i relearned today that washington dc has the highest HIV prevalence rate in all the U.S. - 1 in 20 people in the district are HIV positive, and in the poorer areas, the rate is similiar to subsaharan africa. um, is that insane? do people realize this? and why aren't we doing something about it? it's much easier and more comfortable to talk about sending aid to AIDS orphans in africa than to look in our own towns and see the awfulness of the disease here. joseph's house can really only meet such a tiny portion of the gigantic need. it's pretty overwhelming.
anyhow. i'd like responses to the rest of this post, if you have any.
i don't want anyone to think that i'm "giving up a year to serve." i don't want to just be young and idealistic. no. this is how i want my life to be. lived in community, lived among the poor, not full of stuff or money, not isolated by race or economic class. this, to me, seems real. Christ came to proclaim good news to the poor, freedom for the captives, healing and hope, not just spiritually but physically as well. i feel the same call on my life. i mean, if what i do to the least of these i truly am doing to Christ, then how can i say i love my savior and not even be present to the least of these?
it is really sad for me to think that i will somehow lose this, that it is just being young and idealistic that somehow i can change the world, and once i get older and maybe start a family, it will fade away. (as i write this, i seem to hear a certain former career counselor in my head... yikes!) this, what i'm doing and seeing and living this year, is how i see the calling of Christ to live in this world. and whether i continue to do what i'm doing at joseph's house, or if i go back to zambia, or something else completely different, i don't want ever to go back to the content ignorance in which i used to live, not really knowing about the suffering around me and not really caring to know, being comfortably surrounded by people who are just like me. this is a call i feel on my life - Christ calls each of us to a different way of service to Him, and i don't want to produce guilt in anyone else. so please, don't feel guilty or accused if you're reading this and feel differently.
but to me, this is real and true. not just now, but for my whole life, if i claim to truly follow Christ with abandon.
but is it even possible? yes, i dare to hope now, but i also worry that the world and my own selfishness are too strong...
1 comment:
Yes, Katy, I definitely think it's possible to continue to live this way and to not let complacency and comfort take over. Maybe the world and your selfishness are strong, but isn't God bigger? If this is what He's called you to, then He will give you the strength fulfill that call. Blessings, friend! I'm praying for you and really enjoying reading your thoughts!
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