"spend yourself"

i gave announcements at my small group tonite. "so?" you say. well, i nearly pissed in my pants and broke out in a sweat, coz i was so nervous. i guess i'm blogging about this coz i'm just so freakin' relieved. i hate public speaking. "you call that public speaking?" yes, i call that public speaking. i can't think straight when ppl are staring at me. i fumble over my words, no matter how rehearsed i am. i stutter, say "um" and "uh" repeatedly, and just generally wish i was invisible. i try to avoid any type of public speaking but i couldn't get out of this one. and trust me, i tried. so i'm glad the evening's over.

okey, on to more important stuff.

tonite's topic was justice. my friend troy led the lesson...he focused on isaiah 58 and had us write down observations and put them into four categories: actions that we thought were pleasing to God, the motivations of those actions, actions that actually do please God, and the results of those actions. basically, his point was that our praise and worship are empty if we aren't willing to serve others and do what we can to right wrongs in Jesus' name. things like social justice shouldn't be ideas that we're afraid of or dismiss as "liberal issues," but things that we should respond to. ppl being oppressed, exploited, and killed are terrible terrible things. and we should care enough to try to do something about that. we're called to care for the poor, feed the hungry. set the oppressed free. he encouraged us to "spend ourselves" on behalf of others and it was really inspiring. my friend rachel came and talked a bit about her experiences in thailand, working with orphans, displaced ppl, and sex workers. she's going back in june to spend a year working with burmese refugees and migrant workers in thailand. her experiences were also very inspiring. i hope this sets into motion our small group being more interested and active in missions and humanitarian issues. i think every believer is called to these things, whether or not they ever go abroad. i hope as the years pass, that eman and i will be able to transform this conviction into action when opportunities arise...i hope we aren't afraid to "spend ourselves."