Save The Nuba

by Jessica.Dotta
Have you ever wondered what you would have done had you been alive in 1940 and was one of those who knew about the Holocaust?

Would you have been a person of action or a person of silence?

It is perhaps one of the most important issues to wrestle with. More than once in our lifetime we will find ourselves at a crossroad, one where the decision we make will reveal as much about our character as our convictions.

There is a genocide happening right now in Northern Sudan. The government is eradicating their own people. If we don’t speak up and help, no one else will. Each time North Sudan launches an attack to kill their own people, and we in the Western world remain silent, we give our permission to continue.

It is easier to overlook what is happening to our brothers and sisters in Sudan because the task feels overwhelming and thinking about it can make us feel helpless.

The truth of the matter is that one person alone cannot save the Nuba People. But a community of people acting in unison can.

One of the most extraordinary acts found in mankind is when a member of the human race deliberately goes out of his way to help another. It is love in action. It is loving your neighbor. It is doing unto others, as you would have them do unto you.

This month, The Persecution Project Foundation has launched a campaign called Save the Nuba. In order to prevent another genocide, they need the help that only a community can offer.

For those who can afford it, the need for food and medicine is desperate.

For those who have little to give, they’re asking for petitions signed, for awareness to be spread through social media (Facebook, Twitter and blogs.)

For those who are passionate about this cause, they need your help raising awareness.

Will you join us in speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves?

Please visit www.SavetheNuba.com to learn ways you can help.

Active Compassion for the Persecuted from Watermelon Ministries on Vimeo.

Come Together Trading Company

Have you ever walked into a place and immediately known you want to live there? And, I'm not talking about homes.

It happened to me the other day. I had to be in Canton for a funeral and decided to step into a store I had heard good things about. I could live there! In the store!

Come Together Trading Company is in downtown Canton, on the square. Yes, that Canton. The land of First Monday. Those of us that grew up in the area call the town Canton and the monthly event First Monday. Most people not from around those parts just call the whole thing Canton. I think they sometimes forget there is an actual town beyond the acres and acres of the largest flea market in the world.

Back to Come Together. This place is delightful. It is so warm and inviting. There are several arrangements of couches where you can curl up and read and drink coffee and knit and talk and rest. I would have all my meetings there if I could. Really, I would move in. It's that comfy.

AND they are Fair Trade! YES! Clothing, jewelry, coffee, chocolate, scarves, purses, etc...all Fair Trade. They partner with over 200 artisans from 40 different countries.

You have to check them out, either on-line or in person. If you don't want to wander off the First Monday grounds they can be found in Arbors II - Space 115-116. But, I highly suggest going to their store at 116 East Dallas, right next to the Van Zandt County Courthouse. I remember when that courthouse seemed so big. I noticed the other day that it didn't seem that big anymore. Wonder what changed.

Oh! On the weekends they have live music. I know! I told you they are great. I want to move in.

And they are huge Compassion supporters. It was on a Compassion trip to Africa that their world got rocked and they knew they needed to do something different. They've got tons of Compassion information to look at and sponsor packets if you want to start that journey.

I'm not exaggerating. Come Together Trading Company is special. I so, so wish we had a place like it here. I would move in.

Hard to imagine

Some things are just hard to imagine. Living in the middle of a red-light district is one of them. The fact that there is a designated red-light district is hard to imagine. But, it is a grim reality in a lot of the world.

It makes me happy that Missions in Action called it the slavery that it is. These women are trapped and their children become trapped. My heart broke for those kids, because I know the ones that don't get help soon will be sucked into the same nightmare their mothers are in.



As you can see in the video, Compassion is reaching out to these children. You can take part. Just follow the steps at the end of the video.

Change a life.

Focus

I don't do resolutions. I'm not good at them. I can't even begin to remember the last time I attempted to make a New Year's Resolution.

I have, however, been thinking about the new year and what it will look like and how I want to be in it. And then I got a email from Brianne at Compassion suggesting an approach different from a resolution. (You can find it here.) Things started meshing in my brain at that point.

Two verses jumped out at me the next morning.

1 Kings 8:58 May He keep us centered and devoted to Him, following the life path He has cleared, watching the signposts, walking at the pace and rhythms He laid down for our ancestors. (The Message)

Romans 3:31 But by shifting our focus from what we do to what God does, don't we cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded? Not at all. What happens, in fact, is that by putting that entire way of life in its proper place, we confirm it. (The Message)

So, different snatches that had been floating around in my mind came kept coming back to the same word over and over again: FOCUS

Focus on Who is most important.
Focus on who He focuses on.
Focus.

10 things about ME, ME, ME that everyone needs to know

1. I can't sing. I can sing, just not well. If you ever see me when music is being played and others are singing and I'm moving my lips...that's all I'm doing. Very seldom does any sound come out.

2. I can't do math. Started struggling in 4th grade and never recovered. I could do Algebra for about 5 minutes in high school, but that's it. My brain pretty much completely freezes up with anything number related.

3. I have trouble remembering how old I am. Probably has something to do with the numbers problem and age. The older I get the harder time I have keeping the numbers straight. It's been going on for awhile. I don't mind people knowing how old I am. I just can't remember!

4. I really, really, really hate cherries. Really. So much so that I once spit out cherry ice cream in front of my grandmother. You don't waste food around my grandmother. She had given me a big bowl full thinking it was strawberry.

5. I'm not fond of apples either.

6. I tend to be a tad bit sarcastic. It drives my youngest daughter and other non-sarcastic people crazy.

7. I would love to own a fair-trade shop, but I have no business sense. Probably goes back to that numbers thing.

8. I have a tendency to talk too much or not at all. No happy medium. It makes me socially awkward.

9. I annoy my children like all get out. They'll be the first to tell you.

10. I am useless with other languages. I've had people laugh out loud at my attempts at Chinese. Watched heads shake at my Spanish attempts and my French son just pats me on the head and says "you're so cute" when I butcher a French word. I speak East Texas fairly well, but I mutilate anything proper.

Ride Out The Waves

I wrote the following while going through a rough patch a few months ago. At the time I wasn't sure I would be able to ride out the waves.

Gifts of Compassion

Several years ago I started becoming overwhelmed with the knowledge of having more than I need and not needing things that I wanted.

And at Christmas time I still get overwhelmed with people running around like chickens with their heads cut off as they look for the perfect things to give, give, give. I want to give, give, give, but do my loved ones really need, need, need? The thought of giving a gift just to be giving a gift leaves me cold. So, at this time of year I struggle. A lot.

Thinking about money being spent for White Elephant Exchanges or just because we're suppose to spend $20 gift exchanges gives me a twitch. I know it all sounds so "humbuggy" but at this stage in my life, that's were I am.

So, I get a little giddy about stuff like this:


I've gotten these types of gifts over the years and I LOVE them! I've suggested these types of gifts to some of my family members when they ask for my Christmas list (I don't like Christmas lists - too gimme gimme gimme) and they stare at me like I have two heads. Even in my crazy family I'm known as one of the crazier ones.

I realize we are not commanded to celebrate Christmas. It's another holiday that we humans developed into the craziness we have today. But, I do know that God's gift of Jesus changed the world. And, with Gifts of Compassion we can change the life of a child.

If you're like me and get overwhelmed with having too much, research and find these types of gift ideas and put them on your Christmas list to handout to your relatives so they can stare at you like you have two heads. It's really not that bad.