The Dreaming Tree

I know it’s about 12 hours late, but here is the Christmas song I helped record with friends.  It’s the first time I’ve ever recorded an original song, and it was so much fun!  Eric played guitar, Gabriel played drums/percussion & both sang.  Sharayah played clarinets.  Scott, Brandon, & Sharayah yelled the ready.

PS.  Approach this like you’d approach some of Sufjan Stevens’s work.  It might sound serious, but that doesn’t mean it is, i.e.:  Eric:  ”Gabriel!  ’Now arrives the Christmas hour?!’  What the hell does that mean?!”

REAL. LIFE. Exhibit Part 2

Part 1

I left the exhibit feeling overwhelmed.  We had some debriefing time with our mentor, but I still needed to process through everything.  When I got to my car, I put this song on repeat.  I couldn’t process the magnitude of the despair I had seen, so my only prayer was just to hear something good, to know hope.  I am still processing.  I’m still trying to figure out how I fit.  I talked with a friend, and she confirmed that my feelings of being overwhelmed are good because my vision is being stretched.  She talked about the church she grew up in, how their view on missions was based on Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  She said that she had thought of me as a Judea girl; not content to stay where I’ve always been, but not traveling far.  And now my worldview is growing and I feel the need to participate in what is happening across the world.  I’m still praying about what to do.  I am passionate about educating.  And I am also passionate about providing clean water for all people.  I feel drawn to Spanish speaking countries, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.  I don’t know yet what happens next, but I am not going to allow being overwhelmed to cripple me.  There is hope and one person can make a difference.  One of the cards I read at the exhibit that was written to children orphaned by the earthquake in Haiti said, “I’ve never prayed before in my life, but I’m going to start now.  Because if you can make it through this disaster, there must be a God.”  I can’t even communicate the hope that this gave me.  You usually hear the argument that God can’t exist because there is so much disaster and pain.  This new take on that point of view was exactly what I needed.  So I’m praying for God to tell me something good, and I pray that he tells you something good too.  I don’t know what the future holds, but I know that He holds the future.

I’m reading through this book called The Hole in Our Gospel.  It talks about our view of faith, and how, in a lot of ways, the church as a whole has missed the point of being a Christian.  We get caught up in being good people and making sure we don’t break the Ten Commandments.  But the problem lies in what we don’t do rather than in what we do.  50% of the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day.  Think about how much Americans spend a day on food, water, healthcare, clothing, electricity, heat, housing, entertainment, etc.  ”In Haiti, where 3/4 of the population earns less than $2 a day and 1 in 5 children is chronically malnourished, the one business booming amid all the gloom is the selling of patties made of mud, oil and sugar.” (New York Times editorial)  Check out Isaiah 58 for what God has to say about those who call themselves Christian, but don’t act.

So what’s keeping us from doing something?  Our generation has the intellectual and monetary resources to completely eliminate poverty.  So why are there still poor among us?  What are we so afraid of?  Loss of our standard of living?  What other people will think if we’re seen with ‘those people’?  Really?!  People die daily, we have the resources to stop it, and we’re worried about what people will think of us?!  What have we got to lose?  Status?  Comfort? Wealth?  Are these things really so important that we would let others die because of our fear?  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m afraid too.  I’m afraid of what I don’t know.  I’m overwhelmed by the task of alleviating poverty.  It’s too big for me to handle.  But it’s not too big for God, and through him I can do anything he calls me to.  But I need to be willing to let go of myself and let God work through me.  It’s scary.  But really, nothing else matters more.  I don’t know what this looks like yet, other than I need to be willing to surrender, even the things that are most important to me.

So what are we afraid of?  Sure, poverty is a giant.  But God is bigger than poverty.  The only thing preventing us from changing the world to sustain everyone, from partnering with others and giving everyone a chance at the opportunities that we, as Westerners, have, is ourselves.  So this is my challenge to you:  think and pray about the things that you can give up to make a difference.  ”What the world needs is people who believe so much in another world that they cannot help but begin enacting it now.” -Shane Claiborne