Thought Quotient

As Alathea told us about a trip to Honduras earlier this year, we are reminded that a gift is more than something material…it means so much more. They shared an experience they had with Alexander - a little boy from Honduras that they sponsor.

We had just started sponsoring a couple of months right before we went on the trip. So we went shopping for him because you could take a couple of presents. When we went to see Maritza, it was easy because she’s a girl - and we’re all girls - and we picked girly things and it was easy. And then we had this little boy and were like, “Oh no! What do we buy?” On his information, it said he liked soccer. So, we grabbed a soccer ball and took it to him. He just lit up! We played soccer all afternoon. It was a beautiful day. The moment that we got there, we met with his family and his mom said, “Thank you for helping my family.” And she would tell him throughout the day, “Tell them thank you” or “Give them a hug.” All day long she kept instigating him…and he would. He was just this sweet, tender hearted little boy. But we were out playing soccer with him that afternoon and him and Mandee had went out there ahead of everybody. And he got out there and he had the soccer ball - and he dropped the soccer ball and looked up at her and said, “Gracias!” He just gave her a big ole hug! It was totally not because his mom told him too - and it wasn’t for the soccer ball. It was because we were helping his family be who they were supposed to be. It’s just so humbling to be a part of that situation. What seems so insignificant to us, they’re doing so much with. It just seems that we waste so much, and they are treasuring everything that they have.
- Cristi Johnson of Alathea

Related Links:

• www.compassion.com
• www.alathea.com
• Alathea partners with Ronda Paulson for women’s conferences, retreats
• Check out the new ALATHEA store
• Music Quotient 2004 interview archives: Alathea

Check out today’s BreakPoint commentary:

Unless You Repent - Questions of Disaster and Judgment

The responsibility of repentance rests first and foremost on the Church of Christ. Can you imagine what might happen in this country and around the world if Christians were to demonstrate what it means to repent of our own sins? I think we ought to find out.

I don’t know whether all these cataclysmic events that are going on are God’s way of judging us or not. No one can know that. But I do know one thing: We evangelicals can often be very good at showing hubris. Well, maybe it is time as this year draws to an end that we ought to try instead a healthy dose of repentance.

Along those same lines, here’s a quote by Henry Blackaby:

But when the world saw God’s people realizing how serious sin was in their lives, it brought them under severe conviction of their own sin, and atheists and agnostics watching God’s people confess their sin and getting their lives right cried out, “Oh, me too! If that person cries out to God and realizes how serious it is, how much more do I need to cry out?” There is written testimony of agnostics coming to know Christ in the middle of a meeting where God’s people realized the seriousness of their sin, and the agnostics cried out to God, “Oh, God, have mercy on me! Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly. Cleanse me. Deal with me. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

Mercy Me will be on the Tonight Show Wednesday evening. They’ll be playing a Christmas song off of their new album.