The Poor Will Always Be With You

I have been thinking about poverty the last couple of days. Jesus said the poor will always be with you. I remember reading somewhere that poverty, physical poverty (I know there is a spiritual poverty as well, but this isn't what I am talking about) is really alienation from a society on the basis of wealth. The term poor is a relative term. So in a society like in the US our poor may have hot water, electricity, TV ect. But they are still poor because they are alienated (haves vs. have nots). But there has to be a difference between poor and struggle for survival. There are areas in the world where poverty has placed people in a daily fight for survival.

I have heard this statement, that the poor will always be with us, said many times as a reason why Christian churches don't need to focus on the poor in society. They need to focus on worshipping Jesus because the point of the passage is that the poor will always be with you. So when it comes to poverty that breeds inhumane conditions, the church still doesn't engage. Why? Because the poor will always be with you so they see this as a losing battle. No matter how much they engage it won't change the situation.

But I wonder if perhaps the situation can change. Perhaps the whole level of the world's living can be raised so that those who are considered poor, or alienated from the general society because of their wealth, will still have everything they need to live. I think of it in terms of illness and doctors. What if the doctors were to say you know the sick have always been with us and always will be. Everytime we come up with a cure a new disease comes along. Instead lets just focus on studying medicine and never applying it. The world would be a much worse place. The truth is that because of the doctors intentional efforts to solve medical issues the expected living age and quality of life has risen.

Wonder what would happen if the whole church engaged itself with the poor?

Fat with Material Goods

I was reading the Easter to Easter devotional today. Major Hinson uses the passage when Jesus went into the Temple and cleared out the money changers to prepare a place for prayer. This area was supposed to be a place of prayer "for all nations." Instead it had become the market place of only one nation.

I had a vision of our own country. In this vision we were all in that area of the Temple. There we were carrying on our religious functions in the wealthiest of manners. We bought the nicest buildings, furnished them with altars we couldn't afford, went into debt to attract people for the kingdom.

But across the world and across the street in some cases, children made altars out of trash piles and prayed for God to save them.

Christmas!

Well, just a little over an hour left in a day that I have been thinking about since June. My favorite season of the year. So forgive me if I am feeling just a little bit down. I am so glad that New Years falls just after Christmas. It gives me something to look forward to after the big day. I just want to take a moment to thank God for all that He is and does in this world and my life.

The world is a mighty messed up place. I got news from a friend today that his wife will be going through a major surgery within the next week. She has cancer and the situation does not look good. So today, while the rest of the world is merry, I doubt that they are "feeling" so merry. And honestly, it is difficult for me to feel merry with the weight of this news on my shoulders. It just seems like Christmas should be different. It seems like the world should be different.

Several friends have blogged about how Christ's virgin birth into this world was so fairytailish and yet we have heard the story so many times that it has become mundane. Well pain doesn't allow it to be mundane. Christ, this anomaly, is the reality of hope in a sinful world.

Merry Christmas!

Predestination

What's the difference between an Arminian who doesn't believe and act on behalf of world evangelism and a person who believes in predestination?

Not much.

For predestination believes that some people are predestined to hell.

And all over the world there are people who have never heard the gospel. And how can they believe if they haven't heard? And how can they be saved if they don't believe?

So if you believe that God wants all men to be saved then YOU must help provide them the opportunity. You can sit around in North America all day and debate the predestination and sovreignty character of God, but faith without works is dead.

So do you truly believe if you aren't actively engaged in bringing hope to the nations?

Would you rather?

Would you rather win a million dollars or solve global poverty?

My Grandfather

My Grandfather was a veteran of world war II. He was wounded twice. He had metal from the shrapnel that hit him that worked its way out of his eyes his entire life. He was a farmer. He owned over a couple hundred acres of farm land in Tennessee. He was up every morning before 5 am to study the Bible before starting his day. When he passed away they found thousands of dollars stored in some of his overalls in his closet because he didn't trust banks. He never talked on the phone. Most of his life was spent without indoor plumbing. He was a simple man. He had a twinkle in his eye whenever one of his grandchildren were mentioned. When did he pass away? 1997. Why am I writing about him now? Because I am sitting in my wife's grandmother's house. My wife's grandfather passed away this year and we are down here with their family for the first Christmas without him. Since its Christmas and all perhaps there is someone we can all thank God for whether they are still with us or with Him.

Ice Storm

In honor of the ice storm that swept through last evening:

Tree of white, leaves from sight,
Ice covered, frost bitten, dark of night,
Do you dare trust the Sun to melt the pain,
Or do thoughts of refreezing, your war paths tame?

Oh Beautiful, but frost covered tree,
listen to hear the warm melody,
open your branches where the birds may sing,
Open your branches its spring, Its Spring!

I've been tagged

Five things about something...

1. I know how to say "the frog is ribbotting in the marsh" in Kartuli which is the official language of The Republic of Georgia.
2. I hate tag games.
3. Will Bill Gates give me some money now?
4. I hate forwarded emails.
5. I love Christmas and start thinking about it in June.

PS I am not going to tag anyone so no one else has to go through this.

Doing the Most Good

Ok. So I am late to the party but it took me a while to form an opinion I wanted to share on this one...

I was in class tonight and we were using the analogy of a lake as the way organizations and churches work. On the outside of an organization all you see is the surface. As on the outside of the lake all you may see is the water and some ducks. But underneath the surface there all kinds of dynamics going on.

For instance, people see bell ringers, thrift stores and disaster canteens. That is the surface of the organization. But underneath the surface are the myths that we all buy into...listen to one:

While women weep as they do now, I'll fight.
While children go hungry as they do now, I'll fight.
While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, I'll fight.
While there remains one drunkard, one poor girl on the streets,
While there remains one dark soul without the light of God I'll fight, I'll fight to the very end!

W. Booth (supposedly)

And another:

"Wherever on earth there is a soul, there, in measure, must beat the heart of The Salvation Army." -Mrs. Commissioner Booth Tucker


These are the statements buried way down, deep in the mud of the so called organizational lake. Though they are not readily seen by the public they are foundational to the whole chemistry of the lake.

What I feel is that I wish, personally, that our brand came from somewhere deeper in our organizational fabric. To me it is a bobber when it should be an anchor. There was a Christian song that was popular a few years ago that went:

I'm diving in, I'm going deep in over my head,
I want to be Caught in the rush, lost in the flow,
in over my head, I want to go
The river's deep, the river's wide, the river's water is alive
So sink or swim, I'm diving in

Stephen Curtis Chapman

Joy asked how to do we engage the public with our faith? Well in my mind our organization has to do it with its statements as well as our soldiers with their personal ones.