I Am Rich!

I am a little late to the game on this one... but for the past several weeks I have been meaning to share this with you.

I am rich.

Yes. Even in uncertain economic times. I am rich.

I can prove it to you here:

I'm the 53,205,017 richest person on earth! Discover how rich you are! >>

Go ahead... click on the link and see how rich you are.

With all the talk about the present state of the economy it seems like so many of us are focused on money more than usual (and the normal focus we place on money is already very high in many cases).

I understand the fear that comes during times like this. I am tempted to panic every day... especially as I lead a non-profit organization that is dependent on the generosity of others. But, the anxiety I feel is nothing compared to so many millions of people in the world who have no idea where their next meal is going to come from.

Global Rich List is trying to draw the attention of the richest people in the world to the needs of the poorest people in the world. And I can say that they got my attention.

Here is an example of what this website is attempting to draw our attention to:

"The world's 225 richest people now have a combined wealth of $1 trillion. That's equal to the combined annual income of the world's 2.5 billion poorest people."

It is easy to simply get overwhelmed with information like this. The challenge for us is to bring facts like this home to our lives and to make this a reality. If you don't personally know of any specific way you can help... here are some organizations that are doing great work among some of the poorest people in the world:

• H.E.L.P - My new friend Chris Marlow and his team are working among the people of Zimbabwe and South Africa. If you live in the Raleigh area you are invited to attend their launch party.

• Eugene Cho and his wife Minhee are very close to officially launching an organization that will focus on fighting global poverty.

• Children's Hopechest - My friend, Vince Giordano, recently introduced me to Tom Davis and the work of CH. Vince also spent a couple weeks with CH in Swaziland where nearly 50% of the population are infected with HIV/AIDS.

• And there is the work we are doing among the urban poor of La Limonada in Guatemala City.

Are you rich?

Darian in Uganda

My best friend, Darian Colbert, who left the country for the first time as we traveled to Guatemala together in October of last year, just returned from spending two weeks in Uganda. He was part of a team of people from Lifechurch in Allentown, PA (where I used to serve) who installed a water purification system in a remote village called Katebo (about 60 miles SW of Kampala) on the shore of Lake Victoria.

It is amazing to me to know Darian's story of growing up in Allentown, to be his friend for the past ten years and to see him become the person he is today. I wish I could have been there with him as he stepped foot on African soil and as he walked through the village of Katebo and as he hugged the children there.

Ever since I have known Darian our lives have seemed to take parallel paths and I get the sense that now is no different. As He is with me, God is enlarging Darian's heart for the world. And as I look at these photos I can't help but think that we will be in the village of Katebo together one day.

Too Stinkin' Cute

On her way out the door for preschool this morning, Miyah said to me, "When you get smaller you can go to my preschool too."

I responded, "But I'm not going to get smaller."

With a very silly face she shot right back, "Yeah, but if I get a real wand I can turn you."

It is so different having a daughter. I don't think Ben or Alex ever said anything like that...

Retiring?

Is he really retiring? With Brett Favre you never know. I imagine it must be a tough decision to make when you've played a game you love for your entire life. I personally couldn't imagine retiring from anything prior to turning 40 years old, but Brett Favre has dragged fans through this for the past three seasons at least. Is he retiring... or isn't he? Will he resurface in August with another team?

He has been one of the most exciting players to watch for almost the past two decades, but I think it is time for this to be for real and for it to be a final decision. If it is... five years from now we will be watching as he is inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Mohammed Yunus - A "Worm's Eye View"

I had the opportunity to attend a lecture given by Mohammed Yunnus at the Keenan Flagler Business School at UNC-Chapel Hill this morning. Yunnus is the founder of Grameen Bank and the father of the Microfinance movement. I read his book, Banker To The Poor, about two years ago and it had a tremendous impact on me.

There is a quote from him in that book that stands out as one of the most memorable quotes in any book I've ever read. He talked about how he was teaching economics at Dhaka University in Bangladesh and how he watched as poor people were dying in the streets right outside the university after making long journeys from villages to the city to find a better life for themselves. He realized the principles of economics were not working for those poor people and that something needed to be done.

So, he determined to learn to understand the life of the poor in order to help them.

"Instead of traditional book learning, I wanted to teach my university students how to understand the life of one single poor person. When you hold the world in your palm and inspect it only from a bird’s eye view, you tend to become arrogant—you do not realize that things get blurred when seen from an enormous distance. I opted instead for “the worm’s eye view.”

I think this is very similar to what Jesus did through his life on earth. In order to understand what life was like for humanity, Jesus left his place in heaven with the Father to get a "worm's eye view" of what it was like to be human. It was God's plan that Jesus fully understood what it was like to be human before he rescued us from the prison of our humanness and sin.

While I don't know if Yunus claims to be "Christian"... his act of getting a "worm's eye view" is more like Christ than what I have been willing to do in my own life many times.

And that challenges me.

Olives And The Light Of The World

Recently I was with a small group of mostly new friends who were sharing personal experiences. One young lady in the group had just returned from Israel and was talking about how Middle Eastern culture provided such a fresh perspective of the Scriptures for her.

She shared a conversation she had with someone in Israel who explained the ancient process of making olive oil. Apparently it was a long and involved process... which including the crushing of the olives among other things.

The finished product was not only used for cooking, but for lamps that provided light.

The thoughts flooded my mind and have been with me since that conversation. When Jesus encourages us to be "the light of the world"... in our Western culture we think of flipping a switch which provides immediate illumination, but for someone in the ancient Middle East they had a completely different understanding of what it took to provide light.

Is it possible that our "light" is most effective following times in our lives when we feel like we are being "crushed"?