It's Time to be Radical.

Yesterday, I finally finished reading Radical by David Platt. It was a very good read. It was a very challenging read. Very challenging. And I cannot get off my mind this thing that sums up the book at the end...The Radical Experiment. It is a year-long commitment to do five things:

1. Pray for the entire world.
2. Read through the entire Word.
3. Commit your life to a multiplying community.
4. Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose.
5. Spend time in another context.

I've been praying ever since I started this journey in this book for God to give me vision about what He would have me to do. Vision is one of those words that I have never been able to shake. A couple of years ago, I heard a pastor speak on Proverbs 29:18, which says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." And I haven't forgotten it. It was like as soon as I heard it, I memorized got. God imprinted it on my heart. We'll see how He continues working it out, but right now, I am seeking Radical Vision. A new direction. That will start out with 2011 but will not end there. It simply cannot. God has given me a vision for my life. I'm called to spend life after college and seminary overseas storying the Bible. That's a big picture, and it's all I know. It's all I need to know.

But I have to face facts. I am stuck here. Yet God is opening many, many doors...already I'm seeing next semester form into a crazy one. But I think, no, I know, He is going to do some amazing things. Here's just a few...

...I'm in a class where I will be serving a couple of hours a week. Probably at WeWillGo in downtown Jackson. Don't know the specifics yet, but I get to write about my time there. Um, pretty much I'll be blogging for a grade. Epic! Love it.
...BSU Summer Missions will be in full swing, with many, many, many events. I cannot wait to walk through this time with those who are giving up there summers!
...There is an Indian market, complete with SAMOSAS!! Haha, a friend and I are going to try and start a "samosa day" to build relationships with the women that work and shop there.
...I may get an opportunity to co-lead a small group with my church.
...I'll be going through Esther with some amazing friends (+my first precept study!)
...I'll be spending my Spring Break in Dubai, UAE through my church.
...I'll be spending my summer somewhere...either in Oklahoma or Chicago (more on that to come).

The list could go on and on. Yeah, I'm pretty much not going to have any time to eat. But I'm totally ok with that.

Anyway, back to the Radical experiment. As that list may suggest, God has already prepared many things in line with this experiment before I even thought about doing this. He's just good like that. But there is one that I cannot figure out what He wants me to do. That is, #4, Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose. For awhile I've been thinking about sponsoring a Compassion International child, and I've researched a lot on their website. But I cannot get a peace about taking the step. I don't know what He is asking me to sacrifice. But we'll see. He's working. I'm just choosing to follow. If you have any suggestions or questions, let me know. I want to find a community to join in this experiment. Let me know.

For now, I wait. Just as Ruth did. And I claim Ruth 3:18 in my own anxious heart..."Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What do you want from me?

Image
“What do you want from me?” The question eeeks out of my brain quicker than I can stop it with better judgement. It’s not a harsh, angry tone—just a sense of exasperation as I sigh and mark an email unread, because I don’t know what to do with it today.  I got a card this weekend from my former supervisor in India, a dear friend. In it was a heart-shaped magnet that said underneath, “I love India.” But that bottom section had been broken off in transit, leaving only the heart left. I immediately felt all the feels about that, because isn’t that how it all feels? My heart still holds India so dearly, but that love that tied me to it with a calling and purpose and hopes of acclimating and belonging there… that was shattered as God both called me to stay and, after my term, to leave without a vision for returning. Without a vision for much of anything, really. Some of that vision, of course, has been filled in. I know I’m right where he wants me right now. I love my job (even whe
Read more

Lent is: leaning in.

Image
The early-sun stills my heart to sit, this “making room” leftover from Advent,  is now giving birth to Lent— a new season to contemplate the old, a season of dawn: of all of our hopes, retold. But first, it’s dark and the way is long the lengthening of days piling up in fog over my heart that needs hope like oxygen my soul that needs rest, breathing in, breathing out, this sound a melody where old meets new and where I meet You. You, who said that you would come— then waiting came instead; we made our home in it, its easy idols, fingers like fans, in sticky silence, maple syrup on unwashed hands, marveling, reveling like a lark revealing hearts just as dark as the stuff we play in: snuffing out our hope; we succumb to sin. You, who promised to redeem us from ourselves, make us clean in this season to be set free, not to make yet another form of slavery fasting, freedom, resisting, redemption— the same heartbeats, beating recolle
Read more

Return {velvet ashes link up}

Image
To the one who stayed, and now must return, dear friend,  dear self, You didn't want to stay. Everything within you was ready to go. You were ready. Everything but your bags was packed: your heart, your calling, your identity—stowed away in the treasure boxes you found them in at first. Reburied like sand shuffled under waves of uncertainty, doubt, and the existential lie: did God really say? But you stayed. And even though sometimes you waffle and wonder, you know He asked you to. Every time you thought you heard conflicting words: stay, leave, you were really only hearing yourself. Until you could get away in the silence and the May stormy skies and the big white-down comforter to keep you warm. Then you could be still. Then you were silent. Then He spoke.  His words were crystal clear: I'm going to redeem all of it.  And He did, didn't He? I know you're feeling conflicted, confused over all these emotions: ready to leave, wanting to stay. A far, f
Read more