A way out

The Kenyan dairy farmers have had a bumper year. It's been the consensus among the farmers in the know that dairy cows have recently become more profitable than traditional cash crops--which in Gatundu district means coffee. But with the nice rains and the fast-traveling news of the bandwagon, there is too much milk. The dairy association cannot buy all of it. Some is just going bad without ever leaving the farmers. Our prayer this morning in church was for God to give the farmers a way out.
Many times when I am scared that I won't finish something, I think of ways out. The train was good for that at Emory. "If I hopped on the train," I would think to myself, "I could be halfway across the country by the time my paper due and my teacher notices my abscence." But I dismissed such thoughts every time. As important as it is to cultivate creative responses to struggles, that crosses the line to escapism. But isn't that what God gives us? An escape? A lifeline? A place to run to when the world presses in?
"Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden," Jesus says, "and I will give you rest." Read on: "My burden is light and my yoke is easy." We have a way out plain and simple. Come to Jesus and what do you get? A yoke. You get strapped in to a plow to work. The escape of slavery is labor. You don't escape slavery by being your own master, but by choosing your master. Because the human heart is a shrine for a master. A factory of idols, JC the lesser said.
But anyway, I usually see the gospel not as a way out but a way forward. When God opens a door, it goes somewhere. When Jesus quizzed Peter about love, the response was not "today you'll be with me in paradise," as it was for the man condemned, but "feed my lambs." It continues a path of discipleship. The hope of Christianity is not escapist, but redemptive.
I need to seek ways to express this. Part of it can be in my relationship even to myself. A pursuit of excellence (whether in music, fitness, teaching skills, Kiswahili) better reflects the glory of a God redeeming his Creation than mediocrity. And God gives us grace to pursue such things. That's my next project--avoiding mediocrity. Dr. Nelson of Emory Concert Choir, thank you. I was dubious before when I heard you attempt to incite us to abandon our lack of effort, but now I follow your argument a bit better. Mediocrity is not acceptable. Excellence has many forms, just as people do--we must use our own unique gifts and talents, not cookie-cutter ones. This is the way forward to a diverse future.

Love you all.

Battery dying.

Peace.