Sometime earlier this year, I started saying, "That's rad." I'm not sure what started it, but after I realized that I said it three times within 20 minutes this afternoon, I considered my use of it. It's not like I have a great connection to the phrase, and I probably only substitute it for saying, "That's cool/awesome."
Rad. It obviously derives from radical. When I think of the word radical, I first think of hippies in the '70s. I don't know if that's when it became popular (sorry for the lack of research...it will be continued in this post...I'm really sleepy) or if my brain has some other reason to associate those, but it does. Then, I think about radical people.
Who are the radical people in your life?
Because of the protests / peace war happening in nearby-ish Ferguson, MO, I automatically think of that. Many of the people who I met in college are connected to the area, and some have even taken part in trying to help solve the situation. It is seriously heartbreaking what I have read on Twitter and Facebook about what is happening. I'm astonished that it is happening in America, and it's no longer simply an issue of Michael Brown's death. I know that gas bombs and shooting people with rubber bullets happen in other parts of the world much, much more frequently than in the US, but I think it takes a great amount of courage to stand up for what one believes in and try to make peace in the situation. Those peace-fighters are radical.
Other radical people who I admire are people who I only know through the internet and literature. Welcome to the awesomeness of Jamie Wright (theveryworstmissionary.com), Rachel Held Evans (rachelheldevans.com), and Sarah Bessey (sarahbessey.com).
Jamie was introduced to me first on Twitter, and then on her blog. Now, I also follow her on Instagram and Facebook. She is the most realistic Christian of, like, ever. For a while, she and her family - which includes her husband and three teenage sons - were missionaries in Costa Rica. Then, they moved back to the US and are living in California. She is passionate about reaching beyond Christian norms to lead people to Christ, and she is also passionate about freeing people who are held captive as sex slaves. I admire her work, her honesty, and her tell-it-like-it-is attitude with her family and her ridiculously creepy cat, Knives. Jamie is rad.
Rachel was introduced to me through one of her books, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, by a friend in February after that friend had listened to Rachel speak at my friend's alma mater. I fell in love with the book; Rachel researched 12 things in the Bible that women are supposed to do that are not commonly practiced, and she practiced each for one month. Her dedication to that alone was cool. Then, I found her Twitter and blog, and I continued to respect Rachel. She is blatant and stands up for social justice and is all around kick-butt. I recently read Rachel's other book, Faith Unraveled, which was originally published as Evolving in Monkeytown. Although I did not agree with everything that Rachel said in Faith Unraveled and everything that she posts online, I think she is living as Jesus called her to do: standing up for what she believes is right and following God as best as she can. Rachel is rad.
Sarah is my newest Christian writer who I fangirl over. I'm currently reading her book, Jesus Feminist. It's structured much differently than Rachel's books, but I can see where Sarah is going with the text. She grew up in Canada not knowing that sexism exists in the church, moved to the US and was amazed by the sexism that exists in the realm of Christianity, and moved back to Canada with her husband and three "tinies" (what she calls her kids) to pursue her fight in social justice while believing that Jesus was a feminist. To that, I say, "Right on." Sarah is rad.
So, obviously I admire these three Christian women who I have not met. I know Christians in real life who I think are rad, too.
Look around at the Christians who you know. Who is very blasé in the faith, and who is doing things to actively serve others? I really think that loving and serving others are two of the best characteristics of Christians, and it's what I strive to do (though they are both really difficult for me because I have a natural disposition to dislike people).
I am not at all a perfect Christian. I often fail to read my Bible regularly which is pretty sad because I love reading and I have given two talks about the importance of studying God's Word. I don't always reach out to others when I should, and I am kind of a bad friend at times.
I'm a work in progress, but...aren't we all?
So, what do I do to try to be rad?
I work closely with Chrysalis, a bi-annual church camp which I regularly work on with monthly services where I am on the board for the community. I volunteer at my town's consignment store about once a month. I try to be uplifting on social media (at times when I'm not talking about how much I dislike people). I play keys in my church band sometimes; this may not be super rad, but I'm using my love of music and slight amount of talent to serve God and hopefully serve others.
I feel like being a Beta Club Co-Sponsor is a calling in my life. It may seem silly that a club of high school students is what I think is one of the very most important parts of my life, but teenagers deal with a lot of crap, and I want to put positivity in their lives while allowing them to have fun learning how to serve others and be involved in the community.
I try to not use churchy words. While hanging out with three friends tonight who happen to be Christians, we were discussing whether we were "hanging out" or "fellowshipping." Why do people put certain terms on Christians spending time together? I think it's weird, dude. I also hate when people say that they are going to "love on" others. Why can't you just "love" someone?
Aaaand now this is an awkward ending because I don't have a way to wrap this up because my brain stopped thinking of words and I only want rice which is what I'm going to eat now but I don't have any soy sauce so it's going to be plain and kind of gross and this is a run-on sentence like obvi...
What are you doing to be rad?
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