Most everyone you meet will tell you they want to leave the world in a better state than it was when they were born. Some people may even be willing to tell you that they want to turn it upside down. Even fewer will actually know how to go about accomplishing this desire. Luckily, that is what Ordinary is all about. Tony Merida writes in an easy to understand manner and one that will both challenge and inspire you.
Early on in the book Ordinary by Tony Merida I quickly identified with Merida. He knew that God deeply cared for the needy and the less fortunate. Sadly, like Merida, I found myself giving simple lip service to the thought of me actually doing something. I had disguised my actions for a long time as actually caring for those that needed justice. If you were to ask me if I believed helping those in poverty, slavery, prison, or an orphanage were important, I would tell you I did, but yet I was not actually doing anything about it.
In fact, as I sit here on my comfortable couch with a heated home, I have still yet to do anything about it. Up until this point I have simply decided that I ought to be doing something and simply deciding accomplishes nothing. It is the process of actually doing something that will change the world. I may not have the ability to change the world overnight, but I have the option to do one thing to help turn the world upside down.
Throughout Ordinary, Merida gives plenty of avenues for people to get involved with different mercy ministries whether that is adoption and orphan care or prison ministry or human trafficking. He intentionally lists things you can do to help combat these things in your personal life or as a church and lists organizations to help you along the way.
One thing I was grateful to see is Merida did not try to push everyone to adopt like he and his wife. He simply encourages the reader to raise their engagement level. He recognizes that not everyone may be in a position to adopt or may even be called to adopt, but we are all responsible for being informed and understanding exactly what is happening throughout the world.
If you have a free afternoon, I would encourage you to pick this book up. It is a fairly short read and will change your world if you feel as if there has to be more to the typical outlined Christian life. While prayer and scripture memorization is important, it is also important that we are educated and lending a hand to those in need around us.
What am I going to do now? First, before I head to bed tonight, I am going to research a few relief organizations that are working to help to meet the basic needs of starving children around the world. After that I am heading to catch a little bit of sleep. But tomorrow, I plan to turn the world upside down.
