The Shack

I am reading "The Shack" right now and I am so amazed. I think that these are thoughts that a number of people are considering when it comes to modern Christianity. The Trinity is depicted as three separate individuals; God, or Papa, as a large black woman which I must say I like a great deal more then an old white man, The Holy Spirit, or Saraya (wind) as a woman who is ethereal in nature... a mystery much like "religion"ought to be, and finally Jesus as well Jesus, a Arabic carpenter who is not in the least bit attractive. Since when has God been the American version of success and privileged?

To be truthful the idea of the trinity has always baffled me, but when I think about it in terms of the three existing in order to experience relationship it kind of makes sense (note: kind of). If God was just one individual then would it be possible for God to have experienced the relationship with humans? I don't know.... just struggling with questions.

I have always believed that there ought to be more mystery in faith, our Father and our faith is not meant to be understood but rather we are meant to experience God's love and our relationship with him.

Forgotten Corners

In a speech by Barack Obama he mentions the "forgotten corners" of the world, since reading this line for a class I have been shaken. I am shaken because I know the truth that lies behind these words, we don't think about people who have no food or water or shelter. We do not think about babies who are eaten by rats the size of cats in their sleep or girls who sell their bodies on the street because they have no money and this is the only thing they know.

This Christmas, Ben and I are thinking about these people, I don't want it to sound like we have done nothing for ourselves or others but we are certainly thinking a little more about the forgotten coreners of our world. When asked the question, "What would you do with a million dollars?" I think that I would do something. I would change the world... because $4000 digs a well and gives a village, fresh clean water. Why shouldn't clean water be a natural human right? Why, when we know we can change something, do we stand by idly? I have been moved by this, I have been changed by people and action and the truth.

I am not convinced that empathy of this nature is a gift, I am haunted by the things that I cannot do and the affect this has on the world. Watching the news this morning, they were discussing soup kitchens and their recent overflow; one woman was seen putting her food from the kitchen into a miata and I thought, are we such a nation that we think owning a miata is a necessity so we need to get a handout from the government. We need to rethink the way that we live our lives and perhaps this "economic crisis" is a wakeup call that we have been living too luxurioualy while the world suffered. Today I turned on the water and it ran clean, with $4000 I could give a whole village that same gift.

I have this deep maternal yearning for a baby but sometimes when I read the news and look at the world, I wonder if it is selfish for me to want a child of my own blood when there are so many in the world who are already without family and they have only just begun their lives.

Life as Unusual

Sometimes when I read other people's blogs, I wish that I had more to say... Ben and I seem to find that life is much the same from day to day- we are still in school, still working at the same jobs and still wanting badly to live in a new way.

Some days I worry that we are too stuck to seek a new life and change the world. We are going to start by doing something new this Christmas-

We will be buying gifts that are responsive to the needs of the world through ROSA Loves T-shirts and water4christmas gifts. Perhaps this Christmas our speech will be more in tune with the way we live our life.

So while nothing is really new, no baby news, no graduation news, no job or living news; we are just trying to do something different this Christmas.

Today my Mom and I attended the Rocky Mountain Women's Film Fest...

I was impacted. It makes me wonder when we will care enough to change things. We will care about the water crisis in other countries when we turn on the tap and nothing comes out? Will we care about mass killings when the divide in our nation becomes so vast and hatred so clear? When will we decide that this world is not made up of individuals, God did not intend for the individual good. The world is made of a community of people, who while we don't see it, share a common interest in our survival and in our journey's.

A very smart woman once told me that my story was not my own... but rather a story that intersects and crosses with the stories of thousands of other people, whose stories are in-turn mingled with those of thousands and so on. The world is a web and the sooner we realize that the better for everyone. Forget profit, forget greed, someday we may have nothing left to show for our time here because we were too greedy with what God gave us.

It has been a few years since I came out of my bubble and realized that the world is so messed up. How can I be salt and and light when people think that all I care about are the current stock issues and not the true problems that plague America and the world. Today, and everyday I care. I am passionate and desirous to change the world through whatever means necessary.

All I Want for Christmas

When I think of the things that I really want for Christmas, I realize that I have everything I need but most people do not. Want I really want for Christmas and for my life is to make a difference and help bring heaven to earth.

This year for Christmas I am trying to consider gifts that are responsive to the state of our world and I think this year it would be best to give some water for Christmas. Let's remember that the consumer holiday of Christmas is just that... a holiday. When the day is over we are still left with a world where millions of people do not even have clean drinking water.

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