A taste of home from New Orleans

In 2003, Sheri Stephens was sending care packages to her son who was serving overseas. When she realized that most of the other members of his platoon weren't receiving packages, she decided to do something about it.

Stephens started a nonprofit, Operation We Care. Since the charity's inception, Operation We Care has sent more than 14,500 care packages.

King cake

This year, in cooperation with Randazzo’s Bakery in Slidell, La., 1,000 king cakes are being shipped to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Stephens shared insight into her charity with The Times-Picayune:

While king cakes have always been an important part of Operation We Care’s efforts, this year will be the largest shipment. 'In the past, we have sent 500, 200, 300. This year, God spoke to me, and I felt like we needed to do 1,000,' Stephens said. 'I spoke with Randazzo’s and they agreed to donate the 500. They have always played a big part in what we do, and it has been great.'

To help out Operation We Care by volunteering or making a donation, visit the nonprofit's website.

Wrapping up Phase 3 of The Ultimate Journey

Last night I completed the final phase (Phase Three) of The Ultimate Journey/Christ-Life Solution. I highly recommend all three phases of The Ultimate Journey program to anyone.

Since starting Phase One in January 2009, I have changed quite a bit. The main ways that I have changed are in my thinking:  I now focus more on God being in control and I try to look at people through His eyes. Knowing that God is in control has helped a lot during this unemployment phase of my life.

Of course, this is only the beginning. Turns out that The Ultimate Journey is a lifelong journey. . .

One of the benefits of social justice

Last week at church we had a guest speaker, a pastor from River Heights Vineyard Church. He was talking about caring for the poor, and particularly highlighted Isaiah 58:10-11:

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.

What I find interesting about this passage from The Message is that not only are we called to serve the poor, but there's a benefit to us as well. That benefit is God's guidance and a full life.

Busier at 79 than 56

Eleanor Clinkscales

I often hear people say that they are busier in retirement than when they were working. I'm not sure why that is -- perhaps others naturally assume that retirees have a lot of free time.

For Eleanor Clinkscales of Ragland, Ala., life is busier now at age 79 than 24 years ago when God gave her (and her husband Gordon) a mission. Here's the story from The Daily Home:

It was while on vacation in Cuernavaca, Mexico, 24 years ago that Clinkscales said God spoke to her.

'Gordon collected knives, and he wanted knives from the Maya Indians,' she said. 'We went up to where they were selling the knives, and when we left, we decided to walk back to where we were staying because the people in Mexico eat very late at night. They may eat supper at 10 p.m. We decided to walk down the railroad tracks, and I saw poverty like I’d never seen before.'

Clinkscales said she saw people living in cardboard boxes with one outside spigot for water and no sanitation.

'The Lord spoke to me right then and there,' she said, 'but I told Him to get somebody else because I had not been poor in a long time. The Lord persisted and when I finally gave in, I did not take a chance on me knowing what I needed to do just by myself. I went around to food banks, to people who dealt with the poor, and asked questions. I wanted to know what worked and what did not work.'

It was in 1987 when Clinkscales, then 56, started helping the needy people of St. Clair County.

Since that time, Clinkscales has been passionate about serving the poor in St. Clair County, Ala. She regularly coordinates projects to make sure students have school supplies, coats during the winter, food at Thanksgiving and toys at Christmas. With her most recent project, she helped 200 children have toys for Christmas and also put together 154 food baskets for needy families during the Christmas holidays.