God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It

So this book by Jim Wallis is so good! Just makes one realize that God truly is NOT a Democrat or a Republican and the Lord doesn't care about the parties and the platforms. The Lord cares about biblical issues such as abortion, the environment, marriage, family, and poverty and what are my thoughts as a Christian on those issues. How do I vote and what does my vote represent?

Wallis mentions that we as Christians are called to put these biblical issues at the forefront of our lives and we are called to be passionate about them and to do something about them. So some of my favorite quotes...

"Abe Lincoln had it right. our task should not be to invoke religion and the name of God by claiming God's blessing and endorsement for all our national policies and practices - saying in effect, that God is on our side. Rather Lincoln said, we should pray and worry earnestly whether we are on God's side."

"It is fear that leads to violence...both of our prophets, Micah and Martin Luther King Jr., urge that we go deeper - to the resentments, angers, insecurities, and injustices, embedded in the very structures of today's world. We must go deeper than war."

"2.5 million Africans are going to die of AIDS. What's God working on now? I meet people who tell me it's going to take an act of God to stop this plague. Well, I don't believe that. I think God is waiting for us to act. In fact, I think that God is on His knees to us, to the church. God is on His knees to us, waiting for us to turn around this super tanker of indifference, our own indifference alot of the time...and we should remmber that "love thy neighbor" is not advice, it is a command."- Bono

"What's happening in the streets of America (with poverty) is connected to what's happening in the hearts of Americans." --- just so interesting to note the indifference again

"George Bush doesn't seem to grasp that the tree of the American economy is rooted in the toxic soil of unbridled materialism, a culture that extols greed, a false standard of values that puts short-term profits over societal health, and a distorted calculus that measures human worth by personal income instead of character, integrity, and generosity."

LAST ONE...but the BEST ONE

"I would invite you to consider your calling...that means connnecting your best talents and skills to your best and deepest values; making sure your mind is in sync with your soul as you plot your next steps. Don't just go where you're directed or even invited, but rather where your own moral compass leads you. And don't accept others notions of what is possible or realistic; dare to dream things and don't be afraid to take risks. You do have great potential, but that potential will be most fulfilled if you follow the learnings of conscience and the language of the heart more than just the dictates of the market, whether economic or political."

I love this last one from Wallis because right now I am at a turning point in my life. And I am attempting to listen to the language of my heart and not let myself be dictated by the economic market. It is difficult though when people in your life are telling you that a job is just a job and it doesn't matter if you love it or not. I on the otherhand disagree with that wholeheartedly...but how do you seperate what you believe with what you have been taught? This bit from Wallis just affirms my desire to follow my own moral compass and my own heart rather than let my heart and my voice be swayed by the hearts and voices of others.

so life continues to be a journey and I continue to search out my soul and listen to the language of my heart...