My Epic Journey

This year’s CHILL was designed to help our students become ONE with God and each other.  After our first night’s talk by Tony Pingitore, one our junior girls, Cailin Coane, penned this poem during a SOLO time:

Soul –shaper, heart-breaker,

How long before the dark pain ends?

You said you’d fix me, feed me, show me,

Now I’m waiting for your promise to send . . .

When will the healing begin?

Broken, bruised, and battle-weary,

I came to you to heal my soul

But wounds and scars were rediscovered,

Heartache, sorrow left uncovered

Blood and tears drained out fill up my bowl

When will you give me control?

My own hands broke my heart in pieces,

A scattered life worth less than jagged glass

I glued it together, torn and tattered,

Fragile, weak, ripped and shattered

And watched tears fall as it broke again

And so I offered it to you . . .

You tore me up! You smashed me down!

You ground the points into my suffering

But you take my shame and guilt, my story,

Into a mosaic worth your love and glory

And so now it’s my offering . . .

The artist’s hand knows better than

The work of art could ever know

And so now I take my shattered life

And I finally give you control.

Cailin Coane. February 13, 2010

ORANGE.  Where Faith and Family intersect.

Activity:  Haiti Relief

Perhaps you are tired of all the news coverage about the earthquake in Haiti but the truth is there are people whose lives have been turned upside down.  Take some time to sit down as a family and discuss the situation and ultimately how you, as a family, can help.

Here are some suggestions for discussion:

• Where do you think God is in this disaster?
• Read Psalm 60, a psalm of lament. What do you make of this passage? Does it truly  reflect God’s character or does it reflect the feelings of the psalmist? Or both?
• Read Psalm 143, a cry for help. When we ask God for help, how do you think the prayer is answered? In what ways do you think prayers for help are being answered in Haiti right now?

After you are finished discussing, pray for the people of Haiti and the rescue/relief workers.

Finish up by jumping on the computer and looking for agencies that have a presence in Haiti that have ways you can help.  One suggested organization is Lifeline out of Westerville, OH.  Check them out here:  www.lifeline.org.