Each and every one of us ought to see some form of injustice near us. If we don't, we're blind. And we can each work in that sphere. It's unlikely that that injustice will be something with the media attention of, say, Haiti. But, it's injustice none-the-less. And something can, and should, be done about it.

As for the Haitis, and tsunamis, of this world. Give generously to those who are there working on the ground. And, as you grapple with injustice near to you, don't be afraid to ask your fellow Christians to help you out in a tangible manner as well.

So

I agree that we can get bogged down with the problems to the point that we give up on finding simple solutions. Our family has also been accused of "jumping on the liberal bandwagon" for making choices that we feel move us towards living justly, as God calls us to live.

A recent event in our journey was to buy a car that runs on vegetable oil. I know – it seems extreme, but it is also a lot of fun! My husband, myself and our three daughters approach things like that as adventures with a purpose. We talk about it and participate in the efforts together. A big way we have done this over the past 2-3 years is to change the way we buy and prepare food (family farms, baking bread, a vegetable garden in the back yard for us and our neighbors). Thanks in large part to your book, Julie, we also have reduced how many single-use items we use around the house.

I work as a youth pastor, so the comment about how we approach guiding students really connected with me. Parents want us to "fix" their kids and keep them from certain behaviors. And they want us to do it in two hours a week, starting at age 13. It isn't popular or always well received, but we tell them no. We are not going to use the limited time we have with their students to primarily address a list of "forbidden" behaviors. Instead, we spend the majority of our time talking about who God is and casting a vision for how we can participate in God's activity in the world. This starts with helping them shape their identity as the beloved of God. If that is in place, we trust the behaviors that represent humility, mercy and justice will follow. Then it will be their idea, not ours or their parents, which means they will actually follow through!

Sorry to ramble, but, like I said, this thread connected with me on so many levels. I'm looking forward to learning more about how people are living differently and creatively.

I have led work groups on Habitat for Humanity work trips. Yes, it's a great feeling to see a blank space of land on Monday and see a house on Friday. But the bigger issues don't work that way. My current church takes a medical mission trip up the Amazon river every year. Because we see the same conditions each year some people wonder what the use is. We've been going 7 years. How long has Malaria existed on the Amazon?

I was working with Habitat in Cleveland, Ohio one year. I met a guy who was about 50 years old and was also working there. He kept telling me that Cleveland was the city of the future. 30% of the property in Cleveland proper was vacant. With rising fuel costs, people would begin moving back into the city. They were already building more bike paths. The city's proximity to the lake meant that potential for wind power was enormous. This place, Man, is the city of the future.

I asked him when he saw this happening. His response: 75 years. He was already 50, and was dedicating his life to a future he knew he would never see.

We have to suck it up and jump in for the long haul.

It took us a long time to get into this mess; it's going to take a long time to get out. Sure, there have been some conspiracies, greed, and oppression, but there have also been other places where we are simply experiencing the price of progress. I can't say for sure, but I'm guessing that the guy who invented styro-foam was just looking for a way to keep your beer cold, not to develop something that would never bio-degrade.

We know now what we didn't know before, but it's going to take a long time to put that knowledge to work and move forward.

I'm sorry to ramble, but I remember a TOP-TEN on Letterman from when I was in college (1988-1992). It was TOP-TEN headlines of the year 2000. One of them was, "Oat Bran: the Silent Killer." While that hasn't proven true, it does lift up that there are times we discover something that seems fantastic at the time, only to find out later that it's not.

"Look, Honey. There's this black stuff under the ground. We can burn it and keep our house warm."

"Sir, your x-ray shows you have Black Lung from all the coal dust you've inhaled."

"Sir, you have cancer from all the radiation you received from these x-rays."

If we want to make real change, we need to be willing to work for change we will never see.

I wonder if some of the sentiment behind resisting simple living is that many churches do want to live that way within their organizations. They feel less "successful" when they don't have big buildings, fancy coffee bars, big screen tv's for the kids.

Rather than preaching idealism, we need to be showing a different way of living. We are far less capable of doing the latter than the former.

This is precisely why your book is important Julie! Thanks for giving people somewhere to start- and giving pastors like me a resource to offer.

And actually doing something about it can have unpleasant consequences — see, for example, Shock suspension of Methodist bishop Paul Verryn: Khanya.

I would certainly like to know more about the kind of houses you mention, and I think there may be opportunities to do something about that here.