Poverty

Poverty is more than a matter of economics. The roots run deep. It's a lethal force on more than one level. It's more than lack of food. It's more than lack of education. It's more than images of crying faces and hungy bellies on television. Change will require so much more than charity. Systems need to be uprooted, broken down and rebuilt.

I've sponsored kids with Compassion International for a number of years now. Yeah, I send in money. But what Compassion turns around and does with it is truly remarkable. I'm also able to exchange letters and photos with "my" kids...I do little things to let them know they are treasured - that they are absolutely priceless, in my eyes but especially in God's eyes.....and without fail these little ones (Evans, in Kenya; Navya, in India) bless me in ways I can't find words to express. I am reminded of my own selfishness and consumerism, my own pride and hatred........I carry inside myself the seeds of very same weeds that have taken over so much of the world. This is what must change in the system. Hearts. The hearts of presidents and senators, kings and queens, businessmen (and women), teachers, pastors.....you and me. We cannot expect the circumstances imposed on these innocents to change unless we are willing to break out of our own comfort to lay down our lives for them. It's called solidarity. It's called justice. It's called being "God with skin."

Do something. Even something small. If everyone sits back, thows their hands in the air and says, "But I'm just one person!" - nothing will ever change. Shalom....(in the truest, deepest sense of the word).