Will evil prevail?

I've just finished watching a compelling lecture from Samantha Power, academic and foreign policy adviser to Obama, in answer to the question: Will evil prevail? Power has spent many years researching and writing on genocide and I'm familiar with her writing on the Rwandan Genocide, in particular.
This lecture was a challenging reminder on each individual persons role in shaping history and the possibility for change. Power shares the story of a UN envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello, in illustrating creative ways, and sometimes misunderstood ways, of affecting change.
Most moving is her final statement.... "Will evil prevail?.... Not unless we let it."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lZ55gHabAA

I don't do well with chaos. I'm one of those people who likes order, knowing the answers, having things neatly labelled and boxed.

Much to my discomfort, this doesn't fit well with the two most significant things in my life.

My faith journey with God is messy, complicated and most of the time filled with unanswerable questions. It is beautiful, exhilarating, confusing, frustrating, poignant... and messy.

My passion for social justice, my studies (a mix of anthropology, human geography, politics and international studies) and attention to global issues are also, well, filled with chaos.

My biggest battle over the last year has been to make sense of both these realities. To understand how faith and social justice intersect; how they both find meaning and expression in my life. Of course, I'm discovering that this is a battle that will probably never end... this is a journey I will make for the rest of my life. Which is a hard realisation for my order-loving nature to make!

However, this is a battle I'm willing to fight. I want to live a life that expresses my faith AND my desire to see greater justice in the world; because I believe that is what God is passionate about as well.

So this is what I want to write about.... I want to blog my journey and all the things I learn as I move through each day trying to make sense of the chaotic beauty of living. Writing is the way I have always made sense of things. Writing is my thought process. Writing this blog is a way for me to make sense of the issues I am dealing with.... And if along the way I encourage, challenge, get others thinking and talking about the issues, then I will have fulfilled part of what I think God calls me to.