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Showing posts with label World Vision. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Vision. Show all posts
Friday, April 2, 2010
The Cupcake Kids
Our kids have decided to get into the act. They wanted to have some money to give away and our oldest suggested selling cupcakes and lemonade at the park down the street, and even came up with the clever title Cupcake Kids. I'm sure you're reading this thinking "No. It has to be 'Kupcake Kids'." Well, sorry, I grew up too close to Pigeon Forge and can't bring myself to hillbilly this up too much.
The park, it turns out, is run by the city and they don't take too kindly to selling stuff there, even something cute and tasty. So, tomorrow morning along with the children of our friends the Harty and Mitchell families, ours will be selling cupcakes, cookies and cups of lemonade in the Harty's neighborhood (off North Druid Hills near the Brookhaven Marta stop).
The agreement is that any money they earn, we will match. Then each child can decide where they want their money to go. Our oldest has chosen a lofty goal of a goat and two chicks from World Vision.
The park, it turns out, is run by the city and they don't take too kindly to selling stuff there, even something cute and tasty. So, tomorrow morning along with the children of our friends the Harty and Mitchell families, ours will be selling cupcakes, cookies and cups of lemonade in the Harty's neighborhood (off North Druid Hills near the Brookhaven Marta stop).
The agreement is that any money they earn, we will match. Then each child can decide where they want their money to go. Our oldest has chosen a lofty goal of a goat and two chicks from World Vision.
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| The Cupcake Kids |
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| Baker Baby |
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| Who could resist? |
Sunday, March 28, 2010
What? Sell all my stuff?
"When Jesus heard this, he said to him, 'You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." -- Luke 18:22
What did Jesus really mean when He spoke these words to the rich, young ruler? And I wonder what this guy was thinking... "seriously dude, go sell all this fine stuff?" How do we apply this story to our own lives? Does Jesus intend this to be a command for all his followers? Are we all called to go and sell everything we have and give to the poor?
There are a number of places in the new testament where we see followers of Jesus who own personal property... Mary, Martha and Lazarus owned a home, some of the disciples had fishing boats and when Zacchaeus jumped out of the tree, just before he wrote the song about the wee little man, he announced "Lord, here and now I give HALF (not all) of my possessions to the poor." So no... the command given to the rich, young ruler doesn't appear to be a universal command for all of Christ's followers. The question is, what does that command mean for you?
One of the first things Shelly and I did when we began this journey was to spend some serious prayer time with the Lord on this topic. We put everything on the table -- our home, our cars (you see how that one turned out), our investments, the money for our children's school and all our possessions. The Lord responded by opening our eyes to a few initial changes we could make. As we continue to pray and seek His will on this, He shows us more and more. We realize that the more we let go of, the more money we're able to free up, the more possessions we're able to sell, the more we can give away -- and that is really the whole point of this blog.
Here's one example... we've realized that we need to have a serious yard sale. The proceeds will go to one of the ministries we've been supporting. This is a very literal way to sell possessions and give to the poor. We have tons of unnecessary stuff just sitting around our house and in our garage -- some of it quite valuable that would likely do well at a yard sale. One item we are completely overrun with is children's clothing. "Wait!" you say! Can't you just donate the clothing to Goodwill or a family in need? Well yes, and we do that sometimes and certainly if we're aware of a specific need through a charity we support. But listen to what Richard Stearns, President of World Vision, says about this type of donation...
So that's one example but admittedly, even if it does take a lot of time and effort, it's not much of a sacrifice to hold a yard sale and get rid of a bunch of junk you don't want anyways. What about the other side of that coin -- selling the possessions that you really DO want and then giving that money to the poor?
For the most part, as we have looked around our house we have determined that it would be more trouble than it's worth for the majority of our stuff. Should we sell the green couch that appears to have been slept on by a pack of dogs we let in from the rain? Probably not going to bring in the kind of coin that will make a difference. And then what do you do with the spot where the couch used to be? That's right Americans, fill that void with something better.
Here's a better example... jewelry, especially Tiffany Jewelry. My wife loves her jewelry. Not that she has all that much, but what she does have she loves. Although, in reality, she has a couple of items she wears regularly and the remainder is laid to rest in a box on the dresser. But it's nice to know it's there. The real question is, back to our first post, is it a Necessity or a Luxury? Is it something we as a family need or that by selling it, could bring in enough money to provide for a family that is truly in need.
For you ladies out there reading this and thinking, "I can't believe this man is making his wife sell her jewelry." That one was her idea.
What did Jesus really mean when He spoke these words to the rich, young ruler? And I wonder what this guy was thinking... "seriously dude, go sell all this fine stuff?" How do we apply this story to our own lives? Does Jesus intend this to be a command for all his followers? Are we all called to go and sell everything we have and give to the poor?
There are a number of places in the new testament where we see followers of Jesus who own personal property... Mary, Martha and Lazarus owned a home, some of the disciples had fishing boats and when Zacchaeus jumped out of the tree, just before he wrote the song about the wee little man, he announced "Lord, here and now I give HALF (not all) of my possessions to the poor." So no... the command given to the rich, young ruler doesn't appear to be a universal command for all of Christ's followers. The question is, what does that command mean for you?
One of the first things Shelly and I did when we began this journey was to spend some serious prayer time with the Lord on this topic. We put everything on the table -- our home, our cars (you see how that one turned out), our investments, the money for our children's school and all our possessions. The Lord responded by opening our eyes to a few initial changes we could make. As we continue to pray and seek His will on this, He shows us more and more. We realize that the more we let go of, the more money we're able to free up, the more possessions we're able to sell, the more we can give away -- and that is really the whole point of this blog.
Here's one example... we've realized that we need to have a serious yard sale. The proceeds will go to one of the ministries we've been supporting. This is a very literal way to sell possessions and give to the poor. We have tons of unnecessary stuff just sitting around our house and in our garage -- some of it quite valuable that would likely do well at a yard sale. One item we are completely overrun with is children's clothing. "Wait!" you say! Can't you just donate the clothing to Goodwill or a family in need? Well yes, and we do that sometimes and certainly if we're aware of a specific need through a charity we support. But listen to what Richard Stearns, President of World Vision, says about this type of donation...
"While providing things like these in urgent situations is sometimes necessary, it neither addresses the underlying stubbornness of poverty, nor is it sustainable, it just creates a dependency. Frankly, giving things to the poor does much more to make the giver feel good than it does to fundamentally address and improve the condition of those in need."Shelly and I are inclined to agree. Yes it's much easier to get rid of a stack of clothing by just dropping it off at Goodwill -- but we could probably do a lot more good by taking the time to sort, clean, price and sell the clothing and then give the money away.
So that's one example but admittedly, even if it does take a lot of time and effort, it's not much of a sacrifice to hold a yard sale and get rid of a bunch of junk you don't want anyways. What about the other side of that coin -- selling the possessions that you really DO want and then giving that money to the poor?
For the most part, as we have looked around our house we have determined that it would be more trouble than it's worth for the majority of our stuff. Should we sell the green couch that appears to have been slept on by a pack of dogs we let in from the rain? Probably not going to bring in the kind of coin that will make a difference. And then what do you do with the spot where the couch used to be? That's right Americans, fill that void with something better.
Here's a better example... jewelry, especially Tiffany Jewelry. My wife loves her jewelry. Not that she has all that much, but what she does have she loves. Although, in reality, she has a couple of items she wears regularly and the remainder is laid to rest in a box on the dresser. But it's nice to know it's there. The real question is, back to our first post, is it a Necessity or a Luxury? Is it something we as a family need or that by selling it, could bring in enough money to provide for a family that is truly in need.
For you ladies out there reading this and thinking, "I can't believe this man is making his wife sell her jewelry." That one was her idea.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
What Are You Investing In?
Here's a thought for today, it's from Francis Chan's book Crazy Love...
"Lukewarm people do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to. They don’t have to trust God if something unexpected happens-they have their savings account. They don’t need God to help them – they have their retirement plan in place. They don’t genuinely seek out what life God would have them live – they have life figured and mapped out. They don’t depend on God on a daily basis – their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn’t look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God" (Luke 12:16-21; Hebrews 11).
Here's another quote from Chan, this one while he and his wife were in an African orphanage caring for a sick, premature infant...
"Someone asked me recently why I don't save money for emergencies or retirement. My answer was how can I justify saving for myself 'just in case' something happens to me when something IS happening to so many already. 29,000 kids will die today of preventable causes. If I'm to love my neighbor AS myself, why spend so much time worrying about me?"
The problem is, for most of us, me included, that we don't look at the reality of almost 30 Thousand children dying every day as an either/or decision. As in, Either I buy this new car, Or I save One Thousand children from dying today. Either I purchase this sweater (one more added to my collection of twenty just like it), Or I provide food and nourishment to infants in a dingy hospital on the other side of the world. We look at it as an inevitable reality. We read Matthew 26:11 where Jesus says "The poor you will always have with you." as an inevitability that we can't or for some reason shouldn't try to change. As if he were saying "You shouldn't worry, those poor people will always be here, so don't feel guilty or anything". Instead, he is telling us that we have a never ending opportunity to do something. A never ending opportunity to invest where it matters most.
This issue of saving money is a tough one and honestly, we're really struggling to understand God's will for our family in this. We've never even questioned whether or not the Lord would want us to have 401Ks, mutual funds, IRA's, stocks, bonds, college funds and of course a minimum of 6 months mortgage payments in a cash savings account. That's just good old fashioned stewardship, right? But by socking away all of this money, aren't we literally storing up treasure on Earth -- the exact thing Jesus tells His followers NOT to do? And if we don't save every spare penny, how am I supposed to retire? What would we do in case of emergency? Perhaps we'd really have to trust in Jesus' provision. And what is the balance between prudence and testing God?
This issue of saving money is a tough one and honestly, we're really struggling to understand God's will for our family in this. We've never even questioned whether or not the Lord would want us to have 401Ks, mutual funds, IRA's, stocks, bonds, college funds and of course a minimum of 6 months mortgage payments in a cash savings account. That's just good old fashioned stewardship, right? But by socking away all of this money, aren't we literally storing up treasure on Earth -- the exact thing Jesus tells His followers NOT to do? And if we don't save every spare penny, how am I supposed to retire? What would we do in case of emergency? Perhaps we'd really have to trust in Jesus' provision. And what is the balance between prudence and testing God?
As I said, this is an area where we're struggling and we want to hear your thoughts on this. Shelly and I are definitely in agreement that we are hoarding too much money -- money that we could be putting to use to save lives.
One really fun thing we've done recently, instead of saving for nothing, is to invest in a great program through the World Vision MicroFinance initiative. There are many similar programs but the basic idea is that a small loan - as little as $25 - could be enough to give someone in a 3rd world country an essential tool to start a business, for example. In most cases, the money you give to the program is reinvested once the original borrower repays their loan. And the vast majority of them are repaid. Here is some info that we found on the World Vision site that gives some real life examples of how the system works. There's also a nice little video (litteraly, it's very tiny) that highlights a couple of people's lives that were changed by this.
We learned about this program by reading Richard Stearns' book The Hole in Our Gospel where it talks about how it is great to help people by meeting their most immediate needs, but it is also good - maybe even better - to help them find a way out of the situation they are in. Another similar investment is child sponsorship. We sponsor children through Compassion and World Vision and have loved getting letters and colorings, sending cards and gifts on birthdays, and generally keeping up with the life of a specific child as well as knowing that the money we send each month is helping the entire family with food, schooling and other essentials. Our own children pray daily for the children we sponsor and they enjoy learning about the parts of the world they live in. We are even contimplating a trip to El Salvador this year to visit our Compassion Child, Rodrigo.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Used Car Saves Babies
How much can you get for a "like new", 2001 Audi A6 Quattro? How about a dairy cow, some shares of a deep freshwater well, and a variety of necessities for a bunch of orphans? Oh, and one shiny scooter. It's true, the car had fairly low miles but went a very long way.
Some have asked for specifics regarding where we have directed some of the proceeds from the sale of the old Audi. Here's the list so far:
OK, that last one is not really a ministry at all, but it is where I got the scooter that will save us a good bit on monthly expenses, and we plan to hit the owner up for a sizable donation to the Heritage Preparatory School silent auction next Fall.
The first week commuting on the Crazy Bike has been an adventure in itself. Seems folks don't take too kindly to you if you can't go more that 0 to 10 in 10 seconds. But it has been very fun too, being 'outdoors' as I commute to work. And I think I have finally broken my 20 year addiction to NPR.
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