2004-09-08 - 11:22 p.m.
I talked to Shane tonight and we traded some great ideas about mission work.
In the beginning, it started out with man being commanded by God to have dominion over the Earth; the Earth should be subject to man as he ruled over it. Growing up in this capitalist world, we tend to take that to an extreme and believe that every ounce of coal and oil on or in the Earth is for man to take and use. As opposed to the bedouin or nomad that 'lives in peace with his surroundings,' hardly subjecting the Earth as we tend to think of it.
(Ironically, those same gypsys tend to throw their trash out their tend door rather than the trash can, but that is neither here nor there).
Obviously, there has to be a balance. I'd like to explore that balance in the future. There are reasons that I feel like I eat too much meat and I don't eat enough vegatables, there are reasons that I'm glad I'm on a bike rather than a Ford Explorer. There again brings me to another point I've been considering lately:
We've all heard the scenario given to us when the church is pushing the Lottie Moon Christmas offering; you cannot eat a steak infront of a starving man and give him the Gospel. The next logical thought in our minds is to feed the man or woman and then give the Good News. I've been searching my heart for a different solution though; what if I starved with the starving? Jesus did feed five thousand, but at the same time, He didn't come bearing microwaves and direct t.v. I just wonder about the fruit of living in poverty with impoverished...I wonder what fruit that might bring. Paul became all things to all men. I don't think that it's a righteous idea to starve with the starving, but I also don't think we are called to bring prosperity either. Governments do that, rock stars or p.r. tours do that. I'm not Bono, I'm just a Christian that knows Christ didn't have a place to rest his head. Again, there is a balance that my heart is searching for.
My ambition is to live being in debt to no man. Concurrently, I desire to crawl with those who are down and out, and to run with those that can. In Bosnia, Jeff really challenged me to learn what 'being all things to all men' really means. It's taken over five years for that challenge to sink in, but with God, every thing is at the right time. What a seed he sowed with Jeff! In the future, within my heart, I wonder what other seeds are still embedded.
or do I mean imbedded?
