I thought change was a coin...

Change? What does that even mean!!?!!

I like Webster's very first definition of the word: "to make radically different (see also TRANSFORM)." For those of us who work in the 'church' for a living, would typically follow that with: "That'll preach!!"

Webster goes on to say:

1 c : to give a different position, course, or direction to
2 a : to replace with another
b : to make a shift from one to another
d : to undergo a modification
1 : to become different
5 : to undergo transformation, transition, or substitution
6 : to put on different clothes

See... I thought change was a coin, a nickel or a dime. (-Alathea)

What does it mean to 'change the world?' I mean THE WORLD!! Does anyone have any clue just how big the world is? Let me give you an idea...

According to the the US Census Bureau (2006):

In South West Florida, where I live, there are 1.1 Million people. In numerical form, it looks something like this: 1,100,000 people. That's a lot of zeros.

In the state of Florida, coincidentally where SWFL is located, there are 18,089,888 people. Interesting... lot's of 8's now...

In the great country of the United States of America there are over THREE-HUNDRED MILLION people.

And according to the Central Intelligence Agency of the USA, as of July 2007 there are 6.6 BILLION people in the world. 6,602,224,175 to be more specific.

I wonder what it would take to CHANGE them (see again the definition above.)

What could be done to RADICALLY transform them. Transform their lives? Their actions? Their thoughts? Their speech even?

I often think about this. How could I, just one random guy with no REAL talents (outside of being able to fake having real talents really well..) change the world? I suck at talking. I'm not rich. I'm not powerful. I'm not strong. I've got bad hair, and can barely read on a 4th grade level. What can I do the CHANGE the world?

Well... the answer is: nothing.

Pretty anti-climactic, huh?

Before I go any further, let me explain a few things.

My name is Slim. Slim Gillian, to be more precise. I live in a small house, in a small town, in a small state. I live with a small thought process, small dreams and small faith.

I wake up in the morning (and neglect to thank God for allowing me to live just one more day,) I make some breakfast and then usually eat said breakfast.

I go to work at Summit Church, where I complain about my work load and about how much my co-workers disrespect what I do (and neglect to thank God for giving me a means to make decent money and live.)

Once I get pissed off enough at my job I drive home in my nice car, a deep red Chrysler Concorde LXI, completely decked-out... all leather, power EVERYTHING, which was GIVEN to me, because of my 'work and dedication' to God (and neglect to thank God for giving me a means of transportation.)

I get home to my wife-to-be, Laura, and my punk-rock dog, Dude, just to be a jerk to both of them (and neglect to thank God for such an AMAZING woman, and such a punk-rock dog.)

Long story short: I'm a jackass. Not like the "Ohhh!! You said the 'A-S-S' word... I'm telling!" kind of way... more of the "It's a Donkey... get away with saying it on ACME cartoons kind of way..." (please... don't tell my mommy...)

So... I suppose now the question can be more refined: What can a jackass do to change the world?

As you could imagine, the answer is the same.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

In just over 24 hours, I will be boarding a plane headed towards a 12 day journey. A journey that I hope will be life changing... not just for the people that I'm going to see and work with, but for myself.

I head to a slum (Kibera) inside the city of Nairobi, which is in Kenya, which is in Africa... or as I like to call it: A-Freak-ah. "It's this whole other country..." (-Forrest Gump)

For the next, almost, two weeks I will be living, eating, breathing, laughing, and crying with the people of Kibera.

Know how big an acre is? Think about an acre. Mmmmm... nice acre...

Now think about 843 of them in a circular-type layout.

Congratulations, you've just imagined Central Park, NY. Stay with me now...

Imagine Central Park, NY... add some housing structures, made of clay a sticks. Make sure that you didn't imagine running water or plumbing. Throw in armed government officials to make sure you "stay in line."

Congratulations, you've just imagined a slum.

One last thing... imagine that slum... the size of Central Park, NY... a mere 843 acres... with 1.1 million people living (and dieing) in it.

Number sound familiar? That's right... the same amount of people that live in the ENTIRETY of SWFL (Naples, Bonita, Ft. Myers, Cape Coral, Marco, Sanibel, Lehigh, LaBelle, and every other city that I'm forgetting) inhabit a slum the size of Central Park.

Congratulations, you've just imagined Kibera.

Now, what could one guy do to change JUST Kibera? Sadly, nothing.

One would imagine that the question would need to be changed to render a positive response. So... with that in mind: How could God USE someone (especially some no name guy with bad reading skills) to change Kibera, Central Park, Africa, Florida... the world?

What could God do to use some guy to reach EVERY man, woman and child?

The answer: everything.

I started walking with God a year and a half ago. I stopped walking with him, and went into more of a slow crawl about 6 months ago.

I used to have many people holding me accountable to my actions. Many people holding me to a higher standard of living.

Now... not so much.

Not that I blame them... but without at least a small degree of accountably in your life, you are destined to fail. I believe it was bible that said that life couldn't be done by yourself, and that we're meant to lift each other up in spirit and in prayer.

What's the purpose of this blog, (and more importantly this RIDICULOUSLY long post) you ask?

My hope is that perhaps one person out there will be able to read these posts, and watch as God does some AMAZING things in my life... as I expand my thoughts and start to walk with Christ once again.

And perhaps that person can 'check me' on my sprititual walk.

I love you all... wish me luck in this new journey: One man's journey... to change the world. One small thinking, bad haired jackass (in the ACME kind of way) kinda guy at a time.

I used to think change was a coin... a nickel or a dime...

SLIM