I made this poster simply from playing around with a newly downloaded app but it has since left me speechless and has caused me to evaluate some things and revisit convictions, memories, and lessons. This poster says more than I can type, more than you can read. It speaks louder than I can raise my voice and further than any echo can carry. I can share what it means to me, but what is that to you? Take a few moments and find what it means to you.
Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.
From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.
Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.
Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way.
If you never did, you should. These things are fun, and fun is good.
So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.
And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed.
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.
Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.
I’m afraid sometimes you’ll play lonely games too, games you can’t win because you’ll play against you
Social justice is something that God has broken my heart for. Before the breaking, social justice was something that I saw as sad but I did not see it as my responsibility. So when the flood of conviction came there was no other option than to be wholly devoted to it.
Scripture talks about "the age of accountability" and there is much speculation and debate about what age that is but basically it's when you're able to reason and understand right an wrong, the time when you are no longer ignorant and are held to account.
Scripture also says that it is a sin to know what you ought to do and not do it. Therefore, someone who has reached that level of accountability can do something, that is necessarily not disobeying a commandment, but if they know it's wrong in their heart and do it anyway then they are sinning.
So we can take all of that and apply it to matters of social justice, in fact, we must because all throughout Scripture there are hundreds upon hundreds of commands and teachings on how to live justly; on how we're to care for the widow, the orphan, the sojourner, the poor and needy, etc. I believe that there is a point of accountability that comes into play here as well because back in the times all of this was written the unjust treatment of such people was common and it would have been known to them, but today in our Western society we are almost completely oblivious to those kind of things because, in our minds, they're taken care of or they simply don't exist (to our knowledge). But the point at which you cross the line from honest and true ignorance to knowing then you are accountable.
Now I'm not so much addressing those who know nothing of social justice issues and who genuinely do not know, but rather I'm addressing those who do know and who (for lack of a better word) half-ass it.
I think that it's awesome that people are becoming more aware and are changing how they live; it's a gruesome process to go from knowing nothing to then go to knowing so much and dealing with the guilt of purchases and ignorance. I think that it's worthy of honor and praise that people are doing things about these issues, speaking out against them, and taking a stand in whatever way they know how. I don't dare discourage or put down anyone who is trying! The one who is out rescuing sex slaves is of no greater value or importance than the one who is praying for them back at home!
Now that I've said that and made all of that clear, I'll get to the point I'm trying to make. What confuses/disturbs/bothers me is seeing people who profess to stand for social justice and yet deliberately ignore what they know to be wrong. The woman who knows that people are exploited by coffee manufacturers yet she continues to buy coffee she knows is not fairly traded. The man who knows that people are enslaved by cocoa companies and yet he continues to buy their chocolate. The girl who knows that the clothes she's putting in her cart were made by people in a sweat shop and yet she still carries them to the check out line.
It's almost impossible to know if something is truly fair. Say you want to buy a shirt, the company may pay it's workers who sewed the shirt a fair wage and they may give them fair housing and treat them well but what about the people who harvested the cotton? What of the people who made the fabric? There are so many links in the chain that it makes it so incredibly difficult to truly know. But that doesn't mean we give up. We're accountable for what we know. Being unwilling to find out more and to listen isn't right either; if you avoid truth just to avoid being held accountable to it; do you not also think that you will be held accountable for that avoidance?
I'm not saying it's easy, I'm not saying it's cheap either, but if you are going to stand and profess that you are taking a stand against injustice then do it with all your heart letting your yes be yes and your no be no.
After hearing so many mixed reviews ranging any where in between love and hate, I decided to read "Love Wins" by Rob Bell for myself.
My overall opinion is confused and cautious. As I read through the book I found myself offering an equal amount of "yay"s and "nay"s. Rob Bell was bringing up points that I whole-heartedly agreed with and other points that I was saying, "uh...not too sure about that."
Then it got to a point where Rob brought up a question that I was not at all comfortable with hearing and I was ready to close the book and never look it again thinking, "How dare he ask that." But then I thought, "What am I so afraid of? He's asking questions that 1000's of people ask everyday." So I pressed on.
The more the pages on the right dwindled the more I found myself disagreeing. Scriptures refuting his points were popping into my head. I repeatedly was unable to understand his interpretations of Scripture and failed to see how he sometimes got from one point to another. Then it got to the point where I found his words and insinuations downright dangerous; questions and statements challenging God, challenging His character, verging on idolatry.
What worried me was that he didn't boldly state his ideas and then draw a thick circle around them to exclude them and say, "these are my ideas; right or wrong." But rather it was as if he loosely insinuated his theories and then drew a dotted line around them, leaving room for other ideas and questions to slip out; then you're not sure if he actually said ____ or if he just insinuated it, if that's where he's leading, or if that is an idea coming out of you. Definitely uncomfortable quick sand in my opinion. My biggest issue with it all is that in the very last chapter he pretty much refutes every point he made against hell in the previous chapters and leaves you feeling irritatingly confused. I'm still not sure if the same person wrote that last chapter.
Now that I've got that out of the way, onto what I liked. I really like the questions that he raised concerning life as we know it. I found it beneficially challenging. I also appreciated his thoughts on heaven; they really got me thinking and inspired me to search Scripture more on the subject. Since neither he nor I, or anyone else for that matter, know what heaven will truly look like; it's not something that I worry or wrestle with. Nonetheless, he had some really interesting thoughts on the subject.
Overall, would I recommend this book? Yes and No.
If people around you are talking about the book and are discussing it, it might be good for you to have an opinion on it yourself instead of going off of hearsay. On the other hand I can't really say that my life was changed by it, my relationship with the Lord is better because of it, or that I'm better because of it; so I have a hard time recommending it with the same enthusiasm that I have recommended other books with. My only real concern is the way in which his ideas are so loosely conveyed, as I previously discussed. So if anything I would say to be careful.
I've been contemplating the difference between a trip and a journey these past couple of days as I've been getting support letters ready. I've been looking back over my DTS experience and summarizing it, cutting out the highlights to be shared with those who helped me get there. All in all, to convey that what I went through was not a trip but rather the beginning of a journey; a journey that carries over into my next move to Australia which is also not a trip but a point along the same journey.
Life is a journey and there's nothing wrong with a few trips here and there, we're not a connect-the-dots kind of drawing after all. In fact, we're more like freehand drawings; mistakes and slip-ups are good for us and add to our beauty. But don't waste your time taking trips to avoid facing the journey.
One thing I hear really often is how lucky I am to get to travel; how jealous they are of my life.
Fact: I am extremely blessed
Fact: So are you!
There is nothing wrong with your life, however, if there's something you don't like about it, then do something. If you want to do something; what's stopping you?
money, timing, job, family, etc
Those may be very valid obstacles but they don't have to be impassable. Let your passion be bigger than the obstacles you face.
If you have a dream then you need to make a decision if you're going to let that dream remain a dream or if you're going to commit to see it become a reality. Then all that's left to do is live.
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| in case you were confused |
