>
I sit here this afternoon amazed by my God. I wonder how He works sometimes, why He waits to make things happen, to blow my mind with His goodness. I’m nearly 35 and I’ve known Him my whole life, and yet now…just now am I really learning and experiencing His grace and love and His heart for His world. How did I not see it before?
I grew up in a Christian family, pursuing the American dream. I went to a premier Christian college prep school, getting a solid foundation in the Word every day and getting a great education as well. I was encouraged to pursue my engineering degree, graduating with honors, getting married and buying a not-so-little house so we could start a family. I’ve lived a life of comfort.
There’s a big world out there and it is broken. I’ve been sheltered from it, for the most part, though I knew it existed. But now I am seeing God’s redemptive power in action…not just philosophically as it always has been in the past. It’s not just about the saving of souls for an eternal life in Heaven. I’m seeing God redeeming His fallen world bit by bit, in the here and now.
People’s eyes are opening to poverty, and I weep when I read the stories of the Compassion bloggers who are experiencing God in the ghetto. I’m learning that there are no ordinary people where God is concerned…He can place a God-sized dream in anyone’s heart that is willing to listen. I’m learning to listen, first and foremost.
What’s amazing to me is it is not just through blogs and people I only know distantly. Last night a group of us from my own church with a vision and a burden on our hearts met to begin a journey towards our own God-sized dream. One where we can use our lives of privilege to the benefit of the least of these.
I’m pretty much done fighting the culture war in America. (Sorry family.) I’m ready to get my hands dirty in real ways. I’m ready to love on the orphans, the single moms, the gay teens, the hurting and broken.
Water Water Everywhere 
Posted by Vcobbathome on September 16, 2010 at 3:22 pm
>As you can imagine, I take a small exception to your post. The dilemma is that your verbiage at the end of the post contributes to the delusion that someone has to either be about poverty or about pro-family. It's not an either/or! I appreciate so much all the work being done for "widows and orphans" but I hope folks understand that much of the work believers are doing to allow Jesus to heal brokenness in poverty situations, etc. is a direct result of broken families, something that those of us doing less popular work in the culture issues are trying to head off. Also, if the church acts as salt and light in the culture as it should, it can head of great atrocity. Read Eric Metaxas' new book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If the German church had stood up to Hitler, the whole course of history would have changed. Finally, those of us in the "culture war" are also continuously defending the religious liberty that others take for granted. If we are not there, I can assure you in 20-50 years, the church will be allowed to serve the poor but don't dare talk about Jesus as you do it. It is a Both And situation.
Posted by Lola on September 17, 2010 at 3:16 am
>This is awesome. I wish more self-proclaimed Christians were doing this. One of my favorite quotes from the book Rapture Ready: “The Bible has more than two thousand verses about poverty and maybe five or ten that you can interpret as being about abortion, but we’re all about abortion. Those two thousand verses about Christians’ responsibility to widows and orphans and aliens and strangers and the poor? We manage to be blind to all of that, but we can find those five verses about abortion.”
Posted by sarahhubbell on September 17, 2010 at 10:28 am
>Don't misunderstand, I'm still totally pro-life and believe fiercely that abortion should be illegal. And I have to disagree with the quote…yes there are a ton of verses about poverty but there are way more than five or ten that address the core issue of abortion. I know the Bible well, and poverty can not be ignored by Christians. But those same verses speak to pleading the cause of the oppressed and there are none more oppressed than the unborn.
Posted by sarahhubbell on September 17, 2010 at 10:36 am
>I don't really believe it's an either/or…but there is a big dichotomy in how Christians address these issues. We don't not have endless time/energy/resources so we choose where to invest those. I think it's great you are investing yours in pleading the case of the unborn. I disagree with some other issues you battling. And I am now choosing to invest my time and resources on those who are already broken, in the here and now. In my opinion THAT is being salt and light. I fundamentally disagree with the idea that "what if the church had stood up to Hitler". I don't believe in "what ifs" when it comes to history, but I do believe the church needs to be strong and clear on the gospel of Christ. I'm just not cut out for dealing with and talking about politics. I'm sick of it. I'm done. You keep doing what your doing when it comes to the unborn. But I do think how you face homosexual issues may need rethinking.
Posted by Mainline Mom on February 18, 2011 at 7:41 pm
>This is awesome. I wish more self-proclaimed Christians were doing this. One of my favorite quotes from the book Rapture Ready: “The Bible has more than two thousand verses about poverty and maybe five or ten that you can interpret as being about abortion, but we’re all about abortion. Those two thousand verses about Christians’ responsibility to widows and orphans and aliens and strangers and the poor? We manage to be blind to all of that, but we can find those five verses about abortion.”
Posted by Mainline Mom on February 18, 2011 at 7:44 pm
>This is awesome. I wish more self-proclaimed Christians were doing this. One of my favorite quotes from the book Rapture Ready: “The Bible has more than two thousand verses about poverty and maybe five or ten that you can interpret as being about abortion, but we’re all about abortion. Those two thousand verses about Christians’ responsibility to widows and orphans and aliens and strangers and the poor? We manage to be blind to all of that, but we can find those five verses about abortion.”