You can make a difference to poverty

I want to explain how my family and I know we are challenging poverty every single day.

We are making a difference in the life of one girl in Ethiopia, called Etsubdink Tsegaye.

She is 9 now and I have been sponsoring her for the last 4 years through the work of Compassion UK.

Compassion provide health-care, education and resources and a knowledge of the love of God through church projects all over the world.

I write to her every now and again - and she writes back keeping us updated with the things that are taking place in her life. Photos I have received over time have shown how she has grown and my family are really blessed to hear about how she is doing at school and the various cultural celebrations that take place.

If you have always wanted to do more, to make an impact and save someone from the bondage of poverty I can recommend going to their website.

I know we are all worried at the moment about the world's economic climate - but where Etsubdink and the thousands of children waiting for sponsorship live there are no opportunties for work, facilities for welfare, healthcare or even the security we enjoy - it is all relative.

Go to Compassion's website now and make that impact today - deliver a child from the chains poverty and help them become nation changers.

You too can help to change the world one child at a time.

Do you cheat?

I thought it was interesting that, in the last Wired blog I read those who had a propensity to cheat did not when they took a test after they read the Ten Commandments.

It's a really fascinating post. It seems to suggest that when we consider moral standards or scripture we tend to behave more according to our innate inner understanding of what is right or wrong.

When we move away from contemplating moral standards we have a greater temptation to cheat or act for our own selfish gain - that we seem more removed from living according to our own moral compass.

The bible contains themes where God reminds the Israelites in the desert that He is the one who brought them out of Egypt - or phrases like "when your children ask you tell them it was because..." - or "as a memorial to" - or "...do this in remembrance of me." - seems like he knew the fragility of the human condition...

Perhaps this is why some Spirit-filled followers of Jesus (I'm not talking about self-righteous bible-bashers who are quick to spout scripture verses but rather those who humbly but firmly walk out their convictions) get so up the noses of some (not all I hasten to add) non-followers, even someone refusing to follow the norm and doing something different can cause dirision.

The Wired Blog asks the question: "So the issue is, how in society we can get people to contemplate morality more when it matters?"

Any thoughts?

I need a challenge for 2009 so....

Just a quick note - I am talking part in Trailwalker 2009 - which is basically a 4 man, 100k walk across the South Downs within 30 hours in July 2009.

Please consider sponsoring me!

Is balance achievable?

A recent report from the the UK charity The Children's Society suggest that the UK's social ills are caused to some degree by the "aggressive selfishness" and "excess individualism" of parents leaving neglected children feeling unloved or insignificant.

They cite the following symptoms: high family break-up, teenage unkindness, commercial pressures towards premature sexualisation, unprincipled advertising, too much competition in education and acceptance of income inequality.

It is easy when you are a business owner and parent to allow schedules to become out-of-whack with our values. This report is a stark reminder of the potential outcomes of an unbalanced approach to life.

"I need some ME time" is often spoken and heard - life is certainly challenging especially in times of economic harshness. As a father, the temptation is always to concentrate on the commercial / professional "duty" to our family, customers and employees fearful of stepping off the gas should we be seen as less than a pro, rather than investing the time necessary for healthy relationships with our children.

Even now as I have found the TED conference talks on YouTube I am trying to keep my one year old from the keyboard! BAD DAD! Selfish Dad!

"Balance" is itself hard to pin down. Most families take a vacation every year for at least a 2 week stretch - i.e. No work at all for a whole two weeks - that too is not balanced. So how are we to acheive this balance?

Looking at the bible's teaching on the Sabbath could be a good start - that to rest from all toil for at least one day per week (whenever fits your life) can bring the necessary gap in the incessant noise of the marketplace in order to reflect on the why-I-ams of life and not just the I-shoulds.

I often explain to my wife that I need to have a switch-over time - where I come down off the treadmill and into a state where I can give myself fully to the family.

Please feel free to give me any suggestions - we're all on a journey...

Link for more discussion on the report click here.

Annie's Mad Ramblings

...are not so mad.

In her latest blog Annie examines church culture and challenges existing stereotypes. She is a leader by nature and has spiritual insight that causes her to live accordingly.

I recently visited a church in the Pacific North West USA, Newlife Kitsap one of the fastest growing in the area. Why is it growing so fast? Because they are "on the journey".

Whilst much of the church in the UK are waking up to community - that we are to support the community of believers and the local community, Wes Davis, Senior pastor of Newlife suggests that we should be aiming for "Communitas" - a community with a shared mission, a shared ordeal.

I'll update this blog soon when I can find Wes' source - but they are really living it out. The pastors who are planting the churches - reaching the 170k unchurched residents of Kitsap County - are volunteering sometimes up to 2 years before they are sustained financially by the organisation. That's sacrifice in my book.

Jesus said to those who believed and even demonstrated the power of God through their lives "Get away from me, I did not know you.."

I am reminded of those soldiers in WW1 who faught side by side in the trenches - the servicemen fighting the worlds current battles. When they return often they find that their fellow soldiers are the only ones who "know", who fully "understand" them.

The New Testament word for "know" in this passage suggests an intimate knowing. So unless we are out there on the front lines, walking like, doing like, leading like Jesus - how can we know him as he desires?

Through the parables Annie is right - he is asking us to reach for the truth (not wait for it). The lady at the well was encouraged to take a journey to revelation - to reach for it. Jesus asked us to reach for him, for abundant life.

Lean in fellow humans. Grasp the nettle. Thoughtfully, prayerfully challenge the status quo - study revivals - those who led led them reached for it and did the new thing that God was revealing at that time.

Who knows - with her approach to life Annie (or you?) could be the one to lead the next movement of God.