I turned 43 on Wednesday.
I was kinda okay with that, until my middle son and I were going to for Chick fil A and he made a comment about how old I was. I got to thinking:
My mom was 43 when I got married.
I'm getting old.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Monday, June 01, 2009
Life on the border in Texas
I don't blog too much about my job. This blog has usually been much more about the random thoughts I find stimulating or funny. Hopefully both.
But today I wanted to share this with you. Buckner International, where I work as the Chief Relationships Officer (wish you had a title like that, don't ya?) is an incredible ministry. Born 130 years ago in East Dallas as the Buckner Children's Home, we now work all over Texas, in 6 other states, and 12 countries.
Many Americans and Texans are unaware of the poverty that exists on the US side of the border with Mexico. But up and down the border are colonias, where a landowner has leased land to families to build on, but often without water or power access (in spite of then-Governor Bush's efforts to change that, although certainly it has improved since then) and without any sense of ownership. And usually without any resources for building. No kidding, these people live in places that are worse conditions than the animal barns I grew up with.
But Buckner and our border staff--led by Dexton Shores--work unbelievably hard at changing all that. In partnership with churches, we provide all kinds of holistic ministry in Jesus' name to these struggling families. In fact, thousands of folks from scores of churches will descend on the border regions in a partnership with CBF called KidsHeart for this kind of work.
Recently Valley Ranch Baptist Church went to the border and built a few houses, conducted some VBS gatherings, and really made a difference working with us. I thought I would post a link to their video montage of their work. It's about 9 1/2 minutes but it's worth it.
http://gallery.me.com/therountrees#100037/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Mission%20Trip%2C%202009%20Slideshow%202-Large&bgcolor=black
But today I wanted to share this with you. Buckner International, where I work as the Chief Relationships Officer (wish you had a title like that, don't ya?) is an incredible ministry. Born 130 years ago in East Dallas as the Buckner Children's Home, we now work all over Texas, in 6 other states, and 12 countries.
Many Americans and Texans are unaware of the poverty that exists on the US side of the border with Mexico. But up and down the border are colonias, where a landowner has leased land to families to build on, but often without water or power access (in spite of then-Governor Bush's efforts to change that, although certainly it has improved since then) and without any sense of ownership. And usually without any resources for building. No kidding, these people live in places that are worse conditions than the animal barns I grew up with.
But Buckner and our border staff--led by Dexton Shores--work unbelievably hard at changing all that. In partnership with churches, we provide all kinds of holistic ministry in Jesus' name to these struggling families. In fact, thousands of folks from scores of churches will descend on the border regions in a partnership with CBF called KidsHeart for this kind of work.
Recently Valley Ranch Baptist Church went to the border and built a few houses, conducted some VBS gatherings, and really made a difference working with us. I thought I would post a link to their video montage of their work. It's about 9 1/2 minutes but it's worth it.
http://gallery.me.com/therountrees#100037/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Mission%20Trip%2C%202009%20Slideshow%202-Large&bgcolor=black
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