Radical

This book will change the way you think about "Being Christian".  Much like The Hole in our Gospel, the author challenges the church to live outside their own communities and reaching out to the rest of the world.

Do you know that if you make $27,000 a year, you are more wealthy that 99% of the whole world??  This book really makes you realize that we as Americans are so sheltered, spoiled, and ignorant to the needs in the world today.  It really makes a point to remind us that our worship is a privilege, not a right; and that we worship in beautiful buildings while most of the Christians in the world have to sneak into homes in the middle of the night to worship and would be murdered if found with a bible.  Let us not take that right for granted.  

This book reminds me to fight for the oppressed, demand justice for the abused, and get out of my comfort zone and get my feet dirty.  I'm not sure what I can do to make a difference, but I must do SOMETHING.

A Long Way Gone

An amazing memoir of Ishmael's experience in the Sierra Leone Civil War.  He shares how he lost his village and family all in the same day, became a part of the Army fighting against the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) as a 13 year old, was saved and rehabilitated by UNICEF and eventually escapes Sierra Leone and leaves the battle behind him to begin a new life.


I will be traveling to Sierra Leone in a few months and this was assigned reading before the mission trip.  I have new insight on what child soldiers go through, how they are brought into their new "Army Family", trained, drugged and prepared for battle against those who destroyed their families.  This is a heart wrenching story of loss, the scars of war, and finally redemption and safety.  I am so proud of Ishmael's determination to begin again all the while  bringing awareness to the world about child soldiers.