June 16, 2011

You know when an idea just gets in your head and takes hold of you and you can't even sleep for it consuming all your thoughts?!  That's what's happened to me!  Of course, it's VBS week at church and I'm dying from the not-sleeping thing, but who cares?  I just finished David Platt's book, Radical: Taking back your faith from the American Dream (Buy here!) and I'm hooked.  Platt explains how our American version of faith in Christ is pretty far from the example set for us by Jesus Himself, and how we can work to change that.  He offers his readers a challenge at the end of the book, which I've written on my mirror now so that I won't forget (which is also why I'm posting about this!), which is to do these five things for a year and just see if it doesn't open your eyes to a greater relationship with the Lord. 

1.  Pray every day for the entire world.  How often do I spend time in prayer for the tribes in Nigeria that have never heard the name of the Lord?  Without prayer, and with the way that Christians seem to skim over the Great Commission now, there does not seem to be much hope for the people of this world.
2.  Read the whole Word.  Most Christians I know have at least one Bible, if not more, and in the corners of the world where being a Christian is against the law or poverty is rampant, many Christ-followers have to memorize the Word because they cannot be found with it in their possession, or they cannot afford to purchase one. 
3.  Give sacrificially to a specific purpose.  Under the awning of this tenet, I've vowed to give up Starbucks for the next year and to give a portion of my weekly paycheck to a family at my church that I work with that is going through the process of bringing home a little boy from Rwanda.  I'm passionate about adoption, and this is a way that I can be held accountable for my giving and also that I can see it work. 
4.  Spend time in another context.  I don't know what true poverty looks like.  I don't know what a life without access to the Gospel looks like.  I want to change that, and take opportunities to serve others and show them the love of Christ outside of my personal comfort zone. 
5.  Be an active part of a multiplying community.  PHEW!  I'm so thankful that I've found a fantastic church to be a part of here and the ministry that I serve with could not be better suited to my gifts. 

A year.  Where will I be in a year? 

Also on the front of my brain is the "what are you doing after college?" question.  I'm passionate about teaching, kids, and I'm a little dismayed by the state of the public school system (okay, more than a little), and so I'm starting to mull over the idea of getting my master's in Christian Education and then going to teach somewhere off the North American continent.  Maybe South America, or Guatemala, or even Africa. 

This means I've got to learn a language other than Southern drawl...oh dear.