Renown

It's funny that I signed into blogger to blog about this when I saw that Chelcie had already blogged about it here, and has pretty much the exact same thoughts about it that I do. Maybe that's because she's one of my best friends- we've grown up together, walked through life together for 14ish years, gone to church together, been involved in the same community, and are a part of the same ministry... maybe it's because we both have a heart for Jesus, a heart for others, a heart of compassion, a heart for missions... but regardless, we have similar views on a lot of things.

Her thoughts are her better articulated, probably more grammatically correct, and also more entertaining... so go read her post too (or instead), but here are my thoughts (that I was thinking before I even read hers so I'm not trying to completely steal her ideas!):

I have heard the good and the bad about Invisible Children. In the words of Kourtney Kardashian's recent tweet, "haters gonna hate." It's true though, there are going to be people that disagree with everything. I need to do more research before I say anything negative about Invisible Children because from what I can tell they are just trying to educate people and make a change the best way they can think of. Jason Russel, the guy who made this video, simply wants his son to grow up in a better world than he did. Don't we all want our children to have a better world to live in than we do? Surely no one can disagree that this world is a messed up place. I can't find anything wrong with wanting people to be aware of what is happening in Africa. If you read my blog, you know I left part of my heart in Africa last year. Seeing the terrible things that are happening there breaks my heart. These people want Kony to be stopped. I agree that he is doing terrible things, and I agree that it needs to be ended. So why not make his name and his face known?

My other thought, like Chelcie's, is that even more than I want to make Kony's name known, I want to make Jesus' name known. I saw the Kony video on Twitter, and that's also where I saw the thoughts on spreading Jesus' name like we are Kony's... so I don't want it to sound like I came up with that on my own. I just know that the world would truly be a better place if everyone heard the name of Jesus and knew what he was about like is happening with Kony's name currently. But let's not just tweet about Jesus- let's be more like Jesus, let's shine His light, and let's talk about Him. Let's take His name and His renown into the world. Let's pray for the children all over the world that are being tortured, let's pray for the troops and the people trying to stop Joseph Kony, let's pray for each other, let's pray for Kony himself, and let's pray about making Jesus known.

Like Chelcie, I am naive. There are many things I don't understand, there are many things on which I am uneducated, and I do believe in the good of all people... but more than anything I believe that Jesus is coming back to save this broken, hurting world. All we have to offer to the broken, hurting people is Jesus. Let's make the Gospel attractive. Let's live with evidence of Christ in us. I don't want Jesus to be a part of my life, I want Jesus to be my life.