Changing the World

So I have decided that I want to change the world.  I don't exactly know how I'm going to do this yet, but I do know that I want to do it.  As a teenager, Delirious had a song that was really popular, you might remember it too...'I wanna be a historymaker in this world, I wanna be a speaker of truth to all mankind, I wanna stand, I wanna run, into your arms again, into your arms again.'  Conferences were made about that song.  I felt at the time that being a historymaker was just something that was unattainable for me.  How in the world was I gonna change anything?  I was just a kid.

And yet, after the last few weeks' interaction with the world, I realized that I wanted it more than ever.  How can I not make a change for the better in this world when there are children being sold into the sex trade, abused and their innocence stolen.  Why was it that my children were born into privilege and not into a brothel?  Or poverty? Why were we chosen to have a life of freedom and peace and not the children living in the red light district in Calcutta?  They didn't choose that life.

And so how can I sit here on my comfortable couch in a large house where I do not share a room with anyone except my husband, where I enjoy running water, electricity, a fridge, washing machine and dishwasher, not to mention a husband who loves me deeply and works hard so that I don't have to?  How is it that I can have all these things and simply be grateful?  I can't simply be grateful, I need give gratefully.

There is a wrestle in my heart.  Where do I go from here?  Who knows really, but I know that Jesus does.  He has put this wrestle in my heart.

I recently went to a dance production by a friend of mine, Heather Clark, called Love 146.  It's a true story about a girl with no name, a girl with only a number, who was sold into the sex trade in Asia.  There has been an orginzation formed in her honor, the girl who still had fight in her eyes...go to www.love146.org to get the details of the amazing work these men and women are doing.  The production my friend is doing raises finances to directly support this organization and I jumped at the chance to give to it.

So for those who have support my Haiti Baking, I hope you are alright with a portion of those sales going to that organization. It is all for the kingdom anyway and when there is a need, we need to rise up and fill it in whatever way we can.

So after watching that show, a few days later a documentary called 'Born into Brothels' was on TV.  Go to www.kidswithcameras.com to get more info on this powerful story.  It follows the lives of children born into brothels in Calcutta and a woman photographer who lives with them for a few years teaching the children about photography.  She also spends that time agonizingly trying to get these children a better life by getting them into a boarding school.  Most schools would not take them as their parents are criminals - prostitutes, drug dealers, etc.  Through no fault of their own, these children were despised and yet you grow to love and admire them, their abilities, and pray for hope and for a future for them.

This documentary is actually about ten years old so I was thrilled to find the story didn't end there and that some of the children have grown to be excellent students and will continue to study in University and not repeat the lifetsyle given to them by their parents.  It is amazing what Zana Briski did - she changed their world with something as simple as a camera.

All this to say, I am not settling for the norm.  Again, I have no idea what this looks like, but I want more.   I want more for myself, more for my kids, I want to give more, love more, live more.

So who knows what God wants to do.  What do you want me to dream Jesus?