Dallas Willard has long been able to explain the mastery of the spiritual life, and in Renovation of the Heart he clearly lays out what true spirituality is, and how we can attain it.
Frankly, this book has been on my desk for several months, and it took me a while to muster the strength to push into it. Once I did, I was encouraged, challenged, and delighted by what I found. He is answering questions that people are asking, and questions that I myself continue to face in my own spiritual walk.
Three weeks ago I was doing my usual routine of prayer, Bible study, and quietly listening to God. Usually I begin the day with “Lord, what’s on your agenda today?”
That day, my mind wandered a little, and I imagined hundreds of red envelopes in the mail room of the White House. On the back, a simple message stating that each envelope represented an innocent life lost. I took that idea, and sent it in an email to my 120 ministry supporters. They in turn, sent it to their friends.
In the past few days that simple act of obedience to what I thought God was telling me to do has been described as “a phenomenon,” and an “act like the Boston Tea Party.” There are now three designated websites, countless blogs, and two Facebook groups based on my idea. From the sketchy information I have found, I am estimating at least 100,000 have been sent so far.
Who says one person can’t make a difference?
I am humbled, and amazed by what has happened. I am staying with friends, and they have said “this really is AWESOME.”
There have been some funny things, too. Like all of the emails from people asking me “why do you call yourself ‘Christ’?” There have been a few folks who have made it like they started the idea, telling others when they should send the letters. And my favorite, the people who have changed the email, made me a “she” and their friend.
I am really grateful to the new friends that I have made in this too, especially Edie and Brad, who “get it.” This is not about politics, it’s about changing one man’s heart. And if that one man can CHANGE, then maybe others can too, and maybe there still is HOPE.
Antonin Scalia once said that he wanted to end abortion, but he could not do it alone. “Where is the moral outrage?” he asked.
