen – go to Amazon or your local bookstore and join the company of many of my friends. We are using those two books to launch into a family/life makeover of sorts. We are adjusting the premises as described in “7” to what will work best for our family and ministry – if you don’t know these “premises” that I’m talking about, go buy the books. Now. Then you’ll be in the “cool group”, just kidding, but really go get those books – they will change your life, while you laugh and cry simultaneously…you’ll then get my “begrudgingly” comment above.  We have included what our family is committing to do for the next 7 weeks, starting Monday, February 27th and will go through Lent until the week after Easter Sunday. Feel free to follow our journey that we assume will involve caffeine headaches, frustration, photos, joy, freedom and a new sense of Gospel community at www.davidfamilyadventures.com and also on our ministry blog at http://theofficialonechildcampaign.blogspot.com , you can also get there from our main website: www.onechildcampaign.com  Who knows what else God has in store for our family and ministry calling, but we’ve decided to make this drastic change in our life for the next 7 weeks as our next steps of obedience in our walk of faith. Will you join us? Jesus said that He set eternity in our hearts. I never fully understood this statement, but I have a very strong feeling that after the “7” experience, we will understand more as He removes more layers of what we’ve become through the temporary trappings of our culture into more of who He has created us to be. It could get ugly, but we’re willing to take the risk for the beauty of getting to know Him and His people more. I pray this turns into a full lifestyle change and that the simplicity of the Gospel becomes more real to us: to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Caleb, Becca, Sakari and Huxley David Other News... During the first quarter of this year, our focus as a ministry is on strengthening our administrative structure and budget by new commitments from people just like you to become Campaign Partners, so that we can provide our staff with salaries, who are currently volunteering their time. This is not the most glamorous type of giving, but it is the most needed. We believe that the worker is worthy of their hire, please consider becoming a monthly or one-time partner of any amount you can sow into their lives. You or your company can give online at www.onechildcampaign.com  and please include a note that it is for Administrative Salaries, all gifts are tax deductible. You can also mail checks to P.O. Box 702441 Tulsa, OK 74170. Welcome to the David family “7” Manifesto! 1. Food For all 7 weeks, we are committing to eating only 7 types of food: fruits, vegetables, chicken, cheese, whole grain bread, yogurt/butter and eggs. This means I (Caleb) will be giving up coffee (gasp) but I refuse to let go of butter – Julia Childs would be proud.  2. Clothes On week two, we will wear a combination of only 7 pieces of clothing/shoes the whole week.  3. Possessions On week three, we will purge our entire home and give away to those less fortunate. Our minimum goal is to give away 210 possessions, something tells me we’ll find much more. Anything in excess of the 210 items will be sold for debt reduction.  4. Media For all 7 weeks, we will limit our media consumption to 7 hours per week. The exception will be media that is necessary to keep the ministry work functioning, this also however, will be limited and streamlined to checking email, texts and FB twice a day. We will limit the amount of personal texting to only what is vital for real life communication. This one is going to be hard for us! 5. Waste For all 7 weeks, we will focus on recycling, composting and conserving energy. During this time, we will also begin a garden project that we hope to include our family and friends in…aka…I stink at building things and hate pulling weeds, but think if I had some help, I’d love to share the fruits of our labor.  6. Spending For all 7 weeks, we will limit our spending to 7 places: monthly bills/expenses, gas, Sakari’s school, Walmart, Whole Foods, Target and buying local as much as possible.  7. Stress For all 7 weeks, we will be participating in the Seven Sacred Pauses daily and weekly observing the Sabbath. For us, it works best to observe from Saturday sundown to Sunday sundown.   follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend  Copyright © 2012 One Child Campaign, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you have subscribed to the One Child Campaign newsletter or have contacted us in the past. Thank you for your support! Our mailing address is: One Child Campaign P.O. Box 702441 Tulsa, OK 74170 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences