Just wanted to welcome those of you who I had failed to add to my blog subscriber list until now.
If for some reason you don’t want to receive an email when I post new blogs, let me know and I will gladly take you off the list.
I’m sitting in a room filled with 13 or so people carrying on their own conversations as if the others aren’t sitting feet away. I sit here and observe the diverse group of strangers occupying the same building, yet completely separate and mostly unaware of each other’s presence, except for an occasional glance in their neighbor’s direction, being careful not to make eye contact. My mind begins to wonder how similar my own life is to this crowded coffee shop.
Throughout the last two months, my mind has been consistently bringing me back to the issue of community.
A natural affect of living with a group of more than 15 people in a cramped living environment.
But recently my mind has begun to be plagued with the idea of engaging in culture and how we can engage ourselves fully in a very foreign culture as individuals and as a community. Actually my minds has been filled with many thoughts and so many questions for myself and everyone I know and love back home.
This month I have seen the need for the presence of familiar things displayed in myself and in almost every member or the community that I am living within. Though we have left so much behind on this crazy adventure, there are still a bunch of random things that bring comfort to us. For many it seems to be a highly priced cup of Starbucks coffer. I find myself slowly downloading episodes of Scrubs and 24. And of course most of us have our ipods/mp3 players constantly attached to us.
It’s the seeming need for these and many other random little things from home that make me constantly wonder what we have really left behind. I understand a year is a long time and humans need to have some creature comforts to remind us of life at home.
But I fear that I will return at the end of the year, having learned a lot about other cultures, but with many of the same desires as when I left.
Is there really anything wrong with being consumers of products?
Will I always have images of the poverty that I’ve seen in my head as I spend a $3 on coffee or $300 for an ipod that plays ridiculous amounts of music on it?
Will I travel the world and see the vast needs of people throughout the world and still return home to a life of relative comfort?
How do you define your needs?
Does the suffering of so many occupy a constant space in your mind?
What do we do about the spiritual and physical poverty within our own cities?
Do we grieve over the spiritual apathy that surrounds us in the workplace and in our neighborhoods?
Do we really, honestly try to be Jesus with skin on as we go through our weekend chores, as we fill up our gas tanks, shop for groceries, go out to eat…….?
What’s our first reaction to the drunk, homeless man’s plea for money? Do we brush him off like so many others have done their entire life? Or do we take the time from our precious schedule to listen, love and try to understand, feed and pray over their lives?
Do we really fully believe that as we go out in his name and proclaim freedom in their lives, that God will use us to minister to them and radically change their lives?
Do I honestly believe in the power of His Healing power in my life and if so why don’t I ask for it when sickness enters my life through friends, family and my own body?
Is God really able to take away the chemical imbalance that causes my depression and my terrible inability to focus? He wants to heal us, right, so why do we run first to medicine and not instead passionately cry out to the All-Powerful God that created everything?
These are the kind of questions and issues that I am wrestling with these days.
If we are open and honest with each other, and ourselves, we all struggle with the reality of the absolutely boundless power of God. We are constantly limiting him to our small, pathetic boxes. We need to open our eyes and see the real living God, because God is much bigger than the picture we have painted for the world of him.
Its time more of us started to realize the power of daily living out a life of passion and reckless, yet genuine love for one another as believers, neighbors, friends, coworkers and strangers. Embrace your life now, realize that no matter how bad it may be or seem that God has incredible things for your life. Beyond your career and your small circle of influence.
I continually have to remind myself of all of this, even now as I am so blessed to be traveling the world. I get stuck in a rut and start to believe the lies the Evil one whispers in my ears.
Life in Christ is incredible; embrace his calling for you now, stop waiting…..
Sorry for for not being able to focus my thoughts enough to make this post shorter.
