- I find it so amazing and revealing of God's grace for us that he provides us with friends who will be our supports, our guides and our coaches sometimes. I have a hard time "hearing" God's will. Sometimes, I think His will is more about us doing what we do, and making sure that we truly honor him in that process, but that its less than we make it out to be. Maybe, like so many other things in this world, we just go and complicate something that has no business being complicated because we just want to feel more spiritual. It strikes me as odd that we are to have "faith like a child" and yet people write huge books on this issue. How does a child know the will of his or her parents? They watches, learn, but then they make their own bold choices, hopefully staying true to what they have learned. I have noticed that I am much less likely to consider thoughtfully all the individual lessons I've learned from my parents. I am more likely to act in accordance in ways that they would approve of morally and socially solely because I respect them and have studied by default, the way that they love and live.
- I've been reading this book on the modern day slavery issue. I am again completely disgusted by politicians refusing to call these abhorrent and amoral practices anything less than evil. There are all these nice euphemisms to say what is by nature, evil, in a nice and palatable way so as not to upset those that would rather stick their head in the sand. "Childhood domesticity," is what the UN and Haitian people call child slaves, known as restavèks. In fact, these children usually sleep with the domesticated animals on the floor, are forced to work longer hours than I do (and that's saying something!), and are usually beaten and raped. What a bunch of BS. Seriously. I got to thinking about the war in Iraq, the lives lost, families turned upside down - on both sides of the conflict. I got to thinking about World War II, the conflicts in Darfur and the Sudan and Kenya... And I got to thinking about how people always wonder if it is worth the sacrifice to go and try to change a culture. I know on a micro-level, there are plenty of us that risk a lot every day to be there for those that need help and that cant defend themselves. Why would it differ on an international level? At the same time, the age old questions of methodology to accomplish this vex me. However, just like Bonhoffer stood against the Nazis, I think that its about damn time that the CHURCH, if not the government, took a serious look at these issues and really began to look globally at how we - especially the western church with all our resources - can impact the world around us. I even started looking at how to get fair trade coffee and clothes. I'm becoming a flaming liberal, and at the same time, would willingly put myself in harms way every day to serve the population in front of me. I'm just tired of the passivity that exists. I know that we live here and now. But at the very least, instead of feeding our needs with consumerism and buying new shoes and gadgets and whatever to feed our souls and bring us "peace," lets look beyond ourselves and instead relish the reward of giving and service and having a social conscience
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