7 An experimental mutiny against excess

This book is what has my feathers all ruffled.  It's what I said would turn your whole world upside down. It is amazing.  I had a friend (or a sister of a friend, as it were) that blogged some about her experience with this book and I faithfully read about it, but that was about as far as I took it.  Hmm... that's interesting... for her.  But not me.  typical.  And then another friend was reading it at a Girl Scout meeting last week and I realized it was the same book.  Okay... maybe I should listen.  I downloaded it on my kindle this week and I read half the book in one day.  It's captivating.... and humiliating.  I mean, the book isn't, but the way I felt about my careless, out of sight, out of mind attitude to the poor and wasteful life I've been living is humiliating... to put it lightly.
We give to our church... and other "worthy" charities, we take food to the sick and all that... but are we paying attention to the people we pass on the street that are hungry?  I don't.  They make me sad... but I keep on doing whatever I'm doing.  It's pathetic.
In the book, Jen Hatmaker (find her on facebook, you won't regret it) and her husband have started a church in Austin, TX.  They decide, together, to start a fast on 7 different areas in their lives.  Food (not entirely, but they limit their intake for a month to 7 different foods), media, spending, waste, clothing, stuff... and something else that I can't remember now since I haven't gotten to it in the book.  It's amazing the number of things that have us under their control... that aren't worthy.  It's amazing the things we fill our time with that doesn't matter.  Why!?  What are we here for?  I've been accused before of being crunchy (Lauren, I'm looking at you.. hehe!), but this book says (paraphrase b/c I don't want to go flip through my kindle to find the quote) stop thinking about this as being a tree-hugger and start thinking of it as being a good steward of what the Lord has given us.  It's also this book that has caused me to check out a book at the library called Compost, the natural way to make food for your garden.  I'm in trouble.
But for reals... it will make you think differently about the things that have "a-hold" of you as we say in sweet home Alabama.  Read it... you won't regret it.