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I Need you!

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That might seem like a strange blog title, but it is true, I really do need you. This Saturday we will be assembling 250 Ebola Caregiver kits to ship to Sierra Leone. I have partnered with World Vision to help protect the men and women who have courageously chosen to deal with containing this outbreak, as well as helping people through the devastating loss of friends and family.

I really need your help in 3 areas:

1. Funding the cost for 250 kits. The cost is $30.00 per kit. On your phone, text the word “GIVE30” to: 1-855-581-1777 you can donate $30.00 safely and securely.

2. Show up and build some kits. If you are able to come to the gym at Snoqualmie Valley Alliance Church this Saturday from 10am to noon with your family and friends, we will have a great time doing something meaningful together! directions All the items will be grouped in stations ready for us to assemble and prepare for shipping. I will have some info at the bottom of this post about what is in the kit.

3. Spread the word. While Ebola is not a daily threat in the U.S, it is still a crisis in West Africa. Help me keep people informed and motivated to make a difference where they can. Feel free to share this blog post as a way to do just that!

When people in the  U.S heard the report of one or two people confirmed to have entered the States carrying the  EBOLA virus, panick ensued. In Western Africa Ebola is still spreading. In fact, there is widespread belief by WHO and CDC officials that the outbreak numbers are much higher than are being reported.

As of December 12th, 2014 there are now more cases of ebola in Sierra Leone than in Liberia or Guinea with total cases just under 18,000 globally. This is particularly alarming as there remain far fewer ebola treatment centers in Sierra Leone as compared to Liberia. This graph displays the total ebola treatment centers completed or planned in the three countries. Note the significant lack of centers in Sierra Leone. There are currently 4 centers with just 8 more planned.

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What is in the Kit?  Latex gloves, face masks, face shield, protective gown, biohazard waste bag, soap, disinfectant, spray bottle, Acetaminophen, oral rehydration salts, information about disease control, and a handwritten note of encouragement from your congregation

Who determined the contents of the Kit?  Combination of WHO recommendations plus input from WV health experts and World Vision Sierra Leone staff.

Who supplies the products in the Kit?  McKesson, the largest provider of healthcare products in the country, is our supplier.

How will the completed Kits get to Sierra Leone?  Completed Kits will be shipped to Sierra Leone through World Vision’s established supply chain.

In Sierra Leone, World Vision is:
  • Providing personal protective equipment for health professionals
  • Organizing awareness, prevention, and education campaigns
  • Training and coordinating burial teams

World Vision-trained staff in Sierra Leone are organizing massive awareness, prevention, and education campaigns to protect children from the disease through radio and house-to-house information sharing.

The organization is training faith leaders, other influential community authorities, and frontline community health workers to share prevention messages at the community and household levels.

Spiritual leaders, including many pastors, have been central to Ebola prevention efforts. “When so many communities face such terrible suffering, the church must be there to combat fear, stigma, isolation, and hopelessness with both love and tangible support,” said Bruno Col, World Vision communications director in West Africa.

CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden is now expressing concern over the rising cases in Sierra Leone and the need for quick action by major governments and others. “Speed. That’s key to ending the Ebola epidemic, otherwise, Ebola could become a permanent disease in West Africa. That’s exactly the risk we face now. That Ebola will simmer along, become endemic and be a problem for Africa and the world, for years to come,” Frieden tells NPR. “That is what I fear most.”  The biggest challenge right now is in Sierra Leone, he says, where the epidemic shows no signs of slowing down. New cases continue to rise exponentially. Last week, the country reported nearly 400 cases, or more than three times the number of cases reported by Guinea and Liberia combined. (taken from WV church response update)

World Vision is also helping through education. Working together with faith leaders to help inform people about curtailing the spread of Ebola, and helping in a sanitary and dignified way to bury those who have died from the disease.

Bodies of those who have died from Ebola carry high concentrations of the virus that can spread to others through contact. Family members and friends who follow the local practice of washing and preparing their loved ones’ bodies for burial are at high risk of contracting the disease.

With funding from the British Department for International Development (DFID), World Vision is taking a leadership role in training, equipping, and coordinating burial teams to provide burials for Ebola victims in Sierra Leone that preserve tradition, yet prevent further contamination.

World Vision leads a national consortium of organizations providing safe burials, and coordinates burial teams in six districts. When a death call comes into one of the organization’s call centers, an eight-man team responds. (taken from WV church response update)

Thanks for partnering to make a difference.

Monty

Sierra Leone: Safe and dignified burials curb Ebola from World Vision Church on Vimeo.

Ebola Response: Channels of Hope Sierra Leone from World Vision Church on Vimeo.

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NEXT

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Here we are again…

Another inciting incident.
Opinions flow like a river at flood stage.

“You don’t know the facts?” “You missed the point” “You’re ignorant”

As our nation labors under the weight of serious systemic issues  we choose to herald our cyber-bullhorns, which are more about shouting than listening and resolving.

Broad-brushed soundbites of polarized rhetoric.

And then…

NEXT

We saunter off to the next thing showing that we really don’t care at a deep level about the current thing, it’s just the popular outrage. Sure, it seems important enough to flame and shout out loudly what we think (as if we have perfect-objective reality firmly in our grasp), but not important enough to get off the couch and actually DO Something…DO justice.

It amazes me that so many of us think a perfectly worded tweet is the final word on an incident that results in lost lives, lost income, lost values and even lost humanity.

“Surely my Facebook rebuttal is enough to end generations of racism”

“Surely my #hashtag is enough to end corporate greed”

“Surely my instagram picture will be enough to prove a 911 conspiracy”

and then…NEXT…

Have we become the NEXT generation? Have we become a NEXT culture?

In other words, is our current outrage more about entertainment and consumerism than it is about the actual tragedy or incident?

I think they way we respond and then quickly disengage moving onto the NEXT thing reveals an apathy and a narcissism that perpetuates systemic issues.

We live at the surface, and the problems we face are much deeper than the “facts.” And I know someone will more than likely cry out against that last statement.

Courts have to deal with facts, we as a society must deal with truths that lead to justice acknowledging the facts.

Today, consider how fast you move onto the NEXT thing.

Today consider how fast you move on from the LAST thing.

Today consider whether or not an incident will incite you to use your bullhorn only, or actually get off the couch and enter into the pain and brokeness as a healer and helper.

A closing thought to ponder from Martin Luther King Jr.:

“The Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice.”

In light of the current #ferguson battlefield, consider the deeper conversation that is needed before you go NEXT.

 

 

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When Tolerance Backfires

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“The strategy of evil is simple and focused: Make the forces of goodness quit the struggle.”
~International Justice Mission

We live in a hyper-sensitive and hyper-aware culture where events pour into our social-media streams like flood season. How we respond to the onslaught reveals that free thought is often not in vogue. Pick an issue and say the wrong thing and a waterfall of viciousness ensues.

One area where our “tolerance” has hurt us is seen in the insanity that is happening in the Middle East. I recently returned from a trip to Israel and Jordan. It was an intense trip for many reasons, but the conflict between HAMAS and Israel created a unique adventure. Never before have I witnessed a rocket shot by a group like HAMAS at my location and then witnessed that rocket  being intercepted by a defense system (the Iron Dome) that Israel uses to protect her people from constant attacks.

Imagine standing on the beach in Tel Aviv as the sun is beautifully setting…experiencing the first night of your trip with a group hungry for a God-encounter…the sun gracefully easing its way down past the water line…fun, laughter, beauty, excitment…and then:

…sirens
…people running for shelter…
…survival mode kicks in…but not til I get my rocket-selfie!

I installed an app called “Red Alert Israel” I still have it…it still goes off…and I pray. This app plays a siren as soon as HAMAS shoots a rocket at Israel. The app also shows where the rocket is going. The other night the siren was a constant  drone of a depressing tune of violence just as it was every day while I was in Israel.

Each day during the journey, HAMAS was shooting between 20-80+ rockets into populated areas of Israel…by the way, one of the the stated goals of HAMAS is to eliminate Israel.

Israel responded to the attacks…with three warnings. First a warning to the innocent Palestinian people communicating when an counter-attack would be coming so that they could evacuate. Second, they sent texts and made calls to known numbers of people within the response zone. Third a “tap on the roof” announcing that the time was imminent. Have you ever heard of a war where one side worked that hard NOT to hurt people…HAMAS sure has not operated similarly. But we sure didn’t  hear about that from our news media.

Unfortunately while HAMAS soldiers hid in the numerous caves they built in order to attack Israel, they would not allow their people to find safety in them nor were they allowed to leave…why? they needed dead bodies and images of destruction so that media like CNN would become their propaganda machine. It worked, we bought it…but it was a lie on the ethical level.

HAMAS wants genocide…Israel wants to protect her people.

I was stunned watching news reports about the conflict when I was there. I was amazed at the twisting…I was angry at the deception…I was sad that our reporters bought a lie and then spoon-fed it to the public who also bought the lie. our media made Israel the aggressor and HAMAS/GAZA the victim.

It has consistently been HAMAS that has refused to negotiate.

It has consistently been HAMAS that breaks the cease-fires.

It has consistently been HAMAS that fires the first shot.

Come on, be honest, If Canada or Mexico did to us in the States what HAMAS is doing to Israel…you would demand that we do whatever it takes to end the conflict and protect our people…yet we don’t allow Israel the same option. Perhaps the reason we don’t think as logically when it comes to Israel/HAMAS is because we have perverted the understanding of tolerance.

No one wants to see innocent children or families killed…but has our “new tolerence” blinded our eyes to the truth.

ISIS is out of control in IRAQ crucifying people who convert from Islam to Christianity…forcing people out of their homes if they won’t convert to Islam…Destroying religious relics like The Tomb of Jonah…We could go on about Al Qaeda, Taliban, Hezbollah etc.

But here we are fighting a tolerance notion that all faiths are the same…that Islam is a peaceful religion…we now have neighbors who follow Islam so we need to be nice, right?

True, we need to be nice…True, there is a growing number of Muslims…True, there are some commonalities between the faiths…

But what is not true is that militant Islam is a religion of peace…non-committed muslims may be peaceful but they seem to be the exception not the global norm.

In some ways it seems like we are being set up for a modern-day crusade…have we learned? Some have, but not all it seems.

We are called to compassion, mercy, and grace…but we are wrong when we think we must choose between Truth and Tolerance…if we do that, the body count will continue to rise, and no one should tolerate that.

My fear is that we won’t wake up to this truth until it hits us hard in our streets…and then it will be too late.

As I typed that last line, my Red Alert Israel app just went off…two more HAMAS rockets were shot into Israel at a town called Moatza Ezroit Eshkol…

Pray for the innocent people in GAZA and Israel who are living this every day…

Pray that the global community would wake up and deal with the real threat of militant Islam…

These genocidal atrocities won’t go away just by being nice and tolerant.

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Teachers That Make A Difference

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Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. ~Benjamin Franklin

Since this week is teacher appreciation week, I took a moment today to think about and pray for all the teachers that impacted my life, helping me to grow into the person that I am today. No one is a “self-made” person. I realize that many people think they are, but the truth of the matter is that we are all products of our biology and biography.

When I speak in public, my father’s friends hear my dad.

When I play the piano, the inspiration of Keith Green paved the way.

When I write, an army of dead biblio-mentors sing through my words.

So, in more ways than we know, we are products of the investments, good and bad, of other people. Teachers make a sizeable investment into the forging of our lives. Here are a few of the teachers that I thought of today:

1. Mrs. Stein, my first grade teacher. Yes, truly she was my first crush. I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. The most talented woman in the world. The best at just… everything! Many smitten school-boys would find themselves accidentally hanging out near her house. Luckily for me she lived in the neighborhood. 1st grade is a crucial year. First grade teachers help us become students, little humans, entering into the journey of learning. Thank you Mrs. Stein.

2. Mr. Grady, my 7th – 12th grade band teacher. More than any other teacher, Mr. Grady, or JW as we called him, impacted my life. He was a true renaissance man. He wanted us cultured, savvy, engaged and involved in the music. He challenged me more than any other teacher…forgave me more than any other teacher…frustrated me more than any other teacher…and invested in me more than any other teacher. My continued involvement with music to this day is because of his investment in me. Music has not merely been a thing I do, but truly, a core piece of who I am. Of all the teachers that I have had, he is the one that I hope is proud of who I have become. Thank you Mr. Grady.

3. Ms. Itig, freshman literature teacher. Ok, maybe another slight crush here (you see the pattern right), but, for the first time in my life I developed a love and hunger for reading. It all began with the book “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and today you might say I have a reading addiction. Thank you Ms. Itig.

4. Mr. Kelly, US History and World Civ. teacher. Mr. Kelly was also my church league basketball coach when I was just a little guy, so I thought I would have an easy go of it in his class…not so much. Mr. Kelly was an incredible teacher, and my time with him opened my eyes to justice issues, government structures and problems as well as skills in navigating the civilization in which we live. Mr. Kelly introduced me to Leo Buscaglia who in turn opened up a beautiful concept of love that was beyond my experience. He seemed tough on the outside, but I could tell he cared for all his students. Thank you Mr. Kelly.

The teachers that I remember the most are the ones who went beyond teaching a core curriculum and involved me in something bigger.

Jean Piaget tells us that:

“The principal goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done.“

Education is so much more than test scores and memorizing data.

It is about the curation of the soul…

It is about the formation of the heart…

It is about the unleashing and expansion of the mind beyond the understanding of the previous generations…

In many ways education is a dance between student and teacher as they discover the music that each bring to the process. In an article titled “Uncommon Core” my friend Steve Peha writes:

Education is a deeply personal endeavor. Just as every learner  is unique, so is every teacher. Educators have many things in common, but at their core each possesses something uncommon: their individuality. What makes us unique can’t easily be defined. But in education, it often has to do with the strengths, affinities, and experiences that educators bring to their work and that students bring to school with them each day.  This is the uncommon core. It’s not just what makes us unique, it’s often what makes us uniquely successful. When we tap our strengths, we find the talent to master our challenges. When we tune our attitudes, we connect with a purpose larger than ourselves. When we turn to our affinities—the things to which we are naturally attracted—we unleash our passions and discover our dreams. (check out his web site teaching that makes sense)

The teachers that make the greatest impact are those who have integrated their passion and their understanding together to create a learning environment. In this sense, the best teachers are artists not just information portals.

The art of teaching is a gift, and can easily be lost when we measure the wrong things. In his book “The Courage To Teach” Parker Palmer notes: “Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.” 

So, to all the teachers out there:

  • Thank you for the long hours you put in most days beyond the contract…
  • Thank you for investing your own money into the lives of your students when the funding doesn’t cover it…
  • Thank you for lovingly caring for a classroom full of kids that lack grace and manners…
  • Thank you for seeing the gold in our children that most people miss…
  • Thank you for creating a world of learning and not just regurgitating the information in the book…
  • Thank you for teaching our kids how to think, not just what to think…
  • Thank you for choosing a career that doesn’t always get many thanks…

This week teachers, may you be reminded of who you are:

“I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” ~Robert Frost