People keep telling me I should write a journal, so here I go. I've been on quite a journey the past year. I've begun to grow sympathy for the poor, something I've never had much of. I've begun to see the essential and yet complex nature of the Gospel and the key component - loving the poor, the hungry, the widow, and the brokenhearted. This has shed new and challenging light on the true meaning of the Gospel. Did Jesus ask us to live this way? Am I living the way Jesus would want me to? I think I would have to say NO! I have not ignored the Gospel intentionally. I think Satan has created a culture of apathy - it is exactly where he wants us - blindly living a life of complacency, knowing deep inside that there is something more, something bigger, maybe even connecting with that truth and even understanding and comprehending it, but not doing anything to change our comfortable lifestyle in order to come closer to what Jesus has for us.
I've always thought - there are a lot of Christians in this world - Christ said the path to him was narrow, how am I living a "narrow" life different from all of the others. The truth is, I'm not - I live a selfish life of American indulgence, not thinking what my actions, my consumption is doing to others not only around me, but 5,000 miles around the world. I've become what I didn't want to become - someone who goes to church every Sunday, lives a good life, but never comes close to receiving everything Christ has for me. How many "Christians," especially in the U.S. are doing that! I want so much more, but how, what, where?
I don't think I have ever grasped the "works" component of the Gospel. I accept JC as my Lord and Savior, I can't work my way to heaven, that is for the Mormons. I've come to realize, and I think this is ultimately the true transformation and journey God has me on, I desire to be His hands and feet, I want to live a life of "works." I want to spend my time doing. This is what God called us to! To love the unlovable, to seek solidarity with the poor, TO BECOME POOR? Really? How? But that is just what he was telling the Rich Young Christian in Matthew 19:21, not me, not my family, it would put them in danger, at risk. You're right Andy, the disciples were never in danger :) Christ called us to follow Him. Pick up your cross and follow Him. Ask Dietrich Bonhoeffer if following Christ was dangerous. Christ asked us to feed the poor, clothe the poor, house the homeless, comfort the widows. Can't I just give my left over junk to the Goodwill?
Where will this take us? Do we have to worry about being in His will? Or, if we are living this way are we truly already in His will. Is he "writing us into the story" by recklessly following him by living out the secret message of the Gospel, no matter what we are doing in the story?
Here I sit on the front porch of my $280,000 home wondering if I should put my family at risk, thrust us into the world and begin an adventure, a journey, a downward spiral. Nearly everyone will think we are crazy, heck, sometimes I do too, but wasn't JC a little crazy - at least from our point of view? didn't he do everything almost opposite of what people believed he should have? Aren't we supposed to "be like Christ?" So wouldn't this all make sense?
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