Posted on December 31, 2009 at 10:11am.
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A friend let me borrow Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper and I finished reading it a couple weeks ago. Overall I thought it was a good read, but for some reason it was hard for me to “get into it.” I’m glad I forced myself to persevere because I thought the last few chapters were excellent. Maybe I should have just skipped ahead as I have the tendency to do sometimes.
In any case, here’s a quote from J. Campbell White that Piper uses that impacted me.
The effort to evangelize the world presents the speediest and surest methods of saving the Church. Our material resources are so stupendous that we are in danger of coming to trust in riches rather than in God. If a man is growing large in wealth, nothing but constant giving can keep him from growing small is soul. The evangelism of the world is the only enterprise large enough and important enough to provide an adequate outlet for the Church’s wealth.
Maybe it has stayed with me because I recently read this quote from CS Lewis in Mere Christianity:
In the passage where the New Testament says that every one must work, it gives as a reason “in order that he may have something to give to those in need.” Charity-giving to the poor-is an essential part of Christian morality: in the frightening parable of the sheep and the goats it seems to be the point on which everything turns. Some people nowadays say that charity ought to be unnecessary and that instead of giving to the poor we ought to be producing a society in which there were no poor to give to. They may be quite right in saying that we ought to produce this kind of society. But if anyone thinks that, as a consequence, you can stop giving in the meantime, then he has parted company with all Christian morality. I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc.., is up to the standard common among those with he same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small.
Maybe my family budget will look different this year. I am praying that it does.
God Bless,
RJ .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Posted on December 29, 2009 at 8:22am.
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Christmas
Christmas has become interesting for my wife and me. Now that we have four children, most of our energy for gift giving goes into our children. It has become increasingly difficult to buy presents for our parents, siblings, etc…. At this point my thinking has become, Everything I could get them or that they ask for they can by themselves. Honestly, my mom can buy her own dish towels for the kitchen. And, my wife and I have also found that buying each other gifts is different. Most things we could “surprise” each other with simply costs too much. So this year we agreed to go economical and simple. Well, Rebecca knocked it out of the park. She bought me my own copy of Black Gold: the Movie! I’ve wanted to watch this documentary about fair trade coffee since it came out a couple years ago, but it never happened.
Coffee
First, let me say I’m not it the category yet of Chuck Jones or Cedric Lundy when it comes to coffee. But, I do love coffee and have read a couple books about coffee (Uncommon Grounds and Fair Trade Coffee). Rebecca and I started learning about the power and importance of fair trade coffee about five years ago and try to drink and buy only fair trade coffee when possible. Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world and the bulk of the actual coffee cultivation and harvesting is done by poor subsistence farmers and pickers in developing nations such as Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Fair trade coffee tries to alleviate some of the suffering of these farmers by cutting out middlemen so more money gets back to the farmers and pickers. Black Gold documents the struggles of coffee farmers in Ethiopia (one of our ServeGlobal focus countries) and the hope of fair trade.
Conviction
If I was convicted prior to watching this documentary, then I am doubly convicted (if that is possible) to drink and purchase fair trade coffee. Will fair trade coffee or other products “cure” poverty? No, but it is one way for me to be active with my faith especially recognizing that my decision as a believer in the West does impact my brothers and sisters around the globe. I feel some responsibility and conscious decision making, on my part, needs to be undertaken.
Do you drink fair trade coffee? Would you consider learning more? By simply drinking fair trade coffee from Ethiopia, you are now actively serving in our ServeGlobal focus countries. How cool is that?!
I’d love to hear your thoughts and perspectives so please consider leaving a comment above. And, take a moment to watch the trailer for Black Gold below. If you are interested in watching the entire movie, just let me know and I might let you borrow my Christmas present:)
Posted on December 23, 2009 at 9:24am.
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I just finished watching a video produced by the African Development Bank documenting the power of microfinance, especially for women. You can watch the video below.
I’d love to get your thoughts so feel free to leave a comment above.
Posted on December 22, 2009 at 10:45am.
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If you were in one of our services this past weekend, you probably heard Jim Kallam mention that the love offering from the Christmas Eve Service will go to our supported missionaries. I’ve recently been working on a document so we can share more information about our supported missionaries with you. I think this is pretty good timing! I’d also be remiss if I did not openly thank Nancy Little for combining all of this information. She has done some amazing behind the scenes work!
In the side bar next to this post you’ll find a small box labeled, Supported Missionaries. If you click on the image, you’ll bring up a fullscreen document with all of our supported missionaries listed. Please take a moment to look through this document and learn more about the folks we support. Thanks!
God Bless,
RJ .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
