June 2017
80/20 Split
21 June 2017 @ 17:19
In this fiasco that has become American politics I've heard this discussion about fair trade that benefits us as Americans. 'Others need to pay their fair share' I have heard shouted from the lectern. I hear talk of being a Christian nation and I have tried to put this all into perspective. I have always felt that being a Christian is to resemble the one I follow. I have chosen to follow Jesus and the Jesus I follow is one who identified with the poor and the oppressed; the outcasts. I have come to know my Savior as the One who paid it all because I was unable and, yes, even unwilling to live in the way that I knew I should live. And showing unconditional love Jesus simply loves me as I am and not as I should be. I can never pay my fair share and yet God's love for me never diminishes. Could our problem be that, although we as Americans use 80% of the world's goods while 80% of the world is left with the other 20%, we have never had the ability to simply be thankful for what we have? How do evangelicals cheer for a policy that will make the marginalized and oppressed pay when we profess to follow a savior who says I come to you in your poverty but fear not for I have paid it all. This is something a pagan nation would cheer for.
Tired & Broken
01 June 2017 @ 03:23
I find myself tired and a bit broken. I lay awake at 3 a.m. in a camp bunkbed pondering 'goodness'. The quality that we all possess to some extent. Each and every human being has that one thing that brings it to the forefront. A new baby; a pet; a family member; a sick friend or perhaps a neighbor hit by catastrophe. Sadly in this day and age it even seems that, for some, goodness never extends beyond self. The goodness that I am lying here pondering is not that kind of goodness. It is the goodness that extends beyond self and is, to some extent, sacrificial. Some folks possess it in minute quantities while others have it in abundance.
Since the mid 90’s I have had the incredible blessing of being able to spend a week around the beginning of June with the latter and I can only say that these people have become as family. Some of us may be here because it is our job. Maybe for some it's simply that. That thing we must do tin order to put bread on the table. For others it's a career that we have pursued because of a passion to make a difference in certain areas of society. Regardless of where we fall in those categories, I can only say shame on us if we let this come to an end. For a week I have watched children of different ethnic backgrounds join hands to sing, to laugh, to learn, to support each other and for this one week have the opportunity to see what a more perfect world looks like. Put aside the fact that they have learned more about their disease and ways to manage it. This is so much more than that. This is to give hope to the children about the world around them. To let them know that they are important and cared about. Loved! For some it may be the first opportunity they have had to experience real caring and cooperation and we have been given the gift of being able to be a part of that.
Since the mid 90’s I have had the incredible blessing of being able to spend a week around the beginning of June with the latter and I can only say that these people have become as family. Some of us may be here because it is our job. Maybe for some it's simply that. That thing we must do tin order to put bread on the table. For others it's a career that we have pursued because of a passion to make a difference in certain areas of society. Regardless of where we fall in those categories, I can only say shame on us if we let this come to an end. For a week I have watched children of different ethnic backgrounds join hands to sing, to laugh, to learn, to support each other and for this one week have the opportunity to see what a more perfect world looks like. Put aside the fact that they have learned more about their disease and ways to manage it. This is so much more than that. This is to give hope to the children about the world around them. To let them know that they are important and cared about. Loved! For some it may be the first opportunity they have had to experience real caring and cooperation and we have been given the gift of being able to be a part of that.