I want to be like Ella.

One of my best friends, certainly the friend who has taken the most prank phone calls from me the last few years, writes a blog, Mike in Progess [sic]. Mike helps coordinate a cold-weather shelter in our hometown, which puts him in contact with some amazing people. Meet Ella.

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By Mike Ellis

Ella is 5 years old. She and her family come to the homeless cold weather shelter to serve. Ella can't wait to serve the homeless. Her enthusiasm to serve is contagious. Ella doesn't judge the men and women who come to the cold weather shelter. She doesn't know or care if they live under a bridge or sleep on a bench. Ella serves the homeless without hesitation. She doesn't care if they are dirty or that they smell. Ella has a mission. Her mission is to serve. After dinner Ella will sit down at the table with our homeless guests, talk a million miles a minute and eat a cupcake or cookie with them. Ella doesn't think of them as homeless, bums, addicts or losers. I really believe that she thinks they are her friends. I want to be like Ella.

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...Father, thank you for Ella. You teach us through children. Impress Ella's spirit of love and service on our hearts. In Jesus name...

Question of the Week: Why Suffering?

by Anne Lang Bundy


Q: "Why does God allow suffering—for example, in Haiti?"
(from Daniela Holloway in Florida, formerly of Berlin, East Germany)

If there is a question asked about God more than any other, it is why a good God allows suffering. Volumes have been written in response. This article can't adequately address such a big question, but it may provide enough basis to reconcile the presence of suffering with the existence of a good God.

Foremost, suffering is a necessary element of free will.

There are those who believe we are no more than puppets upon the world’s stage, our every movement controlled by the sovereign God pulling our strings. If such were the case, suffering would indeed be a cruel element of the drama because it is forced upon us by God.

Because we really do have free will—to be exercised within the limits our sovereign God has set—our ability to choose between good and evil is real. God’s will is always good, but it is not forced upon us. It is right (or righteous) when we choose his will. It is evil (or sin) whenever we choose what is not His will. Sin will always result in suffering—to ourselves, to others, and to all creation.

Suffering does not exist because a good God causes it. Suffering exists because a good God allows mankind the freedom to choose the sin which causes suffering. And because He is good, God uses the suffering we choose for ourselves to achieve good anyway.

"The world owes you nothing; it was here first."
~ Mark Twain

Here are some ways God uses suffering for good:

• Suffering causes us to evaluate and determine what is most important in our lives.

• When suffering exists, and yet love, sacrifice, and compassion endure, these attributes of good and of God are shown to be more powerful than suffering.

• Common suffering draws people more tightly together in unity than does prosperity and ease.

• Suffering draws us to depend upon God, humble ourselves, and make peace with Him.

• Suffering proves what kind of person we are, which in turn brings us to discover our strengths and weaknesses.

• Suffering is not God’s judgment—yet. But suffering is a component of God’s discipline, to warn us to repent of sin before judgment is faced.

• Suffering compels us to rise to our potential to overcome it, and makes us strong to better contend with life’s challenges.

My plan is to discuss these last three points at more length on my blog "Building His Body" next week as follows:
Monday: The Test of Suffering
Wednesday: The Discipline of Suffering
Friday: The Overcoming of Suffering

I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
Psalms 119:75 (ESV)

© 2010 Anne Lang Bundy
Photo sources:
Fire in Haiti street: komonews.com
Aid to boy in Haiti: guardian.co.uk
Katrina flood: faves.com
Katrina: Body Count swamppolitics.com

Heartspace

I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me...

- The Beatles

Who are you?

- The Who

Twenty-one years ago I walked into a dance club in southern Germany and met a young medical student named Daniela Nespital. - This next part is true. - The first moment I looked at her, even before we spoke, I wondered how our lives would unfold if we lived a lifetime together.

Seven months later we put our bikes on a train and traveled to Paris. I was a soldier, she was a student, we were in France. There was something about that girl, so I asked her to marry me.

Our life together continues to unfold ...

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Dani:

Thank you for saying yes that night in Paris. Thank you for writing to me when I was in Iraq, and for being there when I returned. Thank you for the times we cook together, travel together, talk about history, and share stories together. Thank you for being my lover. Most of all, thank you for our two boys. You are a good and loving mother.

Forgive me for the times I hurt you. There have been smiles, but there have been tears, too. Forgive me for not always listening to you. Forgive me for not sharing everything with you and for shutting you out of areas of my life. My heart aches to think of the times I made you cry.

I forgive you for the times you hurt me. You are human. Your intention was not to hurt me. Sometimes the world gets into our headspace and we make mistakes. I forgive you.

Dani, above all, I love you. Since the moment we met there has not been a day that I have not thought about you. You are fascinating, and sometimes mysterious to me. I desire to be close to you. I am here for you, and I offer you my strength.

You are firmly entrenched in my heartspace. If you could look inside my heart you would see the rose garden in Bamberg. And, standing in the middle would be you.

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...Father, thank You for the gift of Daniela. Bless our marriage. Bring us closer to You. We cry out in Jesus name...

Question of the Week: Why Pray?

by Anne Lang Bundy

By Anne Lang Bundy

"Why Pray? If it changes God's mind then he is not sovereign. If it does not change God's mind then it is superfluous."
(from exchristian.net)


sovereign >adjective 1 possessing supreme or ultimate power

superfluous >adjective exceeding what is sufficient or necessary

The fact that God is sovereign means He sets limits on what He allows. It does not mean that He will not share control with us over what He allows. He is a macro-manager who both cares about the details and helps us manage them.

Because He really, really loves us, God genuinely wants the companionship of our cooperation as He accomplishes His will.

Like a mother baking cookies with a four-year old, God doesn’t need us to accomplish His will, He wants us. The beloved child is the whole point of baking cookies in the first place, and we are the whole point of His will. While the mother wisely sets limits on what she allows the child to do, the child is also allowed to make choices like chocolate chip or oatmeal, add or omit nuts.

Prayer can be for things like praise, thanksgiving, or confession of sin to ask forgiveness. Today’s question is about asking God to act in a situation. In this case, prayer is an amazing privilege of being allowed to participate with God as He shapes and applies His will.

"I pray because ...
God always intended to bring humans in on the act without letting them get proud in the process."
— Tom Wright

Here are three things that can happen through the kind of prayer that asks God's intervention:

• By our fellowship with God in prayer, He may be moved to change our circumstances.

• Through fellowship with God in prayer, we better understand His will and accept it.

• The very act of prayer is a humble acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty and our dependence on Him. This opens the doors for us to receive His spiritual gifts, which enable us to both to change ourselves and be able to face our circumstances.

The most profound example of human participation in God’s sovereignty is the creation of life. Our Creator’s will is for humans to reproduce. He put in man and woman the strong desire for each other that leads them to act according to His will. It is the will and physical union of a man and woman which opens the door for new life. But it remains within God’s power to actually create life.

Prayer is the spiritual union between God and humans which opens the door to the creation of spiritual life in our souls. It is anything but superfluous.

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." ~ Jesus (John 15:7 NKJV)

© 2010 Anne Lang Bundy

Our sliding scale of grace

There is a new blog in town: People of The Second Chance. This is how Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite describe their blog: People of the Second Chance gives voice to a scandalous movement of radical grace in life and leadership. We challenge the common misconceptions about failure and success and stand with those who have hit rock bottom in their personal and professional lives. We are a community that is committed to stretch ourselves in the areas of relational forgiveness, personal transparency, and advocate for mercy over judgment.

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Our sliding scale of grace:

Just let the pictures sink in. Let them punch you in throat like it did me.

And then let us look inside ourselves and discover our double standards, prejudices, and hypocrisy about who we show grace and concern for.

Injustice is sill injustice no matter who you are or what you’ve done.

Mike Foster

Ask Your Question ...

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

Ask ANNE LANG BUNDY

If you have any questions about faith, especially if you have doubts about Christianity, think Christians are hypocrites, think religion is just a coping mechanism for the weak, think Christians are mostly crazy ... send us your questions.

Christian writer and thinker Anne Lang Bundy will attempt to answer your question ... the harder the question, the better ... we can take it ... :-)

Leave your question in the comment section of this post ... Leave us your first name and where you are from ...

Thanks.

Question of The Week

Change is in the air. Bullets & Butterflies is adding a new feature called Question of The Week. Exciting.

My friend Anne Lang Bundy, a woman with tremendous faith, will be answering questions about faith, the Bible, and what it means to turn a human life over to Jesus Christ.

In order to facilitate Question of The Week, I'll be moving my regular blog post to Wednesdays.

If you have any questions about faith, especially if you have doubts about Christianity, think Christians are hypocrites, think religion is just a coping mechanism for the weak, think Christians are mostly crazy ... send us your questions ... the harder the question, the better ... we can take it ... :-)

"Father, thank you for the opportunity to blog. Guide us to use this opportunity to talk about your promise of peace and salvation wisely. In Jesus name we pray"