one life

As I was researching for our missions emphasis for the youth I came across these stats. How painful are they?- It seems so hopeless, but we serve a big God, who did give us one life to do something with...

HIV & AIDS in Africa
As the sun goes down on another day in Africa, more than 6,000 fresh gravesites show the day’s toll. And tomorrow AIDS will claim another 6,000 lives. The day after? Yep, 6,000 more. AIDS does not discriminate - it can kill anyone, and does, every day. It does not take holidays off, it does not spare the innocent.
 
In Africa, an entire generation is dying. Mothers. Fathers. Teachers. Farmers. Even pastors. Working men and women. Dead. In their shadow are more than 15 million innocent children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
 
Here are just a few of the real-life facts:
• In 2005, more than 2.8 million people died because of AIDS – that’s equal to a plague killing off the entire population of Chicago.
• 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS. Think about it – that’s around the same as the total number of high school students in the U.S.
• By 2010, an estimated 20.2 million children worldwide will have lost a parent to AIDS.
• In Swaziland, one of every three people is HIV-positive. Imagine if that were true in your youth group? Your church? Your own family?
But this is not a hopeless situation. Not if people like us are willing to stand up and use their One Life to Do Something about it.

wacky aussie cooks

Reciently Luke and I have discovered the wide world of podcasts. Are they for real? I can't believe...its FREE! I feel like I should be getting a bill in the mail any day now. How amazing is it that you can listen to the BBC news, or the latest sermon from a church in western Texas, or Rochester MN. We started our podcast journey by enjoying a few sermons that would download weekly...then we discovered that you could listen to your devos on the way to work, you could learn better grammer, or you could listen to the highlights of the Wall Street Journal. We don't have a TV so we started to get some news programs so we could stay updated. First we listened...but now the nightly news just pops right into the computer...and we can WATCH it when we want....amazing. And yes...still free. You can learn to speak Chinese, or do yoga. Totally FREE! There are podcasts that will motivate you to clean the house or stay on a diet. Our new favorite is a cooking podcast called "Crash Test Kitchen." It's a poor quality home video of this austraulian couple who don't have any idea how to cook. Nor do they have any of the right equipment( they reciently shattered a glass bowl while trying to saute onions in it over their gas burner). But they dive right in and learn as they go. They are totally wacky and fight about what they are cooking in their 10 min cast. There are many other cooking podcasts out there, but this one has been very successful, even making it into TIME magazine. Check it out...Its Free!!