We are officers in The Salvation Army. A church with lines and regulations if there ever was one. And yet, I love it. I love the fact that it works outside the box - it reaches people that other churches don't really want to deal with. They may want to reach these people but it is hard and uncomfortable to actually deal with some of the people we deal with.

William Booth once made this personal challenge to himself . . .

While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight;
while little children go hungry, as they do now, I'll fight;
while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight;
while there is a drunkard left,
while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets,
while there remains one dark soul without the light of God,
I'll fight-I'll fight to the very end!

From: BOOTH THE BELOVED, by J Evan Smith (Oxford University Press, 1949), pages 123-124

This is where I want to be - how I want to feel. How do I channel that into my normal life of six kids, a house in suburbia, a minivan, and a dog?