Just Courage

David and I have been watching the Harry Potter movies, and I've asked him, probably three times now, which Hogwarts house he thinks he'd be in if he went to Hogwarts. I mostly ask this because I wonder which house I would be in (it's totally obvious that David would be in Gryffindor, but to my chagrin, I suspect that I would be in Hufflepuff). Harry Potter is in Gryffindor, the action-oriented house that values courage, bravery, loyalty, nerve and chivalry. True to form, Harry displays tremendous courage and bravery in each movie, and it leaves me wondering what I would do in a truly scary situation. Would I be brave or play it safe? I wonder if I'll ever know?

I finished reading Just Courage yesterday, a book written by the CEO of International Justice Mission (IJM), which is a non-profit organization that sends detectives and lawyers into countries where the justice system fails to uphold their own laws. They aim to free slaves from forced labor and sex trafficking, and then to end those practices altogether.

The way this man thinks speaks to me. Here are a few quotes that I like (which also basically summarize the entire book):

"There is nothing wrong with the day we Christians are reliving; it's just the same, mostly harmless routine of errands and pleasant exchanges."

"I sense among Christians today a subtle but deep discontent...at the end of the day we thought our Christian life would be more than this-- somehow larger, more significant, more vivid, more glorious."

"Would you rather be safe or brave?"

"We fret over what might happen to our stuff, our reputation, our standing, our children, our ideology and our investments, and in the process we forget that we have these things so we can live fully for Christ. All the things we value were never meant to be safeguarded. They were meant to be put at risk and spent, for we are in a life and death battle."

"We can't have adventure, miracles, faith and a deep knowledge of Jesus while holding on to comfort, security, control and success."

"In different times and in different ways, our heavenly father offers us a simple proposition: follow me beyond what you can control, beyond where your own strength and competencies can take you, and beyond what is affirmed or risked by the crowd-- and you will experience me and my power and my wisdom and my love."