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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Church Letters

KEEPING YOUR HOPE WHERE IT BELONGS

A 60 year old man recently came into the Tenwek ER with his family because he had been confused over the last month. They had been at another hospital for a couple of days, but there was no improvement. When the other hospital told the family that the man needed a lumbar puncture (spinal tap), they decided to transfer to Tenwek.

Tenwek has a good reputation and the family was willing to travel a long distance to come for care. I told them that in fact, doing a lumbar puncture was exactly what he needed. I did one and ran a bunch of other tests. The only abnormality I could find was a probable mass in the center of his chest on chest x-ray.

After several days in the hospital, we were unable to improve his symptoms. We discharged him and told him he needed a CT scan of the chest and head, something we do not have at Tenwek and something that was probably out of their reach financially. The following day the patient remained in the bed along with a family member. They told me that they could not leave because he was not better yet. They were still convinced we could cure him.

They had so much hope in Tenwek. We were unable to deliver. Although my pride was hurt by this fact, it reminded me that we will eventually be disappointed if we put our hope in anything other than God.

Here in Kenya they seem to put a lot of hope in God. Why? Because most have little else to rely on. As subsistence farmers they live harvest to harvest. There are no financial savings. If there is a drought, they go hungry. If someone gets sick, they either die or they go into major debt by going to a hospital. If one of the adults dies, which is very common with AIDS here, the rest of the family suffers from lack of income and food. Something as small as a bicycle breaking down or a cow becoming sick, can be a potential disaster for an entire family. The people of Kenya do not have much choice except for putting their faith in God.

Contrast this to us in the U.S. In fact, we do a pretty good job of safeguarding ourselves from disaster. Our impressive military seems to protect us from the ever-present fear of terrorism. Our savings can buy us out of a slow year of work and a hope that we will have an easy retirement. We have insurance for health, home, cars, life, identity theft, our dog, and everything else we can be convinced to worry about.

But in fact these things are not as trustworthy as we assume. 1 Peter 3, says, “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade – kept in Heaven for you . . .”

We consider ourselves lucky to be born with all the wealth and privileges that the U.S. has to offer. But this “privilege” can also be a curse. It is often a stumbling block for keeping our hope rooted where it should remain.

In what do you put your hope? Let us remember, that ALL can be lost except that which is Jesus Christ.



Is pride the root of poverty?

I have to ask myself why so many people suffer from poverty, while the minority rest of us go on living as we do.

When we hear stories of poverty, watch movies like Hotel Rwanda, or get a glimpse of the news, we feel sympathy for those suffering. But what is it that keeps us from acting on that sympathy. Is greed the issue? Is it self-indulgence?

Perhaps it is my Amish background coming out again, but my take on it is that it is mostly pride.

If we were truly humble, we would view every other human as just as important as us. In turn, we would be unable to watch the news, feel bad for 30-40 seconds, only to go back to our life as usual. We would be unable to keep from seeking out the bad news in the World instead of avoiding the boring news of yet another drought in Ethiopia. How many people are starving to death over there? I personally read it, but I can’t even remember.

How do all of us respond when we see the stock market tumble or fuel prices go up? We each look at our portfolio and worry about our future. But do we spend even one minute considering that the wealthy nations may stop sending aid to impoverished nations because we can no longer afford it. Do we consider that the rise in fuel and food prices have more than doubled in places that people were just scraping by (but can no longer scrape by).

Many of us would like to do something, but think the “problem is too big”, “there always was and always will be poverty”, and that corruption and lack of motivation of those in need make the problem impossible to treat. But the problem of poverty is curable. Read, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, by Jeffrey Sachs, or any of Ron Sider’s books such as, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. In order to help poverty we need to understand the issues and know what we can do to most effectively help the problem of poverty.

There is hope and, in fact, there has been much improvement. It is possible that the problem of poverty may be solved in the decades to come. The question is whether or not each of us will be a part of the solution or continue to support the system that keeps ourselves protected.



3 comments:

mattmarie said...

Right on...your thoughts about poverty, the following is an excerpt from a prayer letter I/we just received from the Kingsley's, missionaries in the Chaco, Argentina where we lived...s/he's talking about the up coming presidential election here in the States, but also a call to Christians to live in life the way of Jesus...these are the days to return to being radical followers of Jesus...

"For my part, the only adequate response to these urgencies [poverty, etc.] is the Kingdom of God, but by that I do not mean the end of history. Jesus proclaimed the coming of God's Kingdom on earth and within history. The only really decisive response to the present crises is for people of faith to actually live out the Reign of God, especially as it is expressed in the Lord's Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount, here and now, by the grace of God. Doing so will not somehow avert these crises or their consequences, but it might enable us to live through them in a redemptive way. In other words, what is required of us is so much more demanding than voting "correctly" in a presidential election and trusting a new president. What is asked of us is changing one's whole way of living and thinking (called “repentance in the New Testament). The ground of our hope is the resurrection of an innocent, murdered man, Jesus, whom God anointed Messiah. The manner of our hope is expressed in the unexpected reversal of small, despised, marginal but persistent happenings, as exemplified by the life and stories of Jesus. To live this hope, we need each other's help and that of the Holy Spirit."

Stay well in God's care...

Mark Taylor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Steve said...

Great thoughts on poverty, I feel the same way you do, especially after spending a few years in Africa and now in Afghanistan. When will we finally stand up by the millions and demand justice for the poor, and an end to the system we know? When will we see the true cost of our "comfort" and demand a change. Blessings to you in Kenya!

Steve Bontrager