Friday, April 25, 2008

I'm in real trouble

So, I'm reading this amazing book by Shane Claiborne. A couple Sundays ago, Nate recommended his books. Now I'm reading "The Irresistible Revolution." It's good. Boy, that sounds half-baked. But nothing I can say would really express how much this books catches me. Takes hold of me. Throws me on the floor and says, "WHAT. HAVE. YOU. BEEN. DOING. ALL. YOUR. LIFE?"

As Shane says, it's a lot like CPR. You can learn it, and you can believe it works, but you have to do it. If someone has a heart attack, you can't just stand there and tell them that CPR will save their life - believing it doesn't make it so. You have to get down on the ground and do it.

Having kids is amazing and wonderful, but because of them, there are things I want to do that will have to wait.

Until then, I'll do what I can - performing CPR from a distance, if you will. So I've sat in a tent at the Convention Center and recorded videos for the children of Darfur. I've hosted the African Childrens' Choir members in my home (I'll never forget the night I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. talking with the chaperone - her views on singleness and serving were shocking to me then but make more sense as time goes by). I've taken shoes to some wonderful kids. Heck, I adopted some wonderful kids. I'm always sharing a couple bucks with the folks I see around town - I don't care what they use the money for, I just love to spend a few minutes listening to them. I do listen well.

I've always known this, but now I KNOW THIS. Make sense? No, I know. Never mind. I'll shut up now. If you want to know more, read the book.

No comments: