Interesting Book, Perhaps

Today, I'm home sick, so, of course, I'm spending a lot of time on the Internet, before finishing the books I've got here. (If I knew I was going to be sick, I'd have brought more books home. Ah, well...)

I ran across a book giveaway post from Zack Hunt, whose blog has long been on my RSS feed. I love book giveaways, obviously, but this one especially caught my eye. It's the true story of a young man who leaves everything behind to do missions work in Africa, and what happens when he can't find God there.

Here's an excerpt from the book:

One of the last memories I have before boarding the plane to Africa is standing in front of the painted-on chalkboard that spans an entire wall of my bedroom. This wall bore no literary quotes or Bible verses; it was blank except for a countdown tally that read: days till Africa.

It was the night before my departure, and the tally needed updating. I erased the previous number, scribbled on the day before, and drew a number one that reached from floor to ceiling. I took a few steps back and let the image sink in. This was a symbolic moment, not only because it represented the beginning of a yearlong trip, but because it represented a trip that I believed would inspire me to stay for good.

I can’t count the times a classmate or neighbor told me it wouldn’t be surprising if I became so taken with the African culture that I’d never come back. Or, if I did come back, it would be with an orphaned child who I just couldn’t bear to part with.

Neither of these predictions came true, of course, and perhaps they were too ambitious for someone who had yet to step foot on the continent. But that didn’t stop me from picturing myself in the shoes of every missionary with a success story I’d spent the last two years reading about, wanting to become.

If you are a young, idealistic Christian, then Africa is the place to be. Where else do you find missionaries multiplying loaves and fishes to feed entire orphanages? Or a young woman my age adopting orphaned girls and raising them on her own? Or a nonprofit trying to take down a war criminal? Or people being healed? Or even being raised from the dead?

When Christians tell stories about Africa, they tell stories like these. Every outreach is a success. God always does something amazing. Lives are always changed. Every account is written with the ecstasy of someone whose heart is exploding with joy.

The downside to holding literature so dear is that sometimes you find yourself trying to live out the stories of the characters in your books. This temptation is almost inescapable in Christian literature, where the reader is encouraged, even directed, to view the person as an example to be followed.

As I stared at the countdown on my wall, I had no reason to believe that my story would unfold any differently than the stories of the passionate do-gooders in my books. I had been let down by mission trips before, but those were nowhere near as ambitious as the journey I was about to embark on. If I learned anything from the stories coming out of Africa, it was that if I wanted God’s attention, I had to do something big. I had to do something too big for God to ignore. And then, surely then, he would show up. And he would do something amazing.

But the question I never asked myself, the question absent from the countless testimonies I had heard in church, absent from the inspiring accounts of miracles, absent from all the literature urging young Christians to follow God to another part of the world and make disciples, was this: What happens when God doesn’t show up?

Where do those stories go? I didn’t know the answer then, but I do now. Those stories don’t get told. Those stories make God look bad. Those stories make the church look bad. So they tell you not to tell your story. No newsletter, no slideshow, no testimony. No one is even told you’ve come home.

Better than a bad story is no story. That way, what happened to you never really happened.

If you're as interested in it as I am, you can enter the giveaway, too: Book Giveaway: Runaway Radical (By Amy Hollingsworth And Jonathan Hollingsworth).

Meanwhile, have some links!

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Links!

• Libraries, Books, Writers, & Suchlike
• In Praise of Libraries "The library is not just the House of Knowledge. It is the House of Dreams."
• Building Libraries Along Fiber-Optic Lines in Sub-Saharan Africa 
• With next snow is forecast, go by the library as well as grocery store The title is...wonky...but the message is good.
• 'Lost' Sherlock Holmes tale probably isn't Arthur Conan Doyle's, expert says Awww...
• Feb 24, 1786: Wilhelm Grimm is born How very bleak the world would be without The Brothers Grimms' Fairy Tales!
• Religious post:  Sounds like a very interesting read. 
• Why digital natives prefer reading in print. Yes, you read that right. 
• Net & Tech
• FBI really doesn’t want anyone to know about “stingray” use by local cops Related: Stingray phone trackers coming to Santa Clara after “15 minutes” of review "Vote this week comes after community given little chance to object."
• As Republicans Concede, F.C.C. Is Expected to Enforce Net Neutrality 
• A Quake Tournament Where Nobody Knew How To Play Quake I would still lose. 
• Science & Health
• Six lessons from the initial failed international response to Ebola I think a seventh point should be added: the importance of using trusted community members to disseminate accurate information is vital. Perhaps there should be, I don't know, a place full of good information and people trusted by their communities to get that information out when needed. Like a library, yeah? 
• Scientists Demand Investigation After More Mysterious Holes Appear In Siberia 
• Plague outbreaks that ravaged Europe for centuries were driven by climate changes in Asia 
• Rats Aren't to Blame for the Plague in Europe: It Was Gerbils 
• It's so cold the Great Lakes are turning into massive frozen plain 
• Lawmaker asks about swallowing a camera, gets lesson on female anatomy 
• How A Simple Vitamin B Prescription Could Help People With Alzheimer’s 
• Populations Of World's Rarest Big Cat Rebound Related: Bald Eagles Make A Comeback 
• Tea Tuesdays: The Chemis-Tea Of Pouring The Perfect English-Style Cuppa 
• Education
• The Academy’s Dirty Secret "An astonishingly small number of elite universities produce an overwhelming number of America’s professors."
• 'We won't pay': students in debt take on for-profit college institution Related: A Student-Debt Revolt Begins 
• International
• U.S. woman missionary kidnapped in central Nigeria 
• Islamic State in Syria abducts at least 150 Christians 
• Other
• U.S. Postal Service, FedEx Have New Competition…from Waffle House 
• Obama vetoes Keystone XL pipeline bill 
• After walking in their shoes, ex-prisoner leads reentry program 
• Robert Reich: America is winning the race to the bottom 
• Elizabeth Warren, Elijah Cummings Launch 'Middle Class Prosperity Project' 

I want to end this with Zen Pencil's latest offering: 172. ISAAC ASIMOV: A lifetime of learning. Go check it out!