The only way this will happen is if we rise up and tell them that we want that to happen.  Stop being silent.  Silence is passive acceptance.  We can no longer do that.  It is not acceptable.

I was Stacy Peterson’s pastor.  And today, I’m a domestic violence activist because of her.  Please, join me in making a difference today.  Speak up about this!  Tell everyone you know about this site: documenttheabuse.com.  It is groundbreaking and will help give voices back to women whom have been silenced by their abusers.

If you don’t do anything, the culture won’t change and 8 women will continue to die each day at the hands of their abusers.  And abusers will remain untouchable.

Rise up now to honor  past victims and for the wives and mothers and daughters of tomorrow.

Peace,

Neil

The problem is that we focus on the abuser. We focus on serial killers. We focus on professional athletes who behave poorly. Those make for the most “interesting” stories, I guess. But the victim is not the focus, and I’m afraid will never be.  So what will it take to change this?

It will take people stepping up to be a part of the solution. I’m doing that, and I’d love it if you’d join me. Tell your pastor, your community leaders, fellow church-goers, people at the gym, and the grocery store, that YOU want to make a difference in the lives of women who are being abused. Tell them that 1/4 of all women in church today are being abused. Tell them that if THEY don’t do something, that no one will. Tell them that WE cannot be silent about this anymore.

I need you to step up to bat with me and help me to save lives. Will you tell everyone you know about this site: documenttheabuse.com? It is a step-by-step guide for abused women to begin to take back their voice from their abusers. More importantly, it will give them hope and courage to plan to get away from their abusers because they’ll know that others care personally about them.

With your help, we’ll show abusers that they are NOT untouchable.  When you watch Untouchable tonight, remember the victims of domestic violence.  8 women die each day at the hands of their abusers.  With your help, this WILL change.

Peace,

Neil

About three months ago I started thinking about my genetics. I’m not sure exactly why, but I started looking at the diseases that my family members are most susceptible to. Hands-down, it was heart disease. As a matter of fact, both of my grandfathers died of heart disease and coronary artery disease is a very common ailment in the ones still living.

Around that same time, I watched a documentary called Forks Over Knives. The documentary suggested that if Americans switched to a mainly plant-based diet, that many of our common disease processes would be eradicated. Heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes could be things of the past.

After doing several months of studying, I’ve decided to become a vegetarian. I believe that it is the most responsible thing that I can do for the genetic hand I’ve been dealt. As I thought about the things that I’d be missing (like Portillo’s burgers) I had the sense that God was asking me if I wanted to choose health or tasty burgers. I knew that God wanted me to love the life He gave me more than the taste of any food.

So here’s what I’m NOT doing:

~I’ll never condemn you for eating meat. I’m all “for” humane choices, but I don’t think it is wrong to eat meat.

In all of this, I ask for your respect and support. It is something that I strongly feel that I’m supposed to do. I’ve researched this thoroughly, and I’m confident in my decision. So thanks in advance for your help and encouragement in my new way of eating!

How can I help YOU reach your goals in 2012?

Peace,

Neil

What I took in the most was very similar to the themes of my other trips: Being poor does not mean that you can’t be generous. After our hike to Plik, the pastor and his family offered us food that truly cost him something. He gave us papaya, wonderful coffee, and fresh baked bread. Afterward, he invites us outside for some coconut water from coconuts that his family climbed up trees to get and then the pastor hacked each one open with amazing precision and have us all we could drink. Each coconut has around 20 ounces of water in them and all 9 of us drank a whole one then asked for more for our journey back home. He immediately sent his son back up the 40 foot tall tree and dropped more coconuts down and repeated the process. All in all, he have us at least 18 coconuts. All this from a man who couldn’t make more than $2/day. Unbelievable and humbling.

The same pastor escorted us back on our walk about 2/3 of our distance home. He just wanted to make sure that his guests were ok. He went the extra mile when he didn’t have to. He didn’t have money but what he had, he have to us. He modeled generosity to me today.

Lord, may this trip stick with me and change me into the person you want me to be. Thanks for loving me enough to shape me through the poverty of some of your beautiful people in Haiti.

Peace,

Neil

We brought each student 2 pencils, 1 pen, a chewable vitamin, and a sticker. The excitement of these kids was unfathomable. They acted like it was Christmas morning! The joy and appreciation we felt from them was palpable. What a reality check for all of us who are numbed by the material worship in our over-fed culture.

We also got to introduce some of our team members to the kids they sponsor (so they can afford to go to school and have suitable clothes). It was a tear-jerker of a moment when Bill Inman hugged the kid he sponsors and told him with emotion washing over his face that he loved him. We all do, Bill.

Then I got the chance to meet and take a picture with Adolphe Kervens, a little boy that my friends, Heidi and Acey Ty sponsor. Heidi, thank you for your generosity and for showing Acey what is important. Ty would be so proud.

Today was a complete day. Great interactions, hard physical work, and some reflection. Tomorrow, I will have my final Haitian adventure on this trip—the long hike to Plik to check out the progress on school #4! Then a good night sleep and the long trip back to Chi-town to see my incredible family (I miss them DEARLY).

Peace,

Neil

In one of the markets in Marfranc, a woman was making mud cookies. That isn’t a fancy name for a delicious chocolate dessert. It is exactly what it claims to be (minus the cookie part). A child made his way up to the woman and asked for a “cookie.”. The woman packed dark mud in a bowl with some vegetable oil and gave it to the hungry boy after he gave her his money which ended up being the equivalent of 1/2 of one US cent.

Now when I hear that, I’m sad and confused about how to respond. I struggle with interacting with a people who will most likely always spend their full days trying to survive instead of learning to thrive. But…I’m also deeply grateful for all that I have. I’m going to be thinking about this a great deal over the next few days. And as we approach Thanksgiving, please join me and think about what God wants a grateful people to be like and then do.

Peace,

Neil

A few in our group went into Jeremie to pick up paint and cement and to complete a huge variety of errands, and several of us stayed at the house to do a few simple repairs…that took us almost no time at all. Then we waited…for about 5 hours for our remaining members to return. Needless to say, the day wasn’t the most productive. At least not in the typically American way that oftentimes significance is defined.

Instead of getting tasks completed, I had some heartfelt conversations with Vilex. He turned 28 today and is one of the best men that I know. He is the future of the Haitian church and culture. And he is the real deal. I asked Vilex what kind of Haiti he really dreams of living in. I asked him what keeps Haiti hundreds of years behind most of the developed world. We had some incredible conversations but most importantly, we just went with the natural flow of the day (degajer, as Haitians call it). What I’m learning on this trip is that sometimes the most productive thing we can do is to slow down and listen to the hearts and dreams of the people we’ve come to serve.

Today was a good day. And I have a feeling that this is really close to how Jesus would have spent this day, too. That makes me rest easy tonight.

Peace,

Neil

~Neil

But other than that, today has been pretty awful. Why? Because we went to a medical clinic today and talked with this wonderful team of doctors and nurses and dentists from Kokomo, Indiana. And this team was doing some incredible things. Extracting abscessed teeth, healing hypertension, and giving hope. Except for a little 8 year old boy. He was brought to this clinic which operates just one week per year, about one week too late. He had a bowel perforation and the doctors sent him home to die in the arms of his mother tonight.

So tonight, a young mother will say goodbye to her little boy…because people in Haiti simply can’t afford medical care. I’m sick. I’m imagining saying goodbye to one of my little girls. It makes me miss my family so badly that I could cry. I’ve cried enough. But now what?

I happen to believe that there are enough resources in this world. We just need more people to care enough to spread them.

It is no different in the church. At NCC, we wrestle with making tough budgeting decisions. We want to make the best decisions possible with the money that God has allowed us to use for this time. But to be honest with you, I’m sick and tired of believing that the church is limited in completing the mission that God has given it due to economic hardship.

As a matter of fact, I might lose it if I hear another person tell me “well…that’s just not in the budget this year.” So…God is limited in his ability to turn people into fully-devoted followers of his through serving and learning about what real life entails, all because finances are bad. Umm…I don’t buy that. And you shouldn’t either.

Do you realize what the church can do in these hard economic times? The church can lead the way in re-shaping the value system of this culture by demonstrating radically non-sensical generosity. If every church in the US took in just one homeless person, we could end an epidemic and show the world that we take Jesus seriously about caring for the “least of these.”

By the way…there are families in every church that have the personal means and space to do this. And that is what “the church” is all about anyway…individuals banning together to do the great work of Jesus in a world desperate for grace and goodness.

There are so many other ways to help, too. 1/4 of all the women sitting in your church each Sunday are abused. Read that last line again. What can you do to make a difference? What if just one family in your church decided to open their own home to create a safe place for an abused woman? Can you imagine the impact we could make?

It is not acceptable for us to ever say “that’s just not in the budget.” Economic hard-times give us great opportunities to be generous in creative ways.

With this new kind of thinking, I want to ask you:

What dreams have you put on-hold because “that’s just not in the budget?”