Centerfold

I gotta stop reading this stuff.

Seriously - It's gonna cost me everything.

Everything.

2 more book reports for the brave of heart.

1st: Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. Good stuff. I felt myself wanting to say, "You go.." and "Preach it Brother!" every other page or so. Bell articulates many of my gripes with right wing conservative Christians in a compelling, artfully crafted way. If James Dobson is your hero don't bother reading this one, you'll just get your panties in a wad. But if your looking for a well written, thought provoking book this one is a must read.

But as good as Velvet Elvis was, it is the story of a Playboy Centerfold that challenged me most. Susie Scott Krabacher wrote an autobiography that I found riveting. I read the whole thing in one day...and I have a gigantic pile of unfolded laundry to prove it. It's called "Angels of a Lower Flight".

In the first half of the book Krabacher tells the story of her abusive childhood and her "rise" to fame as a Playboy Centerfold. It's interesting, and it sets the foundation for the second half of the book. But it is the second half that won't let me go, the second half that I fear will cost me everything.

By Divine Coincidence Susie watched a fund raising infomercial about Sewer Children in Mongolia, which oddly enough, led her to Haiti. And it's in Haiti that Susie found her healing.

To say that Haiti is poverty stricken is an understatement. To call it, "Hell on Earth" is not overstating the situation. Susie says that she has come to understand that that there are more demons inhabiting the island than people. It is a darkly oppressed, desperately poor place.

Squalor.

And this is the place that brought healing.

Susie and her husband, Joe, began a non-profit organization to rescue the children of Haiti. They began orphanages, and feeding homes, and partnered with the government to care for little ones left to die in the abandoned children's ward of a public hospital. The stories are astounding and heart wrentching. You must read the book.

On the last pages of her book Krabacher speaks of the suffering she has endured on behalf of the some 3,400 Haitian Children in her care. She says, "Why would anyone ask to enter into suffering? I want that kind of life, crazy as it sounds. What we suffer for another is truly the mark of love...I understand more of that now. How easy it is to seek fulfillment within the sphere of people and things that can be seen. But our souls are never satisfied with this.

...Here is my Peace:

There is a Love that is joy and beauty. So many of my friends, so many of my children, have found this Love. Their story is for eternity and has only just begun. "

Several years ago I was looking through an old hymnal. There was a trend I hadn't noticed before. The last stanza of nearly every hymn focused on Heaven. Perhaps it's just a literary tradition. Perhaps, not. Have we lost something? Are we so comfortable and so focused on making our lives comfortable here and now we have lost sight of eternity? This is Act I. There is more to come.

Personally, I think we've done a pretty crappy sales pitch on Heaven. If we all have to wear white robes, and it's just one big endless church service I cannot think of one 7 year old boy who would pick Heaven over Hell. Who would? Okay, that's my little rabbit trail (read "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn for more on this.)

But the point is both Susie Krabacher, and Kay Warren decided to surrender their lives to Christ on behalf of others. Both of these women say that they wouldn't trade their choice for anything; that their experiences has been rich and purposeful. It has also been pain-filled. They have suffered on behalf of others, they have deliberately walked into pain and their lives have been the better for it. So counter-intuitive. Especially, so in my suburban culture.

The Bible says I must lose my life to find it. And if this is true it will cost me everything.