August 31, 2007
· Filed under God, Organizations, Social Justice
Chad and I had the opportunity to hear Gary Haugen, the President of International Justice Mission, speak the other night. Gary Haugen is somewhat of a thought mentor to Chad, and has served as a role model as Chad pursues his dream of practicing law so he can be an agent of bringing God’s justice to the world.
Gary honed in on a struggle that I’ve often felt: feeling overwhelmed and helpless by the corruption and sin in the world and not knowing if you as an individual can really make much difference. Gary reminded us of the story of when Jesus fed the four thousand with only a few loaves of bread and fish. When Jesus first commented on the need of the people, the disciples were confounded and said, “how can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness.?” (Mark 8:4) Jesus asks for them to give Him what they have, and what the disciples offered in faith was multiplied by Jesus. In that same vein, even though we may have only very little to offer God, in terms of our capabilities, resources, and talents, if we offer what we do have in obedience, He is able to multiply and bring a much greater result. It’s a natural response to see the need of the world and respond similarly to the disciples; “how can one all meet the needs of these people?” The task seems too great, but within the covenant with God, we are no longer dealing with the natural, but rather the supernatural, and He is able to multiply what we hand over to Him. As for the here and now, we must be faithful in bringing our good works to God. We cannot allow a sense of “I can’t make a difference”, be our truth. Followers of Christ have an awesome responsibility to be ambassadors of God’s love and compassion to a world of hurt, broken people. Although it seems uncanny, God chose His church to carry on His ministry until the time when He returns. The one who called us is faithful and will show up in our efforts to see His Kingdom come and will be done.
August 21, 2007
· Filed under Quotes, Teaching
I began my American Literature course with several lessons revolving around Native Americans. In addition to reading a creation account and the Iroquois Constitution, we also read articles about the history of the Native Americans post-European arrival. I feel a deep sense of sadness for the way they were treated, and am horrified yet again by the sin of man that can be so dominant that it leads to genocide in a quest for self-aggrandizement. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve learned more about Columbus then I’ve ever had and have really come to abhor the actions of that man. He was a bad man. As such, I can no longer think of Columbus day as anything other then a deluded sense of American history and an honor that that has been rewarded to an undeserving man. Sure he “discovered” America for white Europeans, but what about the kind of man he was? What about his character? Let me just name but a few of his many offenses: raped Indian women, took slaves, stole whatever was desired from the Native Americans, including gold, cotton, and food. When you compare him to another man that we ‘give a day’ to- MLK Jr.- and consider the quality of man he was, it’s hard to see how they could ever be put on any sort of common ground by both having their lives honored with a national holiday remembrance day.
Consider this quote: “No sensible Indian person,” wrote George P. Horse Capture, “can celebrate the arrival of Columbus. Cherishing Columbus is a characteristic of white history, not American history”
Here is another quote that sends chills down my spine when I read it. There is something very powerful about the voice that comes through in these words; maybe it’s the history that emerges from it that is so often overlooked and under-regarded:
“Away back in that time-in 1492-there was a man by the name of Columbus who came from across the great ocean, and he discovered the country for the white man. . . What did he find when he first arrived here? Did he find a white man standing on the continent then? . . . I stood here first, and Columbus first discovered me.”
– Chitto Harjo, Creek
On an end note, we read the short story, “Indian education” by Sherman Alexie, which is a fictional account of a young boy’s experiences growing up on an Indian reservation. I recommend it. It has moments of humor where you must laugh but, in its depths, its story and characters evokes a very real, visceral response and invites the reader to feel compassion for the Native American experience in modern day America.
August 13, 2007
· Filed under Quotes, Social Justice, The Presidential Election
Did you get to see the Democratic debate hosted by You-Tube and led by Anderson Cooper? If not, you can see it all on You-Tube! It was the first of its kind in the history of debates–all the questions that were posed to the candidates were from citizens around the country who submitted their question via video.
Chad and I liked this idea that was said by John Edwards:
“You can’t wait for big companies and interest groups to give away their power, you have to take it from them.”
It is a noble idea, and a much needed one, but is it just empty rhetoric? After all, it would take more than just the President for this notion to be realized in Washington. So the deeper question that arises is how will the President persuade those in Congress and Senate to unite in a defensive that is willing and able to take back the power from the interest groups?
August 6, 2007
· Filed under Books, God
Chad and I are both reading through the book To Be Told by Dan Allender, who is the head of the counseling program at Mars Hill in Seattle. What is “to be told” is each individual’s story. The goal is not just to tell your story, but to be able to see the hand of God in your life and realize that God invites us to co-author our story with Him.
I was reading this today and it left an impression on me, so I decided to share:
“Not only are we apt to deny the tragedies of our past, but we also are willing to make others pay because of past hurt. We are combative toward the tragedies that shattered our shalom, or else we’re blind to them or merely dismissive of them. In order to understand our passion, though, we must have access to the moment of shattering that set into motion both our core paradigm for how we see life and our core determination of how we will live it…Tragedy shapes our deepest passions, and our passions shape who we are and what we will become…It is in the midst of affliction that we become our truest or most false self.”
I can relate to wanting to be dismissive of tragedy; it’s excruciatingly difficult to sit with the reality of it, but God is teaching me that it is necessary to do so He can work His deepest healing and redemption into the fabric of my story. I want to become my truest self and in order to do so, I must heal through my tragedies.
