The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice -
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations -
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice,
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do -
determined to save
the only life you could save.

*(Mary Oliver – Dream Work)

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A few weeks ago, I was invited to be the guest on the Samson Society podcast with Nate Larkin & David Mullen.

We talked about everything from cycling across the country, to life as a former preacher’s kid, to women and porn addiction (as well as drug and alcohol abuse), confession, and living a transparent life.

Most interviews I’ve done in the past don’t dig this deep – an uncomfortable deep – but Nate and David did a fabulous job asking questions and responding with truth and grace.

You can stream or download the interview here.

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I have been working on writing this post for a few days now, and somehow (probably due to late-night blogging) it accidentally was published yesterday. I took it down about an hour after it went up, because it wasn’t ready yet…but a surprising number of people responded in that short time frame.

I decided to re-post it after editing it a little bit more. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused!

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Some people have termed FlowerDust.net an “uber” blog.

I don’t exactly know what that means.

If it means it’s been around for five years, and has a good number of visitors, then yes, I suppose you can call it that.

Over the last two years, it’s been interesting to see how my blog traffic has changed with the seasons.

If I ask questions about sexuality, or talk about controversial church issues, my stats light up.

If I talk about what the Bible says about taking care of the poor, or share stories from trips I’ve taken (Haiti, India, Uganda – soon to be Moldova and Russia), my stats tank.

Here’s an example of pre-Haiti trip stats and post-Haiti trip stats.

At first, this made me really sad.

And then the sadness turned into a weird kind of angryness. (Angriness? Angry-ness? Is that even a word?)

Anyway, I don’t really ever get angry.

So that was strange for me.

With the assumption this blog has also been categorized as a “church” blog (whatever that means) why do the posts that should be resonating with us the deepest get a third of the traffic?

Angry feelings.

More angry feelings.

Deep breath.

Deep breath.

Then I realized something.

I would much rather have a small group of people who really, really cared than a large group of people who just showed up to just show up.

I don’t want to be a “church” blog, in the sense that we talk about the stupid stuff that nobody agrees on. That’s not what this blog is designed to be.

I want to be a “church” blog in the sense that we’re a community that cares for those overlooked.

You know…like…how the church is supposed to be.

If that means my stats suck and the “uber” blogstar label gets removed, so be it.

I’d choose a hundred readers with big hearts and the action to back it up any day of the week over a million readers who change the channel when it gets uncomfortable to watch.

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Two years ago, a trip to Uganda with Compassion International changed my life. It didn’t happen immediately. I wrestled with what I saw, and what I knew the Bible said, and how I loved living my own comfortable life.

My friend (and the designer of this blog) Brad is on a trip right now with Compassion and I’ve asked him to share some of his thoughts with you.

—–

“When African Eyes Are Watching”

Those of you who have followed Anne for a while may remember her trip to Uganda with Compassion in February of 2008. She was part of the very first Compassion Bloggers trip. It was her posts from Africa that gave me my first inside look at how Compassion works. I gained a deeper appreciation for Compassion as an organization by seeing what they did through her eyes.

Never would I have imagined when I read the posts from that first blogging trip that I would be in Africa myself with Compassion just over two years later. And yet here I am.

I’ve only been in Kenya for four days now but already Africa has melted my heart. I’ll be leaving on Thursday but I’m leaving part of my heart here when I go.

The thing that has just rocked me to the core are the eyes of the children I see.

They’re absolutely riveting.

Like this little Maasai girl I saw when we visited a Compassion Project on Saturday…

Or this precious little girl I met at the Kabuku Compassion project on Friday…

or these adorable children who kept peeking back at me when we attended a Kenyan church on Sunday (seriously…how can you pay attention in church when you’ve got adorable faces like that staring at you?)

The reason I love looking into their faces is because I can see the power of child sponsorship in their eyes. Every face you see in those pictures represents a sponsor who has stepped forward to release that child from poverty.

For only $38/month (less than the cost of eating out once a month) you can ensure a child has access to education, medicine, nutritious meals and vocational training. You can read some of my first-hand accounts (and those of the other bloggers who are on this trip with me) of real people I’ve encountered who are being pulled out of the worst kinds of poverty through Compassion intervention and sponsoring relationships.

Anne has already done such an amazing job of telling Compassion’s story through this blog but perhaps there are some of you who haven’t yet taken the leap.

Can I encourage you to step up and make a difference in the life of a child? A small monthly investment from you means the difference between poverty and hope for these children.

Compassion is a one-to-one sponsorship organization which means you’ll be connected with your sponsored child through more than just a monthly check. You’ll be able to write letters to and receive letters from your sponsored child (here’s an example of a letter I recently received). You may even one day be able to meet your sponsored child like I did this week.

These beautiful African eyes have melted my heart this week…

…when they’re watching, I just can’t look away.

Click here to see Kenyan children waiting for sponsors right now.

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Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies and Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love became runaway best sellers in the emerging category of memoirs.  Readers were drawn like magnets to Lamott’s faith journey, set amongst her left-wing family in California and they were equally smitten with Gilbert’s personal growth as she explored Italy, India and Indonesia.

Meet Sarah Cunningham.

Sarah is the author of Picking Dandelions: A Search for Eden Among Life’s Weeds (Zondervan 2010).

On one hand, Sarah is quite different than Lamott and Gilbert. She grew up in the cornfields of Michigan. Her parents were Southern Baptists. They voted Republican. She’s been married to one man, a college sweetheart, for seven years.

In spite of those differences, there are some things in Lamott and Gilbert that you’ll find in Sarah too.

Honesty.
Humor.
Quirkiness.
Guts to explore and laugh at life’s dysfunctions.

Sarah Cunningham’s new memoir, Picking Dandelions: A Search for Eden Among Life’s Weeds, uses some of the same approach to delve into the quirkiness and humor on the other side of the religious and political spectrum.

Take how Sarah journaled her prideful thoughts for a week straight…something she reports backfired because people don’t make 4,000 page journals. Or the heart to heart talk she has with God in which she cites Drew Barrymore’s career while praying (as if God is impressed by an occasional pop culture reference, she says). Or her story that ends with this line: “Jesus wouldn’t charge people to pee.”

In the end, Sarah’s loose collection of stories accomplishes something insightful too. A subtle theme hangs in the background suggesting that humans, especially those on a quest for God, cannot afford the luxury of unchanged living.

It’s sort of refreshing that Sarah, raised in the right wing, can weave elements of faith into a spiritual memoir too because it suggests that there are valid, messy spiritual discoveries for all of us, no matter what corner of the earth or political landscape we grow up on.

Intrigued? Learn more about Picking Dandelions: A Search for Eden Among Life’s Weeds.

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What’s a memoir that’s impacted you?

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Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored post.” The company or identity who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to write it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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