Kelly's Day 14: Coincidence?

What I'm about to say might tick you off.
You might scoff at your screen.
You might even send me a nasty gram.
Go ahead.
But, I want you to know that if you "X-out" right now and never come back to read another blog post from me, I still love you...and so does Jesus.
Here goes:

There is no such thing as coincidence.

Look at Creation. There's organization in Creation. The sun comes up! The sun goes down and the moon comes up, and then the moon goes down! Every day. Organization of light! The bodies of water evaporate, form clouds, rain, stream down mountains and valleys and end up either evaporating or flow back into the ocean! Every day. Organization of water! There's a place for everything, and everything is in its place! Fish are in the water. Animals are on the land. Birds are in the air. Organization of life! Even if you're an intellectual who does not subscribe to Creation Theory, surely you must agree that there is organization to life on this planet. My question to you would be: 

Is it by coincidence? 

Did coincidence birth life?

Even when we are not speaking of Creation, but rather everyday occurrences, can we blame coincidence? I mean, take my yesterday. In the morning, I posted my Day 13 post "It's My Fault." When I got to what I thought would be the last line of my post, my friend, Craig, messaged me to see if I would go to Haiti this June to serve on a missions trip. Coincidence? When I checked the mail, I had a flier from World Vision talking about helping fight hunger in children. Coincidence?

 Please click HERE if you feel led to fight hunger with World Vision. 

Later that day, I clicked open our friends' newsletter. They are missionaries in Japan that we support. He talked about "Spending yourself." Guess what he quoted. Never mind. I'll tell you.

"And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday." ~Isaiah 58: 10

Coincidence?

Finally, the first text I received this morning was from Kristin. Go read her post. Friends. She texted to tell me that the first thing she read this morning was "My Utmost for His Highest" on March 3rd, which focused on John 21:17...

"FEED MY SHEEP."

Please accept my most humble...Coincidence?

Isaiah Chapter 58 talks about "True Fasting."

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard." ~Isaiah 58: 6-8

See, Kristin and I fast to draw nearer to God. We fast to hit the reset button. We fast to hear what God wants of us. After reading Isaiah 58, my fast? ...it seems purely selfish.  We should skip the fasting from food drill and go STRAIGHT to the "loosing the chains of injustice" part, or the "set the oppressed free" part, or even the "sharing our food with the hungry and providing shelter" part.

I can feed people!

I can clothe people!

I can house people!

I can loose the chains of injustice!

I can set the oppressed free!

And, you know what? 

YOU.

CAN.

TOO. 

*Want to feed people? Organize a food drive for your local food bank~or just volunteer there like my friend, Gao, does every other Tuesday!

*Clothe people? Ever heard of a little place called GOODWILL?

*House people? There are homeless shelters in almost every town in America, and guess what. They ALL need money and goods to stay afloat! 

*You can loosen the chains of injustice! My dear friend, PW Gopal, is an abolitionist. He goes on tour and guards the truck stops by night...making sure that no women or children are being trafficked under HIS watch. Ask him how he does it. Join him in the fight.

*My sweet friend, Leann, went through training and volunteered at a suicide hotline setting the oppressed free.

Kristin and I have both heard, "I could never fast like you!" My response?! DON'T! FAST BETTER! 

FEED.

HIS.

SHEEP...

Coincidence?

No.

It's no coincidence that God hit me over the head with that message. It is so near to His heart. To do these things is to make an intangible God tangible! To do these things is to fulfill our greatest commandment: To Love God, and to love our neighbors.

Grace and Peace~

Kelly