Faith in Action

This passage of scripture has been on my mind a lot lately:

Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words, but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags, and half-starved and say "Good morning friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup-where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?....You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful?
James 2:14-18

Don't get me wrong. I'm not preaching to anyone but myself. I do not want to be described as complacent! I watched a video a couple of days ago from a study I am doing at church that I can't get out of my mind. Here are a few statistics it quoted:

• By this time tomorrow, 6,000 children will be orphaned by AIDS
• 33 million people worldwide are HIV+
• 12 million children in Africa are orphaned by AIDS
• More than 25,000 children under the age of 5 die of preventable causes every day. That's 1 child every 3 seconds.
• The #3 cause of death in children is diarrhea!!

Kay Warren (love her!) spoke about Colossians 1:15 and how we don't have to have a grand plan to help people. Everyday, we have the responsibility to make the invisible God visible! Christ has no body on earth but mine. He wishes to use mine to make him visible.

Here's a little info on Korah, the village outside of Addis where I will be going in June:

About 75 years ago, two doctors requested land to establish a hospital to specifically treat leprosy. The king granted them land far outside the city next to a landfill and people began to immigrate from the countryside to seek treatment. Lepers were considered a curse and thought better off dead. Soldiers were sent out often to beat and slaughter the residents of Korah. Years later, the people began sending their children to the landfill to collect anything edible. This continues today. There are currently about 80,000 residents in the Korah area. You can read more here and learn how to help these forgotten outcasts. You can go here to read about a boy named Sammy who grew up eating from the landfill and has come back to make a difference. We are partnering with him and Great Hope church to change Korah!

Last of all, I thought this was a great video from the Help Korah website. It's a bit long, but worth the time.