I've been thinking about a quote that I read on my way back to Colorado in the airplane. My brother gave me the book "The Year Of Living Biblically" by A.J. Jacobs, which is a very funny and poignant description of one agnostic man's attempt to live out an entire year biblically. Of course, he starts with the Old Testament, which has all kinds of bizarre laws, and it's interesting to see someone who really doesn't believe in God try to live like he does. But a quote that is in the book, which comes from one of his "spiritual mentors", has been intriguing:
- "Your next action could change the world, so make it a good one."
I want to take action. I'm tired of constantly thinking about things and reflecting on things and not really doing anything about them. So I'm focusing on two global issues that I am going to take action on.
The first one is something I've been "thinking" about for a long time, ever since I read the book "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger" by Ron Sider. There are two statistics in that book that really interested me, and both deal with salt. One statistic is that one of the main causes of death and birth defects in third world countries is that people who live there don't get enough iodine. If we could iodize the salt of these countries, a lot of problems would be solved. Yes, solved. The other salt statistic is that a lot of people die of dehydration - something that could be solved by 5 cent salt and other mineral packets. That part of what I'm interested in I am calling the "Salt of the Earth Project".
The second one is something I'm emotionally attached to, and there's a very independent movie out that deals with this problem. (The movie is called Holly) That problem would be human trafficking, mostly women and young children as sex slaves. Having a daughter obviously gives a father some thoughts about safety and security; unfortunately many families all over the world have had children taken away and sold as sex slaves. At one of the Element worship services we did last year, one of our foci was on human trafficking, and I just can't get it out of my head. You can download a PDF file from International Justice Mission for more information on sex trafficking. Or you can look at the PDF file that I put together for Element.
The second one I'm calling the "Light of the World Project", because organizations like IJM is shining a light in a very, very dark place.
Stay tuned for more "action" steps I'm going to be taking this year.
1 comment:
I like your pictures. Those sound like awesome projects. I had no idea about the iodine problem. Think of all those salt packets in restaurants that are wasted...wow!
There was a girl who spoke at Apex about a month ago who was involved in the human trafficking...I think it was the 11/25 service ..I missed it but I heard it was good...If I see any info I'll send it to you.
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