Keeping Up With the Joneses

Here is a bit of perspective on this Thanksgiving day! It's reprinted from Comapssion International and was written by Tim Glenn. The link is to the actual post on their site.

Keeping Up With the Joneses

Who are the Joneses we’re trying to keep up with these days?

Like many Americans, we sometimes find ourselves comparing our lives to those of others. And most often, we look at those who make more and have more than we do.

As the old adage says, we look to “the Joneses.”

But who are the Joneses really?

Consider this: If you make $43,000 a year, you’re in the top 12% of earners in the world.

That’s right. The world.

So maybe we should flip this whole Jones thing over.

Eighty-eight percent of the world is comparing itself to you … and me. WE are “the Joneses” to 88 percent of people on this planet. And yet, where do we most often look for comparison? The other 11 percent.

I’m not saying we should compare at all. We shouldn’t. Life is about much more than material things. But, just for a moment, let’s entertain this thought of keeping up with the proverbial family.

• If you make more than $2 a day, you are the Joneses to 1.2 billion people.
• If you have a warm bed to sleep in at night, you are the Joneses to the billions who are sleeping on cold, hard ground in makeshift huts and tents.
• If you drive a car to work every day, your license plate might as well read “RICH” to the billions who have to walk miles just to get access to clean water, medical care, education or even a food source.
• If you finished high school, you might as well be “Dr. Jones” to those who have no chance of getting an education.
• If you eat three full meals a day, Jones. Jones. Jones.

So should I run out the front door yelling, “I’m rich! I’m rich!” as if I just won the lottery? Probably not. But that’s what the rest of the world may think.

Just a little perspective.

Courtesy of Compassion International: http://blog.compassion.com/keeping-up-with-the-joneses/#ixzz16JRz6bPj

It Matters to the One

I learned recently of a person where I work who has been in the hospital for several weeks with an aneurysm. He is out of benefit time and has a wife, two small children, and a baby on the way. Today they had a bake sale for him. (I made peanut butter - oatmeal -- chocolate chunk cookies.) But as I was baking, I just had to sigh. Will cookies really make that much difference? How can a bake sale replace lost wages or pay all the bills.

Can it take care of all the needs? Probably not, but . . . .

I looked at my phone. It has a picture on it of a starfish. The reason I put that on was a story I heard long ago about starfish being washed up on a beach during a storm. They littered the beach. A child was throwing the starfish back into the ocean. A man came up and chided the child, "That doesn't make a difference. You will never be able to throw them all back in."

I imagine the child's response as she threw another starfish as far as she could. "No. But it matters to the one."

I put that on my phone to remind myself that I may not make a huge difference in the world, but I can impact those around me.

And baking cookies may not answer all the problems, but it matters even if it simply means that someone cares.

And I am going to throw another starfish now and ask you to pray for Josh and his family. Pray of healing, pray for God to sustain them financially, emotionally, spiritually, and pray for hope.

Trust the Pattern

“k3 p2 sm k3 p2 pick up 5″ — so goes a knitting pattern.

My mom taught each of us girls to knit when I was about 10. However, the extent of it was one doll blanket. In college, I spent a semester in England and a woman who owned a wool shop came in and gave us free lessons. I managed a couple of sweaters that semester. However, after coming back to the states, I pretty much stuck with baby blankets. I didn’t trust myself to be able to figure out a pattern on my own.

I am posting over at the Internet Cafe today. Click here to finish reading.

Please Help

If you've hung out around me very long, you know I have a passion for kids. I especially want to help children without a voice of their own. To that end, I sponsor 2 Compassion International kids -- Kayirangwa and Margarita.

Christmas is coming and in the last two day I've read 2 posts from Compassion International and Christmas for Compassion kids. Some kids, like Kayirangwa and Margarita have sponsors like me. They will get presents and a letter. Unsponsored kids will still get something from people who give to the Christmas fund but they won't get a letter. This is hard for them to understand.

Please read these two links: Christmas for unsponsored kids and How you can help!

Basically, you have the opportunity to send a letter to an unsponsored child and let them know why God loves them.

I'm going to turn it into a give away of a Christmas book for kids with a grown up theme (A Tale of Three Trees). If you participate a card (follow the directions in the second link), leave a comment below and say "I wrote!". December 1st, I'll select a winner. Be sure to leave an email too so I can contact you. (If you write more than once, I'll enter you more than once! Let me know how many you send.)

Help me out. If you have a blog could you post a link to this post or tweet it or facebook it etc.? You will be my hero.

Wouldn't it be great if the letters were like the loaves and fishes with more left over than what they started with?

Try Again Tomorrow

Honestly, my day job is pretty dull. We deal with facts and figures and land records and such. But occasionally, something happens to spice it up. Today was one of those days. A gentleman we have dealt with before -- in situations that were equally dizzying -- came in again today. At times he has been combative enough that my boss and I have told everyone else not to engage with him, but to let us do the talking. My boss was at lunch, so it fell to me. Sigh.

He wanted to see my boss and wanted to have a document recorded. I explained the process and that it wouldn't get recorded today. He pointed out that I was talking about public documents. Yes, I was. He went on to assure me that my boss knew what this was about (I later confirmed he didn't) and that he would personally record it by hand (everything in the office is now by computer). He then told me that even though I was management that I probably wasn't privy to the information and that the document would be recorded in a secret book and that the office of the governor was watching this particular document.

I never did get to see the doc. I ended up having to have my boss call him when he got back.

Of course the staff buzzed about it afterwards and through out words like conspiracy theory and crazy! We all laughed a bit.

Yes, the irrationality of the comments and the requests make us shake our heads. However, I wonder if I could be a touch more sensitive. Maybe kind is the right word. Part way through, I think I began to dismiss him. While it is easy to do, it isn't necessarily right. No, I cannot stand for hours discussing secret books that I do not apparently have clearance for, but I can listen attentively for 15 minutes and see if there is any way I can easy his anxiety or address a valid concern.

I get a chance to try again tomorrow. Apparently he is coming in to meet with my boss. So, we will see if I can do a better job, be a bit more compassionate.

Grace Stops Violence and Heals the Wounds of History

I got this in my email and wanted to share it. Knowing that Christ can heal is what led me to select a child from Rwanda. Kayirangwa wouldn't have been born during the genocide, but her parents would have been. I do not know what side they were on, but I don't think it matters. Jesus blood covers it all.

Grace Stops Violence and Heals the Wounds of History

Internet Cafe Giveaway

Hi All --

I wanted to pass along information about a giveaway this week. Check it out!

We here at the cafe want to help you during this glorious season to fall into Jesus and experience His love like never before. How, you ask, are we going to do this? Oh, my friends…we have some fabulous blessings in store for you. From clothing, to jewelry, to books, to movies, to music, we have treasures galore that will help you to fall into your sweet Jesus more.

This year our “Fall into Jesus” giveaway is a BLESSING indeed! “Fall” Into Jesus Giveaway runs from today, October 25, 2010 through Thursday, October 28, 2010. Two winners will be selected at random and announced on Friday, October 29, 2010.

Head on over to the Internet Café find out how you can enter for your chance to win one of two fabulous giveaway bundles.

Click on this graphic: