Free stuff
5 June 08
I just found this awesome website which offers free stuff for students. (http://www.studentfreestuff.com/)
Most of it’s useless or just plain manipulative – but we’re all up for a freebie, aren’t we? I bet you did actually go and click on that site and just have a look (I did, which is why it’s on here in the first place!).
But then, that hairy old saying ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’ actually has a point. None of these freebies are actually free. Some of them are competitions, which give the company thousands of contact details and preferences to help them target their advertising. Some of them want to get you forming a habit that they can then feed. Some of them want you to test their medical products so they can market them for billions later on.
It just got me thinking. That’s where Jesus is so radically un-human. I mean, if grace really is free, isn’t that hard to get your head around? And if we live like that – man, doesn’t that blow your mind even more?
One of our international directors told a story recently about a man who had just come out of prison. For six whole months, he had been stretched out in solitary confinement so that every breath was an agony, and he pleaded with God one day to just let him die. Then Jesus came into his cell and put his hands on the man’s shoulders, and told him that he would not leave that cell defeated, but victorious. The next day, the man was taken out of solitary and put in a cell with 200 others, where he stayed for another 2 1/2 years. When he left, every single person in that cell had become a Christian.
And the humbling bit? That man looked this director in the eye and said, “My brother, your part in this was as great as mine, because you prayed for me and gave me the strength to hold on.”
So, the question for you and me is – what part will we play?
“Freely you have received, freely give.”
bq. Jesus Christ, Matthew 10:8
I want to use my time – any ideas?
You can pray using the pray now box on the front of our site, keep updated to pray each month with our SMS prayer texts, write a letter to encourage a fellow believer, come on one of our trips this summer…have a look at our do something section for more ideas!
I want to use my money – what can I do?
Check out the fundraising section of our site for ideas. Why not hold a concert, have a cake sale, go skydiving, run a marathon, knit your way to Egypt, go surfing with your grandma, or do something really crazy to raise money? Or just text HELP to 84424 to donate £1.50 to the Persecuted Church if you want to keep it simple.
I want to use my freedom – how can I be a voice for the voiceless?
We’d love you to join your voices to ours in our advocacy campaign to Algeria. Join the campaign here.