Seriously Disturbed and Gloriously Ruined
So. Are any of you reading Dangerous Surrender by Kay Warren? I read about it on Amy's blog and just instantly felt that I had to rush out and get it. Of course, I could have ordered it on Amazon and it would have arrived in just 3 days.. but no, I had to get it NOW. So I wormed my way into a playgroup for kids with special needs - all the way out in Rockwall - just so I could then say, "Hey, if I'm already out here, I might as well go the extra 18 miles to Mardel and buy that book." And that's what I did. And then I spent the next 2 days ignoring the kids while I sat spellbound to the book - and then spent another day completely traumatized.
And here I am. Seriously Disturbed and Gloriously Ruined.
There are so many parts of the book that I want to share... parts that I'm hoping make you think that this book is the bee's knees so that you'll go out and get it, too. I will probably get in some serious copyright trouble, but at least I'm acknowledging where it came from, right?
I don't even know where to start. Basically, Kay Warren is married to Rick Warren, who wrote The Purpose Driven Life. With her kids finally grown and on their own, she was mapping out the rest of her life and had figured that she and her husband would have a pretty cushy, cozy life travelling the world offering support to missionaries. Then, BAM! God spoke to her and introduced her to the issue of HIV/AIDS around the world - and it changed the course of her life forever.
And it's about what happens when you surrender to God's plan and will for your life.
Here's what she writes... and it just spoke to me. I even got out a highlighter and some sticky notes. I haven't done that in ages. I felt like I was a student all over again... and really I was.
Here's what she says...
I believe that God is looking for some disturbed people. He is searching for men and women, students, and young adults who will allow him to disturb them by making them truly see the world in which we live - so disturbed that they will be compelled to do something about what they see.
Most of us have grown up in a culture that promotes precisely the opposite approach. Parents tell their children, "Never talk about politics or religion; it makes people uncomfortable." And for the most part, we've obeyed this cultural edict. Instead of tackling uncomfortable topics, we talk about the latest TV reality show or the hot sports figure or the price of gasoline. Believers are just as guilty as nonbelievers! Even worse, we refuse to talk about the painful disturbing subjects - child prostitution, child labor, rape, poverty, injustice, ethnic hatred, greed, materialism, environmental distruction, HIV/AIDS. These are disturbing topics. But if we're not disturbed by the world in which we live, we will be consumed by the trivial, the insignificant, and the temporary. We will spend our days pursuing all the wrong goals, living by the wrong measurements of success, evaluting our legacy by the wrong standard."
She then goes on to say...
"It's very easy for us to remain aloof and untouched by the suffering that defines the existence of the vast majority of people on this planet. I have read that if you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75 percent of the world! If you have ANY money in the bank and some in your wallet and some spare change in a dish somewhere, you are among the top 8 percent of the world's wealthy; 92 percent have less to live on than you do! If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the lonliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you're ahead of 500 million other people in the world. If you can attend worship services at your church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
I don't tell you this to make you feel guilty - but I do hope you feel uncomfortable. I hope these statistics disturb you. God in his sovereignty decided where you would be born and allowed you to live in a place that has almost everything anyone could ever desire, so there is no guilt that he has ordered our lives in such a way. The only guilt we bear is the guilt of ignoring the men, women, and children of this world who do not have what we have - the guilt of spending the majority of our time, money, and resources exclusively on ourselves and our families. THAT is legitimate guilt."
Basically, we should be disturbed about what's going on in the world and we should be ruined by it to such a point that we can't go back to our comfy, cozy lives and pretend it doesn't exist. We can't play ostrich and stick our head in the sand just because we don't want to face what is happening all over the world. We have a responsibility to help out our brothers and sisters in need.
We need to be seriously disturbed and gloriously ruined.
We need to do something.
And that's where I am right now. What do I do? What can I... a stay-at-home-mom in East Texas do? I have 3 children - 2 with special needs. We're a one income family and my hands are full as it is. Is there really anything else that I can take on? But there has to be, right? If everyone said, "Oh, I'm too busy to do anything" what would that accomplish? It just blows my mind to think of all the people in the world who are suffering. And orphans? One hundred and forty-three MILLION children are orphaned or abandoned around the world. That just kills me. What happens to all these children when they get older? What happens to the children who are orphaned by AIDS. There are 6 year olds in parts of the world that are head of the household. SIX YEAR OLD CHILDREN. That's Noah's age. Can you imagine if Simeon and I died - today -and Eli had to take over and care for Nandini and Noah? Can you even imagine? But that is a reality that is happening this very moment in parts of our world.
Kay writes about an instance in meeting a woman in Mozambique who was dying of AIDS. And when she asked the woman how she could pray for her, the only prayer request the woman had was for Kay and her friends to pray for her children:
"Would you ask them to pray for my children? Who will care for them? No one will want them when they find out I've died of AIDS".
It's so easy to remove ourselves, isn't it? To just pretend that it doesn't exist. But you know what? That prayer is the same prayer I pray for my kids. I constantly wonder what will happen to Noah when I'm gone. But at least there are options. Maybe Eli or Nandini or some family member or trusted family friend would care for Noah. There are options. But there are no options for millions of children around the world. There are 12 million children - just in Africa - who are orphaned from AIDS.
What are we going to do about it?
What are we going to do about the children who are being trafficked for sex and slavery? If you go to Love146.org, you'll learn that 1.2 million children are trafficked every year. 32 BILLION dollars are spent by psycho wacko perverts who get their thrills from having sex with young children.
What are we going to do about it?
What are we going to do about the children who age out of orphanages and are forced out on the street with no skills or means of survival?
What are we going to do about the children who spend their days and nights bent over a sewing machine - for little or no pay - so that we can wear the latest fashions?
What are we going to do about the enviroment? What are we going to do about the pollution that WE'VE caused? What are we going to do about racism? What are we going to do????
I'm ready to be Seriously Disturbed and Gloriously Ruined.
How can I pretend that none of this exists?
The question is... what does God want me to do? I can't do it all. What do I focus on? As you can tell, my main focus is with children. Simeon's issues are with the environment. And our hands are full.
Are we going to Dangerously Surrender to God's plan for our lives? Is there more that we should be doing?
And more importantly......what are we going to do about it?
Leslie
And here I am. Seriously Disturbed and Gloriously Ruined.
There are so many parts of the book that I want to share... parts that I'm hoping make you think that this book is the bee's knees so that you'll go out and get it, too. I will probably get in some serious copyright trouble, but at least I'm acknowledging where it came from, right?
I don't even know where to start. Basically, Kay Warren is married to Rick Warren, who wrote The Purpose Driven Life. With her kids finally grown and on their own, she was mapping out the rest of her life and had figured that she and her husband would have a pretty cushy, cozy life travelling the world offering support to missionaries. Then, BAM! God spoke to her and introduced her to the issue of HIV/AIDS around the world - and it changed the course of her life forever.
And it's about what happens when you surrender to God's plan and will for your life.
Here's what she writes... and it just spoke to me. I even got out a highlighter and some sticky notes. I haven't done that in ages. I felt like I was a student all over again... and really I was.
Here's what she says...
I believe that God is looking for some disturbed people. He is searching for men and women, students, and young adults who will allow him to disturb them by making them truly see the world in which we live - so disturbed that they will be compelled to do something about what they see.
Most of us have grown up in a culture that promotes precisely the opposite approach. Parents tell their children, "Never talk about politics or religion; it makes people uncomfortable." And for the most part, we've obeyed this cultural edict. Instead of tackling uncomfortable topics, we talk about the latest TV reality show or the hot sports figure or the price of gasoline. Believers are just as guilty as nonbelievers! Even worse, we refuse to talk about the painful disturbing subjects - child prostitution, child labor, rape, poverty, injustice, ethnic hatred, greed, materialism, environmental distruction, HIV/AIDS. These are disturbing topics. But if we're not disturbed by the world in which we live, we will be consumed by the trivial, the insignificant, and the temporary. We will spend our days pursuing all the wrong goals, living by the wrong measurements of success, evaluting our legacy by the wrong standard."
She then goes on to say...
"It's very easy for us to remain aloof and untouched by the suffering that defines the existence of the vast majority of people on this planet. I have read that if you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75 percent of the world! If you have ANY money in the bank and some in your wallet and some spare change in a dish somewhere, you are among the top 8 percent of the world's wealthy; 92 percent have less to live on than you do! If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the lonliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you're ahead of 500 million other people in the world. If you can attend worship services at your church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
I don't tell you this to make you feel guilty - but I do hope you feel uncomfortable. I hope these statistics disturb you. God in his sovereignty decided where you would be born and allowed you to live in a place that has almost everything anyone could ever desire, so there is no guilt that he has ordered our lives in such a way. The only guilt we bear is the guilt of ignoring the men, women, and children of this world who do not have what we have - the guilt of spending the majority of our time, money, and resources exclusively on ourselves and our families. THAT is legitimate guilt."
Basically, we should be disturbed about what's going on in the world and we should be ruined by it to such a point that we can't go back to our comfy, cozy lives and pretend it doesn't exist. We can't play ostrich and stick our head in the sand just because we don't want to face what is happening all over the world. We have a responsibility to help out our brothers and sisters in need.
We need to be seriously disturbed and gloriously ruined.
We need to do something.
And that's where I am right now. What do I do? What can I... a stay-at-home-mom in East Texas do? I have 3 children - 2 with special needs. We're a one income family and my hands are full as it is. Is there really anything else that I can take on? But there has to be, right? If everyone said, "Oh, I'm too busy to do anything" what would that accomplish? It just blows my mind to think of all the people in the world who are suffering. And orphans? One hundred and forty-three MILLION children are orphaned or abandoned around the world. That just kills me. What happens to all these children when they get older? What happens to the children who are orphaned by AIDS. There are 6 year olds in parts of the world that are head of the household. SIX YEAR OLD CHILDREN. That's Noah's age. Can you imagine if Simeon and I died - today -and Eli had to take over and care for Nandini and Noah? Can you even imagine? But that is a reality that is happening this very moment in parts of our world.
Kay writes about an instance in meeting a woman in Mozambique who was dying of AIDS. And when she asked the woman how she could pray for her, the only prayer request the woman had was for Kay and her friends to pray for her children:
"Would you ask them to pray for my children? Who will care for them? No one will want them when they find out I've died of AIDS".
It's so easy to remove ourselves, isn't it? To just pretend that it doesn't exist. But you know what? That prayer is the same prayer I pray for my kids. I constantly wonder what will happen to Noah when I'm gone. But at least there are options. Maybe Eli or Nandini or some family member or trusted family friend would care for Noah. There are options. But there are no options for millions of children around the world. There are 12 million children - just in Africa - who are orphaned from AIDS.
What are we going to do about it?
What are we going to do about the children who are being trafficked for sex and slavery? If you go to Love146.org, you'll learn that 1.2 million children are trafficked every year. 32 BILLION dollars are spent by psycho wacko perverts who get their thrills from having sex with young children.
What are we going to do about it?
What are we going to do about the children who age out of orphanages and are forced out on the street with no skills or means of survival?
What are we going to do about the children who spend their days and nights bent over a sewing machine - for little or no pay - so that we can wear the latest fashions?
What are we going to do about the enviroment? What are we going to do about the pollution that WE'VE caused? What are we going to do about racism? What are we going to do????
I'm ready to be Seriously Disturbed and Gloriously Ruined.
How can I pretend that none of this exists?
The question is... what does God want me to do? I can't do it all. What do I focus on? As you can tell, my main focus is with children. Simeon's issues are with the environment. And our hands are full.
Are we going to Dangerously Surrender to God's plan for our lives? Is there more that we should be doing?
And more importantly......what are we going to do about it?
Leslie
Comments