A Reality Cooking Show About the Reality of Living in Extreme Poverty
People are passionate about food. Celebrity chefs and the popularity of the Food Network and competition / reality cooking shows like Chopped, Iron Chef, Hell’s Kitchen and Masterchef demonstrate this. But for the 1.4 billion people in our world living on less than $1.25 a day, food and cooking isn’t entertainment. It’s survival.
But for the 1.4 billion people in our world living on less than $1.25 a day, simply feeding themselves is a daily challenge.
Continue Reading ›The Enticement, Disappointment and Redemption of Green Grass
When I wake up each morning, I usually feel angry. I’m not exaggerating. Three or four days a week I wake up with a sense that my soul is drowning, like I’m 300 feet beneath the ocean surface, on the fringe of complete darkness.
I can vaguely see a place without anger. I can vaguely see some light, but I don’t know how to get to it. I can’t swim. I can’t move.
Continue Reading ›
Will Eliminating Extreme Poverty Require a Miracle?
How big is the problem of extreme poverty? Three billion people worldwide and 1 billion children deep. But despite the size of those numbers, many people at Compassion believe that we can eliminate extreme poverty in our generation, that we can remove or utterly destroy it.
You might think we’re “drunk on the spirit,” that our goal is unrealistic, completely irrational or even not Biblical, and I will be honest with you, I thought it was out of I thought of it as an impossible task, too.
Fewer Children Are Dying
Good news from the government is pretty rare. Good news in the media is even more rare. So when I read this headline the other day, I smiled: “WHO sees good progress on UN health goals for poor.”
According to a recent study by the U.N.’s World Health Organization, good progress is being made on health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
- Fewer children are dying.
- The estimated percentage of underweight children under 5 has dropped.
- New HIV infections have declined.
- Existing cases of tuberculosis are declining.
- The world is on track to achieve the MDG target on access to safe drinking water.
Let’s just pause for a moment to let this sink in. We are making progress. Let’s celebrate this!
Of course, this doesn’t mean we can slow down in our fight against global poverty. If anything, seeing progress should motivate us to work even harder. And, as has been mentioned around here before, eliminating extreme poverty is just a matter of priorities.
The annual income of Christian American churchgoers is $5.2 trillion. The amount of money needed to end global poverty is about $74 billion a year. … Basically, 1 percent of our annual income a year is what is needed to end extreme poverty.
So the question is, what are your priorities?
H is for Hunger
Here’s a sad bedtime story: One out of seven people in the world go to bed hungry every night, victims of extreme poverty.
You can help them have a happier ending – compassion.com/youcan
The Ability to Eliminate Extreme Poverty Is Just a Matter of Priorities
The Church’s ability to eliminate extreme poverty is just a matter choosing to do so. We used to say that 40,000 children under age 5 die every day of hunger or preventable diseases. Today, that number is 24,000. These statistics show that in 20 years the number of children who die every day of hunger or preventable diseases has been cut in half. Yet, the birth rate is actually going up. The population is increasing.
The Ability to Eliminate Poverty: Is It Just a Matter of Interpretation?
Is our ability to eliminate poverty just a matter of how we interpret the Bible? John 12:7-8 is the verse that has captured our thoughts as we think about the poor. The verse that is now the most remembered about the poor.
And yet, when Jesus spoke, he was not talking to us. His use of “you” was not intended to be directed at us. This reference, this statement, was very specifically directed at Judas.
Eliminate Poverty: Can We Do It or Not?
On the subject of eliminating poverty, how do we reconcile the seemingly conflicting messages of John 12:8 and Deuteronomy 15:4?
Would You Immerse Yourself in Extreme Poverty to Get a Job?
You know when you go on a mission trip that is a completely life-changing experience, and you come back all fired up? You just stared injustice in the face and realized you can actually do something about it. Your life takes on new purpose. You know that feeling?
Holding Hope
I will never forget something a dear friend said to me years ago. I was struggling in my Christian walk. I had hit what I presumed to be rock bottom. I told him that I had lost all hope for happiness.
“Then I will hope for you,” he said, matter-of-factly.
What? Is it possible to carry someone else’s hope? What a beautiful, selfless sentiment.
I eventually pulled through my situation. Peace came. And I wonder how much of it was because of my friend’s odd but wonderful offer.
Over the years, this concept of holding on to hope for someone else has stuck with me. To be honest, it still sounds impossible. But I hope not. Because I recently heard a heartbreaking story from Bangladesh. A story about lost hope. (more…)
