Worrying Your Pretty Little Head

The world is going down the tubes.  The end is near.  If things are in such a state, we can't have long left.  Things are going to the dogs.  You could easily worry your pretty little head off thinking about it.

I know.  I know. 

There are protests in Spain.  There is child labor in Cambodia.  There is sex trafficking on the streets of your safe mid-sized American town.  The poison darts of pornography are taking people down, men and women, old and young.  Racism is alive and well in schools.  People kill each other, in war and in neighborhoods.  Fruit has pesticides.  Water has particles of this and that. 

Like I said, the world is going down the tubes.  The end is near.  If things are in such a state, we can't have long left.  Things are going to the dogs.

So go crawl in a hole.  Barricade yourself with enough distilled water and canned tuna to last until nuclear fallout kills you.  Despair.  Moan.  Wail. 

Well, that's an option, I guess.  But if you're a vegetarian (Catty, Liz, Jake) or just don't like tuna, there is an alternative to barricading and bemoaning.  It's called living in the light.  Living in the light means you see things as they are.  You don't deny that there are children who will sleep outside tonight or that people are dying of malnutrition in our advanced 21st century.  You recognize the world is scarred and scared and in some ways, a big disaster area. 

And yet. 

There is a God who paid with His life to rescue us from ourselves.  From our apathy and our hatred and our small vanities.  There is a God who empowers anyone who will follow Him.  Empowers them to give up the lies and start living for something besides their own interests.  These kinds of people refuse to run from fear, deny the indulgent luxury of ignorance, and are all about living hands on lives. 

I know some of these people.  They challenge me in all kind of ways by living in a way that says, "Hey, evil made this dark mess, but I choose to live in the light and help make things better."  They do this by moving to Hungary to teach international students.  Working with youth that maybe no one cares about.  Teaching at an orphanage in Ghana.  Giving hope to older people who feel like their "good old days" are long gone.  Sharing their house.  Digging in for the long haul.  Making choices that will make their lives uncomfortable. 

You might already be one of those people, taking the huge love of Jesus to places that don't know about it.  If you aren't, you can be.  You can adopt kids and bake pies for sick people and mentor youth.  You can sing and smile and cry with people.  You can move to a smaller house or an "undesirable" neighborhood, or a country that doesn't know anything about living in the light Jesus gives.  Start asking the question "Why not" and see where it takes you. 

Love,

Little Miss Sunshine