it's time to start asking myself what have I learned from three months abroad this summer. there's simply too much to describe in one shot so here's the first few lessons.
number one.
perhaps the biggest thing I learned about was theodicy (a justification of God's goodness and existence in the face of evil and suffering) . It's so common for people to ask the "Why God?" question in the face of suffering, and I find myself leaning this direction when hardship hits my life as well. However, I felt like I got a new glimpse into this question this summer.
When bad things happen, we tend to think it's God's fault and argue that if He really is all powerful and in control of everything, then bad things shouldn't happen. However, I don't think that when bad things happen that it's God who has disappointed or failed; it's humans. Let me explain.
Back in the days of the Old Testament, God chose to dwell in the temple and only a priest could even think about entering his holy presence. Then, God came to us personally in the man of Jesus and was before our very eyes. When he ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit was given and God chose us, the ordinary Joe's of the world, to represent him. Jesus no longer physically roams the earth, but Christians do in his place.
Thus, as we ask, "Is God silent? Is he hidden? Is he unjust?" I answer these questions with another: is the church silent, hidden and unjust?
Author Philip Yancey says in his book Disappointment with God, "We who live now are not disadvantaged but wonderfully privileged, for God has chosen to rely primarily on us to carry out his will on earth" (172).
That being said, it's up to us to "be God" here and now. He chose us to go for him and to act like him, revealing him through seemingly ordinary actions to the rest of the watching world. Do you see? Do you start to glimpse the enormity of it all? do you feel fear rising in your throat because of it? do you hear the call of urgency to arise? I know that I certainly did this summer..
I was forced to ask myself the hard questions: will I play my part in this world? will I arise to the challenge and look the reality of the world straight in the face? I believe that God has been calling me to arise the past few years as I've grown as a person, and in my faith, saying, "Go and love so radically that the world will never be the same." As we love, I believe that Satan falls like lightning. As we throw off selfishness, complacency, ignorance and pride, the world transforms little by little for the glory of God. People, communities, and entire nations will be drawn to the light of God as he is lived out in word and in action. Ideally, the world would stop asking "Why God?" and "Where are You?" in the face of moral evil and start seeing God here once more.
Will you arise? Will I arise? Will the church of the 21st century arise? Our God offers such mercy and power. We are never alone so let's throw off the past and come be a part of a revolution of radical love through action that will shape history to come. God calls us to be his "stand-in" and what an honor and a duty that requires utmost humility. The seemingly "ordinary" actions of kindness and love shatter the forces of the unseen world. We have a great role to play in the cosmos!
"...Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you... nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn..." (Isaiah 61)
Let's dare to want more from life than the 9-to-5, than happiness from a bottle, than beauty only being seen in the physical, than living in ignorance and selfishness as AIDS, generational poverty, child homelessness and oppression rule the world. For I've tried all these things and each time, I come up wanting and suffocating for a breath of fresh air. And as I do so, the world around me continues to wonder out-loud where the heck God has disappeared to.
In short, this summer I have been forced to ask myself the tough questions. And as I am given the courage to do so, I come away longing to love those around me more radically, to dream big for God, to hope for more than what meets the eye, to want to shake complacency and mediocrity from their cozy hide and to play my role in the cosmos.
number two.
there are different kinds of poverty. The people of Rwanda are horribly poor physically, but perhaps richer than the West in the things that count. They understand hope and love more fully than I think the majority of Americans do and always find reason to rejoice simply because they know there's more to life than what meets the eye.
well, I think that's enough to process for the next week until I have internet access again as I'm off for a long drive to Italy tomorrow morning. talk to you again in a week! thanks for walking through me as I start to process all this stuff.. i'd love to hear feedback etc.
au revoir mes amis! Je-t-aime et je parle "merci" pour votre amitie.
(ps. i'm trying to learn french)
