Sports in perspective

This is a letter from a die-hard sports fan.

On Sept. 19, Baylor lost. On Sept. 20, the Texas Rangers’ season died. The next Sunday night, the Dallas Cowboys lost their first game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

On Monday morning after reading my Open Windows and praying for our missionaries, I got out the new Baptist Hymnal and read the words from “The Solid Rock.”

Here are some things to remember about sports, whether your team loses or wins:

• The most important thing in life is knowing Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.

• Are you doing everything in your power and the Holy Spirit’s power to go and tell others that Jesus saves? One way to do this is to give to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions.

• Ask yourself, “Will this game matter 100 years from now?”

• Whoever wins or loses this game, always remember it does not cure cancer, balance the federal budget, effect war and peace, have any bearing on whether you go to heaven or hell.

David Steging

Fort Worth

Who needs NAMB?

With all the hoopla that I have been reading lately about the Southern Baptist Convention’s concern over the North American Mission Board, I am confused about something.

I don’t understand why there is a NAMB. I thought missions and missionaries were supposed to bring the gospel to those people who have never heard it. How many living in the U.S.A. and Canada and Mexico have never heard of Jesus or his saving grace?

In Mark 16, Jesus instructs his disciples: “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.”

Isn’t it now our obligation only to see to it that everyone is given the opportunity to hear the word? Why do we have to plant churches where there are already churches? Why do churches engage in offering meals to college kids? These kids already know of Christ. Are we trying to bribe them? Or force them into believing? Once sharing the gospel, our work is done. God does the rest.

My point is: Why the effort to “save” America when people in far remote areas of this world are still waiting to hear and be saved.

Mick Tahaney

Port Arthur

Gun-toting ministers

A Detroit pastor recently got a call from his security company that a burglar alarm had gone off at his church. So he took his gun, went to the church, and shot a suspected thief in the stomach.

He could have called the police. He could have told the trespasser that stealing was wrong and offered him some counseling. Maybe he could have offered him a temporary job doing some work around the church. But instead, he shot the guy. What would Jesus do if he encountered a suspected thief?

Ministers are people just like you and me, but they are role models and should try to set good examples. How can this pastor ever preach about peacemaking, forgiveness and turning the other cheek? How can he ever quote the Golden Rule? How can he deliver a sermon about loving our neighbor and enemies?

Christian ministers shouldn’t be carrying guns and shooting people.

Chuck Mann

Greensboro, N.C.

What do you think? We value hearing from you. Send letters to Editor Marv Knox by mail: P.O. Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267; or by e-mail: marvknox@baptiststandard.com. Due to space considerations, limit letters to 250 words, and only one letter per writer per quarter.

As Texas Baptists prepare to gather in Houston for our annual meeting, we cannot neglect the needs that plague Texas’ largest city. Half of Harris County does not belong to a church. With a population estimate of 4 million, there are approximately 2 million unchurched people in the Houston area.

As part of City Reach 2009, the Baptist General Convention of Texas will conduct several activities to share the hope of Christ throughout Houston. With God’s help, we can reach out to Houston’s unchurched and those in need.

Our Texas Hope 2010 challenge is to communicate the hope of Christ with every person in Texas. Thousands of men and women, and even youth, are in prisons and jails across our state. Reaching them with the good news of Christ requires unique training and access.

As part of the City Reach initiative, the BGCT is partnering with Bill Glass Champions for Life to bring prominent sports figures to area prisons to meet with and minister to prisoners. Our goal is to recruit 700 volunteers to visit more than 15,000 incarcerated in Houston.

Bill Glass, an all-pro defensive end, has spent his post-football years preaching in prisons throughout the world for decades. Glass said he has spent so much time in prisons, if he is ever convicted of a crime, he already will have served the time.

He is a member of First Baptist Church in Waxahachie and was the first professional athlete I met. I was a seventh grader in Iredell, where my father was the pastor. They both were students at Southwestern Seminary, and Glass preached a revival in our church. He was the biggest man I’d seen. His powerful preaching stirred the hearts of our community, and many made commitments to Christ.

Even though his football career ultimately came to an end, he continued his calling to evangelism, preaching in citywide crusades but primarily equipping churches to reach out to prisoners through evangelism and discipleship. His team is committed to working with Texas Baptists in Texas Hope 2010, including equipping volunteers to share their faith in Houston prisons as part of City Reach.

Henry Blackaby recently related to the Bill Glass organization that he sees God’s greatest activities at this time in the Fortune 500 CEO’s group he has been facilitating and in the revivals occurring in the nation’s prisons. Tomi Grover of the BGCT staff said, “This work of God is no surprise to those of us who work in restorative justice ministries and who go to prisons for ministry on a regular basis.”

Champions for Life brings evangelism training to the churches, igniting their folks to share their faith within the environment of the prison. Volunteers are required to participate in training events Thursday and Friday, Nov. 12-13. Volunteers will receive valuable training in prison evangelism as well as the rules and regulations required in these institutions.

If you wish to be one of the 700 volunteers, register to participate by Oct. 21. Additional information may be found at www.bgct.org under the Annual Meeting/City Reach.

Randel Everett is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.

The age of mission is not over. But the style and method of missions is forever changed.

In The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman talks about a triple convergence of the wall, the mall and the players. He describes the fall of the wall of communist ideology, the new access to free markets and the new players rushing onto the field.

A global triple convergence is happening in the field of Christian mission. The walls of denominationalism, hierarchies and continents have come down. Neither distance nor time matters. The playing field has changed, demanding a new way of working. Now the field is flooded with new players.

Seventy percent of the world’s Christians are in the Southern Hemisphere, Africa, Latin America and in the eastern bloc of South East Asia and China. In a flat world, doing mission is increasingly a horizontal collaboration. The majority-world church is jettisoning the former western approach and engaging in the mission of God very holistically. Evangelism and church planting are important. But they are very New Testament in not fragmenting the needs of people into sacred and secular categories.

Christ died for the whole person. The mission of God is a kingdom agenda.

Baylor University’s School of Social Work is committed to educate men and women for worldwide leadership through integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community. Proof of that commitment is a new program launched this year called Global Mission Leadership.

Experienced Christian community development leaders from East and Southeast Asia were chosen for the inaugural launch of the program. These students traveled to Waco from their countries and will engage in both theological and social work training.

Sovannara Moch, a Cambodian woman, is one of those students. Moch wants to help the children of her country escape crushing poverty that often leads to enslavement in the global sex-trafficking industry. “I believe that God loves me equally as those who are hurting and those who hurt others, too,” she explained. “God has called me and put a passion in my heart to serve the hurting and the oppressed.”

Moch and the other chosen students will return home for three weeks at the end of the first semester, return to Waco for another year of study, then accomplish their internships back in their home countries—a contextualized equipping process. Upon completion of their work in about two years, they will have in hand a certificate in theological studies and a degree in social work. That is the first part of the equation.

Now comes the exciting part. The students entered into a covenant agreement to become disciplers—trainers of trainers. The program is designed to reproduce itself continuously. The initial training process in Waco and another country enables the School of Social Work to multiply itself many times over without engaging in a brain-drain from any one country. Eureka!

Friedman quotes the Indian magazine Outlook that describes that country’s “Liberalization” children known as Zippies. They are young city or suburban residents with a zip in their stride. They belong to Generation Z, male or female, studying or working. They ooze with attitude, ambition and aspiration. Cool, confident and creative, they seek challenges, love risk and shun fear. That is what 21st century mission calls for—a host of missio-zippies who seek challenges, love risk and shun fear. The Global Mission Leadership program of the School of Social Work at Baylor is at the cutting-edge of producing those kinds of leaders.

Bill O’Brien is a visiting mission scholar-in-residence at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary in Waco.

Not long ago, I was reviewing some journal entries from my study through Experiencing God. At some point I had stopped—several months back—and I couldn’t remember the reason. So, I turned to the last entry: “I cannot say ‘yes.’”

I remember now the fear that the idea of an emphatic “yes” had carried. “Yes” had brought me to Africa—alone. “Yes” had separated me from my family and friends—for a year. “Yes” was uncomfortable and lonely. “Yes” was out of the question.

But as I read that entry, a broad, goofy smile spread across my face. Somewhere within the past few months, Christ changed my heart.  He romanced my soul, and I had said “yes.” 

There is a deep theological concept here concerning a progression that must occur to transform a person from being a “conditional follower” to one who can pronounce an emphatic “yes” to Christ. 

Several weeks ago, I read about an interview with the Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. When posed the question as to the basis and method of her success, she merely replied: “I am a great writer because when I was a little girl and walked into a room where my father was sitting, his eyes would light up. That is why. … There is no other reason.”

Consider the disciples, knowing without a doubt that the God of all creation loved each one of them personally, regardless of anything they were or did.  He loved them. When one is truly loved unconditionally, when one has grown in the deepest, most fulfilling relationship, there is nothing a person wouldn’t do for the sake of that lover. This is what fueled the disciples through their ministries, what—as tradition testifies—compelled most to their deaths—love for Christ. Why? Because of his great love.

I think, as evangelical Christians, we often become inoculated to the gospel of Christ, and even to the Gospels themselves—reading through the pages, getting caught up in our own agendas concerning politics, theology, or next week’s sermon—and somehow begin to neglect the beauty and truth that lies in the person of Christ Jesus. That’s why we find such difficulty in saying “yes” to him. It is not that we lack the desire to be like Christ or that we lack the desire to please him. Instead, it is simply our failure to know him, because to know him is to love him. 

Indeed, “yes” still leaves me here in Africa—alone. “Yes” still leaves me separated from my family and friends—for a year.  “Yes” remains uncomfortable and lonely.  But the Creator of the universe loves me, and so I am finally compelled to live for him who died for me.

Jessica Young, a Wayland Baptist University graduate, is serving with Go Now Missions in Kenya.

Over pumpkin spice lattes, a young woman asked me about the meaning of baptism. Over green tea, a sorority girl celebrated the reality that in Christ she is made new. Over caramel macchiatos, a new friend described her desire to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation so she can know how great this God is to whom she prays.

As I walk away from coffee dates, I exalt Christ, thanking him in my heart, for going before us and preparing our time.

I am privileged to meet with multiple young women one-on-one each week to study the Scriptures and to wrestle through hard issues in life. Some of these women are not yet believers but want to understand the character of God and his story before they choose to commit their lives to him. Also, I meet with new followers of Christ and with ones who have been disciples for many years.

  STUDENTS ON MISSION

The hunger within these students to comprehend the very words of God is beyond explanation. The Holy Spirit has stirred within their hearts a desire for spiritual things, and undoubtedly the Spirit is drawing them closer to Jesus.

To sit beside a 20-something-year-old girl who just read an unfading promise of God for the first time and then come to discover that very promise was meant for her is an exhilarating thing. Stories in the Bible I’ve heard for so long, they have never heard. And they are awestruck by the hope that fills Jesus’ words.

I long to approach the very words of God with the same fresh and eager eyes as they do. They are not merely gaining knew information; rather transformation of their life is happening. Limitless treasures are embedded within the pages of this precious and holy book we call the Bible. Day by day, I witness eternal truth set the hearts of young women free. Together, we learn how we can apply the deep truths of Scripture to our lives in practical ways. I learn from these young women, too.

Jane Owen is a student missionary correspondent serving with Go Now Missions in the Pacific Northwest.

Once upon a time, I attended a church—and you’re probably familiar with the type—where longtime-and-savvy members intentionally planned weekend trips about this time of year. They knew October was “stewardship month. “ That, of course, meant four Sundays in a row when the pastor bombarded us with sermons about tithing. Most of the church-skippers, or at least a solid minority of them, already tithed and believed in tithing. They just didn’t want to hear about it every Sunday for a month.

Those fellow church members who carefully planned fall-foliage excursions to evade tithing sermons came to mind recently. Our New Voice Media partnership decided the cover package for this edition of the Standard and our partner newspapers would focus on stewardship. Oh, great. You probably don’t want to think about tithing and/or church-giving, either. And some of you will write letters arguing that tithing isn’t even appropriate for Christians.

Still, we all need to think about stewardship from time to time. Thinking about what stewardship means and how we plan our budgets—as families, as churches and as religious organizations—is good discipline, particularly during periods of economic difficulty.

So, since we’ve raised the issue, I’d like to channel our thinking to three aspects of stewardship:

• Money. “Show me your budget, and I’ll show you your priorities,” a wise seminary professor once told his students. “If you say you value something but don’t allocate your budget to make sure you get it done, then it’s not as important to you as you claim.”

He was correct, of course. Baptists are good at knowing what to say about our values, but sometimes we fall short of performance when we fail to put our money where our mouths are. If we say we believe in missions and ministry and evangelism but fail to support those vital tasks with our personal and church budgets, then we prove we don’t mean it. This has been glaringly clear the past few months, as the nation debates what to do about health care. Many Christians argue care for those whom Jesus called “the least of these” is “the church’s job.” But very few churches have mobilized their budgets to provide that kind of support for anyone in their community, much less the state and beyond. So, do we mean what we say? Do our budgets validate our beliefs?

• Natural resources. Sometimes, when we discuss environmental issues, we get sidetracked by the debate over global warming. But more and more, people of care and goodwill are setting that debate aside and focusing on preservation of natural resources. Call it a parental—or maybe a grandparental—impulse. We don’t want to be the generation that irreparably fouled the air and polluted the water.

So, we’re seeing a green revolution. It’s a civil action in an incivil society. And increasing numbers of churches and Christians are getting involved. It should be a testimony of our call to creation care.

• Time. At its root, how we spend our time is the stewardship of our lives. Time is our most nonrenewable resource. Spend it, and we never get it back.

So, as a matter of Christian stewardship, we must think about how we utilize the gift of the moments that aggregate into our lives. This requires balance, because not only should we work and work hard, we also need time for fellowship with family and friends, worship and ministry, sabbath relaxation and rest, and reflection upon all we hold important.

But we don’t have time to waste, because wasting time is wasting the life God gave us. As we recognize the holiness of being created in God’s image and the value of the life entrusted to us, we become prayerful, thoughtful and careful stewards of not only our years, but also our seconds.

Our friends Heidi and David recently came to town. This was a big deal—a highlight of the year.

The last time Joanna saw Heidi and David was Thanksgiving weekend, 1982. Jo and I lived in Louisville, Ky., where I attended seminary. We drove out to Overland Park, Kan., where Heidi and David had lived for just more than two years. The last time I saw them was the summer of 1984, when the Southern Baptist Convention held its meeting in Kansas City, near their home.

Heidi and David were our first “couple friends.” They and we moved to Atlanta in the late summer of 1979. David had enrolled as a graduate student at Georgia Tech, and Jo and I had moved there so I could take a job with the old Southern Baptist Home Mission Board.

We visited Weiuca Road Baptist Church on the same September Sunday. That church was mammoth, and if memory serves me correctly, it had an entire Sunday school department for folks who were born from 1955 to 1957. Jo spied Heidi and David—big-eyed and quiet—in Sunday school and whispered to me, “I think this is their first Sunday here, too.” Later that morning, we saw them in the sanctuary, and Jo walked up and asked, “Can we sit by you, because you look as lonely as we feel?”

In an instant, we became fast friends. (By the way, that’s a great argument for Sunday school. It’s a terrific place to make friends, which is a huge part of what being church is all about.) Over the next year, we spent scads of weekend evenings and Sunday afternoons together—eating meals, playing games, seeing sights and filling the deep places in our lives with each other’s company and the sound of our laughter.

Well, we moved far apart and raised families. But we kept in touch by sharing Christmas cards.

So, when we heard they were coming to town and wondered if we had time to get together for dinner, we were surprised and thrilled.

We didn’t need to wonder if we would recognize them. When we pulled into the parking lot of their hotel, it was like driving back in time. They still looked practically the same as they did when we first met them three decades ago. If you’ve ever noticed my picture, you can imagine my looks have changed a ton in 30 years, but not Heidi and David. Jo and I would’ve recognized them spontaneously anywhere in the world.

Even better, their kind, generous, faithful spirits haven’t changed, either. We instantly recalled why we first loved them long ago.

And so, we enjoyed a long evening. We ate New Mexican food, talked about our children and careers and churches. We lingered over dessert and coffee, but more, we savored the sweetness of friendship that has stood the test of time.

As we dropped them off, I couldn’t help but thank God for allowing Jo and me to intersect with Heidi and David and other friends whose lives have blessed us beyond measure.

A member of our Bible study group insists we don’t need to bother much with the Old Testament, because “we are New Testament people.” Do you think we should uphold ethical values and virtues from the Old Testament? If so, how do they relate to the New Testament?

Your friend is correct in saying we Christians are a New Testament people. However, that doesn’t mean the Old Testament is unimportant to our process of deciding right and wrong. Think of the Bible as a library. In truth, that’s what it is. It’s our library of sacred, authoritative books. We call it our canon, which means we believe these books are God-inspired Scripture. Think of the books of the Old Testament as Part One, and the books of the New Testament as Part Two. They’re separate but connected to each other. If you use only one, your perspective will be incomplete, and you’ll be missing part of God’s revelation. The New Testament flows from the Old Testament and completes it.

Understanding the interdependency of the testaments helps us make ethical decisions in at least three ways.

First, it helps us understand the background of commands we find in the New Testament. For example, when we read in Matthew 5:21 that Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder,’ and anyone who murders is subject to judgment,” it helps to know he was quoting Old Testament passages like Exodus 20:13 and Genesis 9:6. An examination of such passages helps us understand what Jesus meant when he referred to them.

Second, being aware of the interdependency of the testaments helps us see that Jesus and the New Testament writers assumed the authority and inspiration of Old Testament commands. They operated from the matrix of the Old Testament. Matthew 5:17 records that Jesus said, “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” The phrase “Law or the Prophets” referred to what we call the Old Testament. Jesus never set aside Old Testament commands. He extended and fulfilled them.

Third, the interdependency of the testaments helps us explore issues the New Testament doesn’t discuss at length. For example, the New Testament doesn’t speak at length about issues like social justice. This isn’t because early Christians considered social justice unimportant. It’s because they assumed the authority of Old Testament statements on the subject.

As we formulate our ethical decisions guided by the Holy Spirit, we should draw on the entire library of God’s sacred books. Because we are a New Testament people, we believe that the commands of the New Testament must have the final word when we make ethical decisions. However, the Old Testament witness should be an important source for our ethical decisions as well.

Robert Prince, pastor

First Baptist Church, Waynesville, N.C.

Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.

How do you define the health of today’s church in Texas? Vibrant? Dynamic? Static? Of course, the answer depends on the particular church you attend. I’m certain we have churches that fit all three descriptions. Yet my overall opinion, based on the fact half of Texans claim no church affiliation, is that our churches are not vibrant.

I have paraphrased some information from Erwin McManus’ book, An Unstoppable Force, to indicate some trends that characterize declining churches.

• Survival, rather than service, has become the goal.

• Leaders are equipped to preserve the past rather than create the future.

• The church has become a fortress from the world rather than the hope of the world.

• The church has turned to politics rather than spiritual awakening.

• We have kept our traditions and lost our children.

• The church has begun to exist for the benefit of its members.

• Christians have developed a selfish theology.

• The church has become an institution rather than a movement.

This description is quite different from the church Jesus describes in Matthew 16:18, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” The Apostle Paul prays for the church, “… that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18-19).

Paul continues to pray, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19). The church described in Ephesians is the fullness of Christ, and Christ is the fullness of the church.

The church that is the body of Christ is a dynamic, living instrument of the Holy Spirit that is God working in the world to reflect righteousness, not selfishness; passion, not complacency; humility, not arrogance; charity, not greed; hope, not despair. The world does not need the church to be clever but to be authentic.

Sharing the hope of Christ with everyone in Texas requires planning, hard work and participation from all of us. However, unless our efforts are born of God and empowered by God, Texas Hope 2010 will be just another marketing ploy. Our goal is not to help the BGCT to survive or even to thrive; our aim must be to fulfill Christ’s commands to make disciples of all people.

Pray for our churches to be a part of a movement of the Holy Spirit that brings the hope of Jesus to a world who needs him.

 
Randel Everett is Executive Director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.

For the next several months, people on the roads of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties in Florida will rumble past billboard ads making false claims and misleading assertions about our country’s history and commitment to religious freedom. One ad even fabricates a comment from the first president of the United States.

Recently, media reported on the billboard advertisements that use quotes from history to “portray a national need for Christian governance.”

Those behind the billboards refer to the separation of church and state as a “lie” and say our country’s Judeo-Christian foundation is “the reason that this country has prospered for 200-plus years.” The only lies being told are featured on the billboards.

Few would dispute the crucial role of religion in many of our founders’ lives. However, they were a mixed lot—some orthodox Christians, some Deists, nearly all scions of the Enlightenment—and more com-mitted to ensuring religious liberty for all than enshrining their own religion in our founding documents.

The separation of church and state is one of the reasons that, despite our religious passion and pluralism, we have been able to avoid the religious conflicts that have punctuated history and continue to plague much of the world today. In fact, as our founders wisely understood, the separation of the two is good for both.

When those with an agenda cherry-pick—and completely make up—quotes from our founders, they do a disservice to all.

Irony abounds when a group claiming its support for historical accuracy fabricates a statement and attributes it to the nation’s first president. For example, one billboard quotes President George Washington as saying, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”

As reported, the billboard organizers admit there is no proof Washington ever said this. Undoubtedly, Washington believed religion has a place in public life, but one must look at his other statements to understand his view of government’s role in religious matters.

In 1789, then-President Washington wrote a letter saying he would establish “barriers” against “spiritual tyranny” and “every species of religious persecution.” He also wrote that everyone should be protected in “worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.”

Taken together, Washington’s words show his recognition of religion’s benefits and his belief that a person’s preferences were a matter of individual choice in which the government should not interfere.

Moreover, James Madison—the father of our Constitution and arguably one of our most religious founders—observed, “The number, the industry and the morality of the Priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of church and state.”

The phrase “wall of separation” is not in the Constitution, but the sentiment surely is. It is simply a shorthand metaphor expressing a deeper truth: Religious liberty is best protected when the institutions of church and state are separated and neither tries to perform or interfere with the essential mission of the other.

Separation does not mean an infringement of the right of people of faith to speak forcefully in the public square. From bumper stickers to billboards, religious speech is commonplace.

Certainly, our freedoms allow anyone to purchase a billboard and put almost any statement on it. But putting intentional mischaracterizations, half-truths and outright fabrications on display is patently irresponsible, undermining the very faith the billboard backers claim.

Brent Walker is executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. This column appeared in the Tampa Tribune, was distributed by Associated Baptist Press and is reprinted with permission.

He probably has no idea who his next meal will come from.  He has too many years under his belt to do manual labor and not enough sight or strength to hold a good job.  

I wish I could communicate better with him but each time I pass, “Hello. Peace be to you,” must suffice. I want to hear the stories of the years that have left the scars on his body. I want to ask him what he ponders all day. I want to tell him that there is a Rescuer who promises us that we don’t live by bread alone.

Imagine that sentence Jesus uttered as he was teaching the disciples to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.” He trusted his Father to provide it for them everyday. He didn’t have stockpiles of bread in the pantry and loaves of money in the bank. The money he used was a shared fund and then was also shared with those in need. He wouldn’t make sure he had enough for 10 years before he gave to those who didn’t have enough for ten minutes.  

I want to conform to the pattern of Christ—love as recklessly as he did—not worrying about the clothes I will wear or the things I will eat. I want to be Christ to others.

I know our God is faithful. Let us start to look to him for our daily bread.

Tiffany, a student at Texas A&M University, is serving as a semester missionary in Northern Africa with Go Now Missions. Her last name is withheld for security reasons.