Why I Write
The longer I live the more I am persuaded that there is no such thing as an original thought.
My guess is that someone, somewhere, at some point in time has had the same thoughts and questions that I currently have. Perhaps you are one of those people and therefore you have insights to share. Then again, I suppose the opposite could also be true.
I recently learned that the Greeks believed that wisdom was found by obtaining and storing up knowledge. To the Greek the more knowledge you had, the more wise you were. The Hebrews thought, however, that being wise was not just having knowledge but wisdom was seen as what you did with what you knew. To put it in a simple mathematical equation, knowledge + action = wisdom.
According to that line of thinking, it is possible that a person who is wise by Hebrew standards might not be as book smart or as advanced in thinking as the person who is wise by Greek standards. The difference comes when action is added to the equation.
I think the Hebrews had it nailed.
Please do not hear me say that obtaining knowledge is a bad thing; it absolutely is not. I will be the very first to admit that, by Greek standards, I am not very wise. I hold no advanced degrees. I hardly hold any kind of degree for that matter. I went to college for almost a year and then went to a small school to learn how to be a missionary (and then I went to the mission field and learned that you can’t learn how to be a missionary in a school, but that’s an entirely different conversation altogether).
A lot has happened in my life over the past year. I have read a lot this year and have learned things that I don’t think I would have ever learned had my family not been brought back home from the mission field. For example, God took us out of the poverty and corruption of Mexico to the wealth and comfort of the United States to teach us about the poor, the oppressed, and the homeless (if you ask me, this is the very definition of irony).
I have also learned that there is no real value in obtaining and storing knowledge, no wisdom in what I read and learn if I am not also led to act on what I know.
I am an unschooled, ordinary man, not wise by Greek standards, who wants to put what he has learned into practice — to become more and more like Jesus, which is to truly become wise.
For those of you with insight into my questions and thoughts, please share. For those of you that might have the same questions and thoughts, please join in the conversation. Remember that this is about more than just talk — it’s about doing. What would change if we started asking ourselves the question, “What we are going to do,” and then actually did it?
That’s what this blog is all about.
We are always learning. We are always reading. We are always praying.
Now, what are we going to do?
I love the way you write. I love who and what you are. I am so proud to be your Mom. Even tho I don’t post comments, I always read your posts.
Hey Shaner,
Jenny sent me the address of Whit’s blog so that I could stay up-to-date on Ben’s progress and I saw a link to your blog. I have read it on a few occasions in the past but now I have you marked at school. I count it such a blessing that I get to call you family.
Shane:
I love this site, you have been an inpiration to me. Sam and Kellen are darling and I know your mom is going to miss them terribly. The world needs more people like you and Hope.
I am Beck Steel’s Arch Nemesis. I am Rex Tinfoil!!!
I love being able to read your blog. Thank you for sharing a little bit of the private Shane with us. I am so proud to call you “son.” And I am so thankful God brought you into Hope’s life at “just the right time.” Love, Mom Morris
Hi Shane,
through unbelievable circumstances I found Felicia’s, Carolyn’s, Amy’s and Julie’s blog this night around 2am. Now, I just got up after siesta and continued searching….and I found you. You were 13-14 I guess while in Slovakia, and I was 4 years older. Now you have a family, your words are SUCH inspiration, and I feel to be 20 years younger and less mature.
I am so grateful to have found so many of the AIMers.
And best regards to your mom and your brother.
Shane,
Viki shared this webpage with me – can’t believe that I am able to read your bloq! That’s awesome dude! Need to catch up now – email me, if you have time. Looking forward hearing from you
Matus
I just clicked on the link on John Thompson’s blog to get here just to see what’s new and I feel inspired, amazed and totally (and I mean totally) humiliated by your devotion. Thanks, man.
Love reading your blog. Thanks for letting me become “family” around the dinner table on Sundays. It’s a joy being with all of you.
Thanks for letting me “adopt” Sam!
Shane,
not sure you remember me from back in Kosice but thought I would drop you a line. I now live at the same side of the pond as you do, though it’s way east. Drop me a line when you a get a chance – would love to hear from you.
Hi Shane! I saw your link on the bottom of the email you sent (the reply to the preschool supply list) so I thought I would come and check it out. I loved looking at the pictures – the kids are so cute and I can’t believe how big Sam is! Anyway – I haven’t read your entries yet because I “really, really wanted to click here”! So now I’m off to read what you have to say!
I’ve enjoying your blogs alot. They inspire me in many ways I cannot say. Thanks alot buddy!
I’m a change agent…a “professional” term for Social Worker. I decided to become a change agent after God gave me freedom to do some real exciting things; to make a LOT of mistakes and come full circle back to Him…Father, what shall we do? I worked for a residential treatment program for abused and neglected children when I lived in NC. Until then God and I said “hey” to one another but there – at the Yahweh Center – I met Jesus and saw suffering up close and personal.
I knew what I was called to do.
Become a change agent…
My plan was to go to college and become an Intergenerational Social Worker in NC…God’s plan was for me to be a Pediatric Social Worker in OK?
Uh, ok.
The longer I went to school the more passion I developed to share the love of Jesus with those who struggled to live another day. 10 years after starting school…I’d made it…I had two degrees…and began looking for the surrey with the fringe on top…and here I am in Tulsa…I’ve traversed 25 years in reverse in Social Work.
The gaps in service here are bigger than many of the problems. Oklahoma is the most charitable state in the union..okies give to nonprofits more than any other state. When it comes to caring for kidlets – we suck.
Infant mortality, failure to thrive, hunger, physical and sexual abuse, mental illness, incarcerated women, domestic violence…hey, in these areas we rank at the top of many lists………………….for being the worst in the nation.
Doing an internship with NC DSS I spent time with the CPS director. She was a whooped woman; exhausted; just a dim light of hope still shining in her eyes and she told me, “As long as we…every adult in this nation…consider children as property…we will continue to dissolve into nothingness.”
I live over by TU; Kendall Whittier; Educare; Circle Cinema…you know the area…where one drives through the intersection of Lewis and 3rd street trying desperately not to hit a jay walker who is high on something and being led to the other side by a child holding his/her hand.
I’m getting inundated by visits, fliers, door hangers asking me to vote for this person or that one, “What’s your platform?” “Education and health care.” “What about kids?” “Yeah, keep ‘em healthy and send them to school…that’s what I’m gonna do if you elect me.”
Big deal.
What’s in the best interest of the kids?????????
That’s my mantra…decisions that have to be made in a second…my decision is based solely on the best interest of the kids…
You know what the problem is? THE problem?
The harvest is ready and the workers are few. People are starving for food…for God…and what are we doing in Tulsa?
We’re investing in church buildings…
In streets….
In arenas…
In clinics…
What about, “Don’t go to church, be the church???”
Why do we have to build bigger buildings…are we trying to impress the needy? Are we telling the oppressed, “God is a King, so we’re building a castle?” Are we saying to the naked, “I know you have no clothes or food…so come to our church…all the way downtown…and we’ll get your social security number and check your photo ID…we’ll give you some things now…and in 6 months you can come back?
We organize meetings and committees to corporately and methodically solicit funds from church members to build buildings. We invite potential donors into our homes and wine and dine them and hope for a check…
If Jesus were present physically, trust me…He’d be slammin’ the tables and spillin’ the food out of disappointment and frustration…
What in the world are we doing?
I average seeing 10 families a day at OU Peds. Yes, they come in for well child checks and earaches and thrush…but they come in a package and until we recognize that the package must be unwrapped and addressed…the doc will never get to the earache.
I can’t come to the clinic because we can’t afford the gas….
I’m diluting her formula because we have one can and it has to last until next week’s WIC appointment…
He’s too big for his wheelchair…his rear end goes numb because he fits so tight…but we don’t have insurance and we can’t afford a new wheelchair…
I wrote a check today that will bounce…but yesterday I had to pay $300 to keep the electric on…junior has asthma and we need to keep him cool and have access to his nebulizer…
I have been living in the back of my pick up truck since I had my heart attack…I couldn’t afford to pay the bills and I can’t work..it got up to 92* in the camper the other day…
I’m trying so hard not to cut myself…it’s been 69 days…and I’m wondering what does it matter? Why is it so hard? Will it ever get easier? Will I ever feel better?
He came into the diner where I work and he threw me against a table and stuck a steak knife next to my throat and told me that I better be home on time today or he’ll kill me…no one offered to help me..
I have no one…my husband works from 10am until 9pm and when she cries and I can’t get her to stop I feel like I could scream…I think of hurting myself…I love my baby…but I get so lonely and I get so scared…
“All hard work brings a profit…but mere talk leads only to poverty.” Proverbs 14: 23
How can anyone who is a Christ follower not be serving?… HERE….NOW…
There is so much to be done and so many stumble around looking to the saying “God show me what to do?” while they step over the oppressed, the widow, the naked and the hungry.
We should be ashamed.
The mission field is right here…right now…get your overalls on and come to OU Peds and ask me, “What can I do?” The answer will be overwhelming.
My heart is on fire for Jesus and the needy have to see Jesus in action – the tangible must go with the spiritual. I have my passport and God has sent me into my back yard…
May you feel convicted.
In His service,
Isaiah 58
deni