Category: Compassion

12/9/2025 1 Comment

What Matters II

Pastor Daniel Mugeni

Each year, First Cause sends a Christmas gift to someone on our international team. This year, our gift went to Daniel and Aidda in Iganga, Uganda. Daniel wrote, “You have served my entire family of 30 members with Christmas. I have 26 needy orphans living with me, plus my four kids.” We did not realize that Daniel and Aidda were caring for 26 kids. Like our brother, Joseph, who pastors in Eldoret, Kenya, they do not just pastor needy families; they live by a daily faith that is stretched often beyond what seems possible.

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5/16/2025 1 Comment

To Be Entrusted

Padel Code

Beth* walked off the court before our game started, sat down by the chain-link fence, and sobbed. Then she grabbed her gear and left the pickleball courts. Candace caught up with her and tried to comfort her. While that was going on, Jimmy (who was going to be her partner) came over and explained what had transpired. He commented to her that he did not enjoy playing with her in a previous game because she was too loud and excitable. Beth was already aware that her behavior might be too much for people, so Jimmy’s words increased her insecurity and hurt her feelings.

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9/24/2024 0 Comments

On a Quest

Have you ever felt like you were on a journey to nowhere? Does life seem unfulfilling and taxed by unnecessary hardship? Do you find that what you thought would be meaningful is meaningless or empty? Imagine how the Israelites felt as they were exiled from their land by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Their lives revolved around loss, shame, and suffering. God told them, “You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing” (Isaiah 30:14). Like most people, the Israelites believed that they could solve problems and live however they wanted. God restored them to a worthwhile life only when they came to the end of themselves and recognized and renounced the evil of their rebellion.

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9/16/2023 1 Comment

No Love for His Brother

Meditation
Luke 15:28-30—"Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’”

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9/9/2023 1 Comment

Bent Over

Meditation
Luke 13:10—11--As He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for over 18 years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

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8/2/2023 0 Comments

Thinking of You

When there is a death in the family, it is so encouraging to see people rally around and step up to provide support and comfort through meals, cards, flowers, phone calls, and just being present to listen, console, and encourage. The sting of death is not erased; the pain is real and sometimes overwhelming, but a caring community can and does make a difference.

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6/19/2023 0 Comments

Using Discernment

Ann faced a challenging situation in her new supervisory role with a nonprofit company that recently hired her. One of the employees, Calista, who worked on a different team, was giving her a tough time. Calista had applied for the job Ann now held and resented that she was not chosen. She used Ann’s inexperience to belittle her on calls (shared by others in the organization) and was rude when speaking to her. Ann realized she needed Calista’s help, but she first had to figure out a way to win her over, and that did not seem easy. So she asked for prayer from her close friends and asked God for His assistance.

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5/28/2023 1 Comment

Listening When We Don't Want To

Mike and Robbie boarded the light rail on their way to a Seattle Mariners game. A few feet from their seats sat a dirty, smelly man suffering from an addiction, mental health challenge, or both. Mike was repulsed and cautious toward this man conversing with an imaginary person. Mike noted, “He rearranged his clothing and belongings continuously and removed and replaced a fake mustache.” Mike prayed that he would not attack them or be a problem. The Holy Spirit had another plan. He whispered in Mike’s ear that this was a man with a name, a man loved by Him, and that Mike should approach and talk to him. But that was not something Mike wanted to do, and for most of the train ride, he resisted listening to persistent promptings.

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6/15/2021 0 Comments

Suubi House

West Point classmate Bill Bowman shared his story with the Long Eternal Line team who gather each Tuesday night for prayer. Bill suffered a bad car accident that crushed his back and should have left him permanently paralyzed. While in the hospital Bill shared how Jesus held him and comforted him. Bill apologized for not walking the right path and the Lord shared with him that his story was not over yet. Miraculously, Bill and his wife were able to have a baby girl they named Sarah. Bill nicknamed her Suubi—a name that stuck.

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4/19/2019 1 Comment

Confession Liturgy

Sarah Tegtmeier (Dan York's daughter) with her family L-R Jadon, Luca, Leili, Mark, Simeon

Meditation
Psalm 85:15--But You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth

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10/9/2018 0 Comments

Heartfelt

Candy and I spent most of the morning writing back and forth about questions regarding the definition of Christians and evangelicals and current events that troubled her. While we may not have the same political leanings that does not prevent us from having honest and prolonged discussion. She ended our time with kind words and greetings to my family. Candy is one of the most warm-hearted persons I know and it is always a privilege to be around her.

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12/7/2016 0 Comments

Making a Difference

Meditation
Zechariah 7:9—“The LORD of Hosts says this: Make fair decisions. Show faithful love and compassion to one another.”

It is cold outside—twelve degrees above zero. Snow is on the ground and from inside my office window it looks beautiful. It’s a matter of perspective. December can be a wonderful time of warmth for many people; a chance to be with family, to take a break from work and to enjoy each other’s company. But I could equally write that this month is a frozen, depressing period for many people; the reminder that loved ones are gone, unemployment a reality, and a feeling that few care or understand.

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11/30/2015 0 Comments

Kindness Saved the Harlot

It was truly an implausible act. She lived behind fortified walls yet chose to be vulnerable. For a woman of the street she possessed great insight. She knew that her city would be destroyed because she believed the reports of the Destroyer. As new stories meandered along hot, dusty streets and through bustling merchant shops, hearts despaired and courage disappeared. She saw things differently; embracing faith from a heaven and earthperspective.

Why did the spies go to her house? She could easily have reported them. Even the king knew they visited her and dispatched messengers who told her to bring them out for arrest. No, she knew a lot about men, and these two were different. So she hid them on her roof and lied about them leaving the city. Later under the cover of darkness she gave them a rope so they could escape down her wall. She was an audacious woman with a simple request.

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7/30/2011 0 Comments

Ebed-Melech

The prophet Jeremiah foretold disaster for his countrymen and they felt he was a traitor. Powerful officials talked King Zedekiah into having him killed because his words weakened the resolve of their soldiers. So they took the old man and threw him into a cistern where he sank into the mud. Ironically, Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch who served the king, interceded on his behalf. The king had a change of heart and ordered Ebed to take thirty men and rescue Jeremiah before he died. The wise eunuch threw rags down to him to put under his armpits and then with ropes pulled him out. God was so pleased with the Ethiopian that through Jeremiah He promised to preserve his life.

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9/8/2010 0 Comments

Compassion II

Sandy sits on the iron bench bolted to the sidewalk by Prink Avenue and finishes her cell phone conversation. Unhesitatingly, she stands and moves into the crosswalk practically daring the cars to stop. The yellow Walk light has not yet flashed but she doesn’t care, she is an important person and she knows the drivers will wait. Her spiritual life is much the same. Sandy approaches God and expects that He will listen to her because she is a good person and her list of accomplishments warrants in her mind, His favor.

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6/7/2010 0 Comments

Remembered

Step after step in unison they marched, accenting the weight of each boot upon the carpet so that everyone in that banquet room could hear. Not an eye wandered, each man in his dress uniform staring straight ahead as they slowly moved across the assembled guests. Near a small round table, the squad leader halted them and faced them to the center. Then he moved to the second man and slowly saluted him, before taking from his outstretched hands the folded flag. In return, the one no longer carrying his nation’s colors, saluted. Next, the sergeant marched in silence to the empty table and placed the folded flag upon it. Returning, he aligned himself in front of the next man in line. From this one’s hands, he took another folded flag. Instead of saluting as before, he turned to his right and waited while the last man in formation moved to join him. Slowly the two unfolded the mostly black flag. Then, with reverence and precision, the younger soldier snapped the flag in place on a thin pole, beside the empty table set for one. Across the bottom of that flag were printed the words, “You are not forgotten.”

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2/15/2007 0 Comments

Orphans

God broke my heart on January 24, 2007. This was our third day of teaching in Eldoret at Bishop Bondet’s Evangelistic Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The theme was disciple making. But before Dad taught his segment, we traveled to Reverend Ombima’s orphanage.

We walked down a dirt road too rutted to allow vehicle passage. On the right side of the Kenyan clay open sewage flowed. In that putrid water we walked past pigs happily foraging. Surrounding us were the homes of many squatters—families eking out a living in a destitute slum. Finally we reached the property where World Revival Evangelistic Ministries (WOREM) five-year old Jireh orphanage is located. S.I. Ombima and his pregnant wife Metrine, humbly live here along with Sylvanus Mukhaima (Moses), their talented and inspiring 21 year-old worship leader.

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8/9/2006 0 Comments

Heartless

I’ve never had a ministry to the poor. Few of my friends are financially needy and those I work and live around are middle or upper-class families. While my finances have often been sparse, compared to most in the world I am incredibly well off. So, I wondered what it would be like to spend so many hours each week helping those at the center of ever-converging problems from which escape seems bleak and overwhelming.

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5/27/2006 0 Comments

Long Suffering

Recently, the Vietnam Traveling Wall (the 3/4ths replication of the amazing black wall in Washington D.C.), traveled to Portland, Oregon. Etched in somber stone is the name of every veteran killed in Indochina. During the opening ceremony I represented the 104th Division. Afterwards I was invited to a dinner with the special people from the cemetery that planned the event.

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9/8/2003 0 Comments

Observant

In the early fall of 1976, homesick Panya Sawan walked the streets of Newberg, Oregon. While his feet moved his mind questioned if he made a big mistake. Yet, as much as he missed his family, the thought of returning to his Thailand home was equally painful. Would his family consider him a failure?

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