A couple of conversations with friends this week had me awake, early on a Saturday morning, thinking. Interestingly enough, the topic of both encounters concerned the level of poverty that exists in the world--a level so low that the overwhelming majority of those living in the US are unable to even comprehend it.
There are Americans who think they are poor because they cannot afford a new car or because they are unable to buy brand-name shoes for their kids. At the same time, there are people in other countries who don't even own a pair of shoes and not owning transportation means they must walk miles to get the family's drinking/cooking water for the day.
While on a missions trip in Mexico, one friend told me how she witnessed a common theme where a mother will guide her own child into the arms of an American then quickly abandon that child in the hopes that the American will take her precious son/daughter back to the United States. This mother has no idea what these people are like. All she knows is that the life they can provide for her young child has to be better than the one she can. I cannot imagine giving up one of my children. Then again, my children never went hungry nor did they do without most of life's comforts, let alone the basics. (Get some facts: http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty)
Let's bring it closer to home. We have children in our own city, our own township who go hungry if they aren't eating at school; children who steal extra food while going through the lunch line because once they get dropped off at home, they don't know when they will see their next meal. Sure, we can try to rationalize the numerous reasons why this can happen from low education/wages to laziness to drug addiction. Yet one fact remains, none of these reasons are the fault of the hungry child. (Get some more facts: http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/)
Sometimes, these statistics break my heart so badly that I find it easier to avoid thinking about them altogether. Maybe, you do the same thing. That doesn't solve the problem though. I feel God tugging at me a little more each day so I don't think I can sit back and watch forever. I'm not talking about starting a revolution, but maybe we can start with just one kid or two or even three and see what God does with that. What can I do? What can you do? What can WE do? I have a few ideas. I would love to hear yours.
"But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." 1John 3:17-18 (ESV)
