Ten Minas Disaster Relief Project

We’ve had to make a few adjustments around here lately. As many of you already know, Ten Minas has undertaken to help a lady named Jacqueline Spears in Gulfport, Mississippi to rebuild her home damaged by Hurricane Katrina. While we have been a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization since we were formed, and service to those in need has always been part of our mission, this is our first foray into disaster relief. Naturally, we are learning some of the ins and outs as we go.

One learning experience we recently had was about the legal requirements of a tax-exempt organization providing disaster relief. Unbeknownst to me, a tax exempt entity cannot simply raise funds for one particular individual to provide disaster relief. Instead, the “class” of people you are raising money for must either be very large, or at least indefinite in size.

What did this mean for our Katrina House mission? Well, bluntly it meant that we could not do it, at least not as originally envisioned. We cannot legally raise funds solely to help Jackie. When I first found this out, needless to say, I was pretty dismayed.

So I prayed, talked to my wife, and talked to my pastor. Being a lawyer, I always try to reason things out logically, and here is what came to mind. There were 3 possibilities as to why this road block was being placed in our way.

(1) It may have been God frustrating this project because it was not His will. I often pray that if anything I try to do is contrary to what God wants that He will stop it from happening. Of course, this did not seem very likely. Not only is this type of project exactly what God tells us to do in the world, but anyone who has read the story about how this whole thing came about (see http://www.tenminasministries.org/katrinahouse.html for the details) knows why there has never been a doubt in my mind that God called us to help Jackie.

(2) It may have been Satan trying to get in the way. The problem with this theory is that the “speed bump” stems from the laws of the United States, and God has commanded us to obey the civil authorities. So it seems unlikely that this particular frustration comes from Satan. It seems more likely that it comes from God Himself because obeying the law is His will.

(3) The final possibility is that this isn’t necessarily God trying to stop the project, but rather He is trying to “nudge” Ten Minas in a certain direction. Remember I said that Ten Minas cannot legally undertake this mission “as originally envisioned.” You see, we can help Jackie. We just cannot help ONLY Jackie. If we had an overall disaster relief ministry (of which Jackie was simply the first recipient), that would be fine. We could accept applications from other people and move from one project to the next indefinitely.

It would be pretty hard for me to justify not helping Jackie because the only way to do it would be to help even more people as well. If God wants us to undertake more disaster relief, then so be it. Hence, the “Ten Minas Disaster Relief Project” has been born. Due to funding considerations, I am envisioning only one project at a time. When we finish one, we will move on to the next (kind of like “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”). But who knows, if the Project grows enough, we may eventually have sufficient funding to undertake various different projects simultaneously.

So we would appreciate any support you can give us, either by way of your prayers or financially. Please visit the website for information on how to donate (there is a link on the right side of this page). Thank you and God bless.

Ten Minas now accepts online donations

Ten Minas has now set up an account with PayPal so that you can make secure online donations. You do not need to personally have a PayPal account to make a donation.

We hope this convenience will encourage people to help with our Katrina House project. Please see our website for details. God bless.

Katrina House

We have officially launched our Katrina House mission. For anyone interested, full details are available on the Ten Minas site. Click on the link to the right (which will take you to our home page), then click on the picture of the hurricane to get to the "Katrina House" page. In general, we are building a home for a lady whose home was severely and irreparably damaged by Hurricane Katrina, and we need to raise approximately $50,000.00 to make this happen. We would welcome any assistance you can give, either by way of donations or perhaps fundraisers. You or your church may be able to run a silent auction, car wash, or other fundraiser to help build a home for Jacqueline Spears in Gulfport, Mississippi. All donations to Ten Minas are tax deductible. Please see our site for complete details. Thank you and God bless.

Ken

Norma Patricia ("Pat") Burke: March 25, 1927 - September 4, 2007

One of the greatest saints for Christ I have ever met on this earth went to meet Jesus face to face this week. I've known Pat for a bit over two years. She served with me at Grove Presbyterian Church on the Christian Education team. Pat was 78 when she first signed up for the team. As Pastor Dave Wilson observed at her memorial service today, at an age when many people are deciding it is time to be done with serving on committees, Pat was eagerly offering up her service.

She only came to Grove a few years ago. I was speaking with one of her sons last night at the viewing, and he told me that she called him around that time and said she may have found a church. She liked Grove because it was a church of "doers." "It is a small church," she continued, "and the congregation is a bit on the old side ... but we can do something about that." And she did. With Pat's help and guidance, Grove Sunday School program has exploded over the past few years. At the time she joined my daughter (then 3 years old) was really the only regularly attending young child that I can recall. Now Grove has four Sunday School classes for different youth age groups (plus two for adults) and last month we welcomed 25 young kids to Vacation Bible School. We even now have a nursery for children under 3 during both the Sunday School and worship hours. This is the type of work God can do when He calls a soul like Pat to the job.

When our Christian Ed team was first getting started, Pat suggested that I serve as the moderator. I had never even served on a church committee before, let alone led one. But that was Pat. She had a way of nudging you out of your comfort zone without you realizing it was happening, and doing it all with the biggest smile you can possibly imagine so you were comfortable the whole time. And she wouldn't just leave you there, but constantly gave you continued support and boosted your self-confidence.

I got to see Pat on Sunday, 2 days before she went to be with our Lord. My daughter sang "Jesus Loves Me" to her, a memory that her family tells me stuck with her until her passing. Pat's enthusiasm for Christ was unfathomable. If the apostle Peter had modeled himself after Pat Burke's passion for Jesus, who knows, maybe he wouldn't have denied Him 3 times. In Pat's final days, as the inevitable bore down on her, she never denied our Savior and never lost that wonderful smile.

As I type this I know that Pat is enjoying the fruit of her labors. Her work is done. She has heard those words we all long to hear, "Well done my good and faithful servant." Take care of her God. I know you will. As for those of us who remain here on earth, we'll miss her.

Hiatus

I regret to inform you that you will probably start to notice something of a hiatus in the postings on this blog in the near future. Last night I learned of a mission God has in store for this ministry involving rebuilding a house for an unfortunate lady and her son in Mississippi whose home was trashed by Hurricane Katrina and who have not received any assistance from the official relief agencies. I’m not sure how we are going to make this work, but then again Joshua and Caleb did not know how God was going to give them the promised land in spite of overwhelming odds against them, but they still had faith.

There are a lot of details to work out, and we are in the very initial phases right now. But for the time being this mission is going to have to be the primary focus of the ministry. Some of our other projects, like this blog, are going to have to give way in order to make the time for me to pursue this project and not neglect my obligations to my family.

I will still try to put up a few comments from time to time, probably of a devotional nature. I will also try to post some updates on the progress of the project. But the in-depth theological and philosophical debates will probably have to take a back seat for a while. Some of you may recall that I have also been working on a book on the “problem” of suffering (the working title as of today is “Suffering Servant, Suffering Man”), but this will unfortunately also have to be put on hold.

I hope to have a page up on the Ten Minas website soon with some photos of the existing home and details on the project. Right now we are looking for people who want to help out. I cannot do this alone and am looking for other churches, ministry leaders, contractors, etc., who might be interested in joining the “brain trust” for planning purposes. If this is something you may be interested in and would like more information (at no obligation), please e-mail us at contactus@tenminasministries.org and keep looking at the site for the details when they are posted.

Of course we will also need financial support. I will put out more information on this at a later date, but if you feel called to help, you can specifically designate a donation to go towards this project by writing “Mississippi home” in the memo section on your check. Any checks designated in this way will be used only for this project and none of our other ventures. This may be an important point for those of you out there (atheist or otherwise) who may not agree with our theological positions but still would like to help this unfortunate family. At this point, we are estimating that the total cost of this project will run in the vicinity of $50,000.00, but of course, that is subject to change.

I thank you all in advance for your understanding, compassion and prayers. More information is to come. God bless.

Ken

The Kindergarten Blues

My precious little 5 year old daughter started kindergarten yesterday. This really is a happy/sad moment for a parent. I’m thrilled for her and what her new school has in store for her. But at the same time I cannot believe that my little baby is not a baby anymore. It was surreal last week when we went to an open house walking through the school. At one point I was standing in the gym/auditorium (one of those gymnasiums with a stage), and I suddenly realized that the day would soon come when I would be sitting uncomfortably in a metal folding chair on that gym floor watching my daughter in some elementary-level performance on the stage while I am snapping photos and beaming with pride. And yet it seems like it was just yesterday that I was watching her cruise around the room in her walker while I frantically tried to shoo cats out of her way before she ran over their tails.

Even though she started school yesterday, it was only a two hour day with her mother going along with her. Today was the first full day, and most importantly the first day she would ride the bus … all by herself. I am used to having to drag my daughter out of bed and forcibly squeeze clothes over her little body before she’ll get going. This morning, though, we had something of a role reversal. She was ready to go 15 minutes early while I was still eating my breakfast. In order to fully understand the scenario, picture this anxious little 5 year old looming over my shoulder saying, “Daddy, I really need you to eat a bit faster,” then later, “Now Daddy, you’re doing a good job, but you still need to eat a little bit faster.” The final one took the cake, though. When her baby brother, who had been sleeping in his bouncy seat, woke up she looked squarely at my wife and me and said, “Now look, with all the yelling you’ve made me do you’ve made me wake up my brother.”

My wife and I recognized ourselves in these little scoldings. No longer were we the ones pushing her out the door, but she was pushing us. Sometimes the best way to realize what we as parents sound like is simply to listen to our kids.

I know there are other parents who have gone through what I am going through today. When my daughter took those first few steps onto the school bus, she turned back, gave me the biggest possible smile, and waved goodbye. Fortunately, I managed to hold it in until the bus was gone so that I didn’t have to explain to my daughter once again about why sometimes people cry even though they are happy.

God bless.

The meaning of life revealed

It seems that humanity as a whole believes there is this grand mystery out there called "the meaning of life." What is it? What is that one thing that can bring meaning to everything we do? How many times do you know that you have to do something, but struggle to "get up for it", looking for the motivation? Human nature is such that we yearn for our actions to have meaning. Take the classic example of an actor. When trying to fully understand why his or her character would act in a particular manner during a scene, they may very well ask, "What is my motivation?" Why? Because to truly act as that character would act, they need to understand what meaning that character would ascribe to their actions.

The problem is that whatever motivates us in one circumstance will not motivate us in others. Whatever we think legitimizes one action and gives meaning to that action will not do the same in other circumstances. The result is that we spend our lives in a constant search for meaning. We are always looking for something new to make sense out of our existence. As we move from one activity to another we also move from one quest for meaning to another.

The perception that this search for meaning is impossibly hopeless has grown to such proportions that it is now almost considered to be an obvious joke. Look at Douglas Adams, author of the "Hitchikers' Guide to the Galaxy" series. In his book, "Life, the Universe and Everything", he creates a fictional computer that is designed to provide the answer to life, the universe and everything. After hundreds of years of waiting, this supercomputer pumps out the answer...42. The poor people are now even more befuddled than before, to which the computer replies that the answer is correct, but in order to understand it, they need to fully comprehend the question. In order to know the question, they would have to design an even more complex machine and wait thousands of years for the calculations. That machine was the planet Earth, which was unfortunately destroyed in order to make room for a new galactic superhighway shortly before it was to identify the long sought after result of its computations. The end result? The quest for meaning is still just as hopeless as it was when we began.

So in light of this seemingly insurmountable mountain, why do I claim to be able to reveal the true meaning of life? Well, the simple answer is, "Because I believe I have found it." So what is this one thing that can give meaning to everything we do? The answer is worship.

Too many of us unfortunately have a very limited view of what worship means. We think that "worship" refers to going to church on Sunday mornings, singing some hymns, listening to the pastor's sermon and saying a few prayers. If we are really broad-minded, we may even lump the prayers of thanksgiving we make at home and saying grace around the table into that category. But what we fail to realize is that our entire lives, every single thing we do, is meant to be an act of worship. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." This is how I am encouraging you to think of worship. Think of every single thing you do throughout the day as an offering to God. Thus, in everything you do, you are worshipping God.

The group Casting Crowns has a song called, "Lifesong" in which they sing:

Let my Lifesong sing to you.
I want to sign your name to the end of this day
Knowing that my heart was true
Let my Lifesong sing to you

Think for a moment about the Old Testament Psalms. These are essentially songs of worship that the Jews offered up to God. They may be praise Psalms or Psalms of thanksgiving. But whatever the topic, they were sent up to God as an act of worship. Casting Crowns are asking you to make your entire life a song, just like those Psalms, and offer it up to God in the same way. Imagine that everything you do each day is written down on a piece of parchment. At the end of the day, ask yourself if God would sign the bottom of that parchment saying, "This was my work."

You do not need to wander aimlessly about, searching hopelessly for meaning in each of your seemingly unconnected actions. What you need is one grand thing that will unify all the facets of your life, so they are not really separate at all. That's our problem. When looking for meaning, we are starting with the wrong assumption about the things we are trying to ascribe meaning to. You see, we want all the different aspects of our life to have meaning, and we think of them all in that way...different. We believe that our goal is to try to find one common thread in all these seemingly unrelated aspects of our existence. But in order to arrive at the one true answer, we need to redefine the question. The various threads of our lives are not meant to be unrelated. Our failure to recognize that is why we constantly fail in our search for meaning. All our actions are supposed to have this one unifying thread in common. They are supposed to be acts of worship offered up to God.

If you reject God, or try to push Him from your life, you will never find the answer to life, the universe and everything. Life as a unified whole only makes sense with God in the picture. Given this simple truth, it is hardly surprising that a world that is more and more trying to push God out of the public discourse and trying to "make it on our own" without Him is at the same time struggling more and more to make any sense out of our lives.

So if you want your life to have meaning, if you want to get out of the never ending circle of futility, give your life as an offering to God. When you go to work, do your job as if you are doing it for God. When dealing with your family and friends, do it as if you are doing it for God. When you interact with strangers, do it as if you are doing it for God. You will soon find that you have uncovered the true meaning of life. This is what we were created for, so ultimately it is the only thing that will bring lasting satisfaction. Just as a child longs for approval from its parent, we are designed with a longing for approval from our heavenly Father. Only when you understand this longing can you even begin to fathom the incredible ecstasy that comes when God signs His name to the end of your day and says, "Well done my good and faithful servant."

God bless you all.