Required Reading

Yesterday, in Bible study, we were reviewing the passage of James that advises us that we should look at trials and temptations and say, "Oh look--what pure joy this is!"

This is what I love about the Bible. Really messed up people who are being called to really high standards. It's humorous actually. The stark impossibility of such a premise forces us into the arms of a God who can use us in ways we never thought possible.

Anyhow, one of the things I find in my life is that it is very easy to equate "suffering" with "studying." Its an alliterative thing and its not all that unreasonable of a connection...yet somehow it is one of the most ridiculous assertions I have made.

Suffering, true suffering, has rarely ever touched me. It has barely darkened the doorstep, but it has never touched me. I have grown up as a pastor's son watching people's lives fall apart.

Drug abuse. Rape. Divorce. Adultery. Egoism.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm in one of those action movies where everything is blowing up. The plot is coming to a culmination and the main actor is just kind of mozying through a street and everything is in slow-mo. Shards and shrapnel are flying everywhere. People are running.

Yet, somehow the actor remains untouched.

That's how I feel sometimes.

And because of that, I feel two things: 1. gratitude 2. obligation

1.

I am so lucky to live in a clean, albeit lackinginaesthetics, dorm that is safe.

I have well-educated friends I can chat with about all kinds of subjects.

Hunger for me is solved (kind of) by a trip to Taco Bell.

The labor required of me is that I read, and manage my time well.

This is not suffering, this is a privelege.

2.

I pray that God will not let me live my life within the confines of that false construct we call "safety."

I want to help those in need, even if I get bruised up along the way.

I need to remain hypervigilant about the injustice that is suffered in the world today, and actively look for ways to combat it.

To whom much has been given, much has been required.

That's where I'm at right now.