amazing grace

A few posts ago I told you that I'd soon be blogging about the movie Jenny and I went to see a couple weekends ago: Amazing Grace. Jenny and I both gave it the "thumbs up."

It was one of those rare movies that inspires. Maybe it wouldn't inspire everyone. Perhaps some would find it simply very educational, if anything. It impacted me.

For those of you who don't already know, William Wilberforce was a member of the British Parliament and was the key leader of the parliamentary campaign against the slave trade.

The movie documented his struggle against the 'good ol' boys' network, politics, and high society. The main thing I took from the film about Wilberforce was this: The dude persevered. He did not give up. He had passion and he wasn't willing to stand by and do nothing while knowing that fellow human beings were suffering. And he didn't just assume someone else would take care of it. He decided to do something about it.

Have you ever wondered what makes some men great? I have a theory about the key to greatness: Great men just get off their butts and make things happen. I don't know if William Wilberforce was exceptionally smart, or eloquent, or charismatic. I just think that he, like a lot of other men we would consider "great," just decided to get into the game and engage in a full-on assault against the slave trade.

I really think that the difference between a great man and a good man is that the great man just decides to do something.

We've all had that stirring within us to make a difference in the world--a divine restlessness that God has given us in attempt to awaken us from our sleepwalking on this earth. We've all been moved to the point of tears at some kind of human suffering in the world. Yet few of us act upon that stirring. Few of us do anything more than throw a few dollars at the problem and then pat ourselves on the back for being such a compassionate human being.

I think we all could be great. I know we all won't be. Why? Because most of us are just plain lazy. That or we're afraid. Fear paralyzes. I say we get over it and just go for it. I don't want to be the guy who could have made a difference in the world and just didn't have the courage or the gumption to act. I want to be a part of ending suffering in our world.

Is it too big of a task? Am I just talking pie-in-the-sky? Maybe. But so what? I can take that attitude and do nothing. Or I can act. I can actually do something about injustice. I want to be that guy. I want to rock the world with the power of compassion.