Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Spent Extravagantly


I just got the email below from Vince Giordano, Ben's new boss and our dear friend.  I was challenged by his words and thought you might be too...

Those of us who spend our time focusing on the poor, the oppressed and those who serve them are sometimes confronted with grim realities. The fact is that there are too many problems out there...there are too many children that need help...there are too many women and children who are stuck in sex-trafficking and too many people starving. So, you read a book or you adopted a child or you went on a trip and you were overwhelmed with poverty and injustice. You never imagined that things were so bad. You couldn't believe how cheap it was to solve individual problems - medicines for less than $10, mosquito nets for $5, school fee that are less than your monthly starbucks budget. You thought to yourself - I have to do something - I am GOING to do something.


You return to America or you finish your book and your mission begins. You start telling your spouse or your best friends. This is unbelievable - we have to do something now. We have to act. Some of them seem interested but most of them try to wait it out hoping you will get over this latest obsession. But you know in your heart this is not an obsession - it's a calling. It is a new awareness that the kingdom of God has to extend out from you and reach the least of these. You keep going.


Your friends initially tolerate you and then some just quietly phase you out but you are undeterred initially. You press on KNOWING people will want to make a difference. You start reading the Bible with fresh eyes and asking yourself why you had never seen that or read that before? Why did I not hear this in church? You listen to sermons with fresh ears and you hear the repetitive beating of a drum that seems to resound with a self-centered rhythm. It isn't supposed to be all about me is it God? Why are we only focused on making our great lives even better when kids are starving, when young children are being prepared for sexual exploitation every two minutes? I guess that will all just go away if I can truly develop the purpose driven life right? Or if I just keeping doing more bible studies with my accountability group?


For some of us, the hard reality is that we simply need to move on from some of our old ways and old friends into the fullness of the gospel. The true religion that we know He is calling us too. You won't be popular but quite frankly neither was Jesus among the religious crowd. You may find yourself test the patience of some of your closest friends who would just rather plan their next big vacation and not hear about the sexual exploitation of children or starving kids or children who are alone and with love or hope. That stuff is just too hard and depressing and doesn't fit with the trajectory of my life that God is making so pleasant and easy.

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that everything we do will have an eternal impact in the lives of individuals and it matters. Your small choices can make a big difference in the lives of the hurting. The bad news is that you will not be popular, it will not be easy, you will lose friends, people will tire of you constantly beating the drum for the cause of justice. People will avoid you and criticize you and tell you to lighten up. But, I want to challenge you. I want to challenge you to be a louder voice than you have ever been. I want to challenge you to scream for those who have no voice. I want to challenge you to ask God to use you in places and in ways that others don't want to. I want to challenge you to fight against the apathy that plagues our churches and society. I challenge you to be His hands and feet to the least of these. I challenge you to allow your life to be a seed - which falls to ground and dies and in so doing it produces much fruit. I challenge you to swim against the current of our church culture that seeks to find comfort in a personal gospel and personal salvation and passionately pursue God with a reckless abandon for those that are helpless.  I pray that we would have the spirit of a warrior that has counted the cost and said with boldness - Lord I give you my life today - ALL of me - spend me extravagantly on the poor and the oppressed.

9 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting this Amy! Wow... I love his heart and his words.

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  2. I so needed these words of encouragement tonight...thanks for passing them along Amy! This arrow shot straight.

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  3. Amy - congrats to Ben and you being involved with HopeChest. I spoke with Vince on the phone last week for a half hour and immediately felt like I have known him my whole life!

    I read this email and felt wow! God is so good even now almost 6 months after returning home from Ethiopia He wants me to hear His heart! I thought I have to share this with those friends and family who didn't understand me for months. I have to share this so that they can simply hear my heart and either join me or pray for me to truly know what God is asking me to do!

    Not sitting still - BEING STILL!

    With much love and blessings,
    Jill
    PS I hope you don't mind me sharing this!

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  4. I just started reading your blog and had to forward this on to those around me this resonates with. I needed this today. Thank you for posting this.

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  5. I can hear the soft breathing of our new little one dleeping as I read this. My heart is screaming "YES YES YES!" Thank you for sharing with us.

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  6. I came across your blog not too long ago, and I am so provoked by what you have to say. Thank you for sharing this - it truly speaks my heart as of late. I'm sure I am probably going to have to post a link to this. =)

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  7. I could have never expressed my thoughts, my heart, my pain, my "new" purpose, better than the words written here by Vince Giordano! It is like he got into my mind and wrote down EXACTLY what Shirley is thinking, feeling, praying about. Thank you so much, Amy, for your blog! I live in beautiful Colorado Springs and would LOVE to meet you!

    Thanks again, for being faithful to our Lord!

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  8. Thank you so much for sharing that email! What an encouragement!! Since I was very young, I have felt that God planted in me a care and concern for the least. When I was sixteen, that seed began to sprout. It has been a frustrating and discouraging journey for me as it is rare to find someone else with the same passion. But I can't give up. This is what God has called me to. Thanks again for the encouragement to press on!

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  9. This is great. My husband and I have only recently been understanding to what it means to really follow Christ. Not just being a Christian. Because we've been Christians for decades...while actively pursuing the American dream. Now that our lives and hearts are changing and our eyes are being opened I feel like I want to shout from the rooftops about reckless abandonment to Jesus, but so far even my family thinks we're going a little off the deep end. I think they're waiting for us to fizzle out and cool down. But it's not happening! We're only getting more fired up! So this letter/post was very encouraging and I am LOVING your blog.

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