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John
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1 year ago
in The Person Responsible for this Morning’s Whiny Post Has Been Shot on GoodWordEditing.com
This ended up being a lot longer than I intended. You might want to edit it down.
I have seen poverty in two different American (Texas) cities. It was interesting to see the difference between the two.
In one city the poverty in a particular part of town was encased in a sense of hopelessness. 44% dropped out by the 9th grade. 63% of the adults over 25 did NOT have a high school diploma or GED. Most boys dropped out before middle school. I met several men who didn't make it past the 4th grade. Ask a ten-year-old boy in the neighborhood what he wanted to be when he grew up and he would just look at you. He had no frame of reference within which to answer that question. All of the men he knew were selling drugs, in jail, or dead. The average age of consensual sex in the neighborhood was 11. Girls were having babies at thirteen and fourteen not because they were careless with birth control, but because they WANTED to get pregnant because they thought a baby would love the. I could have dropped $100,000 per person in that neighborhood into personal bank accounts and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. The people there didn't feel like they had anything to offer to society, they didn't know how to receive love or express love. There were inherent deficiencies, not because of who they were, but because of their backgrounds and life experiences.
The other town has a lot of low-income people, but they were also work hard and have hope. They have not given up. They see their value in our community. They like the fact that the agency I work for charges them a nominal fee for services instead of giving it for free. The feel of this town is completely different than the feel of my last town. Not because the poor made more money, but the poor felt like they were contributing to the community and they derived some amount of pride from that.
I say all of this to make the point that I can look at the wealthy people who donate to my current social service agency and feel inferior to them because they have more than I do. I can look at our clients and feel superior because I have more than they do. But I'm getting closer (I'm not quite there yet) to the point where I can feel equal to both the donor and the client because we are all working together to serve our community.
Work is part of God's created order, whether you are retired and need something to do, unemployed and need activity, or working for every morsel of food you consume.
Last point. One thing I do. If I ever start thinking I need more money, that is usually God's cue to me that I need to look at giving some more money away because I'm holding on to my stuff too much, and I need to think of others more.
I have seen poverty in two different American (Texas) cities. It was interesting to see the difference between the two.
In one city the poverty in a particular part of town was encased in a sense of hopelessness. 44% dropped out by the 9th grade. 63% of the adults over 25 did NOT have a high school diploma or GED. Most boys dropped out before middle school. I met several men who didn't make it past the 4th grade. Ask a ten-year-old boy in the neighborhood what he wanted to be when he grew up and he would just look at you. He had no frame of reference within which to answer that question. All of the men he knew were selling drugs, in jail, or dead. The average age of consensual sex in the neighborhood was 11. Girls were having babies at thirteen and fourteen not because they were careless with birth control, but because they WANTED to get pregnant because they thought a baby would love the. I could have dropped $100,000 per person in that neighborhood into personal bank accounts and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. The people there didn't feel like they had anything to offer to society, they didn't know how to receive love or express love. There were inherent deficiencies, not because of who they were, but because of their backgrounds and life experiences.
The other town has a lot of low-income people, but they were also work hard and have hope. They have not given up. They see their value in our community. They like the fact that the agency I work for charges them a nominal fee for services instead of giving it for free. The feel of this town is completely different than the feel of my last town. Not because the poor made more money, but the poor felt like they were contributing to the community and they derived some amount of pride from that.
I say all of this to make the point that I can look at the wealthy people who donate to my current social service agency and feel inferior to them because they have more than I do. I can look at our clients and feel superior because I have more than they do. But I'm getting closer (I'm not quite there yet) to the point where I can feel equal to both the donor and the client because we are all working together to serve our community.
Work is part of God's created order, whether you are retired and need something to do, unemployed and need activity, or working for every morsel of food you consume.
Last point. One thing I do. If I ever start thinking I need more money, that is usually God's cue to me that I need to look at giving some more money away because I'm holding on to my stuff too much, and I need to think of others more.
1 year ago
in Is Balance a Kind of Success? on GoodWordEditing.com
Here is the link. Keep in mind it was self-published a few years ago, so it is not tightly edited. You can download it here (http://highcallingblogs.com/emailstogod/?page_id=19) or purchase it on Amazon.com. They still have plenty. :)
1 year ago
in Is Balance a Kind of Success? on GoodWordEditing.com
I studied this topic a few years ago. I was thinking over and over again about the phrase, "I put God first, my family second, and my job third." I actually went looking for a book that would discuss how to do this. Unable to find one, I started looking for a Biblical example of the man I wanted to be as a husband and a father. They are FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. In fact, I only found two: the father of the prodigal son (a parable where the father played God's role) and Joseph, Jesus' earthly father.
I'll cut to the chase because I ended up writing a book on this whole thing, and you can download the manuscript free on my blog page. I finally concluded that a balanced life is not Biblical. The only priority any of us should have is completely submitting our lives to Jesus and making him our number one priority. If we make pursuing a relationship with Jesus our priority then all of a sudden our marriages, relationships with our children, jobs, etc. all fall into place. It's easier said than done, but I think that trying to find the "goal" and the "balance" yourself turns out to be a hopeless pursuit.
I'll cut to the chase because I ended up writing a book on this whole thing, and you can download the manuscript free on my blog page. I finally concluded that a balanced life is not Biblical. The only priority any of us should have is completely submitting our lives to Jesus and making him our number one priority. If we make pursuing a relationship with Jesus our priority then all of a sudden our marriages, relationships with our children, jobs, etc. all fall into place. It's easier said than done, but I think that trying to find the "goal" and the "balance" yourself turns out to be a hopeless pursuit.
