OK, I haven't done the "mega blog hog post" yet, but here goes. I had to break it up in sections because it wouldn't let me put it all in at once lol.
While you were half-a-world away in Uganda, on Sunday night the Super Bowl was on here in the States. You know how much I love football and so, even though the Steelers weren't playing in it, it's one of the biggest nights of the year. I had been looking forward to it all season. What's weird is, right before the game I started getting really achy and my throat started get more and more scratchy and I realized that I had a fever. Not that it was a good game, but I couldn't enjoy it even it was. We had all these people over and all this good food, and I just felt ..awful. So I went to bed right after the game and woke up the next morning with a temperature of 103. I went to the Urgent Care and they basically said I had what looked like strep throat, even though the test was negative. So they gave me meds and sent me home. And I slept and slept for about 20 hours. And when I woke up, I felt so much better, and my mind was racing.
I started thinking about my life and what I was going to do with it. I thought about the things I am afraid of. I thought about how the average Super Bowl ticket was over $2500 and how my sister, my closest friend in the world, was on the other side of the world, serving people who have next to nothing. And then I began to pray and I realized that the same Jesus that is with you is with me. And I began to think about all the possibilities that exist for my life now that He has rescued me from a life without Him. And then I started to think about all the possibilities that must exist, then, for all of God's children in the world, once He rescues them from sin and death, and their effects. My prison was largely of my own making – but the vast majority of these people, they are victims. They are victims of “the powers and principalities” that stand behind all oppressive and unjust regimes of economic exploitation. I was a foolish victim of my own self; held captive by the grip of my own sinful desires. But unlike my situation, these people, while sharing in my sinful nature, also live in the grip of an extremely oppressive socio-political-economic situation that has its face set dead against them. They are utterly despised and crushed under the weight of poverty and the ravages that accompany it: hunger, disease, violence, crime, war, displacement. They are the Samaritans of Uganda: the unwanted castaways that no one but Jesus wants to claim. These precious people are those the world would rather forget so that it can get along with its business of, well, getting along. But you, Terra, haven't forgotten them – because Jesus has not forgotten them. And your experience there is reminding me of who I am called to be, too. And so my mind raced, as I laid sick in my bed, on multiple pillows and under many blankets, with the heater running beside me to warm my bones, a glass of ice water to soothe my throat, and a bottle of Aleve and amoxicillin to help relieve my fever. And I thought about what it must be like – not just to live in a place like Karimojong – but to be sick in a place like that. With little to no comforts, medicine, food, scarce water.. And I felt heartbroken for these people. Remember how you said God was teaching you when you had your wisdom teeth out? Well, this can't even compare to that, but God was using this little thing to show me something: to show me myself.
And this thought has been haunting me ever since: What have we, as individuals, and as American people – as a church, even – become? But the question that is pressing even harder upon me is: what am I becoming?
While most of us spend the vast majority of our time obsessing about our own bodies, making a name for ourselves, gaining power and jockeying for position in our relative stations in life, amassing wealth to consume infinitely more: more possessions, more comforts, more pleasures, more entertainments, and as much sex and partying as possible – God's beloved children around the world are suffering through almost unimaginable injustices and oppression. They live, every single day, what would be our worst nightmare: they go without. ...And, when I sit and honestly and critically reflect, and ask myself what I am doing about it, I can only answer: not much. Certainly not enough. It's a heartbreaking realization. It seems to me that, without quite realizing it, we here in the States are becoming as decadent in our affluence as the East is in its poverty.
But I know I can't stop at just being heartbroken: I've got some serious changes to make and re-prioritizing to do. Pray for me. I can't help what we in the West are becoming (can I?) – but I can help what I am becoming. I don't want to be the kind of person that spends my life trying to keep up with the rat race. I don't want to spend my life making money and being “successful” – in the world's eyes – but squandering the gifts God has given to me to be a blessing to His world. I mean, I owe my life to him. He has been so good to me. Don't ever let me forget that. You know how much I love biblical studies and theology and philosophy – and how important I think they are to spiritual formation – but I cannot love studying more than, or to the exclusion of, serving Jesus. It's not that theology or comfort or entertainment or even success are evil things – we know they most certainly are not – but when they take the place of Jesus, they become the same kind of evils that have ripped places like Uganda apart. That is always the essence and effect idolatry. And I don't want to fall into that trap. Or, if I'm in that trap already, I want out. I can't love anything more than Jesus, or it is idolatry – and I must confess, I do. I often love the people in my life and my safety and comfort and entertainment and reputation more than Jesus.
Thank you for teaching me through this experience. I know how it feels to truly make a difference in other people's lives – and there is no feeling on earth like it. It's almost like it's what we were created to do. And you are doing it. And when you come home, you will continue to do it. Your light shines so bright to everyone who knows you. But you and I know that it's not your light – it's His. You once told me that “Jesus wants to live His life through us – and usually that means taking ourselves out of the way.” Well, I see you walking with Him and I often see Him so clearly in and through you. What a profound mystery! –– It is His hands that are reaching out to embrace His children in Africa – and it is Jesus whom you are embracing, for it is in His image we all have been made. It's His feet that walk from village to village, and it is Him to whom you are walking. It is His eyes they see into, as you stare back into His. It's His voice they hear calling to them, even as you hear Him call out to you. It's His arms they rest in, as you rest in His. And, it's in His wisdom, love, goodness, power, and care that you must leave them when you go.
With love and gratitude,
Matt
2/5/2014 9:00 pm EST
Matthew 35.31-40:
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' 40 And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
OK, I haven't done the "mega blog hog post" yet, but here goes. I had to break it up in sections because it wouldn't let me put it all in at once lol.
ReplyDeleteWhile you were half-a-world away in Uganda, on Sunday night the Super Bowl was on here in the States. You know how much I love football and so, even though the Steelers weren't playing in it, it's one of the biggest nights of the year. I had been looking forward to it all season. What's weird is, right before the game I started getting really achy and my throat started get more and more scratchy and I realized that I had a fever. Not that it was a good game, but I couldn't enjoy it even it was. We had all these people over and all this good food, and I just felt ..awful. So I went to bed right after the game and woke up the next morning with a temperature of 103. I went to the Urgent Care and they basically said I had what looked like strep throat, even though the test was negative. So they gave me meds and sent me home. And I slept and slept for about 20 hours. And when I woke up, I felt so much better, and my mind was racing.
I started thinking about my life and what I was going to do with it. I thought about the things I am afraid of. I thought about how the average Super Bowl ticket was over $2500 and how my sister, my closest friend in the world, was on the other side of the world, serving people who have next to nothing. And then I began to pray and I realized that the same Jesus that is with you is with me. And I began to think about all the possibilities that exist for my life now that He has rescued me from a life without Him. And then I started to think about all the possibilities that must exist, then, for all of God's children in the world, once He rescues them from sin and death, and their effects. My prison was largely of my own making – but the vast majority of these people, they are victims. They are victims of “the powers and principalities” that stand behind all oppressive and unjust regimes of economic exploitation. I was a foolish victim of my own self; held captive by the grip of my own sinful desires. But unlike my situation, these people, while sharing in my sinful nature, also live in the grip of an extremely oppressive socio-political-economic situation that has its face set dead against them. They are utterly despised and crushed under the weight of poverty and the ravages that accompany it: hunger, disease, violence, crime, war, displacement. They are the Samaritans of Uganda: the unwanted castaways that no one but Jesus wants to claim. These precious people are those the world would rather forget so that it can get along with its business of, well, getting along. But you, Terra, haven't forgotten them – because Jesus has not forgotten them. And your experience there is reminding me of who I am called to be, too. And so my mind raced, as I laid sick in my bed, on multiple pillows and under many blankets, with the heater running beside me to warm my bones, a glass of ice water to soothe my throat, and a bottle of Aleve and amoxicillin to help relieve my fever. And I thought about what it must be like – not just to live in a place like Karimojong – but to be sick in a place like that. With little to no comforts, medicine, food, scarce water.. And I felt heartbroken for these people. Remember how you said God was teaching you when you had your wisdom teeth out? Well, this can't even compare to that, but God was using this little thing to show me something: to show me myself.
(continued)
ReplyDeleteAnd this thought has been haunting me ever since: What have we, as individuals, and as American people – as a church, even – become? But the question that is pressing even harder upon me is: what am I becoming?
While most of us spend the vast majority of our time obsessing about our own bodies, making a name for ourselves, gaining power and jockeying for position in our relative stations in life, amassing wealth to consume infinitely more: more possessions, more comforts, more pleasures, more entertainments, and as much sex and partying as possible – God's beloved children around the world are suffering through almost unimaginable injustices and oppression. They live, every single day, what would be our worst nightmare: they go without. ...And, when I sit and honestly and critically reflect, and ask myself what I am doing about it, I can only answer: not much. Certainly not enough. It's a heartbreaking realization. It seems to me that, without quite realizing it, we here in the States are becoming as decadent in our affluence as the East is in its poverty.
But I know I can't stop at just being heartbroken: I've got some serious changes to make and re-prioritizing to do. Pray for me. I can't help what we in the West are becoming (can I?) – but I can help what I am becoming. I don't want to be the kind of person that spends my life trying to keep up with the rat race. I don't want to spend my life making money and being “successful” – in the world's eyes – but squandering the gifts God has given to me to be a blessing to His world. I mean, I owe my life to him. He has been so good to me. Don't ever let me forget that. You know how much I love biblical studies and theology and philosophy – and how important I think they are to spiritual formation – but I cannot love studying more than, or to the exclusion of, serving Jesus. It's not that theology or comfort or entertainment or even success are evil things – we know they most certainly are not – but when they take the place of Jesus, they become the same kind of evils that have ripped places like Uganda apart. That is always the essence and effect idolatry. And I don't want to fall into that trap. Or, if I'm in that trap already, I want out. I can't love anything more than Jesus, or it is idolatry – and I must confess, I do. I often love the people in my life and my safety and comfort and entertainment and reputation more than Jesus.
(continued)
ReplyDeleteThank you for teaching me through this experience. I know how it feels to truly make a difference in other people's lives – and there is no feeling on earth like it. It's almost like it's what we were created to do. And you are doing it. And when you come home, you will continue to do it. Your light shines so bright to everyone who knows you. But you and I know that it's not your light – it's His. You once told me that “Jesus wants to live His life through us – and usually that means taking ourselves out of the way.” Well, I see you walking with Him and I often see Him so clearly in and through you. What a profound mystery! –– It is His hands that are reaching out to embrace His children in Africa – and it is Jesus whom you are embracing, for it is in His image we all have been made. It's His feet that walk from village to village, and it is Him to whom you are walking. It is His eyes they see into, as you stare back into His. It's His voice they hear calling to them, even as you hear Him call out to you. It's His arms they rest in, as you rest in His. And, it's in His wisdom, love, goodness, power, and care that you must leave them when you go.
With love and gratitude,
Matt
2/5/2014
9:00 pm EST
Matthew 35.31-40:
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' 40 And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'