Amongst Enemies

     Who are your enemies? Do they go to your school or your place of work? Perhaps they criticize the way that you look or the way that you dress or maybe they don't agree with your political or religious viewpoints. Maybe they have a bad influence on your children. Maybe they live in a less-than-pleasant area of town. Maybe they have guns. Maybe they sell drugs...maybe they don't. Maybe their skin is a color that makes you uncomfortable. Maybe the words that they speak make you uncomfortable. Maybe you make them uncomfortable. They might be part of your family or part of your church or part of your city. They might be your neighbors. Do you know your neighbors? If you are part of an older generation your enemies may be an entire group of people whom you were at war with. Webster's dictionary defines "enemy" as "one who feels hatred toward, intends injury to, or opposes the interests of another." Now, I am certainly not encouraging you to hate anyone, aside from Satan himself. I am, however, suggesting that each and every one of you have "opposed the interests of others," daily, most likely. I certainly have and continue to do so. Opposing those things that break the heart of God is not the issue. An issue comes about when these opposing interests keep us from sharing the love of Christ with those around us and those around the world. I have read a remarkable pairing of quotes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther, which brings me to tears each time I read it. I have no idea what "enemies" you are facing, but I would encourage you to read this quote carefully (and many times, if you are able) with those specific people in mind. I dare you to NOT be changed by it.
    "Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work. 'The kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared' (Luther)."
     Who are your enemies, and how many people will never hear about the Amazing Grace through which you are saved, because of your fear and anger and resentment and un-forgiveness? "If Christ had done what YOU are doing who would ever have been spared?"

Warning: This Could Change Your Life

     Have you ever had a life changing, mind altering experience, an experience that shaped the way that you lived your life from that moment on? Birth changes our lives, our own birth, obviously, but also the birth of siblings and children. Unfortunately, death also alters our lives dramatically. Suddenly there is a gap where someone used to be. I have been changed by Christ, who I asked to come into my heart when I was twelve years old. I was changed by the birth of my youngest brother, Eli, when I was eleven. My Grandpa's death changed my perspective on life when I was thirteen. When I was fifteen I met my husband, Jonathan, and he has changed my life in so many ways! The life changing experience that I would specifically like to tell you about today came about because of a brilliant book entitled, "A Thousand Splendid Suns," and an amazing woman named Dr. Strickland.
    "Books can be dangerous.  The best ones should be labeled "This could change your life." ~Helen Exley
      If you are unfamiliar with "A Thousand Splendid Suns," it is the heart wrenching story of two women from Pakistan who are forced to marry the same man. They are brutally treated, beaten daily. They are starved and raped. Their children are taken away from them, and they eventually attempt to flee the country.
     I was so deeply disturbed by this book that when it was finished I spent close to three hours sitting on my bathroom floor and sobbing. What overwhelmed me was the fact that thousands of women and children across Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as in Iraq, Iran, and Sudan are being treated this way and worse TODAY by terrorist sects who kill them and beat them and rape them simply for raising their heads in public, attempting to go to school, attempting to seek medical attention or leaving their homes without their husband's permission. It is very real. It is happening NOW, and something needs to be done.
     Since my exposure to this book two years ago, I have read every piece of literature that I can find regarding Afghanistan and the plight of women and children in the Middle East in general. (Please let me know if you would like reading material! I have several suggestions)There is a horrific lack of education and extreme poverty. God has tied a lasso of sorts around my heart and has tetherd me to the nation of Afghanistan. I have no idea how, why, or when He plans to use me, but until it becomes clear to me I want to educate as many people as I can about the hideously awful way that so many women and children are living their lives each day. I have posted a link below which is extremely eye-opening if you have the time to take a look at it. This piece is entitled "Behind the Veil," which is a documentary on the lives of Afghani women that was put together by a Canadian newspaper. If you have some time, please take a look at it. I would recommend watching the individual interviews. They are amazing and horrifying and allow you to hear all of the answers that the women give without the political bias that the newspaper puts on the documentary.
     I am sorry that this has been a bit ranting. The truth is that I could rant about this for days. If nothing else comes about because of this, I would simply ask that you would please pray for the nation of Afghanistan and that the few Christians and relief groups that have been able to make it into the country would remain strong and safe. Thank you.
  "In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." -1st Peter 1:6-7

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/behind-the-veil/

Uncomfortable Christianity

     If you spend any amount of time with me at all, you will quickly realize that I am deeply obsessed with quotes and have been since I was in elementary school. The fact that Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States never sufficed for me. I wanted to read his words and understand who he was as a man, as a human being. One of the most brilliant human beings that I have stumbled across in my short lifetime is C.S. Lewis. He once said: "I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity."

     Christianity has been making me uncomfortable recently, and so it should. How can one be faced with the Creator and Author of the universe in all of His glory and wisdom and NOT feel the least bit intimidated? Are you afraid of what God is calling you to do? I am. I am afraid that he will ask me to leave my comfortable home, my safe neighborhood, my sterilized water and three meals a day, my family, my social standing and my comfortable ideas about what I am here for, for a straw mat on the ground, a daily fear that my life might be snatched away and some frighteningly uncomfortable ideas about what it truly means to love like Jesus loved. "Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken,"as Rich Mullins so eloquently stated it, and even more importantly than that, Jesus lived a perfect life and died so that I have the right to choose to either accept or not accept the uncomfortable concept of true Christianity. Brennan Manning once wrote something that I think about daily: "For me the most radical demand of Christian faith lies in summoning the courage to say yes to the present risenness of Jesus Christ." We, as Christians, are the only people in the world, as far as I'm aware, that claim to serve a God who is living within us and cares for our trivial day to day lives. Our God is not a statue made of precious metals. He does not sit in a shrine or a temple or a cemetary. He rose from the dead and is currently taking up His inhabitance in YOUR heart, and if that doesn't make you uncomfortable, I think that it probably should. It should make you so uncomfortable that you have to "summon the courage to say YES" to what God is calling you to do, however frightening or dangerous that might be.

     One of my favorite quotes from Mother Teresa reads, "May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in." For as long as I can remember my heart has been steadily filling with the sorrows of those around me and the injustices that I see and feel helpless to address. This blog is my wailing wall, a way for me to unburden myself of some of the heavy issues that have been weighing me down recently. It is mostly to help me cope, but if while hashing through the struggles warring in my brain I am able to aid someone else in dealing with their internal battles, all the better.
     I have entitled this blog, "Radically Loved," based on a quote from Brennan Manning: "My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it." These are the two words that I choose to define myself with. What defines you?