A Tree of Life

Grandparents brag. It's what we do. So when our friends Art and Sue Sell began to brag about their grandson Trevor, I was prepared to listen politely but nothing more. Of course there was the initial "just graduated from Temple with a degree in landscape architecture." But then they told me he was in Haiti, and my ears pricked up.

Trevor started the Montrouis (pronounced mow-wee) Tree Project (MTP) to help reforest Haiti, beginning with the town of Montrouis.  Only about 2% of Haiti's original forests remain, and erosion means the good topsoil washes away, making farming difficult. He's made several trips over past two years, and was actually there when the hurricane hit.

MTP has set up community tree nurseries and works to educate the citizens in how caring for the trees can help them feed their families and make a living. They are teaching the school children how to grow trees and what they mean for their long-term sustainability. They hope to establish an educational community tree nursery on the school property as funds become available.

The school project will cost $3,370, if you would like to donate all or part of it. MTP is also in need of donations to support their on-site project coordinator at a mere $40 a month. Trevor is in Haiti right now planting more trees; you can view photos on his blog.

Here's someone who didn't wait until he had graduated from college to make a difference. He took what he was passionate about—landscaping—and went off and began working on a problem that needed solving. I'm impressed, and I guess his grandparents have more than enough reason to brag.

Hunter's Heart

"I'm not going to school," my 6-year-old grandson insisted last Friday. Our daughter Joy was confused because Hunter loves school.

"Hunter, get on the bus."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I am taking the money I was saving for vacation to God's Warehouse [a local thrift store] and buying clothes and toys for the kids that don't have them."

A tornado had hit a section of their northeast Tennessee county and wiped out a community of houses. Hunter insisted that the children who had been affected couldn't wait another day for clothes while he went to school.

Hunter won. Joy loaded Hunter, his vacation change jar and a 4-year-old friend in the pickup and off they went to God's Warehouse. When Hunter asked the person in charge how much he could buy for the $38 in his jar, they told him he could fill the back of his momma's truck.

Because they knew some of the children whose homes had been destroyed, Joy had gotten a list of clothing sizes needed. She set up baskets on the floor labeled by size, and the boys carefully went through the clothing, selecting two outfits for each child. Toys and other items were added to the piles.

Hunter also tried to buy the eight bags of donations an elderly man was dropping off. "You don't want these clothes, Son, they're for old people," the man said.

"Well, there were old people whose homes were destroyed. Please, can I buy them?" The man apologized to the store clerk and placed the bags in Joy's truck instead.

When the truck was full, Joy and the kids took the donations over to those affected. The devastation hit them hard, and Joy worried about its effect on the boys. But there was satisfaction, too, in delivering the things they had picked out and that Hunter had personally paid for.

I'm proud of my grandson. He's been saving that money for months in anticipation of a trip to the beach this summer. And yet he was willing to give it up for what he saw as a greater need.

Yesterday, I got irritated about a very small kindness someone asked me to do. It cost me almost nothing, but my selfish nature protested. I need God to soften my heart like he has Hunter's to the needs of those around me and to help me put those needs before my wants.

What needs do you see today? Maybe you're called, like Hunter, to help those dealing with the tornado aftermath. Maybe it's someone at church that needs a hand. Maybe it's a family member who simply needs us to listen. Whatever it is, act quickly as Hunter did. Don't delay like I did. Allow God to bless others through you.

Skipping Stone or Mill Stone?

When I started my blog, more than six years ago now, I said my goal was to encourage those like me who are not activists but want to make a difference in the world by providing ideas and links to organizations worthy of support. That's still my goal.

But as I spent time in my Bible this week, I came to this passage:

"Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers" (Luke 11:46)

It made me wonder if my blog was weighing people down. After all, I toss out lots of ideas of things you can do. I mention lots of charities that need money. But I myself certainly don't practice them all or give to them all. In fact, I may not practice or give to most of them.

Does that make my blog a mill stone around the neck of readers, dragging them down with guilt? Does it make me a hypocrite who should heed the "woe" because I am not doing them all?

Today in my cryptogram was the following quote from Mother Teresa:

"I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples."

That's what I want my blog to be doing. I want to be throwing skipping stones of ideas into the water of life that create ripples. Ripples that get a cool charity noticed. Ripples that encourage you to try one act of justice or kindness you might not have thought of. Ripples that get you thinking about a topic differently.

So tell me, do you find this blog to be a mill stone or a skipping stone? Is it drowning you or sending out ripples?

What's a Church to Do?

You know my purpose for this blog is to help individuals discover ways they can make a difference in the world. I believe we can all do something that will improve the lives of others. Unfortunately, sometimes the "something" I really want to do is to sit back and criticize the "someone" I think should be doing something, like the government or the church or someone other than me. But I don't think that's what God has in mind.

I was staying in a hotel over the last few days and so I received USA Today on Monday. An essay entitled "America's Churches Can Help Change the World" jumped out at me. In it, Oliver Thomas talks about the concept of "cultural captivity," which often causes churches (and their members) to follow the culture rather than Christ. It's so easy to fall into that, for the culture is comfortable. (if that's not a problem for you, I'd love to hear how you avoid it being so.)

Thomas goes on to talk about the way individual churches are making a difference in their communities, and that's great. Our church hosts Angel Food distribution, collects coats and shoes for a local clothing closet, and collects food for a food bank, a veterans home, and a pregnancy center.

But Thomas wonders if churches shouldn't be doing more together to make a difference in the big issues of justice and poverty in our day. Do you see your church, your denomination, partnering with other churches to bring about positive change in the world?

After you read Thomas's article, I would love to have you post a comment telling me what your church is doing—alone or collectively—to make the world a place that more closely reflects "thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven." Your comment may just spur someone else to get started, or provide a way to link up with another church that is fighting the same battle. Let me hear from you!

A Matrix Movie I Actually Want to See

When the Matrix movies came out, Les went to see them without me. I had no interest. And that was infinitely interesting to other people. "What, you haven't seen The Matrix?" they would shriek. People I loved and respected kept telling me I had to see it, that I would love it, that there was so much in it.

Eventually they wore me down. One night I sat down and watched the DVD with Les. I hated it. My eyes glazed over (kind of the way Les's do when I make him watch an  Academy award–winning movie). I had a numb spot in my brain. And I felt I had wasted a couple of hours of my life that I would never get back.

I told this to those who had insisted I would love it. Their response? "Well, you really have to watch it a couple of times to fully understand it and love it." As if.

But now, I have discovered that a Matrix movie is coming that I really want to see. No, not another one in the mind-numbing series. This one is called Mastering the Matrix and it's a documentary (Les just ran screaming from the room). The movie features interviews people who have made positive changes in their lives that have made positive changes throughout the world as well, including Sir Richard Branson and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The movie, which releases in September 2011, but can be preordered on the website. The filmmakers want it to be more than a collection of feel-good stories. They hope it will start a movement of positive change. I hope they're right. And let it begin with me.

Forgetting the Power

A few weeks ago I blogged about Max Lucado's new book Outlive Your Life. It was a book I received free from Thomas Nelson via booksneeze.com. At the time I ordered Outlive Your Life, I also ordered the companion book for teens, You Were Made to Make a Difference, which was written by Max and his daughter Jenna Lucado Bishop, with help from Natalie Gillespie. I had hoped to review both books together, but You Were Made to Make a Difference was back ordered, and so I only now finished reading it.

It follows the same conversational arc that Outlive Your Life does, with the book of Acts as the basis for how to make a difference in the world. But the design and copy are teen oriented (although I feel it is geared more for young teens), and the stories told of people making a difference are all about teens and preteens. It even shares more of the story of Alex and Brett Harris, whose "rebelution" and book Start Here I blogged about back in March.

The user friendly content and the stories of people their own ages should keep kids interested and hopefully give them confidence that they, too, can change the world. Practical ideas for doing just that decorate the pages, and it also provides ways for teens to raise funds to do God's work. I look forward to sharing You Were Made to Make a Difference with some of the teens in my church. I want to see if it inspires them to do big things for God as they allow him to use them.

As I read the book, it reinforced many of the points that struck me in the adult version of the book, including the idea that we don't have to be anyone more special than we already are (as God's child) to be God's  hands and feet in a hurting world.

This passage really hit me:

Prayer is our foundation for making a difference. Trying to change the world without prayer is like trying to use a new iPod without charging the battery. You have to connect to the power source before you can start rockin'.

How often have I tried to do something without first accessing God's power? Way more than I want to admit. Yet I'm a weakling. I have little strength and even less commitment and motivation. If I am going to impact my world, I need to first spend time in prayer. I need to seek God to change me and to change the world around me. I must have his power to make a difference.

Let's start right here:

Father, you are the all-powerful one. I'm useless without you. Too easily turned aside to other interests. I ask you to show me your heart for the world, for children in need, for people caught in a cycle of despair. Show me the helplessness of my own condition (even when I foolishly think I am self-sufficient) and lead me to you often so we can talk and you can share your plans with me. I want to be used of you; keep me plugged in to you as my source.

Hoping you, too, are seeking God's power to change the world.

And while your at it consider buying You Were Made to Make a Difference for a young teen in your life so they, too, can change the world.

Live Life to the Max

You know I consider myself ordinary, average, and that's why I named my blog I'm No Superstar as I explained in a post a few weeks ago. But I do believe we ordinary people (and there are a lot of us) can make an extraordinary difference in our world. I've been trying to get the message out through this blog and some articles I've written for Christian magazines. I've even (unsuccessfully) pitched a book on the topic for years.

Now, thanks to a free book I received from Thomas Nelson via booksneeze.com, I am confident that the message will get out to a far wider audience than I could ever reach. After all, I'm no Max Lucado.

Outlive Your Life has all the hallmarks of a Lucado book: The witty wordplay—"He walked on water but never strutted on the beach." The retelling of a Bible story so vividly, you think you were there—I especially love the retelling of Saul and Ananias. The alluring alliteration—"We—who came to Christ as sinful, soiled and small—accomplish things." The personal illustrations.

But this book includes a premise I have to admit I didn't expect to see in a Lucado book, the idea that, as Max tells it, "God has given this generation, our generation, everything we need to alter the course of human suffering." The way for us to outlive our lives is to use them to make a difference in the world today, so others who live after us, have better lives.

Taking an unusual approach to social justice, Lucado uses the first 12 chapters of the book of Acts to illustrate how and why God wants us to impact our world. Short chapters (6 to 8 pages, plus a prayer of application) provide for easier digestion and time to ponder. A discussion guide at the end contains not only questions, but a few practical action ideas to push us in the direction of outliving our lives.

And to put his money where his mouth is, Lucado is giving the royalties of this book to World Vision, which will use it to drill wells in northern Uganda. So buying the book helps you to already outlive your life. Go for it! And feel free to tell me what actions you're taking to outlive your life.

Are You a Butterfly?

You've probably heard of the butterfly effect. No, not the Ashton Kutcher movie; the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in South America affects the weather in New York City. It has something to do with Chaos Theory, which might be a good descriptor of my life if it was instead called Chaos Reality. Truly, I have no idea what Chaos Theory is (and if you know, don't tell me; I'm not that interested).

The point of the butterfly effect is that small, seemingly inconsequential actions can affect the world in amazing ways. And so Andy Andrews, the teller of parables whose book The Noticer I reviewed last year on my blog, has crafted his newest book, The Butterfly Effect, around this phenomenon. When the publisher, Thomas Nelson, offered me a complimentary copy through BookSneeze.com, I couldn't resist a peek.

Andrews is a masterful storyteller, and this book is no exception. The Butterfly Effect reminds me of It's a Wonderful Life, but with historical facts. And instead of tracing how one life affected his world, he traces how one wonderful outcome arose from many people who took one bold or brave action. He gets to the people behind the hero, those whose actions in the past allowed the superstar to become a superstar, to make a world of difference.

A beautifully sculpted gift book with exquisite pacing of copy and art, The Butterfly Effect makes an outstanding gift to a recent graduate, an uncertain teen, an adult trying to decide life's next step. If George Bailey had read it, he might not have needed the angelic review of all his life had meant to others. Who do you know that needs its message? (Read it yourself before you give it away.)

What results will your actions have? Is the thought that each small, insignificant choice you make or action you take can, and will, affect the lives of countless others enough to keep you moving? It drives me to my knees to ask God for wisdom to choose well. As Andrews says, "You have been created in order that you might make a difference." What difference are you making in your world? Every step is a small but powerful one. Make it purposefully.

Start Doing Hard Things and Get Something Free!

I've been doing a few hard things lately—watching my mother die, writing new speaking topics, trying to comfort my daughter as she deals with her daughter's problems. 


One thing that's been hard for me lately is not getting to read much. I've even stopped ordering review copies of books to read because I just don't have time to read them all. Well, I've mostly stopped ordering them. When the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group offered to provide me with a copy of Start Here for review, I had to take them up on it. It sounded like it fit the purpose of this blog, that of helping people make a difference in their world.


I was right. Start Here is the second book by twins Alex and Brett Harris. Their first, called Do Hard Things, evolved from a blog they began at the age of 16 called TheRebelution.com. Rebelution is their compound word using rebellion and revolution and is defined as "a teenage rebellion against low expectations."


The Harris brothers through their blogs, conferences and books are inspiring kids to make a difference in the world, to listen to God and to do hard things. Start Here is the follow-up book, geared to helping teens take the practical steps to bring their dreams—God's dreams for them—to reality. I can't promise that it is inspiring writing, but the stories of what kids are already doing that illustrate their points are inspiring.


From sailing solo around the world at 18 to befriending lonely kids at school, from creating websites for nonprofits to creating nonprofits to provide wells in Africa, the projects these kids commit to are amazing. The brothers answer 30 or so questions that anyone (teen or 50-year-olds alike) might ask when trying to figure out how to get started making a difference in the world. (Although the 50-year-old might not need the part on what to do if your parents disapprove of your idea.)


Here's a sample:

A good exercise in planning a hard thing is to first ask yourself the question, What would I do if I had unlimited time and unlimited resources? That question helps you identify the big target—your vision as large as it can be.

Then ask yourself, What could I do toward reaching that goal within the limitations I face?

Finally, in light of the answers to the first two questions, ask yourself, What should I do?

The first question is a visionary question about what you would do. The second is a practical question about what you could do. And the third is a moral question about what you should do. All three questions are important.

I think this book might be more valuable if you've first read Do Hard Things (which I haven't). So if you know a teen who is excited about God and wants to make a difference in the world (or who you want to inspire to that level), get them both books. You can find options for ordering Start Here using this link. And you can find Do Hard Things here.


It's not easy to do hard things. (If it were they wouldn't be hard things.) We can get tired. We can get discouraged. We can get overwhelmed and give up before we start. Alex and Brett Harris's book Start Here can ensure we get started and keep moving into all the exciting avenues where God wants to use each of us. 


You can get started doing hard things by winning a free copy of Start Here. Simply post in the comment section below one hard thing you've attempted. Winner of the free book will be chosen randomly from all comments made by Sunday, March 28.