So now and then we’ll give you some relief from the unbelievable stuff God is doing and just enertain you with the unbelievable stuff i get to do. A while back on July 4th , I came out at Northpoint Church and helped Andy to know that i didn’t feel like we had quite gone far enough in our mentioning of the anniversary of our nation’s independence. July 4 is here again so…If you have nothing else important to do , you should watch it.
Most of the time the blog here is written for all of you who have nothing better to do than read my blog.
This one is for Jack. To watch. If you have been following his story here then you know what this is about. If not, then i would encourage you to go back through the posts and watch the videos of Jack and his life.
Meanwhile…Jack …this blog’s for you.
So, there is a long comment under Africa hears about Jack. Better than any post i could do right now.
I m serious. If you come here….go there and read it. God just keeps on dancing around neighborhoods and when people on balconies grilling out start to read shirts and change the world…Wow!!!
Thanks James for an incredible story.
If you know me then you know I am at the Bigstuf Camp right now in Panama City beach. I don’t consider it a camp anymore. It’s an unexplainable experience that a blog or a video can’t really depict.
1500 people each week experiencing God in ways that most of the world could only wonder about.
Everyone who comes here talks about trying to explain it and are left speechless. The stories are stories about Jack, and Jessie, and a group of children from orphanages in Kenya who sing from their hearts to a God they really know. The story is really about God. A God who knew Jack when he was just a baby in Kenya and allowed him to lose his hands knowing that his heart would be full as he stood in America with a smile on his face proclaiming God as sovereign. A God who knew that the thousands of arms that hugged Jack this summer would somehow make up for him not having his own.
A God who places his arms around a girl named Jessie every night and shows her how the cancer in her body is a megaphone that shouts to the world that God’s love and grace are so much bigger than disease.
A God whose smile lights up the universe every week as he watches 1500 students lift their voices to Him while the angels can’t help but turn their heads to see whose volume matches theirs.
I want this blog to be in everyones mail box, in living color, full on HD and 3D so the world can see that life is bigger than anything we call normal and God is on the move and dancing across the world connecting nations and displaying his glory through kids who are anything but normal because they have had an encounter with their creator.
Tomorrow, I will add a video that can’t begin to show what really happens here.
Well I suppose it can begin to….but for now…know that God is being magnified and the world is changing. And it’s happening because a bunch of teenagers from both sides of the planet saw his face this week.
And since i like pictures..here is one of our Daraja Children’s Choir of Africa.
Ok. If you have been following the story on Jack. This made me cry. Here is the background.
Jack ended up at the bigstuf house that we built for orphans after he lost his arms.
That house is also called CCRC. Our director of operations, Kurt Kandler is over in Kenya right now and has been following jack’s story from over there. So on Sunday he got a chance to speak at the Bigstuf House, which also serves as the church for the area. So the place is packed with people from around the whole area for church on Sunday. All of them know Jack. Kurt gets to fill them in on Jack and here is the letter he wrote to me.
Kurt speaking:
I started with his initial doctor’s visit and explained that in a few short days, Jack would have his right hand. Some in the congregation clapped, others shouted and some of the women covered their mouths in amazement. Everyone was smiling, but one particular person in the back of the church stood up, grinning from ear to ear, and clapped. It was Jack’s friend, Moses.
I then got to the part of the story where the Doctor didn’t think that Jack would be able to use a prosthetic left arm due to the paralysis and scar tisue in his shoulder. They were visibly disappointed. I went on to explain that we asked another doctor to look at Jack to see what could be done. The congregation looked hopeful but when I told them that the cost would exceed 600,000 Kenyan shillings ($10,000) the disappointment could be seen in their eyes and the church went quiet.
At this point, I tried to describe BigStuf Camp - the number of students that attend, the hi-energy environment, the music, the teaching, etc. etc. Not sure if they got it, but then I told them that Jack had the opportunity to speak on stage to over 1500 secondary school students. They couldn’t believe it. They laughed… they giggled… they starting talking to each other and I assume it was somthing like; “Is he telling us the truth? Jack? Speaking to 1500 Secondary school students?”
And then I got to the part where God touched someone’s heart and the funds were raised for Jack’s surgery in less than five minutes. When I told them that Jack would have the surgery, and he might be able to get a left arm too, well the place went nuts. As it did, I kept my eyes on Jack’s friend Moses. He was standing in the back of the church, arms strectch over his head, and he was running in place. His smile was like no other.
So it appears that we’ve been part of God building a two-way bridge to Kenya. I can’t wait to come home and see Jack and the choir.
Ok,,,that is Kurts letter. Moses was supposed to be part of our choir but couldn’t be because of not having a birth certificate. If you could picture Moses and his smile and him running in place just filled with joy with his arms over his head praising God. That picture is worth millions of words. I wish i could post it here. I can’t so i will post a picture of the Bigstuf House. I will get a better picture so you can see it better tomorrow.
Lanny
So Miley and Mandi have this blog and they are having a dance-off, and more than a million people are watching it on Youtube. That’s amazing!
It’s even more amazing that Jack got new arms and that 24 Orphans from Kenya are singing about hope, and that 18,000 kids are going to camp and getting involved in what God is doing around the world.
When you start a blog and it’s less than a week old, you want to make sure that it is worth your time and the readers time. Otherwise it’s a waste of time. I don’t want either of us to waste time. So, I’ll remind you if you are new here to watch jacks story, to check out the choir, to get involved in a word contest and let me send you free stuff…and know that my main purpose here is to inspire you with good stories, or entertain you with weird stuff. jack has surgery on his other arm on Tuesday so i will keep you up to date on that.
Meanwhile, for your entertainment pleasure. Here is a video we did at Northpoint a while back. It started off innocent enough…
I love words. It would be really hard to communicate without them.
Here is an interesting list of words. Read it and then read how you can send me words and win some stuff. (it would be cool for you to send this link to your linguistic etymologically literate friends.)
alexithymia (ah-lek-sah-THI-mee-ah) — inability to describe emotions in a verbal manner
assuage (ah-SWAJ) — 1. to make (something burdensome or painful) less intense or severe.
cacology (kah-KOL-ah-je) — bad choice or use of words
gesticulate (je-STIK-yah-late) — to make gestures especially while speaking, as for emphasis
indubitably (in-DOO-bi-tah-blee) — unquestionably; without doubt
The consonant combination is just fun to say.
malacophonous (mal-ah-KOF-i-nus) — having a soft voice
persiflage (PUR-sah-flazh) — banter; light, good-natured talk
propinquity (prah-PING-kwi-tee) — proximity; nearness
pulchritudinous (pul-kri-TOOD-en-es) — having great physical beauty or appeal
pusillanimous (pyoo-sah-LAN-ah-mes) — timid or cowardly; fainthearted
quatopygia (kwah-tah-PIJ-ee-ah) — the shaking of the buttocks while walking
quiddity (KWID-i-tee) — 1. the real nature of a thing; the essence. 2. a hairsplitting distinction;
sesquipedalian (ses-kwi-pi-DAY-lee-en) — 1. given to using long words.
triskaidekaphobia (tris-ki-dek-ah-FO-bee-ah) — an abnormal fear of the number 13
and just fyi…
the word latchstring has six consecutive consonants
and the word queueing has six consecutive vowels.
So, i was thinking about the words I used this week as the title of my blog. “What if…”
I have two reasons for blogging. One is to challenge people by asking “what if…?”
The story about Jack is a “what if” . What if people got involved in the world in some unique ways and made a difference in the lives of thousands of people. That’s what is happening with Jack.
The second reason is just to make people think or laugh or be entertained now and then.
So, for your entertainment pleasure, and for help with my blog, I need words. I need to be a little more creative with the title of this blog, so i want to hear your suggestions for a title.
While i was looking for a title i ran across a some of the above words that made me smile. I m not gonna use these for the title of my blog but, i would love for you to send me your own unique words that you think are entertaining. So, I am gonna send out prizes to the top five people who submit the most unique words, I will use those top five words in a paragraph when i speak at camp next week and i will post that video. I’ll send the winners a cd (new one featuring kristian stanfill, casey darnell, chrystina fincher, eddie kirkland, james david carter, mandi miller and more) And if someone comes up with a creative name for my blog and i use it, hey…i’ve got bigstuf tshirts, books and cd’s ready to mail.
Ok…send me your words and your ideas for a title for my blog page.
A few thousand people are now following jack’s story. I think because God is using Jack to reveal himself in some unique ways to a lot of people.
Today, I called a friend. Dr. H.
He is a hand an arm specialist. I asked what he was doing and he seemed tired as he mentioned he had about 50 patients in his office. I simply asked him to go to this site and watch Jack’s story and then let me know when he could see Jack. Jack showed up at his office at 12:30. There had been some doubt about whether Jack’s other arm might be able to surgically be taken care of so that he could get another arm. Dr. H. saw, jack, called the prosthetics guy, did a pre op and set up a surgery for next Tuesday.
The system doesn’t usually work like that. God does that quite a bit though. I don’t know if the good doctor even made it to this site or not. All i know is that God just might have put Dr. H in my life years ago so that Jack could have another miracle in his life today.
If you have been following the stories on Jack…this is huge! If you haven’t go back and watch the videos and read the posts about the miracle, the arms, and Jack at bigstuf.
Here’s the continuation of the story.
Wait….don’t read this til you go watch those first videos.
Ok.
Jack got his arm today and within an hour he was writing his name and feeding himself..and smiling like you cannot imagine.
And most of us can’t!
Jack has a new life!!
We will post a video soon.
