Japan - Giving

Disaster Relief - What to Do?
by Brooke Carter

"Are you guys as overwhelmed as I am by everything that has happened/is happening in Japan? I have been especially challenged by trying to find a way to talk to the kids about it in a way that gives them a sense of what is going on without scaring them silly. We talked again this afternoon and we have decided that we will forgo our blanket-making and -giving plans and send our giving bank money to an agency that is providing relief in Japan. I read an article last night that lists several legitimate organizations that are accepting donations to provide aid to Japan. I think I will give the kids the choice between The American Red Cross and Save the Children. I'll let you know what they decide. After today's discussion, my 11-year-old put a $20 bill that she found at the park into the giving bank. When I told her that was a very generous thing to do, she replied, "I think they need it more than I do."

And, of course, they do need it more than she does. We all become much more aware of needs around the world during disasters, but the truth is that every single day there are people whose basic needs go unmet. This is where I start to have a very difficult time being reasonable. How can I justify my little daily expenditures that are really so petty and unnecessary when other people are starving? The Hubs tells me to get a hold of myself, that I can't save the whole world. And he's right, I know he is. I mean, I kind of know. But shouldn't we ALL be trying a little bit harder? Maybe I should take a lesson from my 11-year-old. I mean, which need is greater: a hungry child's need for a meal, or my need for a 1/2 cup batter scoop so my cupcakes can be more uniform in size and I can feel fancy when I'm baking? Well, if you looked in my utensil drawer right now, you would see that just about a week ago I decided that my need to feel fancy was a greater need. The Hubs tells me that it's okay to do things like that, that it's okay to do things for ourselves. Part of me knows that it's okay, as long as we also give. But another part of me knows that we could always do more.

How do you guys walk that line in your life and with your family? Do you struggle to find balance in giving?"

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<My Take>

Matt 12:44 talks about watching a widow give such a small amount in comparison to others, but she gave out of her need instead of out of her excess. Cool story and you would assume that her gift was more important than the others. I'm not so sure. I think that the gift she gave proved to be more important to HER than the other gifts were important to their perspective givers. If that's true then it makes me wonder if our giving isn't more important to us *as the giver* then it is to the cause we're giving to. That's my take, anyways.

What it puts me in the mind of is that when we give out of grace, compassion, and a loving mindset it is more beneficial to us *as the giver* than if we give out of guilt or from a sense of responsibility. After all, any non-profit you might donate to in this situation uses approximately 50-60% of revenues to cover overhead costs and such.

At the Crump casa we've developed a set strategy for giving to local causes alone. I just can't see past the homeless guy that lives in a tent on Riverside that I run past all the time in order to throw money at Japan. I'm overwhelmed by the human suffering in Japan, but I'm holding fast to our local strategy because I have to take care of my neighbors closest first before I'm able to offer a leg up to those halfway around the world.

Read the article posting on my site today about the single homeless mom that recently wrote a book of poetry. Her plea at the end is to give to your local communities and local causes before sending your dollars to overseas causes. I'm thinking she's right.

Don't get me wrong. You know good and well I'm cheering for the Japanese people like they were the Cowboys winning a superbowl. But they're not getting my money or my time. The local needs of my community will be benefiting from the Crump household. I'm globally minded, but locally consistent. My heart continues to ache for the Haitians as well as the Japanese, but I've got meals to serve at John 3:16 Mission and they're gonna be pissed if I don't show up because I'm watching news footage of Japan.

...or maybe I'm making all this up and I don't give a rat...

Go save the world, Brooke. Just do it in tight little nested circles which gradually move outward from your home. You won't get very far, but you'll make the largest overall impact to the world as a whole. Teaching those kiddos the meaning of giving is far more important to the well-being of the world we share than any amount of money you collect in the jar. They'll continue to give for the rest of their lives because of you. They might even learn a thing or two from Jeff, but I doubt it.

Sidenote: Brooke and Jeff Carter are the mid-30's adopted parents of 5 children that all come from different backgrounds. The Carters are saving the world everyday in ways that most of us will never fully understand or appreciate.  People like this always want to give more, but they're trying too hard sometimes because they're having to make up for the rest of us. Let's get off our asses and help the Carters save the world. They could use the assist.

Pastor's Book Questions Existence of Hell in Afterlife

Rob Bell's Book Appears Set to Cause Controversy Among Evangelical Christians
ABCNews.com > GMA

Forgive the Unforgivable. How?

Jennifer Lauck
Author, 'Blackbird'

To forgive was to be divine and as a child, among my spanking clean brethren, I did forgive all those who had trespassed against me. As time passed though, the trespasses seemed to add up faster than my ability to forgive and pretty soon I was buried in what had gone wrong. That's when I started to wonder: just what was the point of wiping the slate clean? Cynicism set in.

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The question of forgiveness has come up for me a lot these days. Along with millions of other couples out there in the U.S., a country that suffers from a startling divorce rate, I'm in the middle of couples counseling with my husband. We are determined to save our marriage. For him it's number two. For me, number three. The statistics aren't on our side. Second and third marriages have even higher failure rates than first marriages, according to Elizabeth Gilbert, who penned the book Committed about her own second marriage.

On one particular dark night, I went to sleep angry and woke up the same way. It had been like that for days, weeks and months. It hurt to be so pissed off at this man I called "husband" and an old lesson of forgiveness popped into my head. I thought, "just forgive him, Jennifer. Just try. Make it like a little candle you hold in a dark tunnel and keep your eye on that flame. Forgive him every five seconds if you have to but forgive."

This thought was the beginning of a major shift that nudged my rigid wall of anger just enough that I could see past my husband and peer into deeper shadows. The image of the little candle held in the dark was one I had used before, as an eight-year-old child when I had endured a sustained violent and sexual attack by a man three times my age. Unable to escape, as a child, I took refuge in this image of the candle of forgiveness. I told myself that I might not even live to see another day but it would be okay if I just held fast to that light.

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It has taken time but I've learned from myself as that small child, who used forgiveness as a way to survive, that forgiveness isn't an idea and it certainly isn't something I need from a priest or even God. Even those who study forgiveness within the faith now tell us forgiveness is beyond the religious and the dogmatic.

 [Full Article]

Love Wins: A New Split in Protestant Evangelicalism

by Jimmy Spencer
Red Letter Christians

Over the past couple years we have seen a growing hostility between conservative and more legalistic traditions of Christianity here in the USA and the more progressive traditions who focus more on loving and serving others. This doesn’t cleanly break across strictly denominational lines either.

Watch.
Your witnessing something big right now.
Your witnessing a new split in Protestant Evangelicalism.

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You’ll see two sides soon with a fairly slim middle. On one side you’ll have the Reformed Conservatives—entrenching and ‘expelling’ folks. On the other side you will see the Progressive Evangelicals—migrating toward work with mainline churches. This thing is going to split wide open.

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This may be the future of Evangelicalism—and we may all be witnessing the tipping poin.

 [Full Article]

Japan