I have been reading a lot lately. Our five channels seem to be sensing that it is quite possible that come June 12th they will no longer be with us as they are much blurrier than usual. So I have decided to read more. Last year I read "Girl Soldier: A Story of Hope for Northern Uganda's Children" by Grace Akallo and Faith J.H. McDonnell. It was one of those books that changes your world view once again and opens your eyes not only to the evil that is in the heart of man but more importantly the hope that we have in Christ of overcoming atrocities that our beyond imagination. Grace's story is one of tens of thousands, I think that's what makes it so very difficult to read. Anyway so this time when we went to Hawaii I bought, "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah. (his website is http://www.alongwaygone.com/) It is the story of a young boy's journey from an innocent child to a child soldier. If you have ever wondered how it is possible for a child to turn into a killing machine then you need to read this book. Well actually you need to read this book even if you have never wondered. There was a point while reading that my tears so blurred my vision that I could no longer see the words. As I closed the book I prayed asking the Lord how could this happen. I told him I could not take anymore, His gentle loving whisper filled my mind, "Just because you can't read it does not make it go away. Whether or not you finish this book does not change Ishmael's life. The story must be told." So I continued to read. The hard part of reading books like these is the knowledge that the recruitment of child soldiers is happening right now across Africa. This should horrify us. Push us to some sort of action. Is it not our responsibility as the Church to fulfill the words of Isaiah, which Jesus himself began His ministry with, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted , to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." It is hard to know what to do when you are a half a world away from the conflict but as the Lord spoke to my heart it does not go away just because we look the other way. Because our life is safe and comfortable does not mean that there is a world in need of, not only a Savior, but the hands and feet of those who have already accepted that Savior. We are the wealthiest church in history here in America and with that comes huge responsibility, just read Revelation and the letters to the churches, He expects much of us. I'll step down off the soap box now, but leave you with some of my favorite world changing organizations. http://www.worldvision.org/ and http://www.invisiblechildren.com/ . One more book that will not let you sleep at night and will start a fire in your soul, "The Hole in our Gospel", I'm on page 229, almost done. Here are some excerpts to get you hooked, "The First reformation... was about creeds; this one's going to be about our deeds. The first one divided the church; this time it will unify the church." Rick Warren. "When our churches become spiritual spas in which we retreat from the world, our salt loses its saltiness, and we are no longer able to impact the culture." Richard Stearns. "Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it." "Well why don't you ask him?" "Because I'm afraid He would ask me the same question." Anonymous. One more... "The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set or priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied...but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing." John Berger.
The author is Richard Stearns, president of World Vision, and in this book he gives statistics that I still can't fully wrap my head around. "26,575 children die each day of largely preventable causes related to their poverty." Buy the book, borrow mine, become educated, see the need and our abundance and lets love our neighbor as Christ has commanded. www.theholeinourgospel.com
