Look out world!...or just the JMU campus...

Someone had a lapse of judgment or just has no idea what they are getting themselves into: out of the 15,000 students at JMU, I've been given the opportunity to be an editorial columnist on my school's paper. Watch out JMU, I finally have a soapbox to stand on.

Check it out friends:
"When 'Christian' no longer equals 'Conservative'

Life Goal: Meet Paul Farmer...Check

One thing I just love about college is the incredible amount of unhindered freedom, of which I will probably never feel again. Although I was too enthusiastic about returning to school, Monday ended up being an incredibly wonderful day that included a somewhat impromptu trip to Charlottesville to see one of my heroes, Dr. Paul Farmer (of Partners in Health, as well as subject of the book Mountains beyond Mountains and also the recipient of the MacArthur "Genius Grant," to name a few)speak at UVA. Farmer is the foremost expert in the subject of Global Public Health. His work is extensive and he is singlehandedly revolutionizing the world as we know it. Since meeting Bono is a bit out of the question, this is literally the next best choice.

His talk was incredible. Erin, Dani, and I got there early and were the starry eyed girls in the front row, deeply absorbing every word he spoke. I took three pages of notes, and I wish I had taken more. He talked about poverty, AIDS, community health organization, discovery, development and delivery, inaction, sustainability, and the effects and costs of prevention vs. care. We learned about the desperate need to rebuild the public sector and what will happen if we do not. He spoke for almost two hours and I left encouraged and inspired.

Its hard not to put a man like this on a pedestal. It was a phenomenal experience that was well worth skipping my science class and 24 for.

In his words, we must all work towards "the basic standard of decency that goes with being human."

Hope & Justice

I know I talk about Hope alot, but its just so worth it. Recently, they have been giving a series on the call of Christians to fight for justice in our neighborhoods and around the world. They have been talking about awareness, advocacy, and being an unstoppable force of good bringing hope to a hopeless world.

They have been making people very uncomfortable. They have been saying that we need to act. They have not been leaving room for complacency and apathy. They have been vividly displaying the call of Christ, and how his kingdom, his backwards kingdom, is supposed to be shown "on earth as it is in heaven."


"What if we poured out love for the AIDS victim without concern for how they contracted AIDS? What if we offered hope to the young mother who'd had her fourth child without being married? What if we offered financial support to the man who was broke because he used his money to buy drugs?

We might think, 'To help in these situations would be irresponsible.' Maybe so. In Luke 15 the prodigal son's older brother certainly thought in this way. In his own mind and heart, the older brother had placed his younger brother in the category of the irresponsible and undeserving. But their father had placed him in the category of the beloved.

In the Gospel's, it was Jesus' help to the 'undeserving' that made it clear the 'Kingdom of Heaven is near.' The Biblical message is that we are all undeserving of God's lavish love and grace."


What does this mean to our conservative christianity which says we withhold our taxes to prevent welfare manipulators, or we don't give money to the man on the street because he will just buy alchohol, or we don't help the AIDS patient because they could have contracted it through immoral ways?

This, the theology of Jesus, changes all of that. Everything is backwards. Everything is compassion. We should withhold nothing.