A few (okay lots) of things are occupying my time and thoughts lately...
...What is BEST for my kids? Is that the goal? A better question is, "What is best for my kids for the sake of eternity?
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..."Wherever you are, be all there" (Jim Elliot)
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... What do we do when we are unsure? Do we do nothing and wait in patience? Do we step forward in faith? This isn't a question necessarily about something specific but in general. What do we do when we just don't know?
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..."Marriages fail because of how right it feels to justify sinful responses to sin." (John Piper). This one has occupied a lot of my time and prayer.
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...How do I be the mom I am supposed to be? It isn't a total disregard for my own needs (I would faint under the weight of it) but it is about lots and lots of sacrifice.
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...How do I best use the gifts, talents, and desires that God has given me?
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..."From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more." (Luke 12:48). What does this mean for me? What does this mean for America?
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...And I have spent a LOT of time pondering the following story. It is taken from the blog of a man that works at Rift Valley Academy in Kenya. Years ago he started a feeding program for Kenyan school kids. The thought behind it is that, "These kids aren't getting anything to eat. If they don't eat, they can't learn. If they don't learn, they can't break the cycle of poverty. So, he provides food for these kids so they can have one meal a day. If you want to be totally entrenched for days and not be able to think about much else, start at the very beginning of the blog and work up to the present. I did it last spring and I have been forever changed and humbled and am still not sure what to do with all the emotions. Anyway, back to the most recent story:
I was at one of the lunch program schools recently, and out of a thousand students, three hundred were not receiving lunch. I asked the headmaster why, and he said that he did not charge for the food, but he charged 15 shillings a month (about 21 cents) to pay for the cook, the firewood and the water it took to cook the food.
At first I was angry, but the more I thought about it, I thought: I have given an unfunded mandate. I’ve told them they can’t charge for food, but I don’t provide the other stuff they need to provide the food. I pondered this a long time.
What was really great was that before I could do anything, the other headmasters met with him and explained how he could use part of his operating budget to pay for firewood and water. They explained to him the value of the program, and I suspect they let him know what a jerk he would be if he messed up and I got cranky.
But the deeper you get in, the more complex it gets. Helping without hurting while being cultural sensitive is a lot harder than it looks.
But the hardest thing of all was thinking about three hundred kids who couldn’t afford 21 cents a month. I know how tough the economy is in the United States right now, but can you imagine not being able to come up with 21 cents a month?
Three hundred kids, about a third of that school, can imagine it very well.
Kind of makes you rethink your "need" for that $4 cup of coffee at Starbucks, doesn't it?
That definitely makes me think- how can we help? I would love to donate-
Posted by: Amy | December 09, 2009 at 12:42 PM