It's Have A Rant Monday

I'm not quite to the end of this book, but I have to recommend you add it to your must read in this lifetime list. I'd actually like to suggest you bump it up to the top of the list so that after you read it, you have the rest of your lifetime to think about it and act on it. Life is about action my friends.

The book is called Too Small To Ignore Why the Least of These Matters Most. It's written by Dr. Wess Stafford. He's the president and CEO of Compassion International. I don't know much about that group and frankly, I'm too lazy to look it up. This is not an incredibly recent book either. It came out in 2007. And the start of the book gets into some hard to read stuff. Let's just say my list of books to read is a little long.

I love this book because it clearly and eloquently states and explains a lot of things I knew deeply and just couldn't say clearly myself. I'm lazy about being concise with words. I know for a lot of you, kids are not your area of passion, neither are the poor, but I'd still push you hard to give this book a read.

This is an excerpt from an area of the book where Dr. Stafford is talking about how we miss the mark by treating the symptoms of poverty and not the root. I'd add on that this does apply to inner cities and rural areas and the kids who wind up in foster care.

"If we are going to strike poverty at its root, we must take aim at this condition called fatalism. This is what keeps people penniless, sick, ignorant, vulnerable, oppressed, and without God.

I know this is perhaps a different perspective of poverty than you have typically heard. Most people see only the circumstances and conditions. But poverty is an inside-out issue. It does its greatest damage on the inside, where it often cannot be seen.

Don't get me wrong; when it comes to the poor, I believe it is "good to do good." But not all good is of equal value or is strategic enough to attack poverty at its core and reverse its deadly effect. If we are going to do good, why not also be strategic? Henry Ford once said about the poor, "The only thing you can give a man without hurting him is an opportunity." He knew that no amount of handouts or doing good things on a person's behalf gets to the heart of the matter, which is the inner, destructive message of "Just give up." An opportunity, on the other hand, cuts to the very core by saying, "I believe in you! You can do it. Don't you dare give up!" pg 188

"Poor housing. Contaminated water. Injustice. Economic limitations. A harsh environment. Lack of infrastructure. Poor health. War. But these are not poverty. They are merely its symptoms. They are deplorable and should be addressed by caring people. But the mere elimination of poverty's symptoms will never win the war." pg 189


"After a good-hearted laugh, I would explain that when you understand poverty's root, it's core, as a destructive mind-set that says, "I don't matter. There is nothing special about me. Why should I try? Why should I dare to hope? Who cares about me?" you have stumbled right into the very heart of the gospel. Every Christian who has experienced the love of God in his or her life is in a perfect place to understand the centrality of this perspective." pg 190

For a long time, I've held the belief that a small person doing something small, counts. This echos that. How? Well, we're not going to conquer poverty in a short amount of time with a large chunk of cash. We're going to conquer this one relationship at a time. It's the way Christians are made too. One relationship at a time.

Relationships are not built out of force. We all know it because at one time or another in your life someone has tried to force something on you, some part of their opinion or belief was spewed at you in a way that made you look for an early exit from the scene.

I've been watching it go on all season long in one of my circles. And just in case you're getting a head of yourself, I'm not perfect. I'm so far from flawless it's not even funny. I'm a very, very faulted and broken human. I just see what I see.

So in this circle this season, there has been a young man-boy. I'll admit right up front he's a challenge. His attitude is harsh. He lies. He cusses. A lot. But we as the grown ups, the mentors, the self appointed teachers and leaders are failing this kid. People are talking about him behind his back. He's being disciplined, told to pay attention and watched like a hawk. People have "joked" with him about how much he eats. Last night I watched the Bible and Jesus crammed down his throat and thrown at him like a weapon.

It was sad and frustrating and in a way the perfect picture of all the was going a miss this season in this circle.

This young man, and I say this loosely, is more child than man even though his years make him more man than child. Ten minutes talking with him tells you his life has been no picnic. Did we ever consider that he eats all the food in a way that is eerily similar to someone who is homeless and hungry? Did anyone ever notice that when he talks about helping people the first people he talks about are the homeless and hungry? Did anyone notice that he speaks easily and often about jail? That same ten minute conversation you may or may not have had with him would easily and clearly tell you he knows nothing of the Bible, he's probably never held one, definitely never read one. I'm not even sure he can read. Yeah, this is right here in the 'sha where poverty is not what it is in other places. He definitely doesn't know about this Jesus we speak of, teach on and sing about and dang it all, we're NOT showing him any bit of this Jesus.

It's just like all the songs. He's not clean cut. He doesn't speak Christian-ese. He speaks rough urban slang and not the kind from the clean cut kids playing at ghetto. We're asking him to sit in the back, drink from the other fountain.

We've had a great opportunity. Jesus has been standing in our midst as one of the least of these and we're walking on the other side of the street.

There is no segue, just within my mind, it leads back around to foster care. I'm scared of and feel sorry for those people who become foster parents and then don't grow. The ones who never learn lessons of humility and stay smugly in their position that they know better than the birth family. The ones that sit comfortably in judgement on the birth parents. I can't do it. It's not a pretty thing to feel for the birth parents and all they go through that is ultimately a fall out of their own choices, but either way, we're called to love them. We're called to pray for them. As we care for their kids, love their kids, pray over their kids, how can we not be deeply and permanently broken for these parents?

It seems I have a heart made of mush. That's not always something that people like about me, and I'm okay with that. I've even been told that I'd give away my very last cent if I thought someone else needed it more. To me, that is the ultimate in compliments, because it means I'm living out what I say I believe.