My wife is convinced that a viable, vibrant Christian group discussion (see cell) can be held with the Oprah Winfrey Show as the backdrop. Admittedly (and sometimes ashamedly) I think she's right. At least once a week, I come home to my excited wife proclaiming, "you have got to see what I TiVo-ed from Oprah today!" (we love TiVo).
And so I sit, and watch, and admittedly (and sometimes ashamedly) am impressed by what she was struck by on this talk show. Our recent discussions have been on everything from the language of babies to the the (Red) Campaign to organic eating and omega-3 fatty acids to inspiring others to greatness. I admittedly (and sometimes ashamedly) find these Oprah topics fascinating and inspiring.
This week, she watched and then had me watch a story on Liberian orphans (a topic which we've discussed at length before because of our love for West Africa and children). A woman in North Carolina felt led by God to adopt 2 teenage orphans from Liberia. Her husband thought she was crazy, but went along for the ride. Their friends thought they were crazy for doing such a thing (they had 3 young daughters), but God began to create movement and gravity. Suddenly their friends found themselves crazily adopting Liberian orphans as well. All said and done, 14 crazy families from one NC community adopted 31 Liberian children from the same orphanage.
While this is amazing and inspiring and heart-warming (and all that other Oprah-ish stuff), what's behind it is what I'm interested in...
What can God do with one person willing to do the crazy with a sense of purpose and mission?
History tells us that he can do a lot (see Jesus, Paul, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Wangari Maathai, Bono, insert lesser known "crazy fools" here).
Why don't we get that? Why is it that we get so caught up in our plans and our money and our time and ourselves that we miss the fact that God uses crazy fool people living with a sense of purpose and mission to accomplish his Kingdom tasks. These people are the ones who inspire their families, friends, and communities to get on board with what God is doing and where God is moving. Sometimes our personal preferences our individual dreams our private longings need to be swallowed up by what God is desiring to do with our community of people. And sometimes we just need to get on board. We just need to step out and do it. Because far too often we're more worried about getting ducks in a row than we are about people being reoriented toward Jesus. If you ask me, that's crazy.
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