If you read my blog very much, you may feel like just not reading it sometimes because I tend to focus a lot on how lazy and selfish we American Christians are. Nobody wants to hear that. But I make no apologies. I can't escape it. God is trying to get my attention. For what purpose? I don't quite know yet...but I feel like I'm being called to do more. I just don't know what it looks like yet.

Can I depress you with some quotes and very real stats again? "Why, sure Jeremiah! That would be great!"

"...if we were all poor, no one would be in a position to help another. But when some of the world is rich and the rest of the world is poor, it indeed creates a moral and practical dilemma."

"...We can be the generation that no longer accepts that an accident of latitude determines whether a child lives or dies."

"More than 26,500 children died yesterday of preventable causes related to poverty, and it will happen again today and tomorrow and the day after that. Almost 10 million children will be dead in the course of a year...And even though we have the awareness, the access, and the ability to stop it, we have we chosen not to? Perhaps one reason is that these kids who are dying are not our kids; they're somebody else's."

2.6 billion people (40% of the world) live on less than $2 a day.
1 billion people (15% of the world) live on less than $1 a day.
Americans (only 4.5% of the world or .3 billion people) lives on $105 a day.

"Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality." - 2 Cor 8:13-14

"It is not our fault that people are poor, but it IS our responsibility to do something about it. God says that we are guilty if we allow people to remain deprived when we have the means to help them. It is our moral duty to help our neighbors in need. We cannot look at their situation and simply say, 'Not my problem.' Neither can we sit smugly in our comfortable bubbles and claim no responsibility for the disadvantaged in our world."

(These are all quotes from "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Sterns)

What's my point? We HAVE to do something about it.
That applies to those of you who don't believe in God too.
But we don't, b/c we're too stinking comfortable and would rather not think about it.

I used to think the people who talked the way I am now were crazy. That they needed to just relax and let up. Quit telling us these sob stories and guilting us into doing something. But I just can't ignore what God says about it. It's everywhere in Scripture.

If we read in the paper today that 26,500 American children died yesterday in plane crashes, we would be devastated. Our day would come crashing to a halt. Whole companies would shut down. We'd be glued to the TV. People would drop whatever they were doing to help comfort their neighbors and grieve with them. We'd do ANYTHING we could to help.

Yesterday, 26,500 children DID die. And it will happen again today. And the next. It's just that they're not OUR kids. We're distanced from the situation, so we say "What can I do?" and move on to our "busy" schedule and posh lives.

Why?

How much does this disgust God? He couldn't have made it more clear.

For those of you Christians who are just sitting there relaxing in your salvation and not letting it compel you to do something about this, you should know that God has a lot to say about that too. Read Isaiah 58. Read Matthew 25. Read 1 John 3:16-20. There's a BUNCH more obviously, but verses like these are passages we'd rather cut out of of Bibles.

Jesus said, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?" (Luke 6:36)

He also said, "Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matt. 7:19-23)

Jesus makes it clear that just because you acknowledge Him for who He is doesn't mean you're going to heaven. Sorry. I'm not making this stuff up. These are Jesus' words, not mine. I know they may make you angry and uncomfortable, but Jesus asks much more of us than just believing the right things. As James points out, the demons believe in Jesus.

Again, I don't know what that means for me yet...but I do know that adopting a child from Rwanda, Africa is only the beginning of our story. Frankly, this adoption is only a drop in the bucket of what we could be doing. Of course it's a big deal and a great thing to do...but we can do SO much more.

What are you going to do about it? How do you respond?