I haven't been converted yet...not totally at least. As this life unfolds daily before my very eyes I am becoming more and more aware that I am still changing...and I'm not really the one behind it. And the author behind this change has scandalized my heart, knowingly ripped it away from all my prior loves and ruined me for anything remotely near a normal life on this planet all out of an unquenchable burning love for me.

Oscar Romero, a bishop from El Salvador, based many of his homilies and sermons on conversion. Although he went down in history as a human-rights activist and martyr for the cause of equality, I believe his mission was much deeper. He wasn't just calling for rights or for a cause...he was calling for a change, an earth-shaking kind of change. Romero called the people who heard him (both victims and oppressors) to convert, to leave the old ways of the world (fear, violence, retaliation, revenge) behind and pursue the values of Christ's kingdom (love, compassion, humility, affection, forgiveness). Note, is dramatically different from the message of many other activists throughout time specifically because Romero provides the why of activism: Christ. Because God has created every human being, because Jesus has provided a different way of life, of dealing with the pain and conflict of the world, and because we as his children have a different sort of hope, we can protest the injustices and cruelties of this world and unashamedly say why we protest.

So this same conversion Romero called all his listeners to is the conversion experience I am experimenting with. Nope, I'm not there yet. And yes, it is oftentimes confusing, frustrating, painful....and liberating. Let's be changed. Let's let the gospel convert us.