After seeing the idea on Pinterest, Jen created this bucket of “prayer sticks” to include in our girls’ night-time routines. We wanted to be intentional in praying for specific people and things. It clever, unique, and our girls love it! (Now they close their eyes, pick out a stick, and get all excited!)

Earlier this week, Sophia (4 yo) pulled out the “Salvation stick” — the one that just says Salvation… where we, as parents, get the opportunity to explain what this means to our kids in the most simplest terms. The girls turned to me for an interpretation, and…

…I was speechless. <<Crickets>>

Like a clunker with a burned out engine, I stalled.

Thankfully, the kids probably didn’t think anything of the quick 5-second pause, and Jen stepped in and told them what we believe: God loved us so much that Jesus came to earth so we can have a relationship with Him. It’s not anything we did or can do, but because of His grace and love. 

In a sense I know I was caught ‘off guard’, but I should be able to explain my faith to someone. Let alone explain it at it’s most granular level, right?

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)

In any event, I’ll be ready next time my girls select that particular stick. :)

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Does your family have any unique ways to include God in the everyday routines?
How would you explain ‘salvation’ to a 4-year old?

Marriage is “mainly about displaying the covenant keeping love between Christ and His church”.

This story of Ian & Larissa is inspiring. Watch and enjoy!

HT: Desiring God

Being overseas for work this week has reminded me most about one thing: diversity matters.

Not just accepting peoples’ viewpoints as valid or fact, but remembering that we all come from different backgrounds and places… and that’s okay.

I’ve spent a week in my company’s global headquarters this week, and while it’s not in the heart of London, it is very diverse. Living where I live in the States, I miss out on the languages, cultures and history that I am able to experience here.

In the matter of a day, I hear German, Spanish, Italian, French, Swedish, and Portuguese spoken in the office. Truthfully, that is only the tip of the iceberg as there are many more languages heard on the streets. On top of that, this is not even London — where I would imagine would be where I’m at times 10!

This.

Upon arrival, I spent an afternoon doing my own “London-in-a-Day” micro-trip. Short, but sweet — History and culture jam-packed into my own little 7-hour mini-adventure!

As I still process some of the things I heard at The Orange Conference last week, I am reminded about the importance of relaying these experiences to my own children. Living where we live (suburban ATL), it is easy to stay put and interact with those similar. It could be months before you hear another language spoken… and I’m not sure how I feel about that. In a sense, I feel compelled to make sure I intentionally put my kids in situations where they are exposed to other people, cultures, languages, etc.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ.” (Gal 3:28)

And not just to give them a “good experience”, but to ultimately show them that we are all the same — as JFK said, “…our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air.” And in the end, we are all in need of the same great God.

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Where have you experienced the most “diversity/culture” in your own life?

Yeah, we totally punked out.

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Any of these tweets stick out? Tell me about it.

During an afternoon OC12 breakout yesterday afternoon, Doug Fields talked about different areas in our ‘spiritual basement’ that need to be addressed from time to time – time, drive, study, spiritual strength, refreshment and calling.

Each one of these areas can drain a leader’s time and energy – and so, need to be challenged though intentional effort.

One comment reinforced a belief that I’ve held onto for a long time. He said:

“Invite authentic community into your life. Make it a top priority.”

He used those two sentences to address the area of driven-ness of a leader.

Photo credit: gege.gatt (Creative Commons)

Without authentic community, we are self-focused and don’t have people to keep us in check. Instead, intentionally invite people into your life.

Who do you have in your life asking you those tough questions / speaking into your life?

• Why did you make that decision?
• I’ve noticed this trend in your life – what’s up?
• Dustin, man up and do ____!

If we don’t have those people in our lives to ask us those questions, Doug compared this to “emperor with no clothes” story – the Hans Christian Anderson children’s story where the Emperor parades around with clothes that are invisible.

Those around him don’t say anything because they think that if they say something, they are stupid and ignorant. The ridiculousness continues until a child shouts, “The Emperor has no clothes!”

Here is a story of a ‘leader’ who did not have people speaking into his life.

No community whatsoever.

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So the challenge for us is this: Who have you intentionally invited into your life?

Longtime Twitter followers connect...

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Any of these tweets stick out? Tell me about it.

Prior to the opening session at the Orange Conference last night, Reggie Joiner (and team) revealed a few simple facts by highlighting the most diverse zip code in the US.

Zip 98118 in Seattle, WA is a 6 square mile area that accounts for 40,000 people, 59 languages and 60 nationalities.

In effect, the message was clear: more communities are becoming diverse / more people want to live in diverse communities.

In fact, 25% want to live in a culture that is diverse, while 60% don’t want to live in one that’s diverse.

Worship on Wednesday night at #OC12

As a father to multi-racial children (Dutch, Spanish, Filipino, Black = yes, we are the world, indeed!), this topic was one that piqued my interest. How do I (someone who is “white” [I say that because my appearance looks like that even though my mom is Dutch and my dad is Spanish]) communicate diversity and tolerance to my children?

Stats show that people are embracing diversity and rejecting those who show signs of intolerance. How do I align with a church (or my church, rather) that embraces all peoples of all different backgrounds?

What does “embracing diversity” look like? How do I do that in an almost 90%-white suburb of ATL? How do I do that in a multi-racial family/household?

In the end, no matter where my family “lives”, I want this message clearly and effectively communicated to my children. I want them to experience different cultures, cherish their heritage, and accept people simply because they are human.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31)

Simple enough. When we get granular, we are all broken people in need of a Savior. No matter our color, background, family history, income, political stance, etc, etc, etc. All of us, yes all of us, are called to embrace people. Because that’s what Jesus did.

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How can you ‘embrace diversity’ in your own life/community?

Uh huh!

“No expectations.” ~ Me, right now.

As I sit here listening to the hilarious entertainment at the start of the Orange Conference, I wanted to set expectations that there are no expectations these next few days.

I remain expectant (does that mean I’m contradicting myself?) that God is going to bring out some solid truths during the conference sessions.

I’m excited to participate, blog, listen, take notes, and… hopefully… pass along some of my takeaways with you.

Thank you for reading… and stay tuned!

(For the record, they did “covers” of Eminem (Middle School), The Righteous Brothers (Senior Pastors), Adele (Children’s Ministry), Aerosmith, Bonnie Tyler (parking lot workers), and Bon Jovi (volunteers) — all with funny lyrics detailing out what people’s “true” feelings are about these ministry areas.)

On a side note, immediately following these performances there was a killer “Because He Lives” (Bill Gaither) / Blessed Assurance (Fanny Crosby) /Revive Us Again (William Mackay) choir-cover. If it’s ever posted online, it will be a must watch (bound to give goosebumps!).

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Tell me about a time you expected “no expectations”.

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I am honored to be blogging for The Orange Conference this week. Thank you for reading and following along on Twitter (@dustinv, #thinkorange, #oc12)!

It is wild to think that three weeks ago we were in Haiti. Even now, weeks later, we are still unpacking our experience: changed perspectives, renewed vision, and impacted hearts.

If you’d like to watch, below is a 7-minute video of our 6 days in Haiti:

What a full week we have had here in Haiti! Words cannot begin to describe the range of emotions we felt over the last 5 days. We’ve had highs and lows, sharing these brief moments with the children here in Port-Au-Prince, specifically in Compassion project HA-353. Today, Compassion-Haiti operates a full office with 76 full-time employees currently serving 241 projects similar to 353. HA-353 alone has 347 “Compassion children” who fall under the Child Development Program (through sponsorship), and in total, Compassion-Haiti counts more than 72K registered children who receive education, medical care, meals, and the opportunity to hear the lasting message of Jesus. Taken into account that each one of those 347 children come from individual families (only one child per family), the actual reached/impacted family members is much, much more than that!

As mentioned yesterday, as a team (broken up into two groups) we were able to visit the actual homes of a couple sponsored children. While we saw the poverty over the previous few days, this gave us a chance to actually step into someone’s home and experience it first-hand. In many cases, multiple people live in a single bedroom ‘house’ and live on dollars a day. In fact, seventy-five percent of the population in this community is unemployed. 75%!? It was heartbreaking and sobering to take in.

On top of that, it was gut-wrenching to hear the stories of nearly everyone this week about how the earthquake affected them two years ago:

• Dave & Marilyn (the operators of the guest house we’re staying in) just left Haiti hours before and had to get updates via satellite phone on the state of Villa Ormiso.
• Johnny (our Compassion translator/driver) just dropped off two Compassion representatives to a high-end hotel and ended up having to walk home (miles!) just to get an update on his wife.
• 62 children that were a part of Compassion’s Programs in Haiti died as a result of the earthquake, and a total of 434 died overall (which included the children’s family members, project staff and pastors).
• 4,638 houses were destroyed and over 14K houses damaged as a result of the earthquake (of those a part of Compassion’s programs).

And, that is just the TIP of the iceberg. We’ve heard stories of people who still won’t sleep in concrete-ceiling houses because of fear that they’ll collapse. Even now, over two years later, there still are tent cities where Haitians have made their homes. It’s eye-opening to realize that a country that is less than a couple-hour flight from Miami has been so devastated.

With all that we experienced and saw this week, I want to remember that God’s hand is at work and His name is to be praised about all things. One of the ladies we visited with yesterday was a true-picture of eternal-gratefulness. She was 80+ years old, took in a 10-year old boy, got hit by a bus in downtown PAP, isn’t employed, her tin-roof is leaking, no electricity or plumbing, and was reliant on her church for much of her provisions. Through all of this (and I’m certain this was only a glimpse into her life) she emphatically told us, “God is good. He is generous and gives many, many blessings.” Wow.

As we reflect on this amazing week, I want to remember those words: God is good. No matter what I see or experience, He is good. No matter how “good” my life may seem, He is good. No matter how difficult my situation appears, He is good.

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Thank you for your prayers this week!