It has definitely been quite a while since I've updated.
A birthday, surprise party, car, and a license have recently entered my life.
I miss my brother incredibly more and more each day. And I should be in bed because tomorrow I'll barely be able to wake. So perhaps I will have a substantial update tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
On a Lighter Note
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/02/12/letters.bring.love.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest
This is a good article. A friend of mine sent it to me, and it was probably one the cutest things I've read in a long time.
This is a good article. A friend of mine sent it to me, and it was probably one the cutest things I've read in a long time.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Are We Responsible?
Today I was reading on radiantmag.com (which has very good thought provoking articles, I highly recommend it), and I came across this interesting article. Please read it.
"Books bring me face to face with the passions of men and women I could never otherwise meet—men and women of different cultures, of different generations. These stories take me beyond myself. Many books arouse in me a sense of urgency for Cause X; however, one in particular draws within me such emotion, I cannot possibly stay silent.
As I read Shane Claiborne’s book Irresistible Revolution, I am filled with righteous indignation. Claiborne tells stories of poverty; he recounts heart-wrenching tales of abuse and people riddled with disease. He speaks of the outcasts of society and the failure of self-proclaimed Christ followers to love the way Jesus loved.
I feel disgusted because I am not worthy of crying. I weep at one story highlighting abuse by a certain T-shirt company that markets to American consumers—but I don’t deserve to feel better by my tears, to feel like I have compassion and am better than that T-shirt company simply because I am not in the factory. I don’t know where my T-shirts come from, which companies use child labor or abuse their employees. I don’t know that I am not wearing one of those shirts.
Our generation is one infected with the debilitating sickness of apathy. We act as if there are no poor, there are no battered, there is no genocide. I believe we do this because we can get away with it. We can let our depravity ride itself out, allowing ignorance to take its perfect course to self-absorption. If we can’t see it, it’s not happening.
According to charity: water, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives, every week, 42,000 people die because they lack safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Of these tragedies, 90 percent are children.
The Somaly Mam foundation is dedicated to fighting sexual slavery. According to their site, more than 1 million women and children are sold into sexual slavery every year. Most horrifying is that almost 30 percent are between the ages of 9 and 15.
We learn in our eighth-grade history books of the horrible events of the Holocaust, but what of Darfur? One need only visit www.savedarfur.org to find out that since the start of genocide in Darfur four years ago, “as many as 400,000 innocent people have been killed and more than 2.5 million more have been driven from their homes.”
And the list goes on.
Who grows your coffee? Who makes your shirt? Who died for your oil? If you don’t know, are you responsible?
I often become overwhelmed by all of the disparity I see, but this is no excuse to remain inactive. We need to rise up and take charge of our lives. We need to become intentional about loving and protecting our brothers and sisters.
When we know the deep, intimate love of friendship, of community; when we truly know love like Christ’s love for the Church—then we know life.
What better gift to give someone than love, than life?
It’s time to stop talking about it. Talking only matters if we are empowering one another to change. We can talk about change, but if we only talk, we will never actually see it. We can talk about love, but if we only talk we will never know it.
“If I speak in human or angelic tongues, [a] but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body [to hardship] that I may boast, [b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1–3, TNIV)
So start here. Visit these sites and visit their partner organizations. Research social issues and find out where you can get connected. Contact people, donate, volunteer and spread the word. You will change lives. "
www.charitywater.org
www.savedarfur.org
www.somaly.org
www.thesimpleway.org
www.invisiblechildren.org
www.hshomeless.com
Except I am totally for helping out through these charities, but I encourage you to visit volunteermatch.org to get involved in your own community for those organizations that aren't getting as much popularity as the ones above.
"Books bring me face to face with the passions of men and women I could never otherwise meet—men and women of different cultures, of different generations. These stories take me beyond myself. Many books arouse in me a sense of urgency for Cause X; however, one in particular draws within me such emotion, I cannot possibly stay silent.
As I read Shane Claiborne’s book Irresistible Revolution, I am filled with righteous indignation. Claiborne tells stories of poverty; he recounts heart-wrenching tales of abuse and people riddled with disease. He speaks of the outcasts of society and the failure of self-proclaimed Christ followers to love the way Jesus loved.
I feel disgusted because I am not worthy of crying. I weep at one story highlighting abuse by a certain T-shirt company that markets to American consumers—but I don’t deserve to feel better by my tears, to feel like I have compassion and am better than that T-shirt company simply because I am not in the factory. I don’t know where my T-shirts come from, which companies use child labor or abuse their employees. I don’t know that I am not wearing one of those shirts.
Our generation is one infected with the debilitating sickness of apathy. We act as if there are no poor, there are no battered, there is no genocide. I believe we do this because we can get away with it. We can let our depravity ride itself out, allowing ignorance to take its perfect course to self-absorption. If we can’t see it, it’s not happening.
According to charity: water, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives, every week, 42,000 people die because they lack safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Of these tragedies, 90 percent are children.
The Somaly Mam foundation is dedicated to fighting sexual slavery. According to their site, more than 1 million women and children are sold into sexual slavery every year. Most horrifying is that almost 30 percent are between the ages of 9 and 15.
We learn in our eighth-grade history books of the horrible events of the Holocaust, but what of Darfur? One need only visit www.savedarfur.org to find out that since the start of genocide in Darfur four years ago, “as many as 400,000 innocent people have been killed and more than 2.5 million more have been driven from their homes.”
And the list goes on.
Who grows your coffee? Who makes your shirt? Who died for your oil? If you don’t know, are you responsible?
I often become overwhelmed by all of the disparity I see, but this is no excuse to remain inactive. We need to rise up and take charge of our lives. We need to become intentional about loving and protecting our brothers and sisters.
When we know the deep, intimate love of friendship, of community; when we truly know love like Christ’s love for the Church—then we know life.
What better gift to give someone than love, than life?
It’s time to stop talking about it. Talking only matters if we are empowering one another to change. We can talk about change, but if we only talk, we will never actually see it. We can talk about love, but if we only talk we will never know it.
“If I speak in human or angelic tongues, [a] but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body [to hardship] that I may boast, [b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1–3, TNIV)
So start here. Visit these sites and visit their partner organizations. Research social issues and find out where you can get connected. Contact people, donate, volunteer and spread the word. You will change lives. "
www.charitywater.org
www.savedarfur.org
www.somaly.org
www.thesimpleway.org
www.invisiblechildren.org
www.hshomeless.com
Except I am totally for helping out through these charities, but I encourage you to visit volunteermatch.org to get involved in your own community for those organizations that aren't getting as much popularity as the ones above.
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