thankfulness and taco bell

Have you ever watched "Extreme Home Makeover" before? This team goes out and finds the 'least of these' and the 'down trodden' and builds them a new place to live. You can see and learn so much by just watching this show.



This one in particular that I saw showed this single father raising 5 other kids. They showed the inside of the house, and the kids showed the host their rooms. Their rooms consisted of a worn out pillow and a sheet on the floor...this served as their beds. They had no mattresses...no covers...no blankets...



They were asked if they could have one thing, what would they want...



Their answer hit me hard. "I would just like my own bed."



They just want a bed. A place where they can sleep. They don't even have a bed...I mean to be honest, here I am around this holiday season with a newborn...worrying if I have money to buy Christmas gifts for my family. And wanting stuff I don't really even need.

At night when I am tired, I really don't even think twice, I just hop into bed. I have 2 pillows, a sheet, and a blanket. There I am a top a nice mattress. There they are on the floor.



There are so many things that I take for granite. Some people don't even have clean water, people in other countries drink the water that others have bathed and washed their clothes in. There are also some instances where either a person or animal has died and is floating in the water. So many diseases...and I can just turn on the faucet.



Some people don't have enough food to fill their fridge. Some don't have a/c in the summer and heat in the cold. Some don't even have a roof over their head.



Here I am complaining about having to work Monday morning, and there are people who would line up just to have a job. Rob Bell (pastor of Mars Hill Church) said that there are some people that try their best to survive on just $2 dollars. Trying to survive a week on $2 dollars, or even a month...



And to think this all thinking started when I went out when I went to Taco Bell.

There I was ordering some fine Mexican cuisine...the famous chicken quesidilla...and the cool sour cream for dipping. It does not get much better than this.

After I had placed my order the cashier asked a posing question "Would you like to give a dollar to help feed the children?"

We have all been there. Sad to say we all think it over, weighing out the pros and cons. Thinking about if we can really afford to be without that dollar. But there I am ordering food...and all I have to do is give one buck...

why is that such a hard decision?...why do I make that into such a hard decision?

Is the church reaching out to help others? Am I?

I encourage you to check out blood:water (a well building project), world vision (sponsoring children), and there are countless others. Even some around the Augusta area. Sometimes we forget about the ones in our backyards.

shaela blog with pics

Hey

I have had some people ask me to share some photos. So what I did to make it easier to share is I made a blog especially for our new daughter Shaela's pics.

The adress is www.shaelakerr.blogspot.com

There is some photos already added and will add more as time goes on.

Love ya'll and God bless.

Trevor

left a bad taste

When I was 10, I had just returned home from this church summer camp for children, and I had woke up that night screaming because my ear was hurting. I mean it was throbbing. All I could feel was this stinging sensation on the left side of my ear. Come to find out I had gotten what they called "swimmers ear", b/c I logged lots of hours in the camp lake all week.

My Mom thought the best thing to do, was to put some drops of hydrogen peroxide, and maybe that would ease the pain. So she poured it into a glass and left it on the table. Though seeing that I am writhing in pain and screaming, she proceeds to give me some Tylenol as well. And in the midst of doing this she calls up our doctor (in the middle of the night) seeking advice on this situation. So you can see that she is a little distracted at the moment...So while still talking on the phone, she gives me the Tylenol and a glass of liquid to help it go down...and yep you guessed it...she gave me the glass of hydrogen peroxide to drink...I remember saying,"this water tastes funny...", with her saying,"Just drink it and take your medicine."

So after this she begins to look for the hydrogen peroxide to drop down my ears...coming to find out that her son had drank a good bit of it in a glass already...there she is calling the doctor back...ah good times...he said I would be fine (though some may disagree).

That stuff left a bad taste in my mouth...

I tell you that story because I think we as Christians can sometimes knowingly and unknowingly leave bad tastes in peoples mouths. Earlier this week, I saw on the news where this church was protesting at a gay fallen military funeral. They had signs like "God hates gays". The father sued the church and won for emotional and other damages. Come to find out that this "church" even has a website, that lists addresses of funerals for future protests. That upset me. I didn't know what to think. I mean I know sometimes we are wrong for not standing up for our beliefs and values. But is this what God wants?

There was also that incident with the Amish shootings last year. Where a "church" decided to protest because they said that the Amish don't serve the real God. It became so bad that host of a radio show on Fox news made a deal with the church, that if they didn't protest...they could have some radio air time to express their opinions about the issue. Maybe if they took time out of holding the picket signs and used their hands to help serve their fellow men, things would be better. Instead of taking that radio time to belittle others, they could give them words of comfort, hope, and even tell them about Jesus.

I mean aren't we supposed to hate the sin and love the sinner? Is it going to get to the point that when someone dies of drinking too much that we stand outside with a sign that says "God doesn't like drinkers!"? (and there goes half the church) When we get right down to it, we could all have signs at our funerals.

For to be honest none of us our perfect. It is only by the grace of God that we can find salvation. I even think about my brother in law, who is not a christian, and even the whole world, who look at this and say, "Where is God in this?...If this is what Christianity is... I don't want anything to do with it." What do you say to that?

We are leaving them not wanting more... We are leaving them with a bad taste in their mouth. The world has hurting people and instead of helping them, we find comfort in telling them what they are doing wrong. Probably because it makes us feel better. People are screaming in pain, like I was...

What are we doing?