It's So Hard to See Clearly, You Don't Have to Be on Your Own

I began reading Samantha Power's "A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide" yesterday. In contrast to Philip Gourevitch's book, which focuses on the Rwandan genocide in 1994, Power chooses to paint on a broad canvas that deals with the U.S. response to crimes against humanity in what turned out to be the most violent century in history. The book won the Pulitizer Prize for Best Nonfiction Book in 2003, so I am not worried about the writing, but there is something that I am worried about when I read books like this.

I worry that I will become desensitized. What if the numbers of those who have been killed or maimed begin to pile up and I no longer remember stories? If I want to go into a career in the field of human rights, a field where I believe God is at work in our world seeking to bring healing where there is despair and light where there is darkness, how can I continue to remember that the first thing that drew me this field were names like Anne Frank, Paul Rusesbagina, and Osner Fevry. Names that represent hope where there should be despair. Names that represent the enduring nature of the truth in the face of lies. Names that give people strength instead of the weakness that their oppressors wished for them.

What are the things that you love to do? What are the issues that really make you want to move beyond your own four walls and make something happen? What would the world look like if it was filled with people doing what they loved instead of what they "had" to do? Remember, God is already at work in our world, so don't worry about your operation keeping everything together. Instead, look around at what he has made you to do. What has he gifted you with? Think of those things, then go out and begin to live in such a way that people would see the evidence of God's hand in our midst.