"We Think These Laws Are Wrong"

So I've been in college for about a month and a half now. I had my first big paper due today. Glad I got that over with! My grandparents are driving into Nashville as we speak, but I thought I'd update you guys while I had the time, before I meet up with them.

AFRICA

This doesn't seem to be the most logical place to start, but its been the heaviest on my heart. For some reason I can't seem to get it off my mind. When I went home last week for fall break I spent some time in Waco with my best friends Sarah and Amanda. We talked about how our lives had been going and what has been on our hearts. We eventually got talking about Africa and we ended promising we would go on a missions trip there someday. Ever since then Africa seems to pop up everywhere, reminding me of the turmoil going on in different parts of that continent. I'm not sure when that "someday" will be, but I can't forget about it. I recently had a realization that Sky Ranch has a camp in Kenya. While half a summer seems like a long time, I just keep running into the idea of Kenya. What better way to do that than Sky Ranch, a place I know and love. I really am going to pray over this. Maybe even take some classes in Swahili, if they even offer that class at Belmont.

A REVOLUTION

I'm reading "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne right now. Shane also spoke here right before fall break. Seriously, if you haven't read this book, pick it up, or do some research on Shane and just look at the things he does. Ever since it has seemed like the Scriptures have become more alive! I'm reading in Acts about John and Peter getting thrown into jail multiple times and flogged for preaching the Good news of Jesus, and it is MOVING me. I don't think I ever truly realized how serious it was, or how serious these guys were about talking about Jesus. Believers thought that whatever they had, they should share with the other in their community (not communism, but voluntarily giving away their possessions to the poor and sharing the wealth). Now I'm reading Shane's book and I can see him living out what the Bible says, and it is changing me. What if what Jesus said, was meant to be taken literally? What if the way that Jesus and his disciples (and later the apostles) lived was supposed to be mimicked? It is a radical idea, and I have felt so convicted to join in. 

My friend Meredith and I have gotten involved with helping the tenants of the tent city that houses many of Nashville's homeless community. They live in homes made of garbage and cardboard, and the city wants to evict them and tear it down. We're getting involved with the clean up, and protecting the city from destruction until other housing arrangements can be made for the tenants. The posted eviction date for the tenants is approaching, and if the city refuses to help house the remaining tenants there, I hope to be there protesting and preventing the bull dozing. Something inside of me is different. 

What I've come to realize is that the world needs to change. The homeless need to be taken care of, just like Jesus said. He broke bread with the lowest of people, not the rich and educated. Luke 5:32 says, "I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent." Right before that it says that the healthy people are not the ones that need a doctor. The sick do. Isn't that the truth? Christians today are so wrapped up in making themselves feel good about going to church that they forget about the widow, the homeless, the orphan, those Jesus said were the MOST important to look after. Change needs to occur. We can't keep waiting for other people to do it.

Here is one of my favorite passages in Shane's book. He is writing about how he was arrested for sleeping in the park with his homeless friends:

As we stood before the judge, I wore a shirt that read, "Jesus was homeless." The judge asked me to step forward, and I did.

He read my shirt aloud and said, "Hmmm. I didn't know that."

I said, "Yes sir, in the Scriptures, Jesus says that 'foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.'"

The judge paused pensively and said, "You guys might stand a chance."

And we did.

Before we went to court, we read all of the Scriptures where jesus warns the disciples that they will be dragged before courts and into jails, and they had new meaning for us. He warned them not to worry about what to say, so we didn't. When the time came for us to testify, Fonz stood up in court and said, "Your Honor, we think these laws are wrong." We said, "Amen. What he said."

Shane and his friends stood up for what they believed in. They

disagreed with the law that prohibited people from sleeping 

in public. If these people had no where to live, where else 

were they supposed to sleep. Shane shows Jesus by loving the

least. Thats how I want to live my life. Thats where my heart has been.

What can you do to change your community?

Mac