There are three elements to this post:
Element Number One:
So, I'm sitting at Country Java this morning (which was VERY nice and cool outside this morning, by the way!) and who comes by and sits at the table next to me, but the Muffin guy!
Turns out, he's a homeless guy (he told me his name, but you know me, I instantly forgot it... I don't know why I can't remember names for 2 minutes, but I can tell you just about every phone number I've ever had in my life)
Anyhow we had a long discussion about church, homelessness, the benefits of tea over coffee, and his new apartment that he can't move into yet because there is a hole in the roof and no electricity - oh yeah, and about his neighbor who claims to be a Pagan.
Element Number Two:
Robyn and I have spent a couple of hours the last two days delivering food for Meals on Wheels. It was an incredible experience and I hope that everyone at some point gets the opportunity to participate in this. It was an eye-opening experience... I mean, we see homeless people occasionally and you can drive down most streets around here and see that there is poverty in Denison, but to come face to face with someone who, if you don't deliver that meal, may not eat that day... Both days we were late on the last deliveries, because we picked up someone else's route who didn't show up, and by the ends of those routes, Robyn said that the people were so relieved that we showed up.
Element Number Three:
The other day, I had lunch with Bishop Stanton (not just me, but about 10 of us total) and he talked about this misconception that people in 3rd world countries led "Simple Lives". That somehow, because they aren't as technologically plugged in as us, or because they have to walk 3 miles for water, or they don't have cars, or electricity or whatever, that their lives are "simpler". The idea is ridiculous if you really think about it.
What is simpler, walking to the faucet, or better yet to fridge and getting a nice cold bottled water, or walking three miles to get water that you KNOW is going to make you sick to drink, but its all you have.
What is simpler, paying $4 a gallon so that you can drive to Dallas to have a free lunch with a bunch of friends or waiting in your home, checking the clock every other minute wondering if your meal is going to show up today, and when?
I submit that WE'RE the ones living the simple life. I'm sitting in a nice, well lit, air conditioned (to the point of almost coldness) office with TWO computers running. In the time its taken me to write this out, I've ordered my lunch for the day, had two phone calls and gotten 3 emails. What is simpler than that? I've just been sitting here all this time and I've communicated with people in other cities, and other states, instantly. By doing practically nothing.
ANYHOW.. all this has gotten me to wondering... how do we get here? I mean, how can I be sitting here with food in my fridge, two computers, a cell phone, a car... all that, and the guy across the street from me is eating one meal a day? Or I can be sitting at a coffee shop on my laptop, doing work, and a guy who lives in a homeless shelter is sitting right next to me, wondering when he and his Pagan neighbor are going to get electricity and the whole in their roof fixed so they will have a place to live?
I think the answer has to come down to one thing. Sin.
I mean, do you think, as Rob Bell would say, that this is what God had in mind? I'm pretty sure its not.
I think most of the time we think of sin as a personal thing that we do or don't do that is against God's will... and it is, but I think that all of this stuff that I've been talking about is sin too.
I"ve been accused of being a "Commie" before because I've thought that it was stupid that only people with lots of money could afford certain drugs. If we have a drug that can treat an illness, and you have that illness, why can't you get it whether you can afford it or not? Don't you have the same right to live as anyone else? If I have electricity, shouldn't my neighbor as well? or food? or water?
One of my youth wrote in her Facebook today that she felt that God was up to something bigger than her. I told her that was true, but also that it was not TOO big for her. I guess thats the fourth element to this post...
Is this problem bigger than God? No way. Is it bigger than us, yes, but is it too big for us, with God behind us? I don't think so.
I'm going to be praying about this a lot, and invite you to join me.
Element Number One:
So, I'm sitting at Country Java this morning (which was VERY nice and cool outside this morning, by the way!) and who comes by and sits at the table next to me, but the Muffin guy!
Turns out, he's a homeless guy (he told me his name, but you know me, I instantly forgot it... I don't know why I can't remember names for 2 minutes, but I can tell you just about every phone number I've ever had in my life)
Anyhow we had a long discussion about church, homelessness, the benefits of tea over coffee, and his new apartment that he can't move into yet because there is a hole in the roof and no electricity - oh yeah, and about his neighbor who claims to be a Pagan.
Element Number Two:
Robyn and I have spent a couple of hours the last two days delivering food for Meals on Wheels. It was an incredible experience and I hope that everyone at some point gets the opportunity to participate in this. It was an eye-opening experience... I mean, we see homeless people occasionally and you can drive down most streets around here and see that there is poverty in Denison, but to come face to face with someone who, if you don't deliver that meal, may not eat that day... Both days we were late on the last deliveries, because we picked up someone else's route who didn't show up, and by the ends of those routes, Robyn said that the people were so relieved that we showed up.
Element Number Three:
The other day, I had lunch with Bishop Stanton (not just me, but about 10 of us total) and he talked about this misconception that people in 3rd world countries led "Simple Lives". That somehow, because they aren't as technologically plugged in as us, or because they have to walk 3 miles for water, or they don't have cars, or electricity or whatever, that their lives are "simpler". The idea is ridiculous if you really think about it.
What is simpler, walking to the faucet, or better yet to fridge and getting a nice cold bottled water, or walking three miles to get water that you KNOW is going to make you sick to drink, but its all you have.
What is simpler, paying $4 a gallon so that you can drive to Dallas to have a free lunch with a bunch of friends or waiting in your home, checking the clock every other minute wondering if your meal is going to show up today, and when?
I submit that WE'RE the ones living the simple life. I'm sitting in a nice, well lit, air conditioned (to the point of almost coldness) office with TWO computers running. In the time its taken me to write this out, I've ordered my lunch for the day, had two phone calls and gotten 3 emails. What is simpler than that? I've just been sitting here all this time and I've communicated with people in other cities, and other states, instantly. By doing practically nothing.
ANYHOW.. all this has gotten me to wondering... how do we get here? I mean, how can I be sitting here with food in my fridge, two computers, a cell phone, a car... all that, and the guy across the street from me is eating one meal a day? Or I can be sitting at a coffee shop on my laptop, doing work, and a guy who lives in a homeless shelter is sitting right next to me, wondering when he and his Pagan neighbor are going to get electricity and the whole in their roof fixed so they will have a place to live?
I think the answer has to come down to one thing. Sin.
I mean, do you think, as Rob Bell would say, that this is what God had in mind? I'm pretty sure its not.
I think most of the time we think of sin as a personal thing that we do or don't do that is against God's will... and it is, but I think that all of this stuff that I've been talking about is sin too.
I"ve been accused of being a "Commie" before because I've thought that it was stupid that only people with lots of money could afford certain drugs. If we have a drug that can treat an illness, and you have that illness, why can't you get it whether you can afford it or not? Don't you have the same right to live as anyone else? If I have electricity, shouldn't my neighbor as well? or food? or water?
One of my youth wrote in her Facebook today that she felt that God was up to something bigger than her. I told her that was true, but also that it was not TOO big for her. I guess thats the fourth element to this post...
Is this problem bigger than God? No way. Is it bigger than us, yes, but is it too big for us, with God behind us? I don't think so.
I'm going to be praying about this a lot, and invite you to join me.
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