well it has been some time. i still am learning the whole thing of the blog. it is a new way to communicate and requires a certain rhythm as well as time in front of the computer, neither of which i have had much of. so hopefully i will be a little more rhythmic.
anyway the title will all make sense so stick with it.
during break i read two posts on the definition of America. the
first was by a friend of mine whom i have never met face to face named
Jonah, who is missionally living his life in Sevilla, Spain. he and his wife live in community serving their neighbors and praying for Christ's reign in Spain. they serve with 24-7 a missional prayer ministry/community and with YWAM, anyway thats the low down on Jonah. check his blog out if you want to see the life of some folk living, praying and loving on people who don't know Jesus and building disciples, keep it up baileys, anyway and the
second reading was from a link off of Jonah's blog to a bro named Kenny who is part of a US missinoary family in Spain and a college student. Anyway the two articles probed me to begin to think og the definition of America. My first thoug ht was there are the Americas. There is North, Central and South. It could be semantical but the USA is not America. Sorry but there is such a difference amongst the Americas. I think the English language is the only one that uses America for the USA. anyway, the whole concept got me thinking about the US as a people and it is true there is sucjh a large number of cultures and people that contribute to the country that there isn't on easy definition and I think that is true amongst many countries. it was good to see and read both those posts about America. i think there is a collective dislike towards the USA and rightly so at times, but there is a global perpetuation of the ills of the USA as well. this leads to the thought that have been running around my head as of late. i am a US citizen, but am I a"typical US citizen" whatever that is? I don't think so or atleast I am trying not to be but to be a resident of a kingdom. i voted for Kerry. Kerry nor Bush nor their cabinets will bring about the change we need in this country. We need to start living out the change we as lovers of Christ desire., why look for that in the government? anyway back to America. it is a gracious gift of God that i live in a place that has a plethora of food and clothes and opportunity for a job, allthough a minimum wage job will not work in our country anymore, but still you get the point. i live in the enamored country that breeds immediate and big things, as i wanted to flip off the Hummer i passed on my way to the coffeee shop. but like i said earlier this is a globally encouraged lifestyle. there are third world people who desire Nikes shoes eventhough their cousin busted his butt at the age of 9 for those shoes or his mom, or whoever. but that thread runs deep in the world. WARNING NOT TRIVIALIZING THE TSUNAMI AT ALL WITH THE FOLLOWING COMMENT. we are a western world and maybe more than that who enjoys empires and big things. we desire to build empires. we want to have large businesses and millions of dollars. we dont want to live in daily discipline as farmers if we could avoid it. the world responed to the death of 200,000 people. even there we were competitive. jermaine oneal gave 1,000 dollars to the relief for every point he scored in one game. 55 grs (grand) total. the tragedy of 9/11 was great but small on a global sense, but once again got played up because it happened to the USA. we will review the 2005 year and think about the Tsunami as a tragedy, which it was, but will we remember the millions who have been killed and displaced systematically in Sudan, go to
amnesty international or
International Justice Mission if you want a simple overview (which was going on during 9/11) will we remember the average number of people killed daily in the middle east. probably not because it wasn't "exciting and spectacular" it was systematic. just like the millions of Jews killed in Germany, this "didn't" happen and it wasn't seen as tragic until after the fact. We are an anesthitized world, not just America. we are intrigued by the empires and huge things. even in tragedy we look at it the same. we dont notice the simple and the systematic faithful living and tragedy that goes on in this world. because by definition we look for the big. we will look out for our own and then give to "huge" tragedy. a life is a life. we should be looking daily for the tragedies and injustices of the world to give to. i had a professor once ask if the Apostle Paul would celebrate any national holidays? good question. anyway all this to say the American Dream has become a worldly nightmare and i dont wnat to live in it. the Tsunami did awaken in me a desire to live as the norm of the world. what right do i have to eat twice as much food as the rest of the world does. what right do i have to buy clothes. what right do i have to live in a house with a wood stove and a roof that, well my roof leaks but thats different. i dont, Jesus is gracious that is why? in all things He is gracious and just. if you followed until the end hopefully there is clarityin what was said. we need to be people defined by his kingdom and that alone. look to him alone to change and if you pray, pray for it. eat less excercise more. live faithfully doing the simple daily things that he calls us to. dont just wait for the empire that will launch you into the next thing. arrive at the temple and look for the Christchild. till the soil and pick some weeds. clean a toilet or many. make your bread. rasie a child. spend the day in prayer. be faithful and the kingdom empires will be built and the others will fall.
