tuesday is world AIDS day and since i probably won't have a chance to blog then, i wanted to share a few thoughts now.
one year ago, i wouldn't have had a clue there even was a world AIDS day. if you had asked me then about AIDS, i probably would have told you i understood it to be a terrible disease that had killed many people. what i wouldn't have been able to tell you is that it is now a survivable disease that can be managed much like any other chronic illness if it's treated with the proper medication. i probably also wouldn't have been able to tell you that almost nobody in africa has access to that medication. OR that almost 12 million children had been orphaned in africa because of AIDS in 2007.
to me, one of the most tragic aspects about the AIDS crisis is that we talk about it so flippantly. how many times have we heard someone say, "oh, it's not like i can solve AIDS in africa." it's like we use the AIDS crisis as some kind of universal metaphor for being unable to do the impossible. perhaps that's really the tragedy...that we think solving AIDS is impossible so we don't think or do much about it. these days, it's become quite offensive to me to hear AIDS talked about in such flippant ways. not many days go by where i don't wonder if today is the day one or both of my children will lose their mother to AIDS. it is a real possibility.
it is difficult to imagine one of my sons sitting by his mother's bedside watching her slowly die of a disease that could have easily been treated. and when i hear people say things like, "AIDS in africa isn't my responsibility," i become indignant. angry. downright pissed. part of being a human is that we co-exist with other humans. we are part of a system, meaning that my actions inevitably affect someone else. none of us live in isolation from other people. we are ALL part of this interdependent community of humans. nobody gets to opt out. thus, AIDS in africa is everyone's responsibility.
we are all responsible for those millions of children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS. we are all responsible for each man and woman who has died of AIDS.
we are all responsible for figuring out where to go from here.
i can't even describe how much it bothers me to hear people talk about how much they cried after killing a squirrel that ran across them on the road. i just read something like this on facebook -- the lady said she "cried and cried" after running over a squirrel. or how people, and i'm definitely in this group, sit and boo-hoo over reality tv shows or cheesy movies. most of that stuff is made-up and not even close to reality. i'm not saying people should feel guilty about being a sensitive person, but i am wondering why such sensitive people, as myself, can't grieve humanity in this way. why don't we "cry and cry" over those millions of lost lives? i'm not saying we have to cry 24/7 about victims of the AIDS crisis, but why does it always have to be out of sight, out of mind?
so on world AIDS day, i hope you will join me in confronting the numbers...in remembering each and every child who has been orphaned by AIDS and each and every person who has died of AIDS. may we grieve them, weep over them, and confess that we have not done enough to help. i think part of the battle is fought when we stop believing the lie that we have nothing to do with this. because, honestly, when we begin to see that this truly is our responsiblity, i believe that we will be compelled to act -- to pray, to tell, to give, to serve, to adopt...to love our fellow human beings as we love ourselves.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
i confess...
...we went shopping on black friday.
trust me, we were not those crazy people who buy a bunch of stuff they don't need simply because things are on sale. nor were we those jerky people who step on everybody just to get what they want. honestly, we just wanted to get a few good deals on board games at target. jamie signed us up to support 17-year-old twins through the angel tree program. he felt really drawn to them, because, well, older kids sometimes get forgotten. i can't help but think these teenagers have never had a meaningful christmas or just a chance to be kids. to throw a football in their backyard or to beat their friends at a game of monopoly. and so we tried to redeem black friday a little bit...and we had a darn good time with my little sister (who got the last easy bake oven for her angel tree child).
on an unrelated note, i've been listening to christmas music for a couple of weeks already. it just makes writing papers more bearable. but i always wonder why we can't listen to christmas hymns all year round. they are literally the most beautiful and worshipful songs EVER. i get a little weepy every time i hear o holy night, especially the second verse:
truly he taught us to love one another
his law is love and his gospel is peace
chains will he break for the slave is our brother
and in his name, all oppression shall cease
sweet hymns of joy, in grateful chorus raise we
let all within us praise his holy name
christ is the Lord
trust me, we were not those crazy people who buy a bunch of stuff they don't need simply because things are on sale. nor were we those jerky people who step on everybody just to get what they want. honestly, we just wanted to get a few good deals on board games at target. jamie signed us up to support 17-year-old twins through the angel tree program. he felt really drawn to them, because, well, older kids sometimes get forgotten. i can't help but think these teenagers have never had a meaningful christmas or just a chance to be kids. to throw a football in their backyard or to beat their friends at a game of monopoly. and so we tried to redeem black friday a little bit...and we had a darn good time with my little sister (who got the last easy bake oven for her angel tree child).
on an unrelated note, i've been listening to christmas music for a couple of weeks already. it just makes writing papers more bearable. but i always wonder why we can't listen to christmas hymns all year round. they are literally the most beautiful and worshipful songs EVER. i get a little weepy every time i hear o holy night, especially the second verse:
truly he taught us to love one another
his law is love and his gospel is peace
chains will he break for the slave is our brother
and in his name, all oppression shall cease
sweet hymns of joy, in grateful chorus raise we
let all within us praise his holy name
christ is the Lord
Saturday, November 21, 2009
the blind side
we went to see the blind side on friday night to celebrate my thesis presentation being done. it was an incredible movie, and definitely not as "cheesy" as the critics say. seriously, GO SEE IT. i could write a lot of things about this movie, but i'm not going to. really, all i want to say is that if people leave the movie feeling "warm inside" or "inspired," that's great. but i hope those feelings translate into real consideration of the issues the movie presents. quite honestly, i hope people start to feel unsettled and uncomfortable about having not considered the lives of people -- namely children -- on the other side of town from them AND on the other side of the world from them. the storyline of that movie can potentially happen MILLIONS of times. there are 147 million children just like michael oher in the world. sure, not all of them will become pro-football players and have a movie made about them. but they all have the potential to succeed in their own ways IF families are willing to open their hearts and their homes to them.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
i never write a short post
so i haven't written in awhile. a week to be exact, which is awhile for me. what can i say? school is abusing me right now. but here's a little random assortment of things:
my mom told me that i had to ask for a christmas present that isn't "money for the adoption." so i've been compiling a little christmas list of things that (1) i love (2) i probably wouldn't buy for myself right now (3) support either an organization that i care about or fair trade. let me show you what i've added to my little wish list:
how cute are these sandals! my friends erin and leigh both blogged about them, and now i have to spread the word too. but seriously, check out the website to read the wonderful story behind this organization (and to see the other patterns they have). and if you're thinking about buying some, hold off for a bit. my friend leigh, who is adopting 2 kids from ethiopia, might be partnering up with them. just stay tuned...
OK, i can't get the other picture to load, but you can go here to see it. i have decided to make it my goal to see if i can clothe myself completely in fair trade/supports good cause merchandise. this may be a crazy goal because i'm not sure if anybody sells fair trade blue jeans. obviously, i have already found shoes, tops, and accessories (oooh, and for jewelry and scarves, go here). really the whole point of me putting all this stuff up here is to say that it's actually VERY EASY to buy something for yourself (or for somebody else) and still support good causes.
what's really annoying (speaking of christmas presents) is that lately i've been feeling guilty that we can't buy our families lots of great christmas presents this year. and that really makes me mad -- not that we can't buy lots of presents but that i'm feeling guilty. never before have i been so angry that our society has turned christmas into a huge consumeristic orgy. and i guess i've been wondering why people (including myself) get so bent out of shape about what gifts to buy their kids and how many presents to get for their spouse and whether they really have to buy their boss something...and yet, there's a little girl in my sister's kindergarten class who walks around everyday in shoes with no soles, and nobody gets bent out of shape about her...
in adoption news, please just be praying for us and all of our friends who are adopting. pray for money to come in for us. pray for money and other fundraising opportunities for leigh and gray ladd. pray for a referral to come for daniel and abby umlauf, who have been waiting almost 6 months. as i have begun to realize, the holidays are HARD when you know your child(ren) may very well be alive RIGHT NOW -- perhaps without food, in an unsafe situation, or sad and lonely -- and you cannot get to them. and like us, the ladds and the umlaufs are first time parents through adoption, so we are all experiencing the intense emotions of just wanting our babies SO BADLY. but what hope we have in jesus, EMMANUEL. he is with us. he is with our children. amen.
my mom told me that i had to ask for a christmas present that isn't "money for the adoption." so i've been compiling a little christmas list of things that (1) i love (2) i probably wouldn't buy for myself right now (3) support either an organization that i care about or fair trade. let me show you what i've added to my little wish list:
how cute are these sandals! my friends erin and leigh both blogged about them, and now i have to spread the word too. but seriously, check out the website to read the wonderful story behind this organization (and to see the other patterns they have). and if you're thinking about buying some, hold off for a bit. my friend leigh, who is adopting 2 kids from ethiopia, might be partnering up with them. just stay tuned...
OK, i can't get the other picture to load, but you can go here to see it. i have decided to make it my goal to see if i can clothe myself completely in fair trade/supports good cause merchandise. this may be a crazy goal because i'm not sure if anybody sells fair trade blue jeans. obviously, i have already found shoes, tops, and accessories (oooh, and for jewelry and scarves, go here). really the whole point of me putting all this stuff up here is to say that it's actually VERY EASY to buy something for yourself (or for somebody else) and still support good causes.
what's really annoying (speaking of christmas presents) is that lately i've been feeling guilty that we can't buy our families lots of great christmas presents this year. and that really makes me mad -- not that we can't buy lots of presents but that i'm feeling guilty. never before have i been so angry that our society has turned christmas into a huge consumeristic orgy. and i guess i've been wondering why people (including myself) get so bent out of shape about what gifts to buy their kids and how many presents to get for their spouse and whether they really have to buy their boss something...and yet, there's a little girl in my sister's kindergarten class who walks around everyday in shoes with no soles, and nobody gets bent out of shape about her...
in adoption news, please just be praying for us and all of our friends who are adopting. pray for money to come in for us. pray for money and other fundraising opportunities for leigh and gray ladd. pray for a referral to come for daniel and abby umlauf, who have been waiting almost 6 months. as i have begun to realize, the holidays are HARD when you know your child(ren) may very well be alive RIGHT NOW -- perhaps without food, in an unsafe situation, or sad and lonely -- and you cannot get to them. and like us, the ladds and the umlaufs are first time parents through adoption, so we are all experiencing the intense emotions of just wanting our babies SO BADLY. but what hope we have in jesus, EMMANUEL. he is with us. he is with our children. amen.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
needs
i wanted to give a quick update about where we are financially and hope that someone out there in blogland whether they know us or not might be stirred to help us.
to send off our dossier, we need $15000. here's the breakdown of those costs:
$2500 -- second agency fee to CWA
$1000 --postadoption fee to CWA
$7250 -- international fee to ethiopia for 1st child
$4250 -- international fee to ethiopia for 2nd child
here's the money we have so far to put towards these costs:
$8000 -- homebuyer's tax credit (we should be receiving this any day now)
$600 -- donations to our CWA account
$300 -- chickfila night
$450 -- yardsale profits
$100 -- coffee profits
therefore, we have around $9500 already taken care of. this leaves us with a need of $5500. we estimate that we can put down another $3000, maybe even $4000 out of jamie's paycheck, though $4000 would be pushing us to the end of january and we'd like to send off our dossier before then. we're also planning another yard sale in december because we still have A LOT of stuff. so i hope we could make another $500 that way. we also have some furniture that we've been trying to sell. if we sold it for the absolute lowest amount, we could make another $500 that way. and we'd like to sell another 185 bags of coffee to bring our profits from that to $1000. SO, here's how you can help:
consider buying coffee and/or telling other people to buy coffee. we hope to figure out a better plan for selling a large amount, but for now, we are relying on word of mouth.
consider making a small donation. everything adds up.
pray that our second yard sale will be as successful as i'm estimating. pray that our furniture would sell.
consider linking us on your facebook or blog.
let me say that it is NEVER easy to ask for money. i've said that here before. i know some people think we should be funding this completely on our own since we "chose" to do this. but we do not see it that way. we have been "called" to do this, there is no way we would ever have all the money to do this on our own, and we believe that it is a community-wide effort to care for orphans. even if you are not called to adopt, helping an adoptive family is still orphan care! i should also say that it is NOT easy to give even if you have a heart that wants to help people. we know this all too well as it is still difficult to write a check to our church for our tithe knowing that if we could just keep that money, we might not be having to ask for help. i'm not saying that to sound righteous about our tithing, i'm saying it to say that obedience and sacrifice are HARD. but please, if your heart is stirred to help us bring our two babies home, do not hesitate.
to send off our dossier, we need $15000. here's the breakdown of those costs:
$2500 -- second agency fee to CWA
$1000 --postadoption fee to CWA
$7250 -- international fee to ethiopia for 1st child
$4250 -- international fee to ethiopia for 2nd child
here's the money we have so far to put towards these costs:
$8000 -- homebuyer's tax credit (we should be receiving this any day now)
$600 -- donations to our CWA account
$300 -- chickfila night
$450 -- yardsale profits
$100 -- coffee profits
therefore, we have around $9500 already taken care of. this leaves us with a need of $5500. we estimate that we can put down another $3000, maybe even $4000 out of jamie's paycheck, though $4000 would be pushing us to the end of january and we'd like to send off our dossier before then. we're also planning another yard sale in december because we still have A LOT of stuff. so i hope we could make another $500 that way. we also have some furniture that we've been trying to sell. if we sold it for the absolute lowest amount, we could make another $500 that way. and we'd like to sell another 185 bags of coffee to bring our profits from that to $1000. SO, here's how you can help:
consider buying coffee and/or telling other people to buy coffee. we hope to figure out a better plan for selling a large amount, but for now, we are relying on word of mouth.
consider making a small donation. everything adds up.
pray that our second yard sale will be as successful as i'm estimating. pray that our furniture would sell.
consider linking us on your facebook or blog.
let me say that it is NEVER easy to ask for money. i've said that here before. i know some people think we should be funding this completely on our own since we "chose" to do this. but we do not see it that way. we have been "called" to do this, there is no way we would ever have all the money to do this on our own, and we believe that it is a community-wide effort to care for orphans. even if you are not called to adopt, helping an adoptive family is still orphan care! i should also say that it is NOT easy to give even if you have a heart that wants to help people. we know this all too well as it is still difficult to write a check to our church for our tithe knowing that if we could just keep that money, we might not be having to ask for help. i'm not saying that to sound righteous about our tithing, i'm saying it to say that obedience and sacrifice are HARD. but please, if your heart is stirred to help us bring our two babies home, do not hesitate.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
tomorrow is orphan sunday
in honor of orphan sunday, i wanted to share a few thoughts about life. the word/concept of life gets thrown around a lot in our culture. mostly, people talk about being pro-life, which usually means they are against abortion. but i'm wondering if that definition is a bit narrow.
let me say first that i am totally and completely against abortion. i have grace for those who have had an abortion and for those considering it. i realize that it's probably very frustrating to have a bunch of people who have never experienced the terrifying situation of an unplanned pregnancy tell you that you're only option is to deliver your baby. but, in the end, i do not think abortion is the answer to anything. i think it is the taking of an innocent life, the cause of great emotional pain and regret for the mother, and our society's way of allowing people to not take responsibility for their own actions (obviously a woman who becomes pregnant from rape or incest does NOT bear responsibility for an unplanned pregnancy). all things considered, abortion is a great moral evil. but it is not the only life issue.
in the last election, i voted democrat. i'm not ashamed to admit that, though i'm sure some of you are gasping for air right about now. people asked me, "but don't you care about abortion?" and i told them i surely did but that it wasn't the only life issue that concerned me. in my opinion, abortions are always going to happen in this country whether they are government sanctioned or not. doesn't anyone remember all the stories involving coat hangers from the 1960s? perhaps we would see a decrease in abortions if they were not government sanctioned, but abortion is not going away. it is a sad and terrible reality. the reason i voted democrat and saw it as my own "vote for life" was because i thought democrats had at least a better plan for caring for the poor. for me, that's a life issue. not many people i know would agree that a child living on the streets without food or warm clothes because his parents can't make ends meet has much of a life. yes, he might have a beating heart and air in his lungs, but he does not have life. and i know a lot of people disagree with the government having so much control over welfare programs and taxpayer money, etc ...but i've always wondered why so many christians are willing to support the government's pro-life actions in the area of abortion (if the government were to ever outlaw abortion) but so reticent to support the government's pro-life actions in the area of caring for the poor.
if all that's too political for you, i want to bring this back to adoption and orphan sunday. there are currently half a million children living in foster care in this country. there are also many, many women who are probably considering abortion RIGHT NOW. i hear many christians say that a woman considering abortion should give up her baby for adoption. but doesn't that assume that there are families willing and ready to adopt? sure, there are many families who have adopted domestically. i know some of them. but if there are still half a million children in foster care and many more children still in their mother's wombs who will be given up when they are born, where are all those people who said the answer to abortion is adoption? we cannot tell women that they should not abort their babies if we are not willing to step up and take responsibility for the care of those children. living in foster care without a forever family is not a life for a child.
i want to say that this is all challenging to me as jamie and i continue to consider what our family will look like in the future. we felt called to africa for this first adoption, and we have a lot of reasons why international adoption was right for us. in my opinion, bringing any orphan into a forever family is a victory. but i know that i'm one of those people. i say the answer to abortion is adoption. i say that life is about more than just if your heart is beating. but i've hardly considered adopting a child from foster care. and so i hope you all will consider along with me what it'd be like if every christian who was against abortion prayerfully considered adopting domestically, or at least considered fostering a child. what a victory that would be for the cause of LIFE.
*this post isn't meant to pit domestic and international adoption against each other. in general, i believe that if you are pro-life, you must be pro-adoption/pro-orphan care. and i also believe that we must have a more broad definition of life. but i focused on domestic adoption in this post because being pro-life is such a part of christian culture in america, and i think we don't consider what being pro-life means as it relates to abortion in america and children in foster care, though you can obviously take what i have said here and apply to international adoption also.
let me say first that i am totally and completely against abortion. i have grace for those who have had an abortion and for those considering it. i realize that it's probably very frustrating to have a bunch of people who have never experienced the terrifying situation of an unplanned pregnancy tell you that you're only option is to deliver your baby. but, in the end, i do not think abortion is the answer to anything. i think it is the taking of an innocent life, the cause of great emotional pain and regret for the mother, and our society's way of allowing people to not take responsibility for their own actions (obviously a woman who becomes pregnant from rape or incest does NOT bear responsibility for an unplanned pregnancy). all things considered, abortion is a great moral evil. but it is not the only life issue.
in the last election, i voted democrat. i'm not ashamed to admit that, though i'm sure some of you are gasping for air right about now. people asked me, "but don't you care about abortion?" and i told them i surely did but that it wasn't the only life issue that concerned me. in my opinion, abortions are always going to happen in this country whether they are government sanctioned or not. doesn't anyone remember all the stories involving coat hangers from the 1960s? perhaps we would see a decrease in abortions if they were not government sanctioned, but abortion is not going away. it is a sad and terrible reality. the reason i voted democrat and saw it as my own "vote for life" was because i thought democrats had at least a better plan for caring for the poor. for me, that's a life issue. not many people i know would agree that a child living on the streets without food or warm clothes because his parents can't make ends meet has much of a life. yes, he might have a beating heart and air in his lungs, but he does not have life. and i know a lot of people disagree with the government having so much control over welfare programs and taxpayer money, etc ...but i've always wondered why so many christians are willing to support the government's pro-life actions in the area of abortion (if the government were to ever outlaw abortion) but so reticent to support the government's pro-life actions in the area of caring for the poor.
if all that's too political for you, i want to bring this back to adoption and orphan sunday. there are currently half a million children living in foster care in this country. there are also many, many women who are probably considering abortion RIGHT NOW. i hear many christians say that a woman considering abortion should give up her baby for adoption. but doesn't that assume that there are families willing and ready to adopt? sure, there are many families who have adopted domestically. i know some of them. but if there are still half a million children in foster care and many more children still in their mother's wombs who will be given up when they are born, where are all those people who said the answer to abortion is adoption? we cannot tell women that they should not abort their babies if we are not willing to step up and take responsibility for the care of those children. living in foster care without a forever family is not a life for a child.
i want to say that this is all challenging to me as jamie and i continue to consider what our family will look like in the future. we felt called to africa for this first adoption, and we have a lot of reasons why international adoption was right for us. in my opinion, bringing any orphan into a forever family is a victory. but i know that i'm one of those people. i say the answer to abortion is adoption. i say that life is about more than just if your heart is beating. but i've hardly considered adopting a child from foster care. and so i hope you all will consider along with me what it'd be like if every christian who was against abortion prayerfully considered adopting domestically, or at least considered fostering a child. what a victory that would be for the cause of LIFE.
*this post isn't meant to pit domestic and international adoption against each other. in general, i believe that if you are pro-life, you must be pro-adoption/pro-orphan care. and i also believe that we must have a more broad definition of life. but i focused on domestic adoption in this post because being pro-life is such a part of christian culture in america, and i think we don't consider what being pro-life means as it relates to abortion in america and children in foster care, though you can obviously take what i have said here and apply to international adoption also.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
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...
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...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
