We're praying for you..... Just call if you need anything....

I hate to say it but I am becoming a critic of my own faith. 

               I am realizing the amount of worthless chatter we present to the world, fellow believer and unbeliever alike. It is no wonder to me that so many people are turned away from faith so quickly. When I consider what I was taught as a child into adulthood and how little I saw it demonstrated it brings me to believe that our complacency as a religion is so deep that we are just as the Pharisees and Sadducees were in the days of Christ. A loudly boasting, noise producing, vast waste of space. Murdering the very essence of our faith through a lack of motivation, a lack of willingness to move and an overall buy in to the ridiculous statements such as "We're praying for you" and "Just call if you need anything".

              Now before you go nuts and think that I've lost all bearing, hear me out. When you hear someone say "we're praying for you" the first thought that comes to mind is "oh that's nice" or maybe you even think about your own prayer time and realize that if they are anything like you.... it's gonna be a short prayer said once or twice and then you'll be quickly forgotten. Even the believers have lost their faith in a solid petition of prayer to the Almighty and rightly so! We have pretty much made "I'll pray for you" a house hold statement as worthless as the slogan on a big company that implies they put customers first! Most importantly we have through that statement around as much as the words "I love you" hit the ears of so many people on Valentines day each year right before they break up and move on!!! We've overused and abused it to the point that it has lost its worth.

           How do we get it back? Simple really, if you say your going to pray for someone then do two things pray for them and then write a note and mail it! Example "I'll pray for your family" you say to a fellow friend. Two days later you think, oh I am supposed to be praying for them. You say a prayer and hastily depart to other things..... they never knew you actually did what you said you were going to do and honestly they have no reason to think you did, cause honestly EVERYBODY SAYS IT! So change the tune, when you say a prayer take 3 extra minutes to write a quick note, "Hey, I was thinking of your family and while I'd love to do more for you I simply can't at this time. But I wanted to know that you were in my thoughts and prayers today!" AND MAIL IT!!!! 

How quickly would those empty words be changed to a meaningful tangible reality for those who heard them and dismissed them as mindless christian chatter!!!

With all that being said to me lately, today my favorite christian phrase is "Just call if you need ANYTHING"..... seriously?     You need me to call?      My needs are posted all over the internet, on Facebook, in emails you have received, in phone calls I have made and YOU need ME to call you???

        As a person who claims to have faith we must learn to embrace our responsibilities as such, when you know someone is in need, you should NOT ask them to "give you a call" your right in FRONT of THEM...... instead of asking them to do yet another embarrassing thing like call and plead their case to you, simply say "I know things are tough right now, is there anything we can do for you?" or even "I saw you had some needs, and I wanted to ask you if x, y, or z might be helpful" showing that you as a caring person actually thought ahead demonstrates your commitment to actively working out your faith. I can honestly say that if I had even a dollar for every time I've heard "We're praying for you" or "If you need ANYTHING just call", my children wouldn't be homeless, we'd have a car of our own and we wouldn't be worrying about how the health insurance bill was going to be paid.

           You can call it ranting, you can claim I'm bitter if that will make you feel better but honestly what makes me angry is the fact that I used to listen to all this stuff about how people were just "hurt" because their expectations of people were too high and they let their "hurt" drive them away from the church....... what  a bunch of hype, the church is a place were building up, edifying, tending to those in need and providing like no other should be happening so where did WE go wrong? We went wrong when we put numbers and limitations on God, when we told God our budget wasn't big enough for His business and when we used the "good steward" excuse to avoid doing our job!!! What if, just what if we actually closed the bank account and worked on cash, paid all our needs in cash and donated the rest to those in need, do you think that God wouldn't provide if we as the "faithful" ones actually believed?

So in another attempt to say "wake up friends" here is my challenge for the week, when you KNOW someone is hurting or in need, don't just say one of the standard phrases and if heaven forbid you do, follow it up properly with ACTION!!!

We could all use a wake up call and I think that if you pay attention to the example God gave us, he didn't ask people to send him a letter before he could meet their needs. He faced it right at the moment it was presented and He FOLLOWED it up with ACTION...... if that is His example it should be ours as well!

GO MAKE A DIFFERENCE (notice it didn't say, go "say a difference).............. 

My Thank You to FORD

For those of you who didn't know my son was critically injured in a vehicular accident June 24th or this year. I know that God had everything under control, right down to the vehicle my mother was driving. That being said I feel it is only right that Ford hear just how grateful I am for the work they do on the vehicles they produce. Everyone needs to know they are doing a good job from time to time and I don't think the people at Ford are any exception to that!!!

My letter to the FORD CORPORATION AND THEIR EMPLOYEES

To Whom it may concern:

First I would like to introduce myself. My name is Lauren and I am a mother of 4 boys and now a faithful Ford F150 lover.

             This year, a Cadillac Escalade that was traveling at a minimum of 70 MPH hit my mothers’ Ford F150 on the passenger side as I in the vehicle behind her watched in horror. The impact was unbelievable.  I can remember each second as the Ford was pushed, bulldozed really, before it began to spin for 3 ½ rotations finally coming to a stop facing me across the intersection. In the truck were my mother, my two oldest sons and my nephew. I knew I would face something unimaginable as I parked my car and began to assess the scene.

But this is where the vehicle makes a difference to me. My mother was getting out! My second oldest son Ethan (6 at the time) was saying “I’m ok. I’m ok.”, my nephew was saying “Elijah, Elijah wake up, wake up”….. my nephew appeared to be ok as well.

       Elijah, the only one on the impact side was unresponsive. This boy, my son, eight years old, an avid seatbelt wearer, sat slumped over in his seat, seatbelt still secure. The rest of what unfolded is a story a mother should never have to endure, weeks in ICU, 2 months in inpatient rehabilitation and months more of outpatient care.

 So, you may ask, why the letter to your company? Simple! 

I want to say THANK YOU! 

Thank you for your diligence, your aim for safety and your careful consideration taken as you create a vehicle. Thank you for the care your workers take in building the vehicles. I’m not in a position to say all your vehicles perform this well, but I’m willing to honestly say it will be the next vehicle I buy and the performance of this one vehicle warrants a Thank You. I don’t typically buy into claims that a corporation puts on their own product but after seeing first hand the performance of my mothers 2003 Ford F150 Lariat, I can attest to the stability, safety and strength that it had against a vehicle that has a curb weight almost 1000lbs heavier.

Today, not even 6 months later my son is well on his way to recovery. Other than a trach tube, you can’t even tell that just a few months ago he was unable to walk, talk or eat. Some may say that I am putting too much stock in the vehicle, but I’m not crazy there is a level of divine intervention for sure, but having a vehicle built well also plays a large part in accident outcomes.  I don’t think I can say it enough and hopefully sometime in the future I’ll be the proud owner of a Ford F150 and when somebody asks me about my vehicle I’ll get to share with them my deep appreciation for how a Ford is built and how I know from personal experience that your slogan “Built Ford tough” isn’t just a slogan to me anymore it’s a statement about how the engineering, safety features, factory production and final completion of your truck made a forever difference in my life and the life of my family.

So once more, thank you and may you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Sincerely,                                                                                              
Lauren Laurent

If you want to know more or see the amazing recovery of Elijah feel free to follow him! 

For all those at Ford Motor Company, Thank you so very much! Keep up the good work.

Elijah Rocks Facebook!