Jesus Land

Well if you read my last post you know that I have rediscovered the joy of reading of the past several months. After the Narnia series the next on the list was a memoir recommended to me by my good friend Christina. We have always enjoyed a relationship of deep thought and discussions. Although we do not always agree, she challenges my in my thinking and I really appreciate her for it. I read "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver on her recommendation several years ago (actually now that I think about it it was almost a decade ago - wow I am feeling old) and I really chewed on it for a long time. "Jesusland" by Julia Scheeres has proved to be the same. I actually had to put it down a couple of times because it was too much for me to handle. It made me so angry and sad and disgusted all at the same time. I think one of the hardest parts for me was knowing that the story was true and the author and her brother actually had to endure the things that made me physically ill. It all still haunts my mind. I was going to summarize to book here, but I figure that you can read it for yourself if you're interested. Instead I will try to tell you what I've learned from it.

1) Christianity is so much more than words. It is who you are, both in public and private. We need to strive to be examples of Christ's love in our homes first and foremost.

2) I never want to waste an opportunity to tell my children that I love them and shower them with kisses and hugs. Just reading about the distance between Julia and her mom and knowing that Julia never felt loved and appreciated by her mom makes me strive to never give my children cause to feel that way.

3) Discipline that does not strive to change the heart does not work. I already knew this one, but this book really made it hit home. When Julia and her brother were sent to the reform school they learned behavior modification very quickly. They learned to act the way that their superiors told them to act in order to make life more tolerable (if that word could describe anything at La Escuela Caribe). It did not make their hearts more open to the ways of the Lord. It anything just the opposite happened. Because of the demeaning and demoralizing punishment they were forced to endure, they actually became more antagonistic to the Lord. Discipline should always be done from true love.

4) "God is who HE says He is not who these people say He is." This is a quote taken from the website that contains people's stories about their time at one or more of New Horizon Youth Ministries reform schools (where Julia and her brother were sent). We need to hold to the truths of the Bible, not to what other people tell us or want to "shove down our throats."

5) People can do some really awful things in the name of Jesus Christ. I'm sure that some of the people who worked at these reform schools had good intentions, but their actions were not representative of what Jesus would want them to do. It is really sad to read about what was done to these children.

6) We can never assume that we know what is going on in someone else's home. Even the most wonderful looking Christian homes can hide the most horrible abuse. We should always be sensitive to the needs of children - no matter how wonderful their home life appears.

7) Racism is a sick horrible thing. Again, I already knew this one, but the book really made me take a more activist stand. We should not only strive to be accepting of all races, but work to make others more so as well.

I know that this is just a small sampling of what I have learned from this book. If you enjoying an engrossing & challenging read, please pick it up. It sure will make you think.