How Do We Do It?

So in my last blog I was talking about greed. I mentioned that if the wealthiest 400 Americans liquidized about 1 Billion of their wealth then they could distribute $10 000 to 39 960 000 American's on the poorer side of the spectrum. Anyway I was in a conversation this afternoon and I brought this little tidbit up to much disagreement. After a tense statement about teaching people to fish instead of giving them fish I realized that upon writing this it was not a solution to the problem but merely an example of how extreme the wealth is at the top. This has gotten me thinking again though. What solution's are there to the problem?

Before chasing solution's I believe that it would be wise to set a few goals. A society I would be proud to be a part of would value each contributing citizen equally and give equal opportunities of success to all, it would meet the most basic needs of all and it would be easily able to set aside greed in order to maintain a fair lifestyle for those on the bottom of the income scale.

Solutions are needed as compared to a solution. The reason being that their are too many factors contributing to the problem for one solution to make a lasting effective change.

As an example if Canada's 21 residing billionaires liquefied an average 1 Billion each (which is easily doable considering the top 2 have over 21 billion in wealth between them) and distributed it to Canada's lowest working poor they could raise this year's income by $10 000 for 2 100 000 Canadians. This would be ineffective as a route to change though because it is unsustainable and doesn't teach those poor how to escape their circumstances or alter the circumstances to their betterment.

So we need a multi faceted solution. We realize that their are multiple problems but now we need to identify them. Among them are a growing rich poor gap, an inability to live modestly, a trickle down Government mindset, the stronghold of multi-national big business, and continued discrimination between Race, Religion, Gender...

I believe we'll all be far better off if as a World we learn to live modestly without the drive to constantly purchase, consume and be entertained, we learn that wealth should be redistributed in a bottom up (trickle up) fashion, not a trickle down fashion, we move intentionally away from massive multi-national corporations to smaller local companies and businesses and we embrace true equality across the board not only in the way we view people but in the opportunity given to each person to succeed. Given this as a first end goal seems like a good start, so lets get their.

So how do we conquer this unquenchable drive to purchase, consume and/or be entertained? What fuels it? The media and advertising for sure, but what else? What inside us makes need so much stuff and antics?

How do we show out Gov't that we at the bottom need the money. Not people at the top? The people at the bottom so often sadly don't have the capacity to save and so they are trapped into giving all their money to the next man up anyway. If you give a cheque to the poor the rich will inevitably still get that money, but, they'll just get it later and will have had to do something for it.

How do we move away from brand names? Big corporations? Could you live without Wal Mart, Zellers, Sears, the Bay, K Mart and whatever huge department stores are around? What about Grocery stores? Could you survive off only independent retailers? If you think you could, you should try. Then help us learn how to do the same.

How do we create equality and create equal opportunities for all people? What must we do for the Gangster child from Compton to have the same shot in school as the rich white girl in OC? How do we forget passports and citizenships when we hear about suffering and do for the enslaved child soldiers in Africa what we do for the abducted child from the next state/province over?

These aren't easy questions. It'll take guts to come up with real answers. Now if you are thinking the answers will be hard the living of these ideals will be a whole new story as well. It may mean being the extremely poor one for a season. I really believe that God is in this struggle for a better expression of living and so his hand of blessing will not be far behind our labours. So when persecution comes and lightning threatens your sails, buckle down and press on. Even without sails or a vessel God is in control and I know I trust him with my life. If I am floating aimless on the central Pacific current, in a war zone's "no mans land" or here typing peacefully at my computer God is in control and he knows what is best for me, you and the world.

A Diamond in the Rough

Has anyone ever shared a lunch for one between two or three people? How is it that when all parties are hungry and the portion is small that so often bellies are satisfied? Sharing what belongs to one can so often somehow satisfy. It is incredible when I think of all the times this has happened with me. It seems that in a world so consumed by greed that when one gives up their own for the benefit of all that satisfaction previously unlikely comes around.

Maybe it's God's way of encouraging us to share what we have in Faith that he'll provide. Jesus fed 5000 on a few loaves and two fish. Talk about God providing.

My life over the past two-three years has been filled with instances of God providing. Somehow on a base income ranging between $400 and $550/month in the last 3 years I've been able to do a DTS and SOMD in Los Angeles which included outreach to Mississippi and Morocco. A summer outreach to LA and Mexico, lead a DTS in Toronto with outreach to Germany and Turkey, fly to and from Vancouver and Barbados for training and have food, shelter and the necessities. Unlikely yes, but God has been my provision through a beautiful array of generous supporters.

Anyway all of this to say that I found an amazing quote about greed in a very strange place. This is Captain Barbosa on Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Curse of the Black Pearl explaining the curse he and his crew suffered under:

Find it, we did (treasure). There be the chest. Inside be the gold(coins). And we took ‘em all. We spent ‘em and traded ‘em and frittered ‘em away on drink and food and pleasurable company. The more we gave ‘em away, the more we came to realize…the drink would not satisfy, food turned to ash in our mouths, and all the pleasurable company in the world could not slake our lust. We are cursed men, Miss Turner . Compelled by greed, we were, but now we are consumed by it. There is one way we can end our curse.

This is so profound to me! How could this be found in a Disney movie!!??

This is the current greed and coming downfall of North America explained. The current generations in North America almost all found themselves born into significantly more wealth then most the rest of the world. This treasure of a society our forefathers built for us has been an amazing treasure that was built up over many generations. Now what we are doing with it is what the pirates had done with theirs.

"We spent ‘em and traded ‘em and frittered ‘em away on drink and food and pleasurable company."

What are we doing with wealth other then greedily frittering it away? So what some might say, but here is the kicker.

"The more we gave ‘em away, the more we came to realize…the drink would not satisfy, food turned to ash in our mouths, and all the pleasurable company in the world could not slake our lust."

This explains so much about current North America to me. The various addictions including but not limited to materialism (addicted to shopping?), alcohol and drugs (duh), food addictions (non medically caused obesity) and sexual addictions (pornography).

Where the satisfaction we once received from something fades what is the most common human reaction? Get more. Drink more. Eat more. View more?

North America here is the truth of our struggle:

!!We are cursed men and women. Compelled by greed we were but now we are consumed by it.!!

How do we break the curse?

Breaking the curse we are under is far more complicated then breaking the one Barbosa's crew was under. There are so many more variables, so much more at steak that we should care about that those Pirates didn't. We've got to start somewhere though. I believe many people have experimented towards a breaking this curse. Community living, boycotting blood diamonds, sweatshop clothing, unfair coffee trade and various attempts at living modestly are all excellent baby steps in the fight to break the curse of greed.

Personally I have wished to make many of these steps myself without actually getting to where I want to be. Sadly I cannot afford fair trade clothing or food all the time. I do live in community, but I live very modestly (sub modestly) not by choice but out of necessity. To be honest a major contributor to this nasty burnout cycle I go through is just scraping by all the time.

The major concept that catches my eye out of all these is modest living though. Imagine if all the world's millionaires all gave their yearly income that surpasses one million away to those who truly need?

In the Forbes 2006 study of the 400 richest Americans there was no one on the list below 1 Billion dollars. If one person whose value was one Billion dollars kept one million for themselves and gave the rest away to the poorest of the poor in increments of ten thousand dollars then they could give $10 000.00 to 99 900 people. If all the 400 richest Americans all only had 1 Billion and did the same they could give $10 000.00 to 39 960 000 people which is slightly more then 10% of the current estimates of US population (US Pop Clock).

Crazy eh? I don't believe in the trickle down effect. The trickle up effect needs to be put into action. The poor need to be supported not the rich. YOU can be a part of this change! Refuse to support greedy politics, refuse to succumb to greed yourself and if you find yourself a crazy billionaire in the future start the trend. Live modest and guilt free.

Hey guilt free: Sharing and community is what God originally designed us for. Maybe if a rich person shares extensive amounts of their wealth they might edge closer to finding that happiness that money can't buy...

Somewhere Out There

Loneliness. Loneliness among people... This might be one of my greatest torments. Has anyone else ever experienced it? Being surrounded by a group of awesome people and feeling utterly lonely. It really sucks. Sadly it seems to be a common thread that has dominated nearly half, or maybe more, of my life.

Now that I look back on it, it isn't difficult to track the causes of loneliness among people. I commonly struggle with it the most in the weeks after a geographical transition or when a group of my friends leave where I am. Examples include when I left Mississauga for Vancouver last summer. I was leaving behind my bestest pal Jordan and a DTS with whom I'd spent two months of evenings with usually in some kind of awesome conversation or great fun. (Who remembers getting soaked by the wave spray on the way home from a late night waltz to McDees?) An example of the other is when Mike and Josh left Mississauga. They while I was there in Miss were my tightest pals and without them in Miss I lost the ability to function properly. I got lonely among good people.

In the last month I have again started to get lonely among people. No surprise given my recent Exodus from YWAM Miss/Tor into my new role in downtown TO. I have also begun to notice a common reaction of mine to this feeling. An unhealthily strong wish for a companion. I guess it makes sense in these times to wish all the more for a companion, but, shouldn't I have learned by now to rely on God in these times?

Over the last month my desire for companionship reached such a high that I even checked out a few online Christian dating sites. Very out of the ordinary for me and even creepy. The whole experience wasn't so bad and fixed a lot of biased opinions I had against it, but, my reason for being there may still have been wrong and fueled by my own human desires and not God's.

So now I am in a place where I need to stop searching for girls and return to searching for God. Finding God in the glitter and the gutter is what I need to be doing. There is so much beauty out there that is to be found. So much wonder at which I have not yet gawked. Lord help me to continue to set my heart on what is true, right, lovely and Holy (Phil 4:8).

So here I am. Displeased with the way things are and with ideas to improve. Where do I start? Where do I target? What will be my end? Hopefully these answers are all thoroughly saturated with Jesus. If not I will surely fail.

I am the Youth Leader?

So I just ventured back to my blog and realized that I only posted once in all of June. Thinking this is a sad thing I decided that I would go ahead and make a new post.

Life sure is a bizarre twist of an experience isn't it? A few weeks ago I was asked to be the Youth Leader for my new Church home here in Toronto. Seeing the need for someone to fill the position I accepted the role. Soon after many checks and balances haunted my seemingly rash decision. Where do I actually start though? Do I have what it takes to lead a group of Youth? Who will come?

I find myself scared of my new role. The main reason being that if I live up to what I would call a good Youth Leader than most my hopes and plans for the next 2+ years will need to be set aside. Short term youth ministry is not effective. I need to be here a long time to bear any good fruit. Unless I change the model radically. Lets be honest, a radical model shift is what I need to do. Do I have the means to experiment? With model shifts come mistakes. With mistakes comes pressure from the church, the Pastor.

So I need to be honest with people. I don't think I'll meet their expectations. So I need to set out a series of honest strategies and goals for this and go get-er-done. If my wacky ideas don't fit though do I step aside or try to fit their model? Who knows... I must try something though. Pray for me all. I need guidance on this. I need God.

God Bless!