A while back I posted an anti-Walmart post on Facebook. A friend of mine said that he didn't think pastors should post such things. "People make a living at Walmart" was his argument.
I considered that thought many a times and haven't posted on the subject since. But it is because of my Christian beliefs that I have stopped shopping at Walmart. I am for everyone making a living wage. If it can't be done through the government raising minimum wage, it has to be done through conscientious shoppers. It is immoral to be against the government raising minimum wage combined with being an unconscientious shopper. If you claim to follow Jesus, choose one, the other, both, or come up with a better solution. But not doing anything is not a solution.
I understand people work at Walmart in management and make a living. I also understand that many scrape by trying to make ends meet. I am not against them. I am for them. I think they should make more money for providing the service we, as a society, expect of them.
So I am a pastor. I don't shop at Walmart. And I am for everyone who works a full work week receiving a living wage (from production to retail). People shouldn't have to work two jobs in our wealthy nation.
I also think that you should consider not shopping at Walmart until they change.
**
This was the story that initially caused me to stop shopping at Walmart and Gap stores (including Old Navy). Not only are they part of a corrupt system, they are actually fighting to keep it corrupt. This is more evil than most companies. Other companies, when this atrocity was brought to light, were willing to allow changes. Walmart fought them.
"Between December 2012 and May 2013, nearly 1,200 Bangladeshi garment workers were killed in preventable factory fires and building collapses while producing goods mostly for U.S. and European markets. Walmart has responded to the tragedies by refusing to sign the broadly supported Bangladesh Safety Accord and instead proposed its own alternative. In contrast with the accord, Walmart’s plan is a voluntary arrangement without any meaningful enforcement mechanisms, developed without consultation with workers" (from Walmart lobbied to avoid increased safety in Bangladesh)
It is not okay that people die needlessly so that I can have cheap goods.
Yesterday, we all figured out how to digest Phil Robertson losing his job, yet he has more money than most of us will ever have. He'll be fine.
How about today and tomorrow we spend time figuring out how to help those who aren't as well off as Phil Robertson. For that matter, not even close to being as well off as us. The least of these.
It's Christmastime and there are people who are in great need around the world. We can help.
For some reason, we get more excited over an issue like this rather than helping the poor who are dying from bad drinking water and being malnourished. I think our priorities are wrong.
If we mobilized in a similar fashion to stop world hunger, to provide clean drinking water, good education or health care around the world, or to stand up for our brothers and sisters in Syria being slaughtered, I think the church would be a better witness for Jesus.
I wonder how we stand up for our rights and still look like Jesus. Can we do both?
I'm reminded of the humble act of Jesus at this time of year. He had all the reason in the world to not humble Himself, to stand up for His rights, yet He counted others as better than Himself and did it all for our sake.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:3-8 ESV).
This is the Christmas story. God emptied himself and took on the likeness of us. When we refuse to allow the true story of Christmas to be drowned out by all the noise and busyness of this season, we see that this example of God becoming flesh was done to teach us how to live.
It's tough to follow in His steps and consider others better than ourselves. That word, "better" in the original language has to do with something of surpassing or exceptional value. It's the same word Paul used in Philippians 3:8 when he says, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." This is a radical teaching. Jesus had the attitude that we were better than He was. Jesus viewed us as better than Himself. Jesus. Me. Better. That's crazy. But that's what love is. And Paul calls us to have that same view toward others—an attitude that cherishes one another, extols the value of one another, and looks for the best in one another instead of the worst. When we do that--when we start to love others the way God loves them, it will be much easier to be humble and sacrifice for them.
Maybe we need to follow in His steps and do the same, humble ourselves and serve. It's always difficult though. How do we make the executives at A&E feel loved and that we view them as better than ourselves while also encouraging and supporting our brothers and sisters? I fear that they may feel just as attacked as we do. Have we fallen prey to joining in on a cycle of attack? If we cause them to lose their job over the stance that they took, are we any better? Are we actually viewing them like Jesus did, as being more significant than ourselves?
The boycott page on Facebook already has 1.3 million likes. That's amazing. That's more than World Vision has accumulated in years. We could stop world hunger if we had the will as a people. Western civilization eats more frozen desserts in a year than it would take to end world hunger. It is estimated that it would take about 4% of our military budget to stop world hunger. We just don't want it. It just breaks my heart.
I would love for us to mobilize like we are showing that we can for Duck Dynasty, except this time to stop world hunger. If we could channel this passion, fervor, and zeal into that, imagine what could happen.
I doubt we will. Our passion is more directed at this because we do feel threatened that our freedoms could be lost. Although, I don't believe this is a first amendment issue, it is an issue where we feel that we can't express beliefs that we share in fear that people will come after us. I'm reminded of Louie Giglio at Obama's inauguration ceremony, Orson Scott Card writing Superman, and then this. If you upset gay activists, they have proven that they will go after your job. I agree that it is scary.
But we currently have our freedoms yet we still have world hunger. Maybe we aren't using our freedom the way we should.
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another (Galatians 5:13 ESV).
We have been blessed to be a blessing.
**
I just wanted to link three of my favorite organizations doing the work I mention in this post. If you are looking for a place to direct a Christmas gift this year, I am sure they would appreciate your support.
Like
Buddy being excited for Santa and then only seeing a fraud, we also experience
tremendous letdowns when we have placed our hope in things that cannot deliver.
We may hope in a friend who betrays us, a philosophy that proves
itself empty, a job that leaves us, or a family member that dies. Hope in anything
other than Jesus cannot deliver.
Because
hope is only revealed to be authentic hope when hope is actually needed. If it
isn't found in the despair, in the rubble, in the darkness, then it isn't
really hope. It's just happiness disguised as hope. For hope is found in the
death of things.
It
is to the sick and sinners that Jesus came to bring hope. And this is a message
that we, those who are greatly blessed often forget. We think Jesus is
contained in the lives of the righteous and worthy.
"The hope of Jesus is heavy and hard. It contrasts sharply with the cheap
and cross-free hope of the wealthy who have plenty. Hope is easy and flimsy for
those who already have richness, fullness, and laughter now, but hope is hard
for those who are denied the riches, prevented from fullness, and have no
reason to laugh." (my changed version of Bruegammann, Prophetic Imagination, 104)
The
truth is that our righteousness is but filthy rags. We get our fill of the
Proverbs or some modern self-help Christian teacher and begin to think that we
live in such a way that we deserve the blessings that God gives us. Our pride
prevents us from recognizing the truth that we are not worthy of the blessings
we receive. We are not deserving of the grace that comes through Jesus. We are
sinful, spiritually sick, and in need of a savior. We are but bones in a grave
wasting away. And our pride prevents us from recognizing how blessed we really are.
The most disgusting thing in the world is a self-righteous, self-proclaimed
Christian who acts like they are right with God while living a life devoid of
loving those who Jesus came to love. They read their Bible and they pray.
They're religious but not a follower of Jesus. A self-righteous,
self-proclaimed Christian who isn't willing to sacrifice their blessings so
that others may see Jesus. The solution to this problem is to recognize our
sinful state and the role that Jesus plays in our lives.
For
God emptied Himself of all of His privilege and became human when He came to
earth as Jesus. That is the beauty of the Christmas story. He who is worthy of
all worship became a servant to those unworthy. He became a vulnerable,
fragile, little baby to save people like you and me. He gave up all that He
deserves to give us that which we don't deserve.
Jeremiah
wrote,
Thus says the LORD: “Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes
from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the LORD, and they
shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your
future, declares the LORD, and your children shall come back to their own
country. Jeremiah 31:16-17 (ESV)
Like the Jews in the Old Testament, in
Christ, we can always look expectantly for a better tomorrow. We can have hope
for the future. The deliverer and king has come.
Yet He came differently than expected. He came in a manger.
Being removed from that culture and having been inundated with the Christmas
story since birth, the meaning of this element of the story may have lost its significance
to us. But to the people of the time, especially to the poor, it had a
significant meaning. Jesus was born in a barn. God's grand entrance if you
will. He came down to earth to live with us in the flesh, and He slept in a
feeding trough for animals. He became the least for you and me, so that in Him
the least would have hope.
If
I were God, I would have planned it so that I arrived into a rich
family, lived in a palace, and slept in a crib lined with gold with nannies
meeting my every need. I would grow up with all of the comforts of this world.
Leisure, entertainment, and toys. But I'm not God. And God was trying to teach
us something in the way He came. He came through the poor and powerless. He
came in a manger, setting his tone for his ministry. The first will be last. If
we want to be His followers, then we need to give up what we feel we deserve
and serve others.
He
came differently than the Jews were expecting. The Jews were expecting a
Messiah to save them from the Roman rule. Actually, not just to save them from
Roman rule, but to establish Jerusalem as
the ruler of Rome and the rest of the world. Yet Jesus came differently than
expected. He came and died on the cross. He didn't come to rule in the
traditional ways of the world. True, he still wants to be our king, our master.
True, He established a different sort of kingdom, the Church. But He came
differently than the world expected. He came to serve rather than to be served.
His weapons were love and truth, not swords and war. And He wants his followers
to do the same, to serve rather than be served.
He also came in love - not might, not strength, not power. The
world falsely believes that the things of this world are what's important. We
see this in Black Friday. Some think that toys, gadgets, and entertainment
devices will bring them happiness. They hope in them. But then, a month after
the gifts are open, life is still the same. The gadgets, toys, and
entertainment didn't change us. Without Jesus, we are still the same hopeless
person we were before all the gifts.
We
keep ourselves busy with false fixes. We place our hopes in the wrong things,
time and time again. All this time wasted when the real solution is readily available. Jesus is the real solution. He's not the solution in
some impractical "spiritual" yet non-political, non-physical way. We
like to keep Him locked up in a prison we call "spiritual," so that
He can stay there and not mess with our "real" lives. Our thinking is
that if we keep Him spiritual, then He doesn't have to mingle with our
marketplace life, our physical life, our political life, or any other aspect of
our life. Yet Jesus wants all of our life.
He
always was and still wants to be practical. He may have been born in a humble manger,
but His teachings caused the powers that be to execute Him in a disgraceful
fashion. For He wasn't just spiritual. He was upsetting the status quo. He was
literally changing the world. And the powers of the time didn't like that. The
spiritual answers that Jesus provides aren't just to give us spiritual
guidance; they're supposed to change the way we live and the world we live in.
Our
spirituality is not supposed to be just some personal, self-reflective
wonderland. In every issue we face, whether politically, personal, at work, in
the community, or at home, we need to follow Jesus' example that we are
reminded of this time of year and serve others. Instead of force through
government or in being someone's boss, we serve. Instead of all of the ways of
power in this world, we worship the One who has true power and surrender to Him.
God works in strange ways. He always has. The question is whether we will
accept his strange ways as our real solution. He came in a manger. The world
tells us that we need to be strong; God teaches us to be weak and depend on
Him. Then we will be strong in His way, a strange yet amazing way.
When Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me," we say, "Amen."
We immediately walk away, pretend to understand Jesus' teaching, and say with our lives, "Jesus, you won't mind if I have you work where the working conditions are horrible and the pay is not enough? I wouldn't work like that, but you will for me? It's capitalism. You understand? Right, Jesus?"
"You won't care that I take advantage of you because you are from an economically depressed and underdeveloped country. You understand that? That's just the way the world works. Right, Jesus?"
"As long as I remain sexually pure, study my Bible, go to church, do some good for some people, and pray, you're fine with working like that for me? You're so understanding. I need you to do those things so that I can pay less for my coffee, clothes, gadgets, housing materials, and everything else that I want to consume? I have to look good and be in style when I worship You."
"Jesus, will you still be my savior even though I make you do these horrible things for me? Right, Jesus?"
We hear Jesus whisper through the noise of our culture, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." We still say, "Amen."
But our actions say something else. We consume and live like kings while Jesus starves to death, dies from bad drinking water, is uneducated because he doesn't have a school nearby, and slaves away to make our consumer goods. At least we still get our cheap prices.
Something is wrong. With me. With our world. It is so hard to live for Jesus in such a fallen world. We need to see Jesus. Help me see Jesus.
Over several months, they trimmed expenses and produced a $500,000
surplus. Normally, that money would help them feel secure in times of
economic uncertainty.
But was security really what the church
needed? "For so long, we saw those funds as something to use on a rainy
day," says Platt.
"But why would we hold onto this for some potential future need when there are dire present needs all over the world?"
He
learned that Compassion had several Child Survival Programs (CSPs) in
India that needed funding. Platt remembered the despair he had seen in
the country where 42 percent of the people live in poverty.
What
better, more practical way to live out the gospel? Platt presented the
idea to the church to fund 21 CSP child development centers in India
with the surplus funds. They agreed.
First, I find it amazing that they had $500,000 in expenses that they could cut from their budget.
Next, I find it wonderful that they turned around and used that money to help the least of these.
We are so quick to say that a church should use their money that way because it is a beautiful, sacrificial thing. But being beautiful and sacrificial isn't just something that should be left to churches.
We should use our money that way. In our own budgets. We may not have $500,000 to save, but we can make cuts and live a little sacrificially so that others may be able to actually live.
Or is sacrifice something that we only expect of others?
When a crayon is your favorite possession. When a crayon is all that you have. I want to say that it will get better. But sometimes life is just sad.
When I went to Liberia, I was given the privilege of bringing soccer balls to give to schools that didn't have any soccer balls. (Thanks to the Antwerp Soccer Association, Dooley Funeral Home, and Floyd Ramsier for purchasing and sending me with these balls). The way our luggage worked is that I would have two suitcases. One that would be used for water systems and supplies for Hope 2 Liberia and one that I could use for the stuff I would need. I crammed my one suit case with fifteen soccer balls, air pumps, and needles. All my personal items were in my carry-on. I was going to bring soccer balls (footballs to them) to those that didn't have any soccer balls.
Before leaving, I thought giving away the soccer balls would be the best time of the trip. I knew that I was providing water systems that would give water that allows life. I knew that I was teaching lessons that would present the Gospel that would share the Living Water. In contrast to those things, soccer balls seem relatively meaningless. But, for some reason, I thought giving away the soccer balls would be the best thing ever.
And then I walked to the school to give away my first soccer ball. It was a school of around three hundred students. And I walked in. The students were crammed into rooms, receiving an education that will, hopefully, make their lives better.
The principal pulled the oldest class away from their studies for me to present the soccer ball to them. And grief just struck me. I don't know what it was. Maybe it was all of the eager students stuffed into rooms. Maybe it was the fact that these kids loved the soccer ball so much and had so little. Maybe it was the fact that my kids can misplace one of their many balls and forget about it while these kids have absolutely nothing.
When we gave away water systems to the families, I also had the privilege of giving away crayons at the end of the presentation to children. One crayon per kid. A crayon that would be their only toy. A crayon that they would love and cherish. A crayon. Just a crayon. The smiles. The joy. That just a crayon can bring.
I'm not going to repeat myself here (Opened Eyes - A Call To Help The Least of These) except to say that we are so blessed. And we let Calvinism creep in and think that this is just the way God wants this world. Or we let Americanism creep in and say that if they would just work harder they would have a better life. It's so easy for us to say that they need to do something. But if you were there, walking on those crowded streets, looking into those young, hope-filled eyes - if you could see those dirty streets and those old, hopeless eyes - you wouldn't think they need to work harder or they need to do this or that. You would say, "What can I do to help? What can I do to empower you to reach your potential and transform this nation from a place that was on the precipice of hell to what God intends it to be? What can I do to help you attain a better life?"
It's easy to tell people what they should do. It's much more difficult to ask, "What can I do?"
The Mother Keebeh Academy in Monrovia, Liberia.
One of the Classes at The Mother Keebeh Academy.
The Class with their soccer ball.
A little boy who received a crayon
along with a water filtration system
to keep him alive.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
A picture of our bucket of crayons
taken by Kelly Kuker
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (James 2:14-18 ESV).
I had a conversation the other day with two good, well-intentioned,
Christian friends who I could not convince that the needs of the poorest in our
community are nothing compared to the needs of the poor in other places around
the world.
I remember when we did the Rock 4 Water concert to
raise money to provide clean drinking water to Liberians. The people from Hope
2 Liberia had a booth set up. Someone from Antwerp expressed to them, "I
just don't get it. Look at all the people around here that need help. Why
aren't we helping everybody around here?"
One of my friends told me about a poor person in
our community who lives in a rundown house and has to live off of his meager social
security check for the month. Imagine fifteen people living in that small,
rundown house without a job anywhere in sight, no social security, no running
water, and no electricity, then you will see how wealthy even the American poor
are. Imagine that one in four of the kids born in that house won't live to the
age of five, none of the kids will have an opportunity to reach their full
potential because they have no access to education. That's the difference. American
poor have needs, but some poor have greater needs.
My friends tried to convince me that it was the
world's poorest's choice to live like that. That's a common idea in American
because poverty in America is typically a result of the choices that individual
has made in their past. It might be a choice hampered with addictions, but it's
still a choice. But it's no choice to be born in a poor society, to not have
access to clean drinking water, to feel fortunate to have only one meal a day,
and to not receive an education. It's no choice to be born under a totally
corrupt government. That's not a choice. It would be a choice if, like us, they
have access to clean drinking water, yet choose to drink dirty water. We could
all go down to the Maumee and drink straight from the river, but we are all
blessed to have convenient and safe water from our taps. That's a choice that
the least of these around the world don't have.
We deemphasize how blessed we are because of the
faithfulness of those who have gone before us. The American "pull yourself
up by your bootstraps" mentality is only available because of the great
society we live in. The schools in our communities. The families we grew up in.
The clean water we have available. The food on the table. The spiritual
foundation of our society. All things we
take for granted, yet we barely have anything to do with. Things that aren't
there for the poor around the world.
It's not their choice to live like they do. They
can't choose to go to rehab or a counselor and get their life straightened.
They can't choose to work hard in a fair society to have all of the nice
amenities that we take for granted. They can't choose to load up in the car
they don't have and travel with the money they don't have to a better place.
They dream of the paradise we take for granted and know as normal life.
We are blessed. They may not have a choice, but you do. It's your choice if you
will help give them a hand up. Jesus said, "What you do for the least of
these you do to me." Are you going to do anything for the least of these?
I have a little exercise for us. This may seem
strange but work with me here.
Say these things out loud as if they were true.
There is a little boy who will die if I don't give
him clean drinking water.
There is a little girl who will not reach her
potential if I don't provide her with an education.
There is a family who will lose a child to hunger
if I don't feed them.
If you really believed these statements you just
said, would you do something about them?
Now, I'm not asking you to stop loving your neighbor in the town you live in. We
have people in our community in need. People we can help. These needs are
different and, typically, not as fatal, but God has placed us where we are for
a reason. To love our neighbors. But it's not an either/or situation. I am not asking
you to stop loving people in our community, but to also love your neighbor just
across the ocean. A neighbor you could send money to tomorrow if you wanted. A
neighbor who can receive help from organizations that are just a phone call
away. We're so blessed that we don't even have to go overseas to help.
When Jesus gave his tough teaching about loving our neighbors, one of the guys
asked, "Who is my neighbor?" He didn't ask to know who to love; he
asked to get out of loving. What's the bare minimum that I have to do to follow
Jesus' teachings? That's not the question we should ask. Jesus replied with the
story of the Good Samaritan teaching that our neighbors are anyone who we see
in need. A better question is, "What opportunities do I have to be the
hands and feet of Jesus?"
William Wilberforce once said, "You may choose to look the other way but
you can never say again that you did not know."
Those of us who have been blessed are blessed to
be a blessing. Not to selfishly indulge in our blessings. Our communities
suffer from selfishness of all sorts. I suffer from selfishness of all sorts. But
God calls each one of us to something greater. The least of these around the
world need something greater. Jesus is waiting to be loved.
**
Below are a few videos that emphasize the same point, albeit in a sarcastic, comedic way.
To put down thoughts regarding our mission trip to
Liberia resembles telling people of a great painting by only showing them one
square inch of that painting. But words and stories are all I have to hopefully
inspire and drum up more interest in what God is doing in Liberia. It is in this
feeble attempt to express what God did that I hope His Spirit intermingles with
our souls and brings vitality and passion where our souls too often slumber.
I'm going to deal with the biggest achievement of
the trip. But in doing this, I realize that God often turns what we thought was
an insignificant moment into the most significant event, while the things we
thought were great and amazing become a passing footnote to our lives.
Don Winters (left) and John Bennett (right)
Last year, our small Hope 2 Liberia team of four
people, traveled to the Heart of Grace school in Lower Johnsonville, outside of
the capital city of Monrovia. What we saw there was amazing. This place was
different. It was kept up. It was clean. We are part of Hope 2 Liberia, but
this place, on the outskirts of Monrovia, was really a place of hope for
Liberia. Something was happening here. It was a city on a hill. It was a beacon
of hope in the darkness.
But there was also a great problem. A problem we
wouldn't have known about except for a random, divine encounter in the airport
that eventually led us to Heart of Grace. The school and the surrounding
community lacked water. The school had been given a well by a Rotary Club out
of Lafayette, Louisianna, but the well had dried up. A man in the neighborhood
had spent days hand digging a new well, only to never hit water. The only water
they could get was down a steep cliffside. A journey they would make every day,
bucket after bucket, because water is life.
So we saw the situation, but we did not have the
pumps and equipment to do something incredible. I remember the feeling in that
small group that something would be done. And one of our group members, Jon
Bennett, said, "I'm going to come back here and fix this problem." So
he went home, 5,000 miles away from Lower Johnsonville and the Heart of Grace
school, but that community stayed on his heart. He worked out a plan. His
passion to help Johnsonville and his commitment to work hard to meet the needs
of those who did not have the ability to meet their own needs, combined with
the engineering know-how of John Pierce, brought eventual change. As you are
reading this, someone from the community in Lower Johnsonville is probably filling
her bucket with safe, purified water. Water that was unsafe to drink at the bottom
of the cliff, that traveled through lines laid, and was filtered prior to
reaching a spigot at the top of the hill.
Eric Wowoh
Eric Wowoh, a Liberian, founder of the Heart of Grace school, the executive
director of Change Agent Network, and a servant of God of the sort I have never
before encountered had this to say:
"We now have plenty of water flowing through our school and community here
in City View, Lower Johnsonville. Water has always been a major problem for us
in this community, especially during the dry season or summer months. We have
never had a public system for running water, which has meant everyone had to
travel many miles for their water. In
our case, this has meant walking up and down a very challenging, rocky hill to
get to a well. Heavily pregnant mothers journeying up and down to fetch water
each day has been very normal since people have lived here."
"This is now history as God sent twenty-four members of the Hope 2 Liberia
team to help bring an abundance of fresh, safe, clean drinking water to the
thirsty in this 17,000 strong community of Lower Johnsonville, including all of
the students and staff that use our school, the Heart of Grace."
"Thanks for your continual support and
prayers! We are very grateful to all who have helped. This is a huge moment for
us - real development and real change. Water is, indeed, life. May God water
and refresh your life as you have helped to water the lives of others in such
need."
All of this challenges me. And I hope it
challenges you. All too often we see the world off kilter from what God has
designed it to be, but we just turn a blind eye and unleash our apathy. We say
it's a fallen world and things will be this way until Jesus returns. But those
teachings weren't given to us so that we could be complacent. They are an
acknowledgment that we will always have a mission to accomplish.
People from the Johnsonville community waiting in line for water.
But do you see what happened here? Thousands of
people now have clean drinking water because of the passion of one man. John
Bennett - not a pastor, not a plumber, not an engineer - founder and owner of
Cool Cayenne Authentic Printed Shirt Co. in Muncie, Indiana. He made a
difference. He would be the first to say that he couldn't have done it by
himself, but what is happening in Johnsonville right now, as we sit in the
comfort of our own homes, wouldn't have been accomplished without his
faithfulness to Jesus. When John stands before Jesus and Jesus says, "I
was thirsty and you gave me a drink." John will humbly say, "When did
I see you thirsty? When did I give you a drink?" And Jesus will say,
"Johnsonville."
May we each find our Johnsonvilles. May we each
strive to make a difference. Instead of pretending we don't have to do anything
and that God's plan will magically get done, may we take seriously God's call
to be His hands and feet. We have to get busy being faithful. We are surrounded
by the hungry, the thirsty, the immigrant, the naked, the sick, and imprisoned.
And in loving them, we love Jesus. Let's love Jesus. Let's love our fellow man.
