Day 51 - "Radical" (Give) and Gift Boxes (Give)

We got a visit today from our long-time friends, Bob and Jill.  They live near D.C. but have family in Indianapolis, so they were in the area for Christmas.  We had to pack over a year of catching up into a few hours.  They are about as far from ordinary as you can get - and their past year has been unusual even by their standards. 

At the start of summer, Bob's church position was cut due to budget problems and Jill quit her job.  They sold most of their possessions and travelled Europe for a month.  Now they are living in the basement of some friends' house while Jill has started work as a teacher's aide and Bob is preparing to become a school bus driver.  But the bigger picture is that Bob wants to become a missionary, so he is trying to raise support.

But Bob can't be an "ordinary" missionary to Haiti, or Guam, or Taiwan, etc.  No, Bob's dream is to become a missionary to America.  Right now he is trying to figure out just exactly what that means, what it looks like, and how best to convey his vision to others who might support him in this venture.  You should take a moment and check out his website at http://loveslabours.typepad.com/ .  Bob has been in ministry for years, and I never figured that he would settle into some traditional role within the United Methodist Church ... and he hasn't.  If anyone can figure out how to be an American missionary to America, Bob and Jill can.  I'll be curious to see how his vision grows and develops over the next few years.

So Bob and Jill were not in the least bit interested in taking any of our stuff with them since what few possessions they have held onto are in storage in a 10 by 12 foot room.  They are perfectly happy living the downsized, unencumbered life and they don't want our giveaways.  But there's one thing Bob can't resist. 

Books.  He had looked at "Radical" recently at a bookstore and put it back on the shelf because he figured it would "only frustrate him."  So I gave him my copy.  (Remember, this is the book with the subtitle "Taking back your faith from the American Dream".  Check it out here.)  It's not like it's going to challenge him - he and Jill have never bought into the American Dream - but it will frustrate him to read it because his mind is going to be churning the whole time about how to stir the American church as a whole to get "radical". 

I don't know that giving away "Radical" today counts officially in my downsizing experiment to Give, Throw or Sell something each day since I have every intention of buying another copy to replace the one I gave to Bob today.  So just to be on the safe side, we also gave a few more Christmas gift boxes to my aunt.  My aunt Lossie was hosting some extended family from out of town for dinner tonight and so we made the trip to Shelbyville this evening to see everyone.  Lossie goes nuts at Christmas time - she has an unbelievable Santa collection and at least three full size trees up.  She also wraps dozens of gifts every year for a large number of friends and relations, so we figured she might appreciate the gift boxes.