Wednesday, March 27, 2013

7: FOOD part 1

Day 1: My weekend in Asheville was a blast with my two good friends from high school. Like any good girl's weekend, we had snacks in our room and on Sunday, the day I was to start my fast, I woke up and ate a chocolate chip cookie because I was hungry. FAIL. Then I went down to the free hot breakfast and added a banana and brown sugar to my oatmeal. FAIL. I also had coffee. Then drive home and got Panera black bean soup, hoping that would count. It came with a baguette. How luxurious. How pampered I am simply by living in this country. This is going to be hard! Just on day 1 I find myself ready to jump down other people's throats to get them to understand how awesome we have it in our communities and in this country. My word for day one is simply "Privileged."

Day 2: I stuck to plain oatmeal for breakfast and plain rice and black beans for lunch. As I looked at the demands of my day I was already hurting thinking I wouldn't have coffee. Then I decided that if someone offered me coffee, I could accept since that's even what someone on the street would do. Coincidentally I met with my State Farm agent early this morning and they were a hospitable group :)I had extra time this morning to read the Bible and to almost fall back asleep. When I realized the extra time in my morning came from already eliminating my options for lunch and breakfast, I felt fortunate. This wasn't a great feeling - I felt fortunate that I didn't have to spend my precious time choosing between all the varieties of lunches I could make with the contents in my fridge. FAIL.

Then later that afternoon I considered if I could get home in time to go to one of my favorite fitness classes - body combat. You can sweat off almost 750 calories in that class. I got home a little too late and thus eliminated the option, but as I considered working out at all I realized I'd only consumed about 500 calories. That got me thinking about the amount of calories people in other countries consume and I ran across this infographic visualizing the world's food consumption

"Today, one in eight people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life, making hunger and malnutrition the number one risk to health worldwide -- greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined." - www.wfp.org/hunger/faqs

Below are 2 photos of what families in NC and Chad eat.  See the full TIME slide show.
A family in North Carolina, USA

A family in Chad, Africa
My word for day two is "inadequate."

Day 3: I didn't have coffee today. I also got a terrible headache. After leaving the office a little early, taking a quick nap and some Aleve, I felt much better. I also was convicted about how comfortable my life is. Many people work in jobs that don't allow them to leave early, don't have the free time to nap and recover, or don't have running hot water to take a rejuvenating shower. Lots of people can't afford the luxury of pain medication, or it's not even sold in the vicinity. My word for day three is "uncomfortable."

Day 4: My word for today is "monotony." I caught myself complaining about the morning oatmeal and boring beans and rice. Eating the same thing everyday is awful to me. Someone recently asked me, "Linda don't you think you were born in America for a reason?" This question has stuck with me and caused me some frustration. Since I don't know with certainty the reason (and all the ones I could think of are quite superficial and entitled), I decided the only appropriate response is gratitude.
  • Gratitude for variety and access to foods that taste delicious. 
  • Gratitude for this project that has left me with the space to consider how others live. 
  • Gratitude for the extra 20 minutes I slept in this morning because I didn't have to decide what to eat for breakfast or lunch (no lie).

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

An unfinished story: bookstores, Africa and my love of food.

When I started this blog I wanted to set it up to share stories - stories of my own or others that impact the world for the better. I hoped it would promote me to live a good story. I'd say that's still being determined, but in the meantime check out this series of events:

Spring 2012
  • A friend of mine got pregnant and I was invited to her baby shower. 
  • I absolutely LOVE the Jesus Storybook Bible and like to give to new moms, so I stopped in Barnes and Noble one day. 
  • There, as in all bookstores and libraries, I got sucked in to reading the various titles and back covers of potential reads. 
  • Once I got a smart phone I began the habit of adding book recommendations to my Amazon wish list so I don't forget them. I did this in the middle of B&N next to the new releases section.
  • I added The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind to my collection of "to read someday" 
Summer 2012
  • I participated in a Walk for Water Africa 5k with that benefited a sweet couple from WS who felt called to go and serve in Malawi.
  • My friends and I stayed in touch with the couple and helped them create "dignity kits" for new mothers in Malawi to have some sanitation in the birthing process. 
  • We started receiving their newsletters. I realized I'd met them at a Earth Day Fair in 2010. 
Fall 2012 
  • My friend, Marissa Joyce, volunteered the youth group at my church to help facilitate the next run in Summer 2013. By way of being a youth leader, I'm also helping.
  • I finally read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba which is a memoir of a Malawian youth who lived through 2 famines and through self-education provided electricity to his rural home. It's a truly profound story, especially when I think of his life in contrast to mine - he's just 4 years younger than me. His upbringing was drastically different than my own. And like most good books, it changed me. 
Winter 2013 
  •  My small group and I started reading the book 7, a mutiny against excess, by Jen Hatmaker and we are going to do her challenges to help realign our lives to the Gospel rather than simply being products of our over indulgent materialistic culture. The first one is to fast and we are adapting it to eating food similar to what is eaten in poverty-stricken countries - rice and beans. 
  • I instantly thought of William Kamkwamba and George and Phyllis with a Sure Foundation in Malawi and how I can purposefully sacrafice variety in my food for 7 days to further empathize with those who never get more than 7 options for their next meal. 
     
    It starts Sunday. I'm apprehensive about the whole - eating only oatmeal for breakfast (plain), rice and beans for lunch (plain) and a dinner that helps me understand what other parts of the world might eat. I resonate with the author as she struggled through 31 days of eating only 7 foods. She loves flavors and variety. This was difficult, and I anticipate that even in a week's time I will struggle through and hopefully come out a little more aware of others and less focused on myself.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

An Examination of Justice pt. 3

The speakers are up! Now you can see what I experienced at the Justice Conference


Definitely take time to hear from Brenda Salter McNeil - big takeaway -
"Examine your theology and foundation for your thoughts. What you believe about God determines what you think about people."

And Gary Haugen from International Justice Mission - big takeaway -
"Live well loved and let others experience a love that will not let go. A love that conquers monotony, a love that overcomes fear."


Wednesday, March 6, 2013

An Examination of Justice pt 2


There’s a famous saying, “It’s not enough to pull the drowning people out of a raging stream, you have to walk back upstream and see who’s throwing them in in the first place.”

This was a key metaphor for some of the talks I heard at the Justice Conference. It’s about going to the source of the injustice and engaging in changing the entire system. It’s certainly not the only way to develop a theology of justice, but it does have much to teach us. 

I attended a panel of people who represented minority groups in America. They were well-spoken and hard hitting men who weren’t afraid to engage in the conversation of justice. They honed in on an aspect I hadn’t thought about specifically before. 

Reconciliation

Definition --> To reconcile: to make (oneself or another) no longer opposed, usually considered in terms of reconciling to God – getting right with Him through prayer and forgiveness as described in the Bible. I usually think of 1John 1:9 which says “If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

I was rereading this section of scripture and noticed that immediately following the section on how we can get right with God, John’s letter builds to the often quoted love scripture which states

 
The same thing happens in Ephesians, written by Paul. In Ephesians 2:14-16 Paul explains how Christ reconciled by the Jew and the Gentile to Himself through the cross. Then in chapter 4, describes unity in the body of believers and how each of us as a part. 4:15-16 states, “Instead we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfect. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is health and growing and full of love.”

The panelists made 3 big points regarding reconciliation:

  1. Reconcile the past in the present
  2. Reconcile others to Jesus
  3. Reconcile others to ourselves

This was a whole new level of the definition of both reconciliation and justice for me, which I am still absorbing. This puts the onus on us! It changes things. We aren’t helping others only to do the will of God – instead, the act of bring about reconciliation, of pursuing justice, is making ourselves like those we serve.  

True Confession Time: 
As a white woman I realize (and continue to realize) a lot of the privilege I have simply because of our country’s history and to whom I was born. As a Christian I see how the foot of the cross is level for all to come before it.  This makes me ache with compassion for those who have been ostracized in our culture. It makes me angry that I can only relate so much to those I wish to love well. It frustrates me that the barriers in the Triad of NC seem so high I don’t know how to get around them because I live in my own Christian bubble of a reality. As an ideal I want a more diverse lifestyle, but as a practice I’m not doing anything about it. This is one of the biggest challenges I came back from the Justice Conference with and still haven’t figured out where to go with it. 

To end, see this video from a recently deceased activist who was scheduled to speak as part of this panel. His words on a multicultural church both challenge and encourage me. 


Saturday, March 2, 2013

An Examination of Justice pt. 1


Have you ever defined "justice"? It's difficult to do. I just googled the word and, unfortunately, the first thing that came up was the girls’ clothing store. The US Dept. of Justice also showed up. Google couldn't really help me nail down this abstract idea.

I've been interested in what people call "Social Justice" for a while. I can't pinpoint what started it for me, but it was during graduate school in 2008 and has continued since. This usually brings to mind non-profits who work to help those who can't help themselves, advocacy (another word hard to define), or going abroad to help people in a third world country. I wanted to expand it and really figure out where the rubber meets the road in this thing called justice.

Many of you know I have a 30before30 list that expires Dec. 14, 2013. One of my items is "attend a conference that isn't work related." I blogged in January about Passion 2013 and that helped me check this item off my list, but in addition, I signed up for the Justice Conference a while back. I've been looking forward to it for a while because I wanted to be in a space and time to examine this ideal and learn from people who have explored this way more than me!


This conference was last weekend and I’m still processing all I heard to bring it down to a manageable level. This is the first in a series of posts on justice as I reflect on the speakers, organizations and thoughts I experienced as I journeyed to Philadelphia, the city of Brotherly Love, to engage in a long conversation with Christian thought leaders regarding this topic.

The Justice Conference was started by one of the key speakers and here is a brief overview of what we experienced: The Justice Conference is a two-day annual event to promote dialogue around justice related issues, featuring internationally acclaimed speakers igniting a conversation around the theology of justice - an understanding of God should compel love for others and engagement in justice. The Justice Conference has developed into a movement of students, teachers, business people, parents, artists, social entrepreneurs, pastors, advocates and academics all of whom are discovering the paradox that true life is found when we give our lives away on behalf of others.

I went on my own, and on my own behalf to simply absorb and begin to engage in this increasingly interesting and compelling part of my walk in Christ.

Start with this thought provoking video from one of the artists (spoken word) Micah Bornes.

Is Justice Worth It?