Saturday, December 12, 2009

Visiting the Temple


Every now and then we have a moment or two when we are reminded to take a step back and remember why we are here. Last night I took my two oldest sons to a Hanukkah ceremony at the Jewish Temple here in town. The Rabbi had agreed to meet with our Cub Scout group to help the boys understand ways they could become closer to God. It was incredibly cool. The Rabbi was cool and he did such a nice job explaining Judaism that I waked away with great clarity. But there were two points that truly cut to the core of all faith. We are here to Repair the World. Wow that one truly resonates with me. He asked the boys ways in which they can do that and their answers were so awesome. He explained that Jews believe that the here and now is very important and that they must do their part to repair what they can today. The other take away for both me and my boys was this... If you meet someone who is Jewish and worships in a Temple, do not be afraid or judgmental, but instead ask if you can check out their religion, explore it and allow them to be who they are. The premise is easy but one we all so often miss. Just be tolerant. Be aware and accepting of someone else's customs and faith. If we can remember to remember that we are all here to glorify God and we are all doing our part to repair the earth one exchange, one act, one prayer at a time well then really there should be little to fear. The evening progressed into many songs, latkes for dinner and dreidels and chocolates galore. The boys loved experiencing the Celebration of Lights and I felt that God was working in reminding me to teach my children to walk in the light. Walk in God's light and in all things do you part to Repair the World. I love that!

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Into Our Arms Forever!

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welcome home ava! from melanie Strobel on Vimeo.

Meeting Ava during our first trip to Ethiopia

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Meeting Ava Ethiopia Trip July 2010 from melanie Strobel on Vimeo.

Korah- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

During our recent visit to Ethiopia I felt very called to the village of Korah in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. There have been numerous rumblings lately about the tremendous need to help the children of Korah who are growing up in and around the local trash dump. The village was established 75 years ago as a place to send people with leprosy who were said to be cursed. Now there is a 3rd generation of people living in Korah with nearly 100,000 suffering from such things as leprosy, HIV, misc disease and of course malnutrition. There are many children of Korah who have been forced to live and work at the trash dump in hopes of finding food and possible items to sell in Korah's center of town. With the start of the Great Hope Church in Korah and the building of a shelter, along with the ministry of local Sammy Liben and Sumer Yates, there is now a feeding program and a sponsorship program in place to rescue the forgotten children of Korah and send them to boarding school where they can escape the horror of the conditions of living and working in a large trash dump. For more information please visit: www.help4korah.blogspot.com or www.p61.org where you can learn more about how you or your organization can help the people and the children of Korah. Please send me a message or email Erin Allen at erin@p61.org to request sponsorship information. I will soon be posting the photos of my day recently spent in Korah. I must tell you it was life changing and beyond anything I have ever done to stretch, change and rearrange myself. God helped me to help the people who I met. Much of what I could offer was nothing more than the snap of my camera or a warm touch or an inviting smile. The needs in Korah are beyond our wildest imagination yet God is over Korah and there is already amazing work being done. I invite you to view the following videos to learn more about the beauty and the needs of Korah's people.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO SPONSOR A CHILD

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Hannah's Hope Orphanage- Ethiopia

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