Moving mountains

Yesterday, I attended a seminar with a well-known speaker here, C.B. Samuels.  The conference was sponsored by Compassion India, a branch of Compassion International, where you can sponsor a child to support him or her through school.  I went with my boss, our director of Community Relations.  It had been a day full of meetings and rushing--I had biked home during lunch to get a couple salwar kameez (cotton pants and a matching knee-length top with a dupata, or long scarf) because we had both worn jeans for Casual Friday.  Our office had an all-staff meeting to take personality tests and break up by color, or personality type.  It was hilarious but also productive and helpful to learn about different communication styles, positive attributes and how to work with each other's many colors.  (For those Furmanites reading, I was blue once again...hopelessly idealistic and out to save the world...but I had a close second-place tie of green (structure, not especially sensitive) and orange (spontaneous, high need to socialize) to balance me out!)

At any rate, by the time we arrived at the seminar my mind was scattered, going over to-do lists and the many items still waiting to be checked off.  We were there to network and give this prominent leader in South Asia a face to go with our NGO's name.  But my thoughts were soon stilled and I was captivated by the speaker's message.  He spoke about the place of children in the kingdom of Heaven.  Isaiah prophesied that a little child will lead them, into a new dwelling of peace and justice.  Zechariah prophesied that boys and girls will sit in the city center, filling the place with laughter.  In this kingdom, not only will child-like innocence be restored, but the child's energy and joy will be contagious.  Why, Samuels challenged us, do we read New Testament passages speaking about the kingdom of Heaven and think, "ah, that will be a nice future."  If we believe that Christ has come, that He has fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament, then His messages--his commands but also his parables and prayers--are true today.  He taught us to pray what we call "The Lord's Prayer," and that middle line is to be taken seriously: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Amen."  A prayer for the present, a prayer for today.  

I am constantly challenged by the faith of my co-workers.  This week, I had the chance to sit down with one of our advocates and simply listen to his story for a small assignment I am working on.  He was the first lawyer in our office and has seen the success and setbacks that come with rapid growth.  He told me that one of the ways IJM has transformed him personally has been in the way he views God's ability.  Like many good lawyers, he is thoughtful and logical; going into a case or a new circumstance, he would weigh the pro's against the con's.  With a 50% chance of success, he would take the case or risk entering a new circumstance.  Less than 50%, he'd walk away.  But now, if there is a 1% chance, he'll take it.  "Because God just needs one percent."  

I think this is the mustard seed-sized faith Jesus taught his disciples about.  So the lawyers at IJM take on a case to defend a handful of families who have been surviving on broken grains of rice and working seven days a week in the fields, paid less than minimum wage and with no freedom to return home or find another job to eek out another meager living.  These men and women take Jesus at his word when he told his followers to defend the innocent.  Especially those who are forgotten by the world and rejected by their society, born into the wrong caste and therefore viewed as subhuman, dispensable.  

I am grateful for the flashes of inspiration I derive from conversations like this, and I crave this faith which, quite literally, moves mountains.  And erasing slavery from this earth is one mountain I'd like to see moved, in our present.