Runt-Picker

God came. That's what three days from now is. God came to serve us and to save us. God who has been saving us since Genesis 3. God who has been existing forever. The creator of all things. He came. All powerful God, to be feared and worshipped didn't come in a divine way. He came to serve His sheep. He came in absolute humility. Humility that is shown in the fact that God became a man at all, shown in the way He was born, shown in the way He lived, and shown in the way He died. God came to serve us. In John chapter 5 Jesus goes to be with blind, paralyzed, and lame people, He goes to heal them. In the scriptures they are referred to as 'invalids.' In Mark chapter 2 Jesus tells the people that He came for sinners. Jesus touched lepers and prostitutes. He loves illogically in His life on earth just as He always had. An unwedded, young girl gave birth to Him. Untrustworthy and out-casted shepherds were called by an angel to come see His birth. All the way from the get go Jesus is among invalids. He is a runt-picker. He chose random people from random places. He challenged the law makers. He stood up for injustice. He saved all of mankind. Jesus loves people who are invalid.

This Christmas welcome in the fact that injustice is happening all around us in this corrupt world. Don't be afraid to talk about the people who you see are deemed invalid in our society and in our world. Instead of it being a downer let it be encouragement, because God came, and He loves His people. He wants to use those of us who aren't viewed as invalid to be the voice for those who are. Let the impossible love for broken people that Jesus demonstrates fuel you. Let it change your life. Don't let Christmas be about what the world loves to make it about. Be a runt-picker. Look out for 'invalids' because they're everywhere. Love them in celebration of the fact that Jesus came and loves them and because that's what following Jesus is. Serve them before yourself and choose them because even The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and He chose you.

And when you fail don't forget that grace covers everything we do, and that God came. He's here. We're saved. We're free.

Selfless Servants

A group of high school students from my church recently went out to serve the community of Pomona. My group was sent to a grooming shop on Garey. We will all admit, going there we thought we would be working with animals... But we quickly found out we'd actually be doing the complete opposite.
Once we got there we washed down and scrubbed the cement and cleaned the bathroom inside. These tasks aren't things we would normally volunteer to do, but it wasn't about the job, it was about serving the way Jesus does. So after we'd finished, we asked what else we could do.
With the minimal supplies we had, we decided we would wash the staff's cars. As we washed, a couple of us noticed a man who appeared to be homeless behind a dumpster across the parking lot. He had parked his cart of belongings next to the dumpster and as we watched him we thought he was doing graffiti, but we realized he was actually removing it.
Our church was hosting a homeless ministry event that day and we thought it was the perfect opportunity to invite him. We walked over him, introduced ourselves, and asked him what he was doing. He quickly replied "I'm removing the graffiti. People shouldn't be tagging up the city with graffiti, but tagging it up with Jesus".
We hadn't even told him we were apart of a church, but this man we have never even met, stands in front of us, with all belongings sitting in a small stroller, clothes dirty, and hair tangled, showing us what he is doing. Showing the Lord's love to our city. Showing the Lord's love to us.
Serving the way the Lord serves... Selflessly.
This man's name was James.
James is a perfect example of the way Jesus asks us to serve. It's so easy to become wrapped up in serving and how it makes us feel. We forget that the God we should be serving like, doesn't serve selfishly, but with the concern and wishes of others.
So what's keeping you from selflessly serving? Go be like James. Go be selfless servants of the Lord.
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2:3‬ ‭

-Dani

Please (don't just say) Thank You

Certainly there are a million things to be thankful for. As Christians and non-Christians. As Americans and as people from anywhere else. So don't get me wrong, having a day to celebrate family and all of life's blessings is great. So long as you don't forget to do that everyday. But here is my challenge and my urgent prayer for myself and my family and for you and yours: do something about it. You're thankful for your faith, family, friends, a comfortable home, health, food, pets, a job, your school, your sport, etc.? Please, please, please remember this Thanksgiving that there are people without. Be overly thankful everyday for all of the blessings in your life because God has given you everything and there are people half way across the world and people in your neighborhood who don't have as much. But don't ever stop at just being thankful. Let your gratitude fuel a desire in you to help. Let Jesus fuel a desire in you to care for His lambs. Please. Whether it be relentless and faithful prayer for people who are suffering and barely getting by, or hands on volunteer work, or giving anything you can to help.  Whatever it may be, ask God to show it to you. And then do it. There's no reason not to. Thank you for reading. We love you a lot. Say thank you to Jesus. Then wash His feet.

I Miss Dirt and God Is Good At Loving

So I'm embarrassed to tell you this but I'm going to because it's important. I'm embarrassed because I just now had a realization I should've had a long time ago. But before my realization will make sense I must tell you something very personal about myself. I bare an immense burden. It's the most beautiful burden I can imagine having and I thank God that he allows me to carry it. God has given me a heart for poverty stricken people and for whatever that specifically means for an individual's life. I see videos and pictures and I carry memories of dirt roads, and schools with dirt floors, and homes entirely made from dirt and I weep tears of utter joy. My body aches with longing to be amongst those people, to be in the dirt. I'm physically affected by the amount of love I have for people I've never met. I don't tell you this for my own pride, please don't take it that way. Believe me I've abused this God given, beautiful burden time after time. I tell you this to tell you something greater. Something that points to Jesus. 

Tonight, like so many others, I went through a process of so many emotions felt for people who live in this condition. I realized that I was sitting there overwhelmed because I felt that I needed to somehow 'fix' it. That it was up to me to 'save' them. How ridiculous. If I so firmly believe in a God who provides me with every single thing that I have, why would I worry that he not do the same for others? If I trust that the living God is a good, good Father, why would I limit Him? I constantly have to remind myself how much more He loves His people. I can't even fathom how His heart must break daily for us. How He must ache to help us. How He must ache with love for us. I have to trust His goodness and I have to trust that He knows. That's it. 

-Mary 

Just a Thought

I'm struck by a line in a song called 'Second Chance' by Rend Collective. Please Don't Stop Creating Me. My reflection on this single line has been a long process. I've come to the conclusion that even when we're in a great place with Jesus we should still ask for that line. We should still crave to be closer to Him and want to know Him even better. I'm learning to never and always be content with how close I am with my Maker. Anyway I can have Him is the best, He fills no matter what. But just because I'm filled up or closer to Him than ever before doesn't mean I should stop running towards Him and be content with being in that place for the rest of my life. Does that make sense? Just a thought.  

Beautiful Balance

God is the King of Kings. As a Christian, especially growing up as one, I hear this all the time. But I cannot let myself grow numb to it. God sits on a throne with almighty power. To be worshiped and feared for all of eternity. In perfect holiness He rules over our lives. He is the definition of righteousness. He demands our whole lives. We are to surrender our whole selves. He is the master to our servanthood. He reigns in power and holy perfection. 

God is our good Father. Our intentional Creator. We can't let ourselves forget the intense significance this has in defining who we are. Jesus is the healer to our brokenness. He is the Savior to our sinful hearts. He offers the most precious relationship we could ever be a part of. His character is so sweet and restful. He reigns in love and grace. 

Take one of these paragraphs without the other and you miss who our God is. What a beautiful Father and Friend and Savior we have in Jesus! He comforts us and makes us burst with love. What power we have living inside of us through The Holy Spirit. How aware His holiness makes us of our dirt. He convicts us so that He can make us new. He makes us new so that we can continue to grow closer to Him. He gives us the most redeeming and powerful and beautiful kind of love. 

There is a necessary balance to be found in the character of Christ, and how we as messengers must portray Him to those who don't know Him. It is the most beautiful balance there is. It is the balance that frees me from the world. The balance that causes me to completely surrender who I am to Jesus over and over again. 

Forgiveness

Working with kids never fails to teach me endless lessons. Today I admire their ability to so quickly forgive anyone and everyone. 

Almost everyday one of the kids doesn't give their friend the piece of candy they wanted or doesn't choose them to be on their team. That then results to pouting or tears and that's when I get to involve myself in the situation. Almost daily I get to hear an, 'I'm sorry' and an, 'I forgive you' just moments after the conversation even began. Then five minutes later I get to see the same two kids playing together. It's so refreshing. It's so inspiring. 

Imagine a world where we forgave like this. We would be spared so much hurt, as individuals, as a nation, as a population. It's easy to write all of this off as kids being kids and getting upset over small issues, and in the past I have. But the longer I've been around these kids and observed them I've come to the realization that to them these are some of the things that matter most. To them when a friend flippantly says they don't want to be friends anymore because they didn't get candy is a huge deal. To them they are losing a friend and it's hard to see passed that in second grade.

Picture a world where people so easily forgave the things that hurt them and so easily made amends with the people who did it to them. The way Jesus forgives you and me time and time again. 

Today I am so inspired and challenged by the way seven year olds live their lives, I hope you are too. 

Luke 18:17 

Our Passion

 

Interestingly enough this big and God filled passion did not begin with the Dalits or with India, and even today it doesn't fully lie there. Each of us have always been filled with a curiosity of the world and a desire to serve in it, everywhere and anywhere. Neither of us can fully answer when people ask us what we want to be or do when we grow up. Teaching, nursing, evangelizing, counseling, holding babies in orphanages all day, taking care of the old, sick and disabled- or maybe even the perfectly well. There are so many countries and so many things to do, sometimes it is extremely overwhelming. We pray and believe that God will direct our steps and we will end up exactly where He wants us, doing exactly what He wants us to do. Right now that's in high school in California. Right now that's serving in our schools and church and writing about a people group in India on a blog called Namaste.

There is not one doubt that all of this came from God. The passion, the desire, our broken hearts and our frustration with this broken and hurting world. God started it and He fuels it daily.  We are constantly rediscovering that the closer we get to The Father, the more we feel for this world. The stronger we grow in our faith, the deeper the hurt is for injustice, but also deeper is the love for God who in every situation is good.

Jesus is constantly inspiring us and challenging us to rethink the way that we love and serve others. His standards of love are perfect and holy. We will never be that, but His example is beautiful and we will strive for it. Just looking at the way Jesus lives makes both of us giddy. He serves humbly. He's authentic. He's hilarious.  He's present. He is good. He equally loves the outcast, His friends and family, the Pharisees, the people that nailed Him to a cross, and everyone in-between.

We are so excited to see where this crazy and wonderful God takes us and this passion He's given. We are so excited to be right here where He has us now.

Amazing Grace

The way Jesus loves is incomprehensible and I am definitely unable to put it into words. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Words to a song that reminds me of the heart of our Savior.  At the end of the day Jesus loves massively and fiercely, but He brings stillness and peace. There is rest in King Jesus's spirit. 

Our Father is love, truly. We are made to be his hands and feet. And though we fail, His love for us will never. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. A sinner who tries everyday, too hard. Our Father knows we aren't perfect, that's why we have His Son. To be saved and made clean and made free of our burden. 

Jesus is a good Shepherd to us. I once was lost but now I'm found. Jesus makes me found. Jesus gives me a home. The identity of a child of a King and Creator, and a cherished and loved one at that. 

Jesus is a healer. He heals everything He touches, I cannot help but believe this with everything that I am. Was blind but now I see. Jesus makes me able. He has wiped the dirt that this world piles on and has made  me able. He can now use me to work for His great kingdom. 

What a good good Savior and Father and Shepherd and Healer. What amazing grace. 

Thank you, Jesus, in humility we bow. 

ap·a·thy: noun. lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern.

I face a very interesting struggle. For as long as I can remember it has been easier for me to love the impoverished, the sick and the dying in and out of America. Through my life's course, that turned into apathy for the people right next to me. It became hard for me to love the average, comfortable American. However, once I truly started to follow Jesus and not look back, I realized His intense demand for me to equally love those who have more than enough and those who have nothing. 

I feel that it is my call and yet my biggest trial to love those close to home as well as globally. To fight against apathy in my inner circles. Apathy not only against the many injustices in this world but also against this big and holy God who calls me to write these words. 

The Dalits are the injustice I am called to fight globally. Apathy is the injustice I will and need to continue to fight right here and right now. 

Reflect. Which injustices does God want to use you to finish? Think globally. Think locally. 

Mary

What injustice are you called to end?

 There is an immense amount of injustice in the world. Many of us go through our everyday life caught up in our own injustices; completely blinded to the injustice around us. I am one of those people.

My whole life I've had this strong love for people who face injustice. As my faith has grown stronger, this love has only continued to grow deeper. I've become more aware of the hurt in this world. The broken, the poor, the untouched, and the weak. It's easy to become blinded by what's happening globally, disregarding that injustice is surrounding us locally. I am guilty of this. Although my heart breaks everyday for people so far from grasp, I've begun to realize there is pain right in front of me. God has called us to love everyone. 

So, what injustice am I called to end? Locally, my mission field is my school, my church, and my surrounding cities. Yes, my heart yearns daily for people I'm miles from, but God has placed me where I am for a reason. There are so many injustices I can end in my current situation. Specially? I don't know what injustice God wants me to end here. But I've learned to be content. Be content with where God has me.

Globally, I know I am called to end multiple injustices. However, the current injustice I'm called to fight are the Dalits in India. It's an overwhelming but fulfilling feeling knowing God is going to use me to help change this world. It will be hard, I will break down, and I will feel weak, but I serve an almighty God. He serves me and I am called to serve him. He loves me, and I am called to show and share that love in this vast world.

Danielle

be still

Our lives are full of cramming and scheduling for school and work. Full of late nights filled with friends or of hard work. Of stress and of fun. A lack of sleep and a feeling of never having enough time. We all go through periods of time that are busier than others. That's right now for the two of us. There's work and practice and homework all while trying to maintain genuine relationships. I'm guessing you've been there too.

The easiest thing to do in these times is become overwhelmed and consumed by stress. To become taken over by the worry that this world so easily provides. We so often forget that our God is so much bigger than our lives and all that we have to get done, a list that seems to never end. It almost seems too easy to forget God's character of providing peace. We forget momentarily that He is the only one who is actually in control. 

Sometimes the hardest thing and the best thing are the same. In these situations the best thing is to be still. I have to remind myself daily to remember God, my Father. To sit and take a deep breath and rest in His presence and in who He is.

As much as I am saying this to you I am saying this to me: we have to be in His word, in Him. Remember that all of the deadlines and pressure will eventually end, but Jesus is eternal. He is what we either end with or don't. This is my trial daily. 

Rest in Abba. Take in His word. Be still. 
Psalm 46:10. "Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth." 

No Voice

I see a young boy walking down a dirt road lined with mud and straw homes. He is walking home from getting dirty water from a well that exists only for his type of people. He rounds the corner as he does daily only to walk into an empty home with a murdered father and brother and a raped and killed mother and sister. He begins to weep. He runs to the closest home in his village to cry for help. There is nothing they can do. In the young boy's village this is a common encounter. An encounter that goes unnoticed by anyone who has a say. This boy is a Dalit in India. This boy has no voice.

There are 170 million Dalit peoples living today in India. The Dalit people are lower than the lowest caste in the Indian social system. They are outcasted. For all of India's history it has been this way. A people group who are given the lowest of jobs. Jobs that give them the title 'dirty' by their society. A people group who are made to smash the clay jar they drink out of because it is dirty now that they have touched it. Untouchable. Treated less than animals. Dirt poor. Without a voice to rise up and make a change. They are a broken society without enough strength to make a change. No voice.

As Americans it is hard to wrap our minds around something like this. It is way too easy to write it off as being something that only used to happen. We live in a world where comfort is expected and demanded. Where both men and women are free to go to school and can afford it. We all have rights that are respected by our government. Men and women alike have the right to a voice in our world. Whereas people not too far away, in the present day, don't even have the right to life. They have no voice in a world of people that do, but don't use it.

Our daily struggle is to find a way to help this cause. To make a change. Sometimes all we can do is pray as our hearts break for these precious human beings. We believe in a God who breaks chains and heals everything He touches. Right now that is all we can do to make a change for the Dalits in India. However, Dalit Freedom Network has already established an organization to help these people. They raise money to send Dalit boys and girls to school. Because the opportunity of school creates the opportunity for a better job, which creates the opportunity to not be deemed dirty, which creates the opportunity for a major and necessary societal shift.

So for those of us who get to have a voice, let's find it, and let's use it.

Danielle and Mary

About Us

Our names are Dani and Mary. Two high school kids who have been given by God passionate hearts for the injustices in this world. God has given us big hearts for a people group in India called the Dalits.These big hearts have turned into a big passion to raise awareness for, and eventually be with, these people. This blog is our attempt to do just that.

The Dalits are human beings who make up over 16% of India's population. They have been completely rejected from the Indian caste system. Human beings who are dirt poor and considered untouchable, dirty, and less than animals. In 2015, yes.

We ask for your prayer and support in this fight against social injustice. Our prayer is that our hearts and yours would continue to break for these people, for what breaks God's. Jesus is our main purpose and the reason this passion ever sparked. As we sit here writing an 'About Us' post, all we can ultimately say is that our identity lies in Christ. It's that simple.