Wave of Sorrow

This morning when I spoke at Vanguard, many people came up and asked where I hear U2's new song that I quoted. Here's the link to the song, Wave of Sorrow, that will release on the album Joshua Tree (remastered).  Thanks to Mike Todd for the tip. Here are the ending lyrics, a sort of modern day take on the Beattitudes I quoted from.

Blessed are the meek who scratch in the dirt
For they shall inherit what’s left in the earth
Blessed are the kings who’ve left their thrones,
They are buried in this valley of dry bones.
Blessed are you with an empty heart,
For you’ve got nothing for which you cannot part.
Blessed is the ego, it’s all we’ve got this hour,
Blessed is the voice that speaks truth to power.
Blessed is the sex worker who sold her body tonight.
She had to use what she’s got to save her children’s lives.
Blessed are the deaf who cannot hear a scream,
Blessed are the stupid who can dream.
Blessed are the tin-canned cardboard slums,
And Blessed is the Spirit that overcomes.

Uganda Ministry Opens

I've told many of you about our plans to open Uganda - home to 2 million orphans. Two of our staff members are over there right now getting things in order for sponsorship. If your church or business is interested in Uganda, please let me know ASAP. Here's their report:

We went into villages where they have not seen white people so we were some what fascinating.  It's like we were on display.  Kids would literally see the car coming, see that there were white people in it and start waving. 

In the five locations we have visited so far, 100 children have been profiled in each, but they represent 500-800 kids in each community. When we would drive to a location, the whole church waits to greet us. So many children....in a room where there are 150 people, 130 of them are children. Orphans are everywhere.

We did stay at the Nabukalu Home of Champions the first night.  We stayed in the same building with the kids, but not in the same room.  It was interesting to hear them go to sleep and wake up.  One child coughed all night.  They woke up at 5:30 am singing a praise song.  So beautiful.

We spent the morning talking with the head master of the school and talking with the teachers. They don't have much, but they are doing as much as they can with what they have.  My first thoughts are we should help with the school -- it's reaching the community and the orphanage. They literally have no materials.  One set of text books for each grade level that is then used to teach the kids.  But the kids don't have text books and no school supplies beyond a notebook and pen.  No construction paper, no markers, etc.

Even with the children from the orphanage being in clothes that need to be mended and living very rurally (is that a word?), you could see a difference between them and the kids from the neighborhood that came to check out the two white girls.  There were little kids from homesteads next to the orphanage that were carrying babies on their backs.  The kids couldn't have been older than 3 or 4.  Extreme poverty.

I'm overwhelmed at where to even start, but thankful for the opportunity. (As I'm reading this to Eleanor, I can't even say it w/out crying.)   This is very different from Swaziland, but as fascinating.

Thank you for your prayers.

Blessings,

Eleanor and Sam

Everyone in Colorado

I would like to invite all of you in Colorado to come to Vanguard Church this Sunday in Colorado Springs where I will be speaking at all 3 services - 8:30, 10:00, and 11:30. The message will center on my new book, Red Letters: Living a Faith that Bleeds. It would be great to see you! Click here for Directions. Hope to see you there.

My Writing Coach is the Bomb!

I'm fortunate enough to have a writing coach for my three novels that is a literary genius. I'm not kidding. Creativity flows out of her like a river. She's written over 20 books, (go do a search on Amazon) but this honor couldn't go to a more worthy writer. Publisher's Weekly has just released a list of the top 150 books of 2007. Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson was chosen, only 1 of 3 books in the Religious Fiction section. Congratulations Lisa!!! You absolutely deserve it. The book is amazing by the way, I highly recommend it.

The Writing Life

There's a new post up on my other blog: An Authors' Blog that's worth reading entitled, "What a Writer's Life is Really Like." Click here for the post. 7 more days until the first draft of my first novel, Scared, is due. What am I doing writing a novel?!

Russia and AIDS

Russia is gaining in economic prosperity, but they are losing control of AIDS epidemic. This is a country that cannot afford to loose people since their birth rate is among the lowest in the world. To give you an idea, the death rate is higher than the birth rate. Overall, in 2005 during the first six months of the year, 507,300 people were born and 998,500 died, leading to a natural population decrease of 401,200 people.

The HIV infection rate is exploding. In cities such as St. Petersburg, the infection rate has multiplied 250 fold since 1996. Quoted in Pravda.ru, The Director of the Federal Scientific Center for AIDS at Russia's Ministry of Health, Vadim Pokrovsky, warns that Russia is likely to follow the "African model" with up to an 80 percent infection rate in some parts." This is catastrophic and must be addressed by organizations working in the country. Click here to read an Indepth article entitled: AIDS, Europe's new plague.

Click on the HopeChest website here to find out what we are doing in Russia and how you can be involved.

Pastor Frank and the Orphan Crisis in South Africa

This past week, I met an amazing pastor from South Africa, Frank Harawa. His church works with orphans and the poor just outside of Durban. Right now he has several foster home for orphans that he runs and two schools as well.

I sat down with Frank to talk about the orphan crisis in his country--to hear first hand about what the situation is like. This is the first of those videos where Pastor Frank is describing for us the impact that HIV/AIDS has had on families in his country.

This Christmas, Children's HopeChest is teaming up with Pastor Frank in a special campaign we are calling The 12 Days of Christmas. I can't tell you too much just yet, but basically 5 for 50 is going around the world to support 12 different orphan outreach projects this Christmas. You'll hear more later and have the opportunity to join us. We have $12,000 committed initially from 5 for 50. Through some of our friends and partners, we hope to multiply that to at least $60,000 before 12/31/07. More on that later...meet Pastor Frank:

Living in Colorado

To me, November 1st marks the beginning of the holiday season. Our Christmas tree will be up in no time! It' brings cool temperatures, gorgeous foliage and animals into our neighborhood. One of the things I love about Colorado is coming home to this in your yard! The other picture is our kids with Mom and Dad Black along with Great Grandma and Valerie. Gideon is in the Spidey outfit. We also had a bride, a cheerleader, and Captain Jack Sparrow. That's Carson Irwin ducking in on the right. Happy November!