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There is a new word introduced in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah that we might have missed in this familiar pillar of salt Bible Story. We often retell it highlighting God’s wrath and destruction due to evilness. While that is true, the new introduced word “ze’aqah” roughly translates to the “unique cry of the unjustly oppressed.” Later in Ezekiel, the prophet identifies the oppressed as the neglected poor and needy in the city. God didn’t just destroy the city because of his anger against sin, He heard the cry of the oppressed and responded to their sorrow. Throughout the Bible, we are admonished to remember the vulnerable, to listen to the cry of the unjustly oppressed. In our world of distraction and noise, sometimes it’s hard to hear.When we stop and listen, we can’t ignore the pattern in Scripture: God hears the cry of the oppressed and disadvantaged; He remembers those He loves, bound to him in covenant; and finally, He acts to rescue and deliver those in bondage. While the power structures of the world seek ways to exploit or turn a blind eye to the people on the edges of society, God gives them special attention. Like a compassionate father moved by the tears of his children, God is moved to righteous anger and powerful action. God is looking for people who hear the cry. Can you hear it? Tuesday, May 16 is She Is Priceless, the Global Giving Day of Mercy House Global. It’s a day to remember, to listen ….
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Faith
Unlock the Door to the Happiest Holiday Season Today
You haven’t really lived until you’ve been given the last of what others are living on. It’s happened to me more than once. This time last year, I stood in the doorway of an apartment in Houston with bags of groceries. I was there on a chilly November day with my family on behalf of Mercy House Global to welcome a family who had just escaped the Taliban in Afghanistan and were being relocated to my city. Due to a hiccup in the resettlement system, hundreds of families were in limbo and it ... Read More
Woven Together
She tugged slightly on the thread and gathered the woven fabric under her fingers. With a critical eye, she leaned back to give her creation a better look. A smile formed at the corner of her mouth. It was good. I watched this play out as she sat at a large wooden loom, in a light-filled room, in a slum in the heart of Kenya this week. I wish I could describe the feeling of hope that settled into my soul --how the pull and push of the loom and the rhythmic cadence sounded like a steady heart ... Read More
One Day Can Change Everything
I listened intently to her story. In a lot of ways, it mirrored my own--the startup, the striving, the struggle, the surrender. It seemed like she was miles ahead of me in her business success and ministry scope, so her words inspired me to stay focused on the path, and maybe one day I would achieve the same. But then her story took a turn as she vulnerably shared details I couldn't have known from the outside--the debt, the disasters, the decline. Bankruptcy. This word snapped ... Read More
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
There are rocks in my garden. Most people take rocks out, but I put rocks in and around each of my raised beds. They do more than serve as a pathway for my wandering feet. They hold space. The other day I was tenderly walking on the path barefoot. I stepped on a raised rock that immediately made me stop and reach for it as it was uncomfortable underfoot. I held the smooth stone in my hand and stood there, thinking about the song lyrics that had been rolling around in my head for a ... Read More
Trust the Process
I’ve been having night terrors or nocturnal panic attacks for the past 6 weeks. I fall asleep and wake an hour or two later in confused fear. It’s like my body and mind are out of sync and sometimes it feels like I’m trying to reach the surface from the bottom of the ocean and I run out of breath before I reach the top. Other times it feels like I’m trapped or falling. These nighttime panic attacks are a real blast. When my body catches up to my brain, my eyes pop open and I fly out of bed— ... Read More
Open Your Heart
“Love is the greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the moral cosmos. He who loves is a participant in the being of God." Martin Luther King I checked the time and tried to mentally calculate the line of traffic ahead of me. The hospital on the other end of the phone and city confirmed that visiting hours would end soon. I would have 30 minutes to spend with my dad. He was in the hospital again with a heart issue. I was having my own kind of heart problems. I had just ... Read More
Cry Like a Baby
I don't know where to begin. I've been drinking from a fire hydrant the past few weeks. But instead of feeling like I'm drowning, I feel like I'm tasting Living Water and it only makes me want more. Before church on Sunday, my husband told me about this David Platt podcast. In a nutshell: David Platt got in an Uber on the way to the airport and his Muslim driver asked what he did for a living. David Platt told him he was a pastor. The driver said I've had a dream I need to tell you about. ... Read More