Dear God

Hi God! 8/27/10
So I go back to school tomorrow, and I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for letting me have a summer that was quite wonderful. You did a lot in me, for me, and through me. Thank you. It was eventful, hard, beautiful, funny, outrageous, tiring, and relaxing. I had a wonderful time just being, and I am glad you are my friend. Thank you for your blessings and your guidance and your protection. You do far more than I could ever see, and I know that; I am grateful for that. You are truly a wonderful God. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for all that you have done, and for each day that you bless me with life. I am grateful (even when I'm not). You are beautiful beyond compare. Thank you for being a touchable God, who I can know. You love me (sometimes I wonder HOW you could still love me after I'm being a punk :) ). So I guess as I drive down, come ride with me. We will have some quality time since my days have been SO busy. But seriously, they have been awesome days, and even though they cause me to not have the most quality time with you, I know that you were with me as I worked, or played, or talked. You blessed my days, thank you for letting me enjoy them! I know this school year will be great too! I'm excited for my classes and what I'll learn through my teachers, and what YOU will attach onto what they say (you elaborate so much! It's great!). Thank you for my friends, they are so wonderful. Thank you for my family, I love them a lot! Thank you for allowing me to see my cousins and be a part of their lives. Protect them. Keep cleaning Kristin (HOW INCREDIBLE WAS THAT?!?! Amazing!!). Keep those I love (you know who, and you know what). Let me and Carisma have a great relationship this semester which pushes each other to be more like you.
God, I love you so much. Thank you for being my friend.

Love Always,
Emilie

Dear Geo.

I'm sorry, but if you really knew what was going on in the world, you would easily see that this is probably the most dramatic time in all of history. The weapons are much more than pens, sadly, and the villains are much MUCH more than the "blood thirsty capitalists" as some may like to call them. What rose-colored glasses we must have on our faces if we look at history with a sense of nostalgia. The things that changed the world in the past came at a high, terrible, and heart-breaking cost. The gains of today are also being made with a high price, but not with the glamorous tint that can only be applied to it with time, and only seen in retrospect.

Change is not pretty, and history is not made pleasantly. It must be had, to be sure, but it comes at a high price. Societal change comes in the dredges. Most people will never read about it in the newspapers….most people won't read much about anything truthful in newspapers nowadays.

I think if we really knew about other countries, what kind of greed, misfortune, hate, and death was happening else where in the world, we wouldn't be so quick to judge our own nation so harshly. Yes, she is flawed, but she has her beauty too. For the time being, although I'm not sure for how much longer, we are able to shape our nation and make her the way we want. So what are we doing? Are we aware of our surroundings? Do we know what is being decided around us? It is OUR future they are deciding, do we know what that future looks like as it is being sketched out today? And if it is not what we want….what are we willing to do about it? What am I, Emilie Holmes, going to do about it? Am I going to sit and complain, then go to work and come how and watch TV and complain some more? Or am I going to change things? On a large scale and a small!

If we all wait for our generation to stand up and do something, we will all end up…waiting. So I intend to give my life. I refuse to live my life without having sacrificed at least a part of it. I don't want to live for myself and the things that I want, and I am NOT waiting for others to follow. Honestly, the people of this world are bleeding out. They are dying. Our world is dying from disease, hunger, apathy, greed, hatred, war and many other things. So who do we blame? How do we fix it?

I would suggest that social justice is fine, but it is not the end goal. Equality is nice, but it isn't the destination. I would say greed and hatred, capitalism and socialism, are the tools but they are not the villains. Our problem lies much deeper than politics and our solution is much more lasting than food.

I would pose to you that our problem is humanity, and our solution is Christ. Food, clothing, clean water, and peace only go so far. To fix these problems may stop the immediate bleeding of humanity, but that simply defers the inevitable. Death is certain. For what good is it for man to gain the whole world if in the end he loses his soul? In my humble view, it would seem that the point (at least for a follower of Christ) of Social Justice (or changing the world), would not be to just stop the bleeding (fix hunger, give clean water, have peace), but to stop the bleeding long enough to give the cure to the DISEASE. And the Disease, I would also propose, is not capitalism or socialism or greed or money or war, but it is our human nature. And in this world, EVERYONE IS INFECTED, not just the rich.

I am a social worker who doesn't believe in social justice. I am not going to give my life so you have the ability to live long enough to be greedy, or have the opportunity to shove someone else down. I am going to give my life in order to stop the bleeding long enough to give you the only cure that will save you forever. It's the only hope I have. I have food, water, clothes, and relative peace. I live comfortably, but that is all for NOTHING if I don't have Christ. The point of my life is not Social Justice, it is Discipleship. So that's what I'M going to do. I'm going to go out and make disciples, wherever I go. And if I change ONE life, man, that's pretty fricken sweet. I'm living the best adventure I could ever dream of, and it is INCREDIBLY exciting. It will never be picked up by the newspapers, but I KNOW that my life makes a difference, and I don't plan to stop any time soon.