Opie Doesn't Live Here Anymore

I just started reading, Opie Doesn't Live Here Anymore: Where Faith, Family, and Culture Collide by Walt Mueller. It's about what it means for God's people and the world to meet. I've read several book about our changing culture, but so far this is my favorite and I'm only on Chapter 2.

Walt (yes, we are on a first name basis) is one of my favorite authors and speakers when it comes to youth culture. He is connected to the world and has some great insight! I'm excited to hear him speak at National Youth Workers Convention this November!

Anyways, the introduction starts off with saying these 3 things:

1. Everything and everybody is pretty messed up. Sin has affected the very core of our world and our selves.

2. God hasn't thrown up his arms and stepped back, abandoning us to the consequences of our rebellion against him.

3. You and I aren't here in this time and place by accident. God has placed us as his particular people in this particular time and this particular place to live out his will and his way under his reign.

Chapter One begins with Barbie facts (I've heard these a few times, but each time it hits me...). It says, "Someone once did a little calculating and discovered that if Barbie was a real, live woman, she'd stand at 7'2'' tall and have measurements of 40-22-36." I laughed when Walt wrote "I've always felt sorry for her--Barbie was cursed with a foot problem so severe that whenever she kicked off her super-high-heeled shoes, she had to walk around on the balls of her feet." I honestly never wanted to look like my Barbies, even though I thought they were pretty. I love days when I don't put makeup on and I put my hair in a ponytail and I sit around in grubby clothes. As a female though, I could easily come up with a Top 5 Things I Want to Change About My Body list and that makes me sad. I hate that the world around me has made outward appearance such a big thing.

Here is a list of statistics I found disturbing:

-By the time girls reach the age of 13, 53% say they are unhappy with their bodies. By the time they're 17, 78% are dissatisfied.

-40-80% of 4th grade girls are dieting.

-Today at least 1/3 of 12 year-olds are actively trying to lose weight by dieting, vomiting, using laxatives, or taking diet pills.

-63% of high-school girls are on diets.

-In 1998, twenty-two thousand American teens had cosmetic surgery--an increase of 95% since 1992. (I'm sure it would be even a crazier percentage today.)

-Anorexia is the 3rd most common chronic illness in adolescent girls

-25% of all anorexics are boys.

-Bulimia has touched the lives of as many as 10% of the young women in America.

Chapter 1 could be a whole book by itself!

Why does the world take our outward appearance as the primary expression of who we are? How did this happen? Once again, the fallen world we live in hurts my heart.