I've Been Thinking

I admit, I’m not doing enough.

While I was at a pretty amazing conference over Christmas break, I was made aware/more aware of some stuff happening and about 30 seconds from any of us. I know that I seem more biased with poverty in America than the world—we don’t have any horrible poverty here. I mean, its bad in the US but not compared to the world. And yet I find myself thinking about what I see or don’t see on a daily basis.

As part of an “assignment” at work I’ve been doing some research and doing some personal study into poverty and those in need in America. My problem isn’t what I’ll eat tonight, its which of the meals in my pantry, fridge, freezer or deep freezer will I choose today. And it really gnaws at me. Not my hunger pangs mind you, I haven’t really had those probably ever. Not the fact that it was way cold here last night and without really thinking I simply head to the thermostat and kick up the heat a little.

And sure I have debt, a house payment, a nice hospital deductible to meet here in the coming days. But I have insurance. A steady job. My wife doesn’t have to work to pay bills.

And I read and think about what is going on and feel so selfish. And I don’t know what to do with myself some days.

I recently got a book which I’ll probably dive into after the one that is currently beating me over the head. It’s called Nickel and Dimed and it’s the story of a lady who couldn’t make it living on minimum wage. And she’s considered rich in America. Actually the stats say there are a lot like her, 28.4% of the households living in poverty are a female householder, no husband present.

Ironically my friends at Sojo sent an email to all the people on their list and an article caught my eye. You have to read this. It’s lengthy but I’m begging. And as you read, I think we all need to realize the approach has to be mercy, not judgement. But I’m willing to bet they aren’t the folks we want bringing kids to our youth group or sitting by us in church. We’ve got all our reasons why it is this way, we’ve got our list of how they got there. But seriously, who cares about all that—we, church, have to care about them. I need to start with me. I hope you’ll take the time. And somewhere else in the back of your mind, remember this guy is still making around $15K a year--that's a lifetimes wages and then some for millions of people around the world.