“Dear Auburn, I send my love to you in Jesus’ name. I have had a short term and a lot of class work… Send my love to all. May God bless you.” - Sharon

“Dear Grace Campus Ministries, how are you and your family? I am also fine. I am in grade 2. I am in my first term. I did well in class. I help my parents do some work at home like washing plates and fetching water. My best subject is math and I like playing dodge ball with my friends. Love you so much.” - Esther

“Greetings in the name of Jesus. Thanks a lot for paying my school fees. We are all fine with our family. I passed my first term exams. I am in my holidays helping my parents to weed crops and do some housework like washing clothes and plates. I pray for you and your family and bless.” - Allan

All that to say, thanks for your continued support, from us and them.

Each of us then asked ourselves the question, “What does the holiness of God, revealed through his specific instructions for Israel, mean for my life?” 

Our various responses served to encourage our team, and we hope that by sharing them that faith would rise inside of you as well. 

Leviticus provides a blueprint for us to be whole and complete. The instructions given for temporal sacrifices point us to the permanent Sacrifice. The mandates on the clothing of the priesthood (found in chapter 6) foreshadow the armor of God that we find offered to us in Ephesians 6. The law, in every detail, points to the cross.

Leviticus allows us to catch a glimpse of holiness in the shadow of all the symbols. I learn that I am incapable of righteousness in my own strength. I find that in seeing God’s holiness, I can see my own holiness because he is in me and I in him. God says “I am,” and because my identity is in him, I live out of that. Holiness puts fear in me that draws me closer instead of pushing me away.

Leviticus comes down to two main things for me. The first is that all of our needs can only be met in Christ. The need to belong, respond, restore, confess, and to be at peace with the Lord are all met by the blood of Christ that flowed once for all. We are now whole in him when we accept that. The second truth is that we are to live as a priesthood. Our responsibility is to connect a lost and dying world to the person of Jesus Christ. The work of a priest was completed in the tabernacle. We are now the tabernacle and therefore are able to complete the work of our priesthood.

Leviticus is an outline of God’s parameters for our relationship with him. It is his invitation to us to experience his wholeness. He created us to live out of that wholeness, but we have all walked contrary to his plan for us and are broken. His law was meant for our good. It is not to measure our performance but to invite us into fullness of life.

Leviticus shows me God’s infinite holiness. It gives me a healthy fear and asks me to respond. The truth in this book reminds me of who I am and what I am worth. He tells me I lack nothing, and I live out of overflow. I belong to him. As he says, “you are mine,” I am led to repentance. 

Leviticus reminds me that He is holy and whole. He does not change. He is in me. Therefore, I am immovable in him. Even if everything else changes, this constant is comforting. 

We hope that the truth we have learned would overflow into your lives as well.

I’ve been through three weeks of intensive culture and teacher training in Southern California and now i couldn’t be more ready to get on that plane and get back to China. I’m leaving tomorrow, the 23rd, and will arrive in Beijing, China on the 24th. My classes are set and a new team of Americans will be at the school to greet me. I’m eagerly awaiting this next season of life in China.

My summer in America was everything i needed it to be, but now i’m ready to dive back into my relationships in China. I’m excited to build deep friendships and share my life of hope and joy with my students and colleagues.

There are also some exciting new opportunities coming up in the next few months that i can’t wait to tell you about. I’ll be blogging regularly here at the Give Grace blog, but if you want to follow more of my day-to-day life in China then follow along at biscuet.com.

Thank you for your partnership in this initiative to take light and love into some of the darkest places on the planet. I appreciate you being here on this journey with me.

While pancakes don’t seem that revolutionary, even in terms of breakfast foods, they have helped bring the love of God into some of the darkest places of Auburn, Ala. As Love Is Free continues to feed the hungry Friday-night bar crowd, an ordinary breakfast food helps reshape the view of God of lost and broken people. Love Is Free shows them a God who is gracious, slow to anger and rich in love. In partnering with Love Is Free, Give Grace will provide roughly 5,600 pancakes which will impact over 2,500 people and help bring life to a broken, dying world.

Meet the children that benefit from your investment and generosity. From left to right Sophia, Noah, and Maya are three of the orphans Give Grace sponsors at The Philip Hayden Foundation.

Sophia just returned from having her double cleft lip surgery (this picture was taken before the operation), and she awaits the procedure to remedy a cleft palate. She is growing and doing well. 

Noah is in the same boat, as it were. He also has had the lip surgery and is scheduled to have the palate operation in the near future. He is a shy little guy and a bit mischievous.

Maya is almost two now. She suffers from neurological deficits that are hard to identify. Her diagnosis is not yet complete, but she is going to physical therapy for help. Pray that her physician can pinpoint the cause and consequently the cure for her ailments.

Thanks for your interest in the lives of these children.We will do our best to keep you informed on the happenings of Give Grace and how your support is changing the world.

Since moving to China in February it has been one of my dreams to visit the Philip Hayden Foundation near Beijing. When Give Grace launched last year we started sponsoring a handful of these beautiful Chinese kids and it was an unforgettable day when their pictures arrived to our office. We immediately started praying for the children and we loved talking about their stories. We longed for them to experience love and we desired for them to one day have a family of their own. After seeing their pictures and praying for them week after week, I eventually felt like I knew them personally.

Recently, I was finally able to get on a train and make the six-hour journey to PHF. Standing in the orphanage and looking around at all of the kids was surreal. It felt like I didn’t deserve to have that moment. It felt like the weight of all of Give Grace’s love for these kids had just landed on my chest. Late one afternoon as I stood on the playground and looked around, I felt your prayers and your love for those little people. I knew in that moment that Give Grace was truly making a difference.

It was an amazing experience to go there and be the eyes, the ears, the hands and the feet of Give Grace. All that Give Grace stands for culminated in that one short weekend. It was a weekend that was all about showing love and grace and acceptance. It was a weekend that changed me. Those kids changed me. The love that abounds in that place left it’s mark on me.

Now, more than ever, please know that your prayers and your gifts are changing lives at a small orphanage near Beijing, China. Those kids may never meet you or touch you. But be certain that you are touching them. You are changing their lives. You are leaving a mark on their lives that will forever remind them that they are loved and accepted.

From the deepest part of me, thank you for being apart of this.

Biscuet

$1100 isn’t much in the scope of all the relief funds being aimed — but it’s what we can do together through give grace. That means 10 families will get urgent supplies.

“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10).

It has been estimated that as many as 5 million people are homeless as a result of the earthquake in China, in addition to the death toll of approximately 50,000 people. Partners with Asia Harvest are focusing on helping Christians who live in the disaster area, believing that their primary goal should be to help fellow believers in keeping with the above verse from Galatians 6:10. They have launched a program to provide “Emergency Aid kits” to people in the worst affected areas. The kits, which cost US$110 each, include a 9 sq. meter (97 sq. feet) tent, flashlights, cooking utensils, blankets, first aid supplies, and other essentials. Those on the ground agree the most urgent need is for tents, as in many areas every single building has collapsed and the people are sleeping outside, exposed to the elements.

Pray for the ten families these kits will be reaching - pray they would know the comfort of our Living God who promises to never leave us or forsake us, who promises to work ALL THINGS for the good of those of love Him and are called by Him.

- Matt

For more info visit www.asiaharvest.org

This past Thursday was our last Encounter of the semester. We wrapped up 1 Corinthians with the challenge to remain IMMOVABLE from Him through all things. Matt spent some time thanking our volunteers and staff for all their hard work. We also commissioned our teams and students going to the nations this summer. Grace Campus will be sending a team of 33 to Uganda in May and a team of about 5 to China in July. In addition to the two organized trips, Grace Campus has students going to Mexico, Honduras, Tanzania, Spain, Philippines, Dominican Republic, Slovakia, Malawi, Bolivia, Guatemala, Greece,  Taiwan, Saint Vincent, and the Czech Republic. WOW! “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, ‘How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!’” Romans 10v.14,15

Our seniors also spoke a word of  encouragement and challenge as they continue on toward new things. This video and others can be found on our Equipping page. We are thankful for them and their leadership here.

Please pray for our students as they travel to the nations declaring His Name and pray for our seniors as they transition to new things. Pray that they would be surrounded by people who will encourage and hold them accountable. Pray that they would be bold and immovable. Pray that the Lord would bless them and guide them for His name’s sake.

-We have partnered with Mocha Club in support of their Child Mothers Project. Uganda is replete with people who have lived in fear since the mid 80’s. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel paramilitary group in Northern Uganda, has terrorized villages through raids where they are taking children to add to their army, killing villagers, and destroying the village. Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, has denied this. There are many young women in Gulu, Uganda, however, who tell a different story… These young women are called “child mothers” because they were only children themselves when they were abducted, trained as fighters, and given as sex slaves to rebel soldiers in the LRA. Now that they have escaped or been excused as expendable, the community at large rejects them and their children. We are helping fund the “Village of Hope” where nearly 500 of these child mothers can live in a safe community with shelter, a job training center, a medical facility, and a school for their children.

-Biscuet made us a video with updates from China. We are excited about what is going on over there and all the work being done. 

Monday the students worked with a local government organization called City Year to restore a park in the Bronx. Then Tuesday, March 18, 2008 became a monumental day for the people of New York City. It is estimated that 40,000 people unknowingly live with HIV in New York City in addition to the 100,000 people who already know they have it.  However, because of the 24 CCC Staff members assigned to 19 agencies, 195 student volunteers, 30 Gallery volunteers, and 36,000 rave cards and 800 metro cards being handed out, we were able to test 871 people for HIV. On Wednesday, students spent the day handing out cards to promote REVO - a showing from local artists, musicians, and fashion designers.  All proceeds went to Mocha Club and Health People, which help children orphaned from the AIDS virus. Catch a glimpse of City Uprising from our online photo gallery. 

We have some new child sponsorships with our partners in China. Please check out their stories here.