Sometimes I just buy shoes

Last Wednesday night we started our new small groups at church. We are doing "Interrupted" by Jen Hatmaker. I have decided to let you in my mind, and heart for the next few weeks..

To Interrupt : to stop or hinder by breaking in; to break the uniformity or continuity of

Here is a quick video overview of the study then you can read some more about how my week one went.

Interrupted from Threads on Vimeo.


After seeing the video, you may understand why my week one went as follows : 

Thursday: Book still in the car

Friday: Remembered the book was in the car, left it.

Saturday: and Sunday: Too busy to think about the book

Monday: Took the book out of the car, put it on the table. I was a little scared of the book.

Tuesday: The book was taunting me, we did a dance. I walked away. The book was a much better dancer.

Wednesday: I opened it. closed it. Started watching TV, then opened it. Started trying to multi-task by watching TV and reading. Suddenly my third time watching this episode of "Gilmore Girls" didn't seem that important.

Week 1 in a very large nutshell...

This is how I felt after the first week, well Wednesday. The focus was on the poor. There are so many places in the Bible where God is screaming at us to help the poor, I always thought that it was metaphorically, not literally.  I always thought, sure I can help some poor soul spiritually. I never would have thought that God literally meant to go feed the poor. 


In John 12:15-17 he asks Peter if he loves him three times. I just figured that God asked him three times because Peter denied him three times. you are able to see in the scripture that Peter is clearly frustrated. 

"15When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"
"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
16Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."
17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.

I never would have thought that Jesus was really saying" Yes! feed my sheep! feed the poor! Are you crazy what are you doing????"  


They list in the book some scary statistics, here they are so you can get a feel:



*Of the six billion people on planet E arth, about 1.2 billion live
on 23 cents a day.
* Half the world lives on less than $2 a day.
* T he wealthiest one billion people average $70 a day. (This
places you and me in the upper, upper, upper percentages of
the global population.)
• I f you make $35,000 annually, you are in the top four percent.
• I f you make $50,000 annually, top one percent.
* S omeone dies of hunger every 16 seconds.
* T wenty-two million people died of preventable diseases last
year; 10 million were children.5
* T wenty-seven million children and adults are trapped in slavery
because of economic crisis (sex slaves, labor slaves, child
soldiers, and child slaves). More slaves exist today than ever
before in human history.6
* More than 143 million children in the world have been
orphaned or abandoned (equivalent to more than half the
population of the U .S.).
* In the last hour:
• More than 1,600 children were forced to the streets by the
death or abuse of an adult.
• At least 115 children became prostitutes.
• More than 66 children younger than 15 years of age were
infected with HIV.7
* Roughly one billion people in the world do not have suitable
housing, and 100 million are entirely homeless.

If you think those are scary, here are some more... * Forty percent of the world lacks basic water sanitation, resulting
in disease, death, wastewater for drinking, and loss of immunity;
Americans spent $16 billion on bottled water in 2008.
* We spend more annually on trash bags than nearly half the
world spends on all goods combined.
* Four out of five children worldwide work every day instead
of going to school; four out of five Americans are high school
graduates.
* Eight percent of the rest of the world owns a car; one-third of all
American families own three cars.
* Roughly 40 million people (about seven Jewish Holocausts) die
annually from starvation, disease, and malnutrition; 65 percent
of U .S. adults and 15 percent of children and adolescents are
overweight or obese.
* The U .S. makes up five percent of the global population, but we
consume 25 percent of the world’s oil, 20 million barrels of oil a
day; next is China at just 6.9 million a day.
* When a group of leaders from developing nations begged U .S.
government leaders to explore intervention options for their
countries in crisis, a U .S. official was quoted as saying: “The
American lifestyle is not up for negotiation.”


How does that make you feel? Did you get defensive? I did a little.  I will also tell you that I felt like I had just been hit in the face by a solid wood Louisville Slugger. Why did I feel that way. Its hard to explain but basically came down to this, If everyone thought the way that I did, there would be no one to help those in need. I don't usually think about others as much as myself. I even reviewed my prayers and they are usually me praying for more blessings, and truthfully I am SO blessed sometimes I don't know what to do with all my blessings, sometimes I just buy shoes, because I don't know what else to do.
So where do I go from here? How do I help the poor? How do I move on? How do I stop being so hungry even though I feel like I am doing all the right things. I want to get out of this perpetual thirst for more. 






There is definitely more to come. Hopefully tomorrow.