The Hole in Our Gospel: Don't Give Up

I was reading through The Hole in Our Gospel for this mythical review that I am doing and was struck by a particular story.

In this story, a man is walking down a beach that is  covered with starfish that had been washed ashore during a recent storm. Unable to get back into the water, these thousands of starfish would all, inevitably, die. As the man ponders the tragedy of the death of the starfish, he sees another man walking down the same beach picking up starfish, one by one, and throwing them back into the water.

"What are you doing?" I yelled.
"Saving the starfish," he replied.
"But don't you see, man, that there are tens of thousands of them?" I asked, incredulous. "Nothing you can do will make a difference."
He did not answer me but instead bent down, picked up another starfish, and cast it back into the water. Then he smiled, looked me in the eye, and said, "It made a difference to that one!"

This story is mean to illustrate a common problem we face when dealing with the poverty or any other social issue. We are so overwhelmed by the size of the problem that we are too discouraged to take even the smallest steps.

This is an idea that you have probably heard before, it has been said in one way or another by many wise people:

"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do."
Helen Keller

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."Leo Tolstoy

"I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water creating many ripples"Mother Theresa

"The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time" 
African proverb

Inspirational quotes are candy to me, I feed on this stuff. But, even after hearing quotes such as these, though we (I) may begin do do the "small things," we (I) still quickly become discouraged.

See, even though we know we're only doing a small thing, we still expect to see big change. While taking the small steps does matter, it is simply not going to have a visible effect on the bigger issue. What we don't realize is that, when we set out to save the world, it is not necessarily going to cooperate.

This is why we cannot (personally) set out to change worldwide problems.

What? What kind of defeatist attitude is that?

Well though I have the heart of an idealist, I have the body of a pragmatist. It's a marvelous inspirational goal to envision world change, but when it comes down to actually do the work to change the world, you have to be a realist, otherwise you will be too discouraged to do the work.

We may know in some corner of our idealist heart that the little thing we are doing can, when taken collectively, change the world, but to find the drive to keep going while we're actually doing the little thing, we have to keep our eyes on something closer, something real.

Tuck that ideal away in your heart. Write it down. Frame it and put it on your wall. But keep something real, something attainable always in front of your eyes.

This is one of the major reasons that I advocate child sponsorship, it is one of the realest "little" things you can do to change the world.

By sponsoring a child, you are, quite literally, saving a life. You can see the effects of it immediately and it gives you the drive to keep doing it. Instead of investing time, money, heart, and effort into an impossible problem: ending world hunger, you are ending the hunger of one person. One child.

That's very real. And, yes, it changes the world.

Trust: I'm Not THAT Person

Yesterday I gave a quick overview of a few haphazard elements which have combined in an odd way to create my One Word 2011: Trust. It was a bit much for one post, even for me, so I've broken it up into a series of sorts. I start today with the most difficult one.


I'm a girl who likes to have it together. I struggle to admit I'm wrong, I hate having to ask for help, and I confess my struggles only after they have been "overcome." When confronted by a situation that I cannot handle or a goal I cannot meet, I’ll fight my way back to a situation I can control. I abandon goals, I deny my ineffectiveness, and I make to-do lists.


I have had friends and loved ones struggle with depression and anxiety. Through their pain, I've learned a lot about the illogical and overwhelming nature of depression. But  I've never been "that" person. I will shamefully admit that I always thought I was too strong and too "together."


However, for a few months now, my joy has gone AWOL, replaced by cynicism, bitterness, and fear. I don’t know if you’d call it loneliness, malcontent, doubt, or depression, but I have not been okay, and I haven’t had it together.


I hope you will believe me when I say, God is my life. This is why it is so devastating to feel that He has gone far, far away. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “you will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”


Was I not seeking Him with all of my heart? Which part was I withholding?


“All of it,” was the crushing answer. “You seek My ends, but not My means. You seek My Name but not My Life. You love My thoughts but not My ways. You seek Me through the filter of your own abilities, on your own terms, in your own timing. You withhold all of your heart from Me because you only offer it conditionally. I am a God without conditions.”


With all of this still churning inside me, I spent New Year’s Day reading The Hole in Our Gospel, a book by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision.


In his book, Richard Stearns references a passage in Isaiah where the frustrated children of Israel cry out to God they too felt had gone far, far away:

“They seek me daily and delight to know My ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; They ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Isaiah 58:2-3


“…Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then…you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ Isaiah 58:6-9

(You ever have one of those, “Ohhhhhh…” moments?)

If you poked around this blog at all, you might notice that I have made something of a hobby out of humanitarianism. In theory, I avidly support the humanitarian work of organizations like Compassion International and World Vision. I pray, I give money, I blog, and I tweet.

Yet because of how He’s designed me, this isn’t enough for me. I’ve known this for a while; if I’m honest, I’ve known this since I was 12. Since then, my faith has gotten jammed up somewhere between His words and my life. It has gotten clogged by my inability to make my faith “work” and my unwillingness to let God work through my faith in His ability, on His terms, in His time.

James 2:26 compares a faith without works to a body without a spirit, a zombie. I don’t intend to get into a faith/works conversation except to say that the one simply cannot exist independent of the other, it just dies.

I can’t help but wonder if, lately, God just hasn’t allowed me to feel the dead weight of my faith. I wonder if He’s letting me feel the pain of an unfulfilled calling and an empty gospel. I wonder if He’s letting me see the way He would have me to worship Him.

“Is this not the fast that I choose…?” He says. “…then you shall call and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say ‘Here I am.’” Isaiah 58:9

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