leaving one's comfort zone

Someone I know from church, Ben, is going to Kenya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenya) on a mission through Presbyterian Church (USA) (http://www.pcusa.org/) and Church World Service (http://www.churchworldservice.org/).

Leaving one's comfort zone to engage in a humanitarian project is something that I can admire. Nonetheless I know I wouldn't do it and I could come up with hundreds of excuses not to do it.

Take a look at his blog (http://bensnipes.blogspot.com/2010/06/getting-ready.html) where Ben will write about his experiences in Kenya. He's currently asking for small donations to come up with $4500 that he still needs for this mission trip. If you can, go to his site and click on the first link on the right of the page, which should take you to the General Assembly Mission Council (http://gamc.pcusa.org/) website. If you have any questions, contact Ben Snipes (bensnipes@gmail.com).

As I mentioned, Ben's trip is something I can admire and this is the only reason why I'm helping him out.

Cuba, 31 years later

After going through some old articles, I read an article how Cuba is becoming a Christian nation once again (http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2010/10280.htm). The Cuban constitution changed the description of the nation from atheist (hostile, government rejection to religion) to secular (neutral, government tolerance to the practice of religion) on 04/02/1990.

With this change, several Christian groups of various denominations have started or continued now without persecution to teach others about God as if this was a savage, Godless and/or pagan land. These missionaries are rebuilding the religious infrastructure of the country that was practically on hold for about three decades -- about two generations of Cubans brought up or at least coaxed via propaganda in the idea that man's supreme above all and/or there's no God -- since the Communist takeover in 1959. Although humans unlearn ideas and habits slowly and learn new ones even more slowly, Christian congregations seem to have been growing rapidly for the past two decades. It would take some more time for most of the population to find God once more.

This proves that humans need to believe in God -- not only to explain the unknown, but rather to cope with life itself. Perhaps the most important right anyone can have is practicing the religious and/or spiritual beliefs that he/she prefers.