Twist of my Kalediscope

While Chad was gone to Mexico, I took extra time in my day to read a book he had just finished, The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. Shane shares authentically what it means to follow Christ with wholehearted devotion. He is a passionate writer, who is well-read, but also takes that head knowledge to an applicational level. He truly lives out what he believes. To me, this book has twisted my kalediscope view of Christianity. Not in a jaded sort of way, but in a way that really challenges the statis-quo, culture Christian view that I grew up with while living in the Bible belt. He takes the whole "love your neighbor" to the political realm of war, to the children living and working in sweat-shops, the people we pass by daily because of some prejudgement or another.

I have finished the book with more questions than when I started it, but I am better for it. These are just a few of my questions:

• If I truly love like Christ, should I shop at stores where sweat-shops are used?
• And what about the food I eat, did a child harvest it during a 12 hour day?
• Who AM I going to vote for in November?
• Does this mean I need to live in a community where all our money is pooled or I have community healthcare?
• Am I to feel guilty for what we have as a family?- no I don't think guilt is where we are suppose to live if we are truly living in freedom-
• Is debt a form of materialism?

I do believe life does "twist" after you have learned new truths, but my tendency is to go 100%, but then I am worshipping someone else's ideals. That's idolatry, I can't go there.

If you look at my nightstand on a given day, you would see at least 3 different books/and genres on it. I share that because while I was reading this "new" book I was also reading, Stepping Heavenward by Mrs. E Prentiss. She wrote this book in 1869. It is a collection of journal entries from a girl until she was a older woman. Beautifully candid emotions. Here is a quote from the book that really brought me back "home" after reading Shane's book:

" You rush from one extreme to another. The only true way to live in this world, constitued just as we are, is to make all our employments subserve the one great end and aim of existence, namely, to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. But in order to do this we must be wise taskmasters and not require of ourselves what we cannot possibly perform. Recreation we must have. Otherwise, the strings of our soul, wound up to an unnatural tension, will break."

So to those of you who took the time to read my musing, I don't know if I'll have a resolution to my questions, but having read both books has given me a greater understand of God's love is for me and all of you.