From Passion to Action

This whole Invisible Children #Kony2012 campaign has kinda blown up, and it's been really awesome to see Twitter, Facebook, and everything else flooded with news about the campaign over the last couple days. The video on YouTube has received over 52.5 million views since 03/05, and the White House has responded to the campaign.

In case you haven't watched the KONY 2012 Trailer, here it is. Watch it...but don't stop there.
 

So you've watched the video, and probably shared the video, but what now? It is so easy to get passionate about something, to feel it tug at your heartstrings, to get fired up about something and speak loudly about it, but at some point, that passion that you feel has to transform into action.

In the case of KONY 2012, that action needs to be in the form of writing/calling your Representatives and Senators, encouraging them to continue in this effort to bring Joseph Kony down, because it doesn't matter how many times the video is shown if the ones who have the power to enforce/enact law are not behind it.

Here is a link where you can find contact info for your elected officials: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

This concept is true, however, of not just this campaign. Think about it. How many movements, campaigns, organizations, ideas have you come across that you support, are passionate about? Maybe you feel very strongly about it or talk to those around you about how great it is, but then you stop there. Your emotional passion stays just that and is never transformed into action.

I've seen and felt this many times myself. It is easy to feel the passion, but the action takes a bit or a lot more work. It takes sacrifice of time, money, security, status, etc... and for many, myself included, the action is not worth the sacrifice, or at the very least, the sacrifice scares us unto inaction.

I, sadly, see this all too often with Christians. We are loud to speak out about issues, or invite people to come to church as long as we are online, but if we are asked to give up an afternoon to go feed the homeless, some money every month to support an orphan, or our sense of security to actually talk to someone about Christ or simply get to know, and show God's love to, our neighbors we shy away. What we become so passionate about in theory we shy away from in action because of the work and sacrifice it involves.

So I encourage you today, stand up for your convictions, whether they be political, religious, social, etc... Turn your passion into action. If you believe something enough to talk about it constantly online, stand convicted in it enough to act on it offline.

Child Soldiers & Sex Slaves -- Stop at Nothing

Last night I attended a screen filming, at which I learned about a man who has been abducting children out of their homes and villages for the past 26 years and forcing the boys to become child soldiers, killing their own parents and mutilating the faces of other people/children, and the girls to become sex slaves. In the past 26 years he has abducted over 30,000 children and forced them to join his army, an army that is not fighting for any real goal or purpose.

This man's name is Joseph Kony. He is the #1 indicted war criminal for the International Criminal Court, and he was indicted 7 years ago, yet, a lot of people do not know who he is. The purpose of the film last night was to bring awareness of who this man is and the atrocities that he has committed. The organization behind this film is Invisible Children, seeking to make the plight of these "Invisible" Children in Africa "Visible" to the entire world so that something will finally be done to stop Joseph Kony.

The film, entitled Kony 2012, makes the plea that this year, 2012, needs to be the year to finally arrest Kony. There has been momentum in getting the US Government/military to assist the Ugandan government/military in finding Kony and bringing him to justice, but it needs to happen soon, this year, before interest and concern wanes, because when that happens, when people stop caring, the US Government/military will pull out, and w/o their help, the Ugandan government/military will have a very difficult time finding Kony.

Invisible Children has done a ton of good to help these children, to warn families when the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army), Joseph Kony's army is coming, to let people in the LRA know that they can leave, and now they are reaching out to the world. They are reaching out to politicians, celebrities, athletes, talk show hosts, and every one of you, the general public, to band together and stand against the terror that is happening every day in Africa, to demand that governments do something, stop Kony.

Here's what you can do:

1. Sign a pledge of support to arrest Kony and disarm the LRA: http://www.kony2012.com/
2. Share the video Kony 2012, which goes live to everyone on March 5
3. Message the specific Culturemakers that Invisible Children has targeted. Ask them to get involved.
4. Message the specific Policy Makers that Invisible Children has targeted. Ask them to get involved.
5. Post posters and stickers, post Status updates and Twitter updates, talk to people, do whatever you can to make Joseph Kony famous, or infamous as the case may be. Make sure that there is no one who doesn't know who Joseph Kony is and what he has done! 

I had heard about Invisible Children in passing, kinda knew what they stood for, but didn't really have any idea what was going on until last night, when I saw the film and I heard a woman speak, a woman from Uganda, who grew up in the midst of these horrors, whose family and friends have been taken by Joseph Kony, some to escape and others never to be heard from again.

So, I urge you to get involved, make your voice loud so that those who have the power to capture this man know that the people demand it, and so that Joseph Kony is finally arrested and brought to justice this year, 2012.

For more info check out http://invisiblechildren.com/; http://www.kony2012.com; Follow Invisible Children on Twitter: @Invisible and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/invisiblechildren

Also, check out my cousin, Danny Porter's Facebook page, as he is the one who brought this to my knowledge, and he is dedicated to helping. https://www.facebook.com/sylvesterstallone

Heaven: Part II

Last week, in X-session, we talked about what Heaven is, what the Bible shows it to be, and what we might be doing there. This week, we talked about Heaven again, but in a different way.

I have a question: During the course of the day, what type of things do you think about? What are the top themes that occupy your thoughts? For me, its a wide array of things, including:

• Family (M&M)
• Church/Youth Group
• Money
• House/Yard/Projects
• Sci-Fi Stuff (Black Holes, Time/Space, Aliens, End of the World, etc...)
• Death
• Job

And there is a ton of other things I think about during the course of any given day, just as, I'm sure, you have tons of things you think about. Now, my 2nd question is this: What percentage of your thoughts are about Heaven? That can be Heaven directly, or how it relates to something else. For example: Heaven comes into my thoughts thinking about my Family, Church/Youth Group, Death, and even Sci-Fi Stuff. However, Heaven does not constitute a majority of my thoughts, and I doubt it does for most of you. But it should.

Here's what the Bible has to say:

Colossians 3:1-4 (NLT)
1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.


We are told very clearly that we should "think about the things of heaven." Heaven should be on the forefront of our minds. We should be thinking about Heaven all the time, not about the things of earth. So what are the things of earth? Pretty much everything that we think about. Bills, money, job, planning, friends, family, clothes, gadgets, popularity, school, and the list goes on an on. What takes up most of our thoughts are things of this earth, but it shouldn't be this way. Heaven is such a remarkable, incredible promise for us, we should be thinking about it, thinking about the God of Heaven, thinking about ensuring others get there as well, but why?

We are also told:

Matthew 6:19-21 (HCSB)
19 “Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This takes it one step further. Not only should the things of this earth not occupy our thoughts, they shouldn't occupy our homes, storage sheds, wallets, etc... We shouldn't be obsessed with gathering worldly possessions, whether that be money, clothes, iPods, cars, gadgets, whatever. These things aren't bad in an of themselves, but they are temporary, and when we get so obsessed with collecting these "treasures" we lose sight of our real treasure in Heaven that is not temporary, does not decay or break or fall apart, and cannot be taken from us. "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," and our hearts should not be here, but why?

Here's why:

1 Peter 2:11 (HCSB)
11 Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and temporary residents to abstain from fleshly desires that war against you.

As Christians, we are strangers, temporary residents, foreigners, aliens to this world. We don't belong here and this place is not our home. To think about it, in the course of eternity, our time spent on earth is a thousandth of a fraction of a second, too small to even think about. We will be spending eternity in Heaven with our Lord, so we shouldn't be placing too much though/energy to this world. If you think about it, when you go on vacation, you have a good time, you enjoy yourself, but you don't delude yourself into thinking that that vacation spot is your home. It is the same with us, this world is not our home, so we should not store up treasures here, we should not focus our thoughts on things of this world, and we should not engage with the things of this world that separate us from God. We should behave, think, act in such a way that we point to God, we point to Heaven, and we encourage others to take a look.

God Bless!