Still at shore - but leaving ...

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Jesus as quoted in Matthew 5.14-17

"my ship's set its sail
but still at shore"
Shane Barnard from "Still at Shore"

I went to a lecture and exhibition last Monday at the Skirball Cultural Center which featured the photographs of Michal Ronan Safdie in showing called "Rwanda: After, Darfur: Now." I was fortunate to also see Pulitzer-Prize winning author Samantha Power speak on the issues of Rwanda then and as they relate to the issues in Darfur presently.

So many questions linger during presentations like these:

Are we powerless as America? She discussed how underlegitimized we have become as a nation due to our actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and even in response to our own nation's crisis in regarding Hurricane Katrina. She encouraged European nations to step it up for issues regarding peacekeeping.

Am I powerless as an American? Are you?

What will you say when your child asks you - where were you when x amount of people were slaughtered in Africa? What were you doing? It is a difficult question to answer. Power discussed that change is being made, and yes, even by our President who has committed one and a half billion dollars to the refugee camps on the border of Chad and Sudan. Young people like us are more and more evolved and involved; we use technology to our advantage. I mean, check out these guys.

Individual donors in America still make up the majority of charitable giving in our country. So. Don't stop.

Are you stirred by these issues?
Yes, you are. You wonder if the starving children in Africa pertains to you. Just because they are nameless, they are not inconsequential.

Is the response financial giving, leaving our jobs and pitching tents in the bush?
Maybe, but not necessarily.

I see a course of action . We live in a time when we are faced with tremendous amounts of meaninglessness . Because of our modern day constructs (shelter, medicine, etc.), we are less and less faced with matters of short life expectancies, a quickened mortality, etc. But instead we come face to face with meaningless. We desire to make a difference. To find purpose. But how? There is the well paying job you're okay with and which supports you and then there's saving the world. No, they don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Do you believe in prayer?
In a short, sudden moment when God opened my mouth, I heard myself encouraging my friends to PRAY. No, you cannot be in so many places, but if you truly had a heart for something, you would pray. And you would be in Africa. You would be in Guatemala. In New York City. All the places that you wish were not impoverished spiritually, physically, whatever. When you pray, you ask God to send His angels. And they do fight... And it fans the flames of your passion. Other people catch it too.

All we can do is pray.
When I hear people say that, they sound so defeated. No you're not.

You are the light of the world. Don't forget that you matter and that you can make a difference because you are unique to this world. Your heart has set sail - it knows what it wants ... Have you left the shore?