On A Mission
A Bucket List makes memories. Josh has a Bucket List. It includes things like: harvesting corn and sugar beets, registering to vote, hosting a shrimp boil, flying in a helicopter, meeting someone from Duck Dynasty and a "ride along" in a police car.
Josh has a second list. It's his "Go Make a Difference" (M.A.D.) List. This one is about being a part of miracles-in-the-making. High-flow oxygen and a 24-hour pain pump allow Josh to get out of the house so that his love can "Make A Difference" in the lives of others. "I have no time to waste."
Sometimes when you pray you "get" a miracle. Sometimes when you pray you "get to be" a miracle. Josh is a man on a mission. Red Diamond Days seems to have set into motion, two exciting things:
- It's equipping people to share a story of hope. Right now it's Josh's story, but it doesn't have to stop there. Stories of hope open doors to conversations about the power and love of God.
- It's encouraging people to Go Make A Difference. All ages. All stages. None of us are exempt. We all have a life to live and thanks to give. Let's let love make a difference.
Love Makes A Difference
Josh is up to all kinds of things. The list below is not complete. It seems like God opens doors every week for new adventures like handing out diamonds to the snow plow drivers, skyping with kids at a group home and calling former teachers to tell them "thanks for doing such a good job." Some of the things on Josh's list include big dreams that will require a small army. Maybe you'll want to join the ranks for an item or two. Let the Spirit lead the way.
- Join Josh in handing out 100,000 red diamonds
Pass them along to groups. Keep them in your pocket. Be on the outlook for those who don't know the love of God or those who have forgotten. Consider passing out 2 diamonds at a time. Invite people to share in Josh's dream. Print out a page of "care cards" from the Resource Tab. It will give this message of hope roots and wings. -
Families for Waiting Kids!
Josh's FIRST formal "Go Make A Difference - Bucket List" included
playing a major role in helping 12-year old Jing from China, whose
"adoptable" days were limited due to his age, find his forever family.
It's a remarkable, only-God-can-do-this story! Take 2-minutes and read
it here. https://runhardrestwell.org/a-forever-family/#more-593
(Note: If you want to get a taste of the very beginning of Josh's journey,
visit this short read. Get a tissue - you will laugh and cry. https://runhardrestwell.org/fixed-and-focused/#more-533 )
Josh continues to prioritize helping find families for waiting kids. He
does this by donating all the money from the sale of his book to organizations
that help waiting and vulnerable children and teens. Three ways to purchase
God's Gift of Family by his mom, Brenda Jank.
- Through Christian Book Distributor for $9.99: https://www.christianbook.com/gods-gift-of-family/brenda-jank/9780758662156/pd/662156
- Through Amazon Prime for $12.99
- At Concordia Publishing House for single copies or in bulk: https://www.cph.org/p-32564-Gods-Gift-of-Family.aspx
Raise up 400 new blood donors
Each day, the U.S. requires more than 44,000 pints of blood to treat emergency room patients and others with serious, ongoing medical conditions. Josh utilized about 400 units of blood in the last 14 years. As a way to say thanks for giving me a great and healthy life, Josh would like to raise up 400 new blood donors.Call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit www.redcrossblood.org for more information on donating blood (and platelets) through the American Red Cross.
Raise up 10,000 prayers and $10,000 for Foundation for His Ministry
This is a remarkable ministry in Mexico (four locations) that seeks to rescue children, reach the lost and restore the needy. FFHM is a vibrant ministry dedicated and empowered to do what God has called them to do. The work of God through these people inspire and compel us at every turn.If God lays this dream on your heart, pray for Foundation for His Ministry and pop $1 in the mail. Write "Where needed most: 10,000 prayers and $10,000." This money will be used wisely. Every cent will go directly to people in need.
Foundation for His Ministry
PO Box 74000
San Clemente, CA 92673-0134
Hope
Hope. It's a powerful, precious thing, but it's fragile. When secure, it takes us to new places, new heights and sets us up to soar. Josh has a story of hope he'd like to share. It started on the hardest day of his life.
At 19, he learned he was dying. As reality sunk in, fear rose up and the loss of a hundred broken dreams crushed and pummeled his heart. Josh was afraid. Are you afraid? Facing a mountain you can't climb? Does life require more than you have to give? Is the future uncertain? Unsettling? Overwhelming? That's exactly where Josh found himself. But hope shows up in the most suprising places.
In the first book of the Bible, the 16th chapter of Genesis, we meet a woman named Hagar who is overwhelmed. Abused and mistreated, she is fleeing for her life. Out in the desert, she encounters God. He sees her. Speaks to her and gives her a gift that alters the course of her life: hope, a hope forged within a breaking heart. The story of Hagar reminds us that God sees. He knows. My name, he declares, is written on his palm. He sees, hears and responds in beautiful, suprising and unexpected ways.
For Josh, it came through a Chevy truck commercial. The timing could only have been orchestrated in heaven itself. God's like that. He comes to us in unexpected ways. He is both predictable and suprising. He comes predictably, like the rising of the sun. He comes unexpectedly, like a rainbow that splashes across a storm-worn sky.
Are you on a journey? Hope changes everything. As Josh faced the reality of a life cut short, heaven loomed large. He found his hope of heaven fell painfully short for it rested on what he had done and how he had lived. A personal inventory revealed a distracted, selfish, Josh-centered life. "I haven't lived for God. I haven't been good enough to get into heaven." We responded, "And you never will, Josh." Life with God begins and centers on his pursuit of us. Jesus came to us as a baby to live and die and rise to conquer sin, death and pain. Jesus comes to us today. Every day. To conquer all that keeps us from his love.
That kind of love and the reality of God's pursuit changed everything. Free and alive and filled with hope, Josh is living the very best days of his life on the front porch of heaven. We all are-really. We all are living on the front porch of heaven, but sometimes we forget. Today we are invited to remember the front porch, the love, the pursuit and the hope that is ours.
If you'd like to talk to someone about your own journey of faith or a burden that is weighing your down, consider contacting Focus on the Family. They have trained counselors available to talk on the phone. You can set up a time for a phone conversation at 1-855-771-4357 or you can send in an email request to focus on the family
