Renewing Your Image of Poverty & Wealth
October 27, 2008
Happy are those who consider the poor; the LORD delivers them in the day of trouble. The LORD protects them and keeps them alive; they are called happy in the land. You do not give them up to the will of their enemies. The LORD sustains them on their sickbed; in their illness you heal all their infirmities. Psalm 41:1-3 NRSV
Consider the Poor is the new course we’ve developed and we’re excited that it is being released today at the Christian Association of Youth Mentoring (CAYM) conference in St. Petersburg, Florida and at the National Outreach Convention next week in San Diego. It is a new take on the Understanding Poverty course I have been teaching for years in the Tri-State area.
My wife and I have been serving in the inner city for about 20 years in various capacities and we have a soft spot for the ‘under served’ whether they are homeless, formerly incarcerated, in another country or students at a university. Today, we’d like for you to take a moment to consider the poor. As you can see above, the Lord has a great love for the poor and will defend those who defend them…an interesting insurance policy.
Those who we label ‘less fortunate’ often have a greater appreciation for life, for things, for people. Many hold a great sense of dignity even without all of the trappings of society. There is much that we can learn from association with all types of people, and looking at these economic times, the debt most Americans have, and the fact that many are only a paycheck or two or a layoff away from situational poverty; it would behoove us to consider the poor.
Blessed, happy, to be envied are those who invest time in considering the poor. In a society where we avert our eyes, presume that we’re being taken, or do our civic duty by feeding them once a year; it would be a nice change of pace for us to really consider: which means -to think carefully before making a decision- about the poor. We have seen many ‘rich’ people who are miserable. We would love to share our insights with you, for every person and every church to engage the poor and receive the blessing of the Lord.
If you’ve attended the course, give us your feeback. Or tell us your story of blessing in sharing with, loving and helping the poor and how the Lord has blessed you in return…
A Different Africa
October 7, 2008
Most of the portrayals I’d seen of Africa were for the most part much more primitive than what we experienced in Malawi and this country is in the bottom four poorest in Africa (with a per capita income of about $200 per year). However, the countenance of the people did not reflect a poverty spirit. Even though they were really poor, it was like nobody had told them.
- Somehow the media also neglected to tell us about the commerce and industry, the upper and middle class, the infiltration of foreign businesses, roads, houses, flat screen TV’s, burgers, pizzerias, Italian, Chinese and Irish restaurants with botanical gardens, western clothing, Toyotas, Nissans, Mercedes and cell phones that we would find.
- Of course 2/3 of the folks were walking or on bikes, sometimes carrying pounds of produce or wood on their heads, live chickens on sticks or eating sugar cane from the stalks.
- We knew about the cows, goats, chickens and mosquitos…but no one told us about the lakefront beach resorts, botanical gardens and traffic jams.
There was a lot about Malawi that would have seemed ‘normal’ to an American. There was a class system although much more dramatic than what we experience; all of the classes were certainly represented. The poverty is true poverty. The poor in America would be deemed middle class or more there. Those who have middle class status are struggling hard to maintain it- much more than we have to struggle. It is amazing how easy it is to take for granted all of the blessings of God. Clean water, shelter, a choice of clothing, a choice of food. Readily available banking where you don’t have to wait for an hour to get money out of an ATM. I live in a small house in a nondescript neighborhood but if I were in Africa at the same price I could live in a mansion with guest houses and house boys. Probably 3 generations of a family or three families would be able to share the house we live in. One family could live in our garage alone… I am always struck by how God has given us enough resources so that no one would lack, but we in the west and in Europe are squandering the lion’s share of them. What can I do, what can we do to help to close the gap of poverty, even though in American terms we don’t have a whole lot?
Our Invitation to Malawi
October 7, 2008
That’s ME at the Johannesburg, South Africa Airport - we were in the air for 23 hours!
I had no intention of going to Africa and saw no real possibility of going, so it was not on my radar. Sherman had been to Kenya and really wanted to return.
In March I prayed with my co-workers that God would release me into the calling He had for me and since that time things have pretty much been a whirlwind. Part of that was the invitation to minister at the Malawi National Assemblies of God Women’s Conference, which came from our friend and pastor Chris Beard at First Christian Assembly of God in Cincinnati. www.fcacincinnati.org He met with Sherman a month before he asked me, but Sherman didn’t tell me ’cause he thought I might say no.
At first when I was asked I thought Chris said Maui he said it so fast. But since God had already been opening a lot of doors, I knew I had to say yes.
I was very nervous about going to Africa because I’m an American and I didn’t necessarily have a nationalist perspective about Africa. All the propaganda about Africa did not lend me to wanting to go there. I, unlike Alex Haley, don’t know my roots to any country in Africa. This didn’t bother me much since as an adopted person I don’t even know who my parents are.
However it was undeniably God, so we asked Pastor Chris to send us with someone who had already gone there in October of 2007. He chose a wonderful couple, Tim & Audrey Holtzman, and we began to raise the funds to go…
