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Many of you know I've been trying to memorize the 24 prayers in "I Confess My Faith", the prayers written by Nersess Shnorhali. I'm on #23 now and in commiting it to memory, I'm blown away by the beauty of this prayer:
"All-merciful Lord, have mercy upon all Your faithful, on those who are mine and on those who are strangers; on those whom I know and on those whome I know not, on the lving and on the dead. And forgive all my enemies, and those who hate me, the trespasses that they have committed against me. Turn them from the malice which they bear toward me, that they may be worthy of Your mercy. Have mercy upon Your Creatures and upon me, a great sinner."
Wow. So isn't that cool? I mean, we're asking our Lord to forgive people that hate us, and to turn them away from that hatred....and why? So they can be worthy of God's mercy. I mean, it shouldn't be surprising....Christ did the same for us. He forgave the very people that crucified Him. But that was Christ. He's perfect. He's capable of that. What about me? Am I capable? I'm trying.
This prayer has had a great impact on me. (Can you tell?) I've been able to forgive. But I don't really know about taking it a step further...taking The Next Step...and praying the extra prayer that asks God to be merciful toward them. That's big.
I just wanted to throw this out there to you all. And share this beautiful prayer. Please pray for me that I can open my heart and strive to really live this prayer...to breathe this prayer. It's beautiful.
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The hot summer night brought more homeless out on the streets and over to our cars as we pulled up this past Monday during our monthly outreach. We had our usual hot soup, water bottles, sweet treats and clothing, but this time we also had some canned goods, bakery cookies from Fiona (Haig's friend). We also had with us four newbies - Greg, Marina, Gary, and his son Marco. But there was something missing -- SUZIE! Before I go on, I wanted to say that we missed hearing Suzie's laughter and feeling the joy that she brings to our outreach.
It was warm on the streets, but I felt that this month, people tended to be in good spirits. Sure, there were the difficulties, but we didn't experience (at least I didn't), the little aggressive outbursts that sometimes happen. Susan and Varouj worked distributing clothing, canned goods out of their car. Nancy and Marina worked on water and clothing. Koko had his usual soup duty, Nareg distrubuted treats. It was warm out. And people were thirsty. I had purchased 5 cases of water, and we ran out by our 5th or 6th stop! But our homeless brothers and sisters were grateful for what we had brought to them. We kept hearing, at each stop, "Thank you for coming here." "God Bless You." That makes it all worth it!
I'll share something that was so simple and basic but made me feel good. At one of our stops, I was greeted by a smiley faced, Hispanic man with a thick accent. He was so happy to see us. Came right up to me "Hey! How you been? I haven't seen you in long time! You okay? Nice to see you." I mean, it was sweet. He recognized me from previous times and came up to just talk and see how things were going. It's the little things.
At that same stop, there was a man named Alan. When we were packing up, he came up and thanked many of us personally. Shaking our hands. Introducing himself. Thanking us again for coming out. As we pulled out of that site, we had people waving goodbye and blessing us.
I didn't see my friend Tara, though I asked about her. If you remember from last month, word was that she had been badly pistol-whipped. I asked another woman, Terri, if she had heard from her/about her. She said she hadn't seen her, but that everyone knew about her fate last month. She said it was pretty bad. Please continue to pray for Tara.
We were like a well-oiled machine. Greg had never been out with us. I asked Greg if he'd help Koko distribute the soup. I noticed that in the beginning, things were moving slow....but by the end of the evening, Greg had gotten the system down and was working like a veteran. I was very proud of Marco, who must be only about 11 or 12? not sure. But he was distributing water bottles with his dad, Gary.
I felt proud of our group. I know that God was smiling just as we were. I am honored to be part of such an amazing group of people, and our In His Shoes ministry.
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Hi Everyone,
I wanted to pass on this website and this request for support to all of you. Our very own Nancy and Iris Salem, two sisters, will be walking this coming weekend in a half marathon from Napa Valley to Sonoma, 13.5 miles!! I'm asking that you read her very beautifully written letter and pray for the two of them, that God will give them strength and ease and that their efforts will be blessed in helping to find a cure for this disease. I also ask that you please, if you are able, support the cause. I received this email this morning and was truly touched. I wanted to share it with all of you. God bless these two sisters, walking for a cause!
Dear Friends,
I hope that this letter finds you well and in good spirits. Please
allow me a moment to share with you something that I am doing with my
sister, Iris. I have begun an incredible journey with my sister Iris.
We decided to join Team Challenge in order to complete the Napa to
Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon to raise money and awareness for
Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. On July 20, we will be greeted
with 13.1 miles of picturesque scenery, warm wind through the grape
fields and one of the BEST half marathon finishes in the country!
My connection to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA)
and this half marathon are directly related to Iris. In 2000 when Iris
was 15 years old, she was hospitalized at Children’s Hospital with an
unknown illness. She had progressively lost weight and become
extremely weak. At the time, my family and I knew NOTHING about
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Now, 8 years later we are very aware of
the impact that these diseases have on the lives of patients who are
diagnosed with them. My sister was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis
and has been one of a small percentage of patients who do not respond
well to the treatment options. However, through all of her struggles
she was able to graduate from UC San Diego last June 2007 and by the
Grace of God, has worked hard through lifestyle modifications and with
a variety of treatments to successfully manage her illness.
In honor of her strength I decided to join CCFA in raising funds and
awareness for research leading to improved treatment options and a
cure for Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.
We have been training with the Southern California Team Challenge for
the half marathon since April of 2008 and are excited and committed to
this event. As participants in the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s
Team Challenge program, we are also committed to raising $7,000 for
the Foundation by August 10, 2008. So far we have raised $4200.
We hope that you would be able to support this cause that is close to
our hearts. If you are able to support us financially, you can log on
to the following website and donate online:
http://www.active.com/donate/napa08laoc/nancysalem
Your financial support will be greatly appreciated as you help us
reach our goal!!! For your record, CCFA’s Federal Tax ID number is:
13-6193105.
Thank you in advance for your prayers, support, love and good wishes.
Most Sincerely,
Nancy
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I wanted to thank those of you who prayed for me this past weekend. The presentation at St. Marks Episcopal went really well, as far as conveying the information, showing the videos, answering questions and generating interest. But I would be lieing if I didn't say I was disappointed that I didn't get any children sponsored as a result.
I received good feedback and some constructive criticism as well. One of the attendees came up to me at the end and told me that he didn't want to be guilted into something like sponsorship. That just because we have food and others didn't, that didn't make him a bad person. (which it doesn't), but that it was more of a distribution problem. He suggested that I present the positive aspects of sponsorship first. "Show the good things." I've been thinking about this. At first I was thinking that perhaps he's right. Maybe I needed to start the presentation off in a more positive note. Show what World Vision has done to help those less fortunate. But the more I think about it, the more I disagree.
Hunger is not pretty. Poverty is not nice. There's no way to sugar-coat it. The facts are this:
* Every day 6,000 children are orphaned by AIDS.
* Every day, 30,000 children die of hunger. (I mean, think about how we would react if , God forbid, a jumbo jet filled with children were to go down, and all those inside were to perish Well, think about this happening dozens of times...DAILY. Mind blowing.
* Everyday, Americans spend $1 billion on eating out; everyday 799,000,000 people don't get to eat.
* The average teenager spends about $100 a week. $100 a week could pay for the education of two children for the year in Africa.
But I prayed for Divine Guidance, and as usual, God never fails me. After the presentation, we went to church. I brought the picture folders of the children in with me and they were beside me on the pew. My friend next to me told me how she sponsors a child. And another one of our parishioners heard her. He said, "I have been wanting to sponsor a child, and I don't know where to go." Right then and there he chose two children to sponsor.
After church, Fr. Vazken told me, of another family that is interested, and I spoke with some others after church as well. This morning, on the bus, I had the World Vision envelope in hand in order to mail it off when I got to the office. The woman who sat next to me saw the envelope and shared that she too sponsors a child, in Niger. We started talking about volunteering, and I found out that she volunteers visiting hospice patients in our community and said they are always looking for volunteers. So we exchanged emails. I know it's all part of God's plan how these things happen.
We got home, and another great thing happened. The phone rang and it was my son. He was inquiring about when our next homeless outreach. He came along for the first time last time and was so touched, he would like to come along regularly. And although I know we like to rotate participants because our outreach is so popular, I was thankful to God filling him with compassion, in his busy life, to care for the homeless.
Sooooooooooo.....all in all, it was an amazing day filled with God's presence, guidance and love.
Like I said in the beginning, thank you for your prayers!
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Let's do a little visual exercise: What does a loaf of bread cost? On the average, $3.50 - $4.00. Half the people in the world, live on less than $2 a day.....so just for the sake of a visual, cut that loaf of bread in half. We've all read recently about grain shortages...and how the price of grain has doubled. So cut that half a loaf of bread in half again. You're left with a 1/4 loaf. And many needy families have 6-8 members per family. So ....let's say your quarter loaf of bread has about 4 slices to it. Imagine then having to feed your entire family on that quarter loaf. All you'd really get to eat, FOR THE ENTIRE DAY, is just a half a slice of bread. For many people all over the world, this is their reality. A half a slice of bread a day.
As a Child Ambassador for World Vision, we were made aware of a huge Hunger Crisis that is affecting our world, and hitting especially hard in the countries of Ethiopia, Chad, Sri Lanka, Niger, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Condo, Nicaragua, Uganda and Bangeladesh.
We are running a campaign to get as many children sponsored from these countries as we possibly can. I'm trying my best to speak out for these children by arranging some speaking arrangements to make my presentation. And to share this message with you as well.
If any of you are interested in Child Sponsorship, please contact me. The cost is $30 a month for a child, and $35 a month for a Hope Child (a child whose life is impacted by AIDS). If this speaks to you, please visit my website: http://connect.worldvision.org/person/anush and click on the "sponsor" button. You'll be directed to an area where you can see the beautiful children that need our love, support and prayers. It's only about a dollar a day. Less than the cost of one cup of coffee.
If the time is not right for you to sponsor right now, please pray for these children and their families; and I ask that you pray for me, so God will give me the voice to carry this message/ministry forward.
Please message me if you might have any questions.
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