Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Sweet Home Alabama
So I always thought that Alabama was just a place you drive through before you get to the beach...and of course there is that Lynyrd Skynyrd song 'Sweet Home Alabama'. Those words are gonna hit a little harder AND I'm gonna be singin 'em loud when I pack up and drive up to Birmingham next fall..because for those of you who haven't heard yet I got into PA school at UAB! :D
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Poverty and the Poor. What it means to us, and what it means to them.
My time here has really helped me begin to see the wider effect of poverty on our world and its direct consequence on the lives of people. A few months ago I had a very different idea of just what the word poverty means and how to “fix it”. I used to define this concept more as a material or financial deficit. However, my current definition includes words like loneliness, hopelessness and shame as opposed to a more material description. I am becoming increasingly aware that changing attitudes and patterns is something much more difficult and time consuming to fix.
According to a report published in 2008 by the United Nations about one billion people in our world today live on less than one dollar a day, another 2.6 billion (40 percent of the world) live on fewer than two dollars per day. Meanwhile the average American is living on an average of 90 dollars a day. What a difficult statistic to wrap your mind around. That reality is just so far from us, and it is hard to imagine. Often financial or medical issues of the poor have to be addressed, but I see these folks as having relational needs that are even more glaring. More often than not their poverty is the result of a series of broken relationships, promises or poor decisions. Deep generational poverty usually doesn’t result from one tragic mistake or disaster. This is something we can work to redeem...but that’s just it. It is work and it’s hard! It is much more time consuming to heal and change hearts, minds and relationships that it is to give a medical treatment, a new set of clothes or a tin roof.
God’s grace and mercy to us through Jesus Christ really changes people’s hearts and in turn begins to repair their earthly circumstances. Of course we all suffer from the consequences that sin has brought us but as Christians we have the power to begin to redeem our situations and relationships by inserting the concepts of the forgiveness, grace and hope that the Gospel gives us.
For some (not so light, but very interesting) reading:
Urban Poor in Latin America -World Bank
When Helping Hurts-A book on Poverty Alleviation. Don't let the title throw you...it a great book and is endorsed by the Chalmers Center. If you haven't heard of them and are interested at all in this topic you need to check them out. They have a great philosophy of ministry and a wonderful track record.
According to a report published in 2008 by the United Nations about one billion people in our world today live on less than one dollar a day, another 2.6 billion (40 percent of the world) live on fewer than two dollars per day. Meanwhile the average American is living on an average of 90 dollars a day. What a difficult statistic to wrap your mind around. That reality is just so far from us, and it is hard to imagine. Often financial or medical issues of the poor have to be addressed, but I see these folks as having relational needs that are even more glaring. More often than not their poverty is the result of a series of broken relationships, promises or poor decisions. Deep generational poverty usually doesn’t result from one tragic mistake or disaster. This is something we can work to redeem...but that’s just it. It is work and it’s hard! It is much more time consuming to heal and change hearts, minds and relationships that it is to give a medical treatment, a new set of clothes or a tin roof.
God’s grace and mercy to us through Jesus Christ really changes people’s hearts and in turn begins to repair their earthly circumstances. Of course we all suffer from the consequences that sin has brought us but as Christians we have the power to begin to redeem our situations and relationships by inserting the concepts of the forgiveness, grace and hope that the Gospel gives us.
For some (not so light, but very interesting) reading:
Urban Poor in Latin America -World Bank
When Helping Hurts-A book on Poverty Alleviation. Don't let the title throw you...it a great book and is endorsed by the Chalmers Center. If you haven't heard of them and are interested at all in this topic you need to check them out. They have a great philosophy of ministry and a wonderful track record.
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