be the change

I picked it up yesterday.
I didn't put it down the whole day.

In year eight, we watched the film Amazing Grace, the story about William Wilberforce. We watched it so many times our whole class could recite scenes right along with the movie --

"So, did he reply?" "Who?" "God." 

I didn't tire of it. I was inspired by it. It made me want to reach out and change this world.

And then life went on and I did homework listened to music and read books and laughed about things and cried about nothing.

Back to yesterday when Be the Change arrived. Penned by a fourteen year old Zach Hunter -- he's nineteen now --  I opened the book. I don't know what I was expecting exactly.

It was quotes that make me pause in my reading and wonder what would happen if I actually did what the brave people do.

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

To say that this book has inspired me wouldn't be saying much because I say that a lot of things inspire me. And what is to be inspired if I do nothing about it?
This book spoke to me. I heard its words and page seventy-five hit home.

Many of us think we'll make a difference "someday". It seems like we often live for "someday". We think things will be better next semester. Or it'll be easier when we make it to the next grade.    Or we'll be happier if we just had more money or a nicer house. But  I think God wants us to live for Him today -- not just wait for "someday".

Someday's not going to arrive, is it? We hang out for tomorrow but tomorrow never comes around. Today is what we've got. Today is what God's given us.

Tell a man he is brave and you help him become so. -- Thomas Carlyle

"You're treating me like a slave." Have you ever said to your parents? I know I have.
Oh, no, they're not treating me like a slave.

A slave would have my back against a wall for nine hours, weaving a rug together in a hot muggy room with sharp tools that result in my hands getting cracked and covered in blood. A slave would have my skin lashed so that it looks transparent if I don't come as soon as they call me, if I show up a moment late.

I live in Australia. So far away from anything bad -- isn't that right? It's so easy for me to turn my head because I'm so naive about all this pain -- there's nothing I can do so I might as well forget about it and worry about the socks I'm wearing -- right?
Oh how so wrong.
I only have to walk into my school to see racism. To hear things like, "Refugees don't need to come here. They have their own country."

If you're calling a person a refugee, then you're well aware that they have no home. That they seek a place of refuge.

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm." -- Abraham Lincoln

The book has chapters titled with words such as Courage, Community, Sacrifice. Compassion. The dedication of the book reads this;

Dedicated to those who yearn to be free and those who seek to free them. 

 There was something on the tip of my fingertips but it's gone; I don't know what I was going to say.

Be the Change, by Zach Hunter. It's a book that, if you let it, might just change the way you live. 

It's hours later. I'm editing this post. I remember the words. Here they are, from James 1:27

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for the orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

I'm going to ponder that verse. Ponder and pray.