my radical experiment

A few weeks ago, I read and reviewed Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream. In my review, I said I thought Radical would ultimately change me. It's already beginning, as I have embarked on my own version of "The Radical Experiment."

I began on May 18. Because I know how easy it would be for me to quit at some point, I want to make public what commitments I've made so you can help keep me accountable! Each commitment, which is taken directly from Radical, will be followed by what I plan to do.

1. I will pray for the entire world. I'm using Operation World, a book Radical's author recommended. My version was last updated in 2004, so I'm sure some of the "countries" I'll be praying for no longer exist! A new version will be released this fall, but I didn't want to wait that long for the book. What I really love about the book is it lists the countries by date. Since I was starting on May 18, I just turned to the May 18 page and started there.
2. I will read through the entire Word. I don't know that I've ever done this before. In theory, I did in high school, as we were supposed to read the New Testament in Freshman Bible and the Old Testament in Sophomore Bible. However, I'm pretty sure I quite liberally skimmed (or is it scanned?) large chunks of the OT. I'm using the Deliberate People reading plan. Each day's reading only takes 20 minutes or so ... the key is not to get behind!
3. I will sacrifice my money for a specific purpose. I'm not sure what purpose this is yet--I know I want it to be something that I don't currently support. As a part of this (but by no means all), I'm committing to not purchasing any dvds for myself for the next year and putting the money I'd normally spend on dvds towards this purpose, whatever it ends up being. This could very well be the most difficult aspect of this experiment for me. To some ... probably most ... of you, not spending money on dvds would be no big deal. But if you've seen my movie and TV show collection, you know that I enjoy adding to my dvd library on a regular basis. My resolve has already been tested (can we say Amazon.com's TV week?), and it's sure to be tested again. But I'm determined to do this. And if you have any ideas of where I could give my money, let me know! (I do have one dvd I fully intend to purchase, so I'll be upfront about it: Well over a year ago, I promised myself I could buy the complete series of Sports Night once I lost 30 pounds. I'm down 20 now, so chances are the remaining 10 will come off during this year. And when that happens, I'm giving myself my reward!)
4. I will spend time in another context. Platt recommends at least a week spent serving others and sharing Christ. Again, I don't know yet what this looks like, but I'm praying about it. This is the one area where I will probably need more than a year. Due to my job, it's difficult to get away during the school year, and as I don't yet know where I'm going, I doubt it will happen this summer (though God could surprise me!). So I'll probably have to do this after school lets out next May.
5. I will commit my life to a multiplying community. This means getting more involved at my church. For starters, I should probably start attending Sunday School on a regular basis ... especially considering the reason I don't is I want to get more sleep! I also need to pursue church membership. I've been considering it for a long time--and by "considering" I mean thinking about it every once in a while and not taking any steps to make it happen. I like my church and have no plans to leave, so I should commit to it.