With the shoes on my feet and the pack on my back…

      While living in America we have become accustomed to a life of excess and having whatever we want basically whenever we want.  We really don’t have to work hard for anything.  Most of the time it is handed to us.  We are blessed to have access to education and a meal on our plates when we get home.  We enjoy freedoms to speak how we want, to go where we want, to vote for who we want, to worship how we want, and to do whatever we want.  America has become a land of “I want” therefore “I should get.”  We have taken on the Babylonian mentality of “I am and there are none besides me.”  A bubble has been placed around this nation and regards for other areas of the world go to the wayside in order to pursue economic self-edification and success.   A constant desire for more, and more, and more while never being satisfied with what has been endowed to us.  I have to admit that I have fallen trap to this mentality.  Pursuing business while at university and having worked since I was 14 set me up for the means to make as much money as possible.  I took on 3 jobs at one time while going to school full-time in order to broaden my resume and buy the things I wanted.  I was living large and enjoying it.  I liked being a self-made success, buying a new sports car, living in super nice apartments in Madison, never worrying about where my next meal would come from. I knew all along I was not being responsible with my money and it could have been going to far better places instead of being thrown out the window.
    I always knew this was not the way I should be living.  Nothing about it really ever satisfied me, all it did was make me want more.  A life of excess and instant gratification.  But we are not called to be successful, we are called to be faithful.  Then God wrecked me and changed my heart.  He called me out and directed my life in a different way.  A way that meant giving up what I was blessed to have in order to serve others.  It meant leaving behind comfort, security, and material wealth.  Was I willing to do that?  Was I willing to leave behind this life in America, with the shoes on my feet and a pack on my back, to go wherever God wanted me to go?  Was I willing to leave all expectations behind?  Answer… before I left for training… no.  I was not ready, I was comfortable where I was at in Madison with the community, friends, education, and job I had.  I didn’t want to give that up quiet yet.  Life was good, but had it become the enemy of the best?  I was following the life I had planned out for me over the life God had planned out for me.
    The last couple of years my passion developed for the nations and social justice.  I studied it and even completed my senior thesis on it.  But all the studying in the world means nothing unless one lives out the social justice and experiences poverty first hand and makes it tangible.  Poverty of not knowing where your next meal would come from, or never having been seen by a doctor.  Poverty of fearing for your life because of ethnic conflict and children being abducted to become child soldiers.  Poverty of orphans whose parents have died of AIDS and therefore having to become adults and look after themselves when they are only 6.  Poverty of widows who distress over having no one to love them.  I wont ever understand the poor until I begin to understand what poverty is like.  This is the kind of poverty I have decided to experience around the globe this year by going to areas of the world whose people live on less then a dollar a day. James 1:27 states “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” God wants us Christ Followers to leave behind comfort and let our faith take feet and go wherever He wants us to go.  We must love God and love people while making disciples of all nations.
    If we are to change the nations… as Richard Sterns (President of World Vision) puts it “Belief is not enough. Worship is not enough. Personal morality is not enough. And Christian community is not enough. God has always demanded more.  When we committed ourselves to following Christ, we also committed to living our lives in such a way that a watching world would catch a glimpse of God’s character – His love, justice, and mercy – through our words, actions, and behavior… living out our faith privately was never meant to be an option.”  I want that!  I want to have my calloused heart broken for the things that break the heart of God.  I want to truly embrace the compassion of Jesus. HERE I AM LORD, SEND ME!  The beatitudes take on a new meaning for me.  No longer are the blessed ones who are self-made successes… rather now blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted – for theirs truly is the KINGDOM of God.  Lord, I am so willing to serve the “least of these” in order to better serve You!  I am willing to be stripped on myself and let You take over!  I will go out to the world and serve the poor and marginalized, challenge injustice, and simple love.
    Now – post training – I am willing to go, full-heartedly (The upcoming blog will be about how training changed me and brought me to this point).  Absolutely surrendering and forsaking everything and anything that has held me back from leaving this year.  I will attach no conditions to this commitment and let Jesus make the terms.  I will deny myself and take up the cross.  Embracing the most important commandments to Love God with all my heart and with all my soul and mind and Love people as myself will be my commitment. Love is paramount! As Mother Teresa said, “We can do no great things, just small things with great love. Its not about how much to you do, but how much love you put into doing it.”