when God created the earth and placed man in it, He did so with man’s initial condition as one completely harmonized with Himself. Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve lived in communion and community with God in all his fullness. Man was created perfect; there were no defects, no disabilities, and i would say with absolute surity that there were no sicknesses or death either at the outset. unfortunately, God also gave man options. We were free to choose God freely and love Him freely or we could choose to walk away from that community. when man chose to disobey our Father we did so at a very high price (it was a high price for both sides). we introduced death into the world. We introduced pain, suffering, hurt, imperfection mentally and physically. i also wonder what else we allowed to trespass when we chose to sin. being here in Vietnam i have witnessed so many hurtful things which has really made me wonder what the full impact of sin has had on the world. i have personally laid hands on, prayed over, loved with all i have men and women dying from AIDS, stayed up at crazy hours of the night praying for the prostitution that is so prevalent in the bottom floor of our hotel (while the women become shells of themselves) as well as fed babies with mental and physical disabilities who are unable to care for themselves. 
it is these kids that have made me think the most about my own personal sin and what part i have played in the world looking like what it does these days. i dont have all the answers so what i am posing for my readers to read and think about is what ways do you guys think that sin has been inimical to the world? if sin is to blame for all the heartache that i have to experience with all of my senses on a daily basis then that means that the kids that i am feeding, who are severly crippled mentally or physically, are in this condition in part because of what i have done personally. that is a hard pill to swallow. maybe that is why God tells us through Paul in 2 Corinthians that we are ministers of reconciliation. We are reconciling the world to God because we are the reason that it has been devastated. that might not be right, but it is my blog and these are my thoughts! I think that i had a pretty good view of what the rest of the world looked like before i came and i still think that but it is different to read about it or even look at pictures of a dying world that it is to live in it everyday. it has become much more personal. it has also made me more intenti
onal about sharing the love and redemptive power of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world. it humbles me more and more that He chose to give me truth.
This year might be the best and worst year of my life all at the same time. Christians of the world, it is time to rise up and turn the tide in this battle. It is time to get in the game and reverse the affects of living in a sin cursed world!
