Thursday, July 8, 2010

Letters, Living, Lessons

For our trip to Mexico, our entire team read the book "Red Letters: Living a Faith that Bleeds".

The book talks about finding Jesus and being His hands and feet to the world and bringing social justice to the world around us.

I enjoyed many of the stories interspersed through the book. The book had more of an AIDS/HIV focus, which is totally fine, but I expected it to have a broader scope. Then again, it's the message behind it that can be applied.

Some quotes that left me thinking:

"We can't reach far enough to offer compassion because our arms are too busy holding all that we own. If, on the other hand, we recognize that what we have is a gift, then we can extend our reach."

"Yeah, everyone, Jesus came to die for the terrorist who wants to blow up the building where you work. He came to die for Osama bin Laden. He came to die for the pervert, the child molester, and the convicted rapist. Intellectually, this makes sense. Of course Jesus came to die for all sinners. However, sometimes it can be a difficult truth to wrap your heart around."

Wow.. that one gave me food for thought, because we often direct our hatred towards these types of people. And while their actions might be horrendous and horrific, God still loves them and died for them. That is really hard to reconcile in my mind and heart, yet the truth is truth.

"Look for Jesus every morning in the eyes of the people you meet. And then look for him in the mirror."

Anyway, I leave you with those thoughts-hope they stirred some thinking for you as they did for me.

2 comments:

Elsie said...

Definitely lots of food for thought there. As you said, we often direct our hatred towards the terrorist and child molester types, and yet God offers them the same gift of salvation that He offers to all of us, with no partiality. That's amazing grace!

Yvonne said...

I think part of why it's hard to wrap our hearts around the above mentioned idea is that we sometimes think of grace as a "get out of jail free" card instead of realizing that while God does extend His grace to everyone, we also have to want and accept that grace. It's not a "i'll just continue what I'm doing, never mind the consequences" kind of grace. It's a "while none of us actually deserve Your grace, I acknowledge and love you God" kind of grace. At least that's my thought at the moment. Thanks for the food for thought.