August 2012

Hope
Days of
connected with the previous question. As in, How much faith do I need to have to make God deliver on this one? How can I influence the outcome? Is there a magic 'faith key' that unlocks this situation and will cause God to intervene? In light of the severe circumstances, we desperately try to produce monumental levels of faith. How do you make faith? What do I have to do to get God to deliver? We search scripture, we listen to teaching on faith. Our crisis gives us tunnel vision. We can see only one question looming in our private darkness, Will God come through for me? And while I have seen over and over again how God has done the miraculous and intervened in impossible situations, I also know that not every story is a happily-ever-after story. Sometimes the answers are not quick in coming. We each find ourselves right in the middle of a grand story, the end of which has not yet been written. One day we may sit back and confess how God was faithful, gracious, and good. But for many of us, that chapter has not come. We find ourselves in the opening pages and remain unsure about how our story ends. Even more challenging, sometimes God's answer is a simple 'no.' The apostle Paul experienced a divine no as he wrestled in prayer about what he called his 'thorn in the flesh.' Jesus himself experienced this as He prayed in Gethsemane. For every supernatural intervention, the Bible is filled with the stories of Godly men and women who suffered and wrestled and pleaded for answers. We love to talk about a God who parts the Red Sea, who makes kings out of dirty shepherds, who wipes out the enemy army before God's people. We think less often about the pain and hopelessness of 400 years in slavery in Egypt, the many years of heartache that king David endured throughout his life, or the slow, bloody march of those few surviving captives to Babylon. Like desperate
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A Desperate Question
Last week I was sitting on the front porch at one of the cottages visiting with a young lady. I asked her about the Bible I had given her recently. "Yeah, I still have it, but I don't read it anymore," was her response. "Why not?" She shrugged and dropped her head. "What's the point? It doesn't work anyways. He won't do anything for me." As we continued to talk, her frustrations bubbled to the surface. A mother whose rights had been terminated when she gave her kids up. A family with drug addictions and conflict. The total isolation of being a child with no family. The hope of finding an adoptive family crushed by the reality that teenagers are much less marketable to adoptive families than babies are. A desire to live with a foster family, but no leads in sight. And in all of these areas, this girl had spent time praying with no result. Having run out of patience, she simply concluded that the faith thing just doesn't work. Her story is a perfect illustration of this fact: for hurting people, faith is wrapped up entirely in a question. People who are suffering whisper desperate prayers and wait for answers. Their questions are simple. Will God heal this disease, or will I die like the doctors say? Will mom make it through the surgery? Will I survive this battle? Will God send me an adoptive family? Will I have money for groceries this week? This globe is filled with people of all ages in grave circumstances. If you ask them about their faith, they focus on one simple issue. Will God deliver? Can God intervene? Others folks focus on a similar, related question Do I have enough faith? In my experience, this is usually

children, focused on our needs, we don't like to hear or even admit that the Divine 'no' exists. I am coming to learn that in matters of suffering and faith, the central issue is indeed a simple question. The problem is, we are obsessed with the wrong one. While we sit and ponder, Will God come through for me on this one,? I believe that God is asking a very different question. Do you still believe? Do you still love me? In spite of this pain, will you still hold onto your Heavenly Father? This is the most basic question of faith. Once this present struggle comes to an end, faith becomes easy. Once my health is restored, my family protected, my finances secure, my court case resolved, and my conflicts settled, then I become a great man of faith. On the other side of the storm, I crow about my great trust in the God who saw me through. But the real, deep question of faith is answered not in the aftermath, but in the moment of crisis. In that most dire hour, God is asking of me, Do you still love me? Do you still believe? The truth about me is that I am great at the after-action reporting. Once the disaster has passed, you may very well find me to be a mighty man of faith. What about when I am in the eye of the storm? Only God knows how much I falter and waver. I question, I wonder, I look nothing like that bulletproof guy who comes out of the other side. And all the while, while I cry and ask, God, will you deliver me?, God is asking a question of His own. Do you still believe? Luke chapter eighteen starts out with Jesus addressing his Disciples in a parable. Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. Jesus proceeds to tell the story of the persistent widow, a powerless woman who returns day after day to an ungodly judge asking for justice. You and I read this story and so quickly focus on the outcome. Did the widow get what she was asking for? Did the Judge relent and rescue her? I have been so wrapped up in such concerns that in the past I have missed the last line of Jesus parable. He finishes the story with a question of his own. When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Your present struggle is different from mine. Ours are different from the many boys and girls who will find themselves in state custody tonight. But as all of us wrestle through our own challenges, I believe God is asking of all of us a simple question of faith. Regardless of the present outcome, Do you still believe?

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Thank you for supporting this important ministry. Every week, our chaplains are reaching out to children and teens who desperately need to hear the good news that God is for them, not against them.

The services that our Chaplains provide are:

Voluntary
We freely offer opportunities to worship and learn; we accept the choice of others to decline.

On Site
Rather than bringing them to a church, we bring church to hurting people where they are at.

Needs Based
We believe the pain and struggles of our clients are more important than any lesson plan or agendas of our chaplains, and intentionally defer to the needs of those we serve.

Though he slay me,

Experiential
Games and activities help our clients to grasp spiritual truths in a concrete way.

yet will I trust in him

In Tune
Music is a powerful tool that helps us communicate to wounded people, and worship is carefully woven into all of our programming.

-Job 13

Age Appropriate
We tailor our presentations to be age and developmentally appropriate.

Bible Based
Setting aside fringe doctrinal differences, we continue to insist that a relationship with Jesus Christ is God's core solution to the problems that individuals face.

Propositional
Our chaplains are not combative or argumentative. We do not defer to our own authority as spiritual leaders; rather, we invite hurting people to take a leap of faith, take ownership of their own walk with God, and find out for themselves that God is good!

Take Me to the River

We have had an outbreak of kids wanting to get baptized lately! I dont typically make grand invitations to baptism, mostly because I want to see those on campus who desire to get baptized do so from genuine personal motivations. Kids are so suggestible, and their decision to follow Christ in baptism is an important step that each child must consider and choose for themselves. Having said that, it is really exciting to be approached by a resident who asks, Pastor Jon, can you baptize me? Like everything else in a treatment facility, this process is somewhat Jon & Matt; ready to sing! unusual. We check to see if the child has a family member or a guardian who could help facilitate their baptism in a hometown church. Often we are dealing with children who are in the states custody and have no interested parties to contact. In that case, we seek permission from the appropriate agencies and check with the childs treatment team. I then sit and visit with the resident and begin to ask them questions about their decision. Why do you want to be baptized? What is motivating your choice? We look at scripture and discuss the meaning and symbolism wrapped up in baptism. Why did the early church baptize new believers? Why was Jesus baptized? What does the Bible tell us about baptism? I have had the privilege of baptizing a number of kids; some young, some older. For each child, these conversations are unique. I have walked through this process with those who have mental deficits as well, and their ability to grasp the deep meaning and symbolism of baptism is limited. But as I work with these young people, I am reminded that God requires no doctorate in theology, no degree in doctrine to run into His arms. I am regularly reminded of the crowds who asked Peter in Acts chapter two, what must we do to be saved?, or the Ethiopian official who asked Phillip in Acts chapter eight, Look, theres some water. Why cant I be baptized? Like the folks in these biblical accounts, many kids have been asking the same questions lately. Why cant I be baptized? I am more than happy to be a part of that process! We recently baptized David (name changed to protect privacy) down at the Meramec river. He was so excited about the event that he invited his whole cottage, and they agreed to go be a part of his special day. The staff in his cottage arranged to stop by the river on the way to a cottage activity. We gathered on the rocky bank and sang a worship song that David had chosen. He is jealous for me. Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree. . . Davids life is not an easy one. His story is neither simple nor happy. But in spite of a young life filled with all sorts of devastating challenges, David is moving toward God and making changes in the way he talks and thinks and acts. What a privilege it is to be a part of his transformation! These opportunities are not a reflection of what a great communicator I am, or how gifted I am in ministry. I clearly see the changes in the lives of the kids we serve as a direct result of the work that God is doing in them. And I am truly blessed to play a small part in the big plan He has for redeeming a broken life!

Baptism in the river

Days of Hope is a not for profit, inter-denominational

Christian ministry that seeks to address the spiritual needs of children and teens who are in residential psychiatric care at Boys and Girls Town of Missouri. We are supported by the prayer and gifts of individuals and churches in our community. We work alongside many dedicated professionals at BGTM including educators, therapists, doctors and nurses, child care workers and so many more who strive to help these children who have been scarred by every form of abuse, abandonment, neglect, and harm.

We aspire to passionately communicate the love of God in a gentle way to these hurting kids. We continue to insist that a relationship with Jesus Christ is Gods core solution to the problems individuals face.
Days of Hope PO Box 12 St. James, MO 65559 Chaplain Jon Wells 573.578.3259 We are now scheduling speaking dates for the fall and winter. Let us know if we can come out and minister in your corner of the world!

days.hope@gmail.com