Author Archives: Todd

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 Problems exist where abundance is abused, and such is the case in the standard American diet, which has caused obesity and metabolic diseases to claim lives at a rate of one per minute. On the less privileged side of the globe, Malaria, a similarly preventable disease given the right resources, is killing just as many. Where there are two problems, an opportunity exists to marry them into one solution. One of the biggest culprits of the declining health of Americans is soda and other manufactured beverages.

What if the privileged in the West volunteered to abstain from manufactured or purchased drinks and donated the proceeds of that fast to the global efforts of organizations like Imagine No Malaria? Suddenly, health would improve on both ends of the Earth! It requires simply that we take dominion, first over our preferences, next over our stewardship, then regarding our neighbors in the hemisphere next door.

April 25th was World Malaria Day, and people all over the world found ways to inform, inspire, and equip health workers and missionaries to save lives from this deadly pestilence. Since my personal passions include health, the underprivileged in Africa, and those bound in the chains of obesity and junk food addiction here at home, I decided there must be something I can do today from where I am to minister God's will for abundant life by blending these passions. I may not be a nurse yet, but as an advocate for vitality and a recovering junk food addict myself, this seems like a good place to start.

bring change slideI am issuing this challenge to anyone willing: put down the manufactured beverages for 30 days and donate the proceeds to ImagineNoMalaria.org or TheGlobalFund.org, so we can put Kingdom resource back to serving Christ's mission of abundant life rather than the physical decay caused by excess sugar. You might be just one, but you might influence a family, a small group, a class, a school, or even a corporation. Wherever you can, please spread this challenge. It is up to us to #BringChange into our health and into the world.

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
- Jesus Christ (John 10:10 NIV)

FMI visit EndSugar

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I received a very simple email the other day, and it reminded me that, while I may not know the details of my future, God has not stopped knitting my circumstances to propel me toward His purposes for my life. While preparing for missions deployment, a lot of logistical concerns can plague the mind if we let it. This little picture reminded me that the first missionaries took no spare sandals, no spare money, no change of clothes. Paul worked as a tent-maker, a term now used to describe any missionary who works to pay his/her way. Suddenly, with the receipt of this little collection of digital code and lit pixels, a thousand "What next?" questions were washed away with one very possible godly "What if?"

CURE jobs

There is a CURE hospital in Mbale, Uganda, which we did not get to see on our tour a year ago. They specialize in diseases of the brain, mostly hydrocephalus, a disfiguring and lethal disease, often a consequence of malnutrition and poor fetal development. As I considered the possibilities that open up as a result of emigrating as a "worker" rather than a "missionary" I am amused at how things change with Uganda's Ministry of Immigration. Missionaries need permission to enter; workers apparently just need opportunity.

I need to emphasize this is not a decision that was a made, but merely a suggestion that opened possibilities.

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pleasing interviewGod’s hand on Cindy is an inspiring touch to behold. She would never tell the details so I will. She has been doing contract work for a local temporary administrative services agency which has been faithfully attempting to land her choice positions that may translate into full-time positions. One such was with the local chapter of a major national organization that benefits young girls. She was feeling uneasy about the choice, so she laid out a sort of Gideon’s fleece about it when she said, “God, if it is Your will that I should accept this position, make it obvious by causing them to offer it to me before the close of the interview.” When I heard this story the first time, I thought as you might have just now, “Nobody offers an applicant a position until they have completed all the interviews and examined all their options.” God showed up, and she was offered the position during the initial interview.

As time passed in that office, Cindy became uneasy about the position, but was reluctant to petition God about another step because of the amazingly obvious direction God used to get her there. We talked about a Bible reading I had just done that seemed appropriate: Aaron, whom God chose as priest over Israel, did not remain priest over Israel indefinitely. There came a season when God called him up the mountain because it was time for him to graduate on. Cindy saw the relevance and was fairly certain she had learned what she could from this experience. She asked God to direct her next step. Within a week, she was being fought over by the company that made her uncomfortable and a local non-profit girls’ organization offering her a higher-level executive assistant position. This one, though temporary, offered a greater salary, safer workplace closer to home, and a more stable, established work environment, where she has already made herself more comfortable. It was not the fleece laid out this time, but I was amazed to hear that my precious bride was offered her new position while she was still in her initial interview. God has a way of signing His name to His actions by what the world calls “coincidence” or by making what is normally unheard of seem commonplace. When she told me the address of her new office and asked me for directions to get there, I laughed and informed her it was the building owned and occupied by my pension office, so technically (though I am retired), we have the same employment address!