Compelled...

If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:13-21

I just read this, "70% of girls in Vietnam are sold into the sex industry" and my stomach is turning. 70% - that is staggering. And I am once again beyond grateful to be part of a team that says this:

"We are determined to get involved. Education and skills training are essential to prevention. Our goal is to help children become valuable to their families, able to earn money…. rather than be sold for it. Through our in-country ministry partner, we are beginning the process of identifying churches where vocational training programs can be started. We pray that sewing classes, beauty salon training, leatherworking and more, located on church property and run by the local church, will begin quickly.

Please look at the faces below. These are some of the children who need your help. They need the church, both here and there. Please join World Orphans in equipping churches to impact and change their communities, their culture, and the future for these children."

Tension...

I love how pretty flowers look in my yard, but I also like how they look in a vase on my window sill. Do I leave them in the yard where they might last longer and announce "spring" to all who see them? Or, do I cut them and put them in the house where I'll think of the glory of God's creation each time I walk in the room? I have that minor debate in my mind often during the spring and summer months. Thankfully this weekend I went for bringing them inside. The warm-sunny weather that brought the flowers out of the ground on Saturday didn't stay. If I had not brought them inside, they would not have lasted very long....



The snow certainly looks pretty, but I don't think my delicate daffodils would have survived...



I find myself often having many, more significant, debates in my mind and my heart. What does it look like to live as an American following Christ? What does it look like to honor and serve my brothers and sisters in other countries and around the corner who's realities are so different from mine?

Things I have a little clarity about:
- I like look nice and presentable - I will do most of my shopping at thrift stores and buy jewelry that supports justice (like this or this, for example).
- Extravagance has a place. I hate the thought of being showy or giving gifts for no reason. But to intentionally honor someone, I think gift-giving and celebration is very pleasing to the Father.
- My home. While this certainly has places of tension - I am so, so grateful for a warm, safe place to sleep and I like the idea of having a comfortable and place to invite people to.

Things I struggle with:
- Water. I always have water - to brush my teeth, do the dishes, even flush the toilet. It feels selfish, wasteful...something - that it is always there and always clean, even to flush the toilet - when so many people don't even have one cup of clean water to drink.
- My home. While I am thankful for the opportunities we have to share our home, there are plenty of nights when our guest room is empty. And I know there are people who don't have a place to sleep - so why are they not in the empty bed in my house?
- Time. I am thankful for a healthy body with which to work hard. I know we are commanded in scripture to rest. I enjoy resting. But do I have the right balance? What does it look like to take the rest God commands and then to spend myself all the other moments?
- Food. I love to serve people. I love the idea of making a nice meal or a special dessert for a person or a family - I think there is much potential for real, healing relationship to be developed over sharing a meal. But...then there's the fact that I know there are hungry people not far from me and there is extra on my shelves...

There are certainly other tensions floating in my heart and my mind, but these are what come to the forefront as I prepare for the trip to Ethiopia and Kenya I'll take with a World Orphans team in a few weeks. I am humbled by the opportunity to visit and spend time with our Ethiopian and Kenyan brothers and sisters who are serving Christ by caring for orphans and I pray that my heart will be soft and obedient as I wrestle with the ever present tensions...

Welcome to my World Orphans blog...

Hello, welcome to my World Orphans blog! I am Kate Borders and I am the....um, I'm not sure what my title is!

I came to World Orphans through HisKids Sports. HisKids Sports is a ministry dedicated to equipping people to use sports and games as a means to share the Gospel of Christ! Over the course of a a few years, HisKids Sports formed a relationship with World Orphans and we all came to the conclusion that we could better serve Chirst and His church and the orphans that we long to care for, working together. So...now we are HisKids Sports, a ministry of World Oraphans.

My blog is called "...and if you spend yoursleves..." That is a portion of Isaiah 58 (below). I am absolutely taken by the fact that Christ has made a way for us to know Him and adopts us into His family...and I long to spend myself so that others can know that.

I am humbled by my brothers and sisters that I see spending themselves to care for widows and orphans. And I am humbled that I get to be a part of World Orphans, an organization full of people spending themselves. I am so thankful to be working for people who weep over the children around the world who are hurting and not cared for.

Isaiah 58

¹ "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.

² For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.

³ 'Why have we fasted,' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.

⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.

⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?

⁶ "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness ^a]">[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

¹³ "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.