Mood:  caffeinated

Six months ago I spent a week captivated as I followed the trip of a group of bloggers who went to Kenya with Compassion International.

I was joyful with them as they got to meet their sponsored children face to face.

I cried with them as they wept over the living conditions of some of these children.

I was horrified with them as they traveled through one of the world's worst and most dangerous slums to a magnificent Compassion center who served the children that lived in that slum.

I prayed for them as they went home and tried to understand what they had just experienced and what God wanted them to do now.

You can read these stories and more by clicking here. 

Compassion takes two blogger trips a year to countries that they work in around the world. Three weeks ago they took a group to Guatemala. I was attending the fantastic Walk to Emmaus and missed reading their posts. Today, I was going back and trying to catch up. As I was watching some of the videos taken, God gave me the idea for a three part series about one area that these bloggers visited. It's title is "The Hood, the Home and the Hope". All right! I know the hood is kind of pushing it, but it does talk about one neighborHood and I needed an "H" word for continuity.

Anyway, although you may find the alliteration funny, the actual video of the neighborhood is anything but funny. Watch and see what kind of a neighborhood that some children in Guatemala have to live in. This video has no narration ~ only sounds ~ but I don't think words are needed.

Tomorrow we'll look into one of these homes to see the conditions that these children live in.

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Mood:  not sure

I got a call from my sister this evening. Mom isn't doing well. She's been in the hospital for a really bad infection since last Friday. Her vital signs are good, and she's on antibiotics, but all she does is sleep, and she isn't eating. All she had today was a cup of yogurt and half of some type of a protein shake that they had fixed for her. My sister is worried because Mom is on medicaid and and if she is out of the nursing home for ten days they may not save her room. She's going to talk to the doctor in the morning to see what he says. Mom may go back to the nursing home and be put on hospice.

I've never been the type of person where I have to say my "goodbyes" to someone. Mom probably wouldn't know me anyway. I would rather remember someone the way that they were. But, at the same time, I don't want my sister to have to make all of the decisions herself. I'm torn. Should I go up now or wait. I guess I'll wait to find out what the doctor says in the morning.

I hate these type things. I was never really good at handling them. I want to be strong on the outside and the inside, but it is hard for me. So, my question this week is:

How do you fellow men deal with things like this? What are your secrets? Is it okay to be weak sometimes?

Okay, now that I've let all that out, here are the rules:

This is a man's meme, so the answers must be the answers from a man. Either the man can answer on his blog, or a wife can interview her husband for her blog. However, if the wife puts it on her blog, she must stay true to what her husband said.
1. You are encouraged to put a Men's Monday Meme button on your blog. Just copy and paste the button at the top of this post. The more folks who link, the more readers you may have to visit your blog.
2. You may answer the question any time during the week up through next Monday. After you answer the question, add the address to your post to the Mr. Linky below. If you could, please only add the direct link to the post to make it easier for readers to find the entry.
3. My answer (if I remember to post it ) along with a new question will be posted next Monday. The new Mr. Linky will be added at midnight Monday night or sometime within the next couple of days after that .

And here is the new Mr. Linky:

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Mood:  happy

Sorry folks. In all of the excitement of the week, and all of the excitement of the day - good excitement for once  - I forgot to post my new Men's Monday Meme question. So, I'm going to post it tomorrow. And, yes, I'm going to use this lame announcement as my post for the day . Today has just been too busy so I'll try to make tomorrow extra special.

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Mood:  happy

The events of the day are over.

Again, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your prayers.

I was calm. Sarah was angry.

A righteous anger. A mother's anger. A "You can mess with me but how dare you mess with my children" anger.

In the end, as expected, everything turned out all right.

In the end, as expected, the cause of our problems is still not taken care of.

But, in the end, God is still in control and will take care of all things for us.

He will take care of us just as He did today. As our pastor said, "Just let Daddy take care of it".

Thank you Daddy.

And thank you all for praying. 

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Mood:  irritated

I should have known this was going to happen. When you're in ministry it often does. It happens to Christians all of the time.

We're under some heavy spiritual warfare right now. It was just our ministry, but now others are being used by Satan to attack our family.

It's really just one family that is attacking us, but they are making life miserable right now and I'm angry.

I know in Ephesians 6 it talks about putting on the full armor of God and says that our battle is not against flesh and blood. But it is hard not to be angry at this one couple.

I know that God has us in the palm of His hand and nothing can happen to us unless He allows it, but it still hurts and I still wonder why.

I know that many people are praying for us (and I sincerely hope that you will join them), but I still get anxious. And, I know that God says to be anxious for nothing. But it is hard...especially when it comes to your family.

I know the verses in James 1 that talks about God refining us through the problems that we have. But refining hurts and it isn't fun.

I know that people say that whenever Satan is attacking you that you should be ready for great things to happen. But it's hard to wait for the good when you are going through the bad.

I know that I am using too many BUTS, and should be praying, reading scripture, and waiting on Him. As our pastor says, we should let "Daddy" take care of everything. It's hard, though, when your 14 year old physically cries because of what the family is going through.

The father in me wants to go beat some sense in to people because of what they are doing to my family. But I know that's not right.

The human in me sometimes wants to give up. But I know that I can't give Satan the victory.

The carnal side of me wants to cry out to God and ask Him why! Why are you putting my family through this? Aren't we going through enough already with our children's health? Isn't it enough that my 87 year old mother is very ill in the hospital? Why are you putting us through this when all we are trying to do is do your work? I want to scream "Why us?" but the answer I get is, "Why not you?".

Oh, I know God will see us through this. I know that Satan is filling me with discouragement and anxiety and lies. And, I know that great things are going to happen at Good News Mission. In fact, it's already begun. Great things are happening in our personal lives as well.

I know this is just a season we are going through. Just writing this all down and knowing that all of my faithful friends are going to be praying for us has helped.

Please do pray for us. Pray for us particular tomorrow morning, October 4, if you read this in time. If you don't get this in time, please pray for how we should pursue this matter.

Pray especially for ones that Satan is using to attack us. It's a girl in her early 20's and her live in boyfriend. I won't get into details. Just pray.

Thanks for your prayers, and thanks for reading this post. I want you to know, faithful friends and readers, that you all are greatly appreciated and loved.

Tim

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