thoughts

i'm a thinker. you can ask jamie, i ask questions ALL the time. here are some things i'm chewing on at the moment:

1. orphan statistics. i've meaning to post these recently and just haven't had a good chance. the numbers are sobering. half a million kids in foster care here in the US. millions of children overseas. all of them need loving homes. why haven't more people realized we are in a crisis? why doesn't it click with people that these children are living, breathing human beings? shouldn't humans be our #1 priority?

2. needs vs. wants. i've been chewing on this for awhile now as i continue to ask what my life is supposed to look like knowing that so many in our world live in poverty. recently, i've gone to my closet and thought, "i could definitely use some more sweaters." followed by a second thought about if i really do need more sweaters or if i just think i need more sweaters. i mean, i'm pretty sure a homeless woman would be very satisfied if she had my wardrobe. so shouldn't i be satisfied? but with these questions come many more about how far we go in giving up stuff in order to help the poor. jesus told the rich young ruler to sell everything he had and give to the poor, but i think that was more because his stuff had become his god. i don't think it's bad to have stuff, but quite honestly, i think it's very, very easy for even the most well-intentioned human being to idolize his stuff without even realizing it (because we're sinners, duh), which is why sometimes i wonder what the point of having stuff is (this is where i start sounding like an ascetic). but honestly, i fail at this all the time because the minute life starts getting busy, i'm begging jamie to let us eat out so i don't have to cook. and well, that money we spent at mcdonalds last weekend could definitely have fed a man for a day at the homeless shelter downtown. it's just that simple.

3. our sex culture. i'm in this trauma and addiction class at school, and we were discussing sex addiction on monday. and i definitely had one of those youth group moments where i wondered if i really should be watching movies and listening to secular music. but seriously, knowing how our culture uses sex to sell everything these days, and knowing how many people struggle with sex addiction (and not because they're horrible, gross people but because the majority of them experienced trauma earlier in life), i feel a little guilty indulging in the smorgasbord of sexual ineuendos that are plastered all over television, movies, and radio. i can say it doesn't affect me, but isn't it just as bad if i continue to allow these things knowing they are harmful to someone else? and what's really dismaying is that most people don't think much about any of this, as if it's just OK that teenagers are into "sexting" and accessing porn at a much younger age than in the past. churches -- and, in my opinion, especially liberal ones -- have neglected opportunities to instruct youth about healthy sexuality because they're too scared of appearing moralistic, like they're telling someone what to do and not do. well, i'm sorry, but there's a time to be moralistic and this is definitely one of those times.

4. people with disabilities. i've been doing a lot of reading about families raising children with disabilities for my senior project, so this has been on my mind a lot. and jamie has a disability, so it's really part of my everyday existence. but seriously, every time i think i've built up enough grace for ignorant people in the world, someone has to be annoyingly dramatic when they see jamie's guide dog or someone has to say something to me that they could just say to jamie, such as "does he have his ID" instead of just saying "sir, do you have your ID." i always want to ask people what they would do if they woke up blind the next morning and people started treating them the same way they treat jamie. seriously, don't people realize that people with disabilities are people too even if they can't see or hear or walk? and don't people realize that none of us are guaranteed perfect bodies? in one book i was reading, a mother who had given birth to a child with a disability said her first response was to ask "why me?" but then she realized it was just as logical to ask "why not me?"

5. selfish christianity. does it bother anybody else when the christian faith simply becomes an endeavor to avoid hell? i think about this all the freakin' time because i just get annoyed when people talk more about the joys of heaven than about jesus. i'm pretty sure that it's impossible to truly enjoy or even comprehend heaven without first living the life jesus modeled for us (ie, giving to the poor, caring for the sick, loving sinners, working for healing and restoration). because heaven will be a place where the restoration and redemption of all things is consummated. this (and the kingdom of God) is something i want to write more about later. it just happens to be on my mind now.

it's almost friday, everybody. i think we're going to an ethiopian orthodox church service on saturday. it's mainly for a project i'm doing for school, but we're obviously interested for other reasons as well...