Just One

Sometimes, when we look at poverty, we can feel nothing but the overwhelming largeness of it all. We cannot wrap our minds -or our arms- around it. We hear statistics like 660 million people living without adequate sanitation... and that they live on less than two dollars a day. We are slammed with a barrage of images: children with flies on their faces, men digging through garbage, and women selling themselves just to put food on the table. If we have a heart to begin with, it is broken.

And so we have a choice: do we spend ourselves entirely, giving of our time and money in a desperate effort to fill the bellies of the world, or do we close ourselves off in bitterness and disenchantment? Because if we do give of our money, sending it in via the number on the screen or the offering plate, how do we know that it ever does any good?

Here is my proposal: give, and give, and give some more. To one person. Invest yourself in poverty you can see- and become a part of their world. I do not mean to say you should quit tithing, or even give up the child you a currently supporting in the Philippines. On the contrary, give to someone you see every day, and begin to understand poverty by making it a part of your world.

While the giving of financial support can make a change in certain circumstances, the value of true, deep and lasting relationship cannot be denied. For example, there is a church here in Chattanooga who has, for the past 5 years, invested heavily in a homeless woman who came to the church for help. I should correct myself -she was homeless. This woman had drug problems. She was vulnerable, wild, and capable of harm. She was unlovable. But she was loved. Several individuals from the congregation made her a part of their lives- and they a part of hers. Countless hours were poured into phone conversations, doctor appointments, counseling, coaching, feeding... you name it. After years of this, the woman changed. Slowly. But surely. She has now been picking up others for church- those who are homeless, helpless, and in a world of trouble. She has come to every church event for years, and attends church regularly, and with a joy and excitement that is contagious. She even got a place of her own to live as well as a job.

But you know what is the greatest part of all? This woman, Kim Davis, became a valuable member of her congregation- someone needed and loved! Kim passed away this week. And she is mourned and will be very much missed. When she left this world, she left as someone who was a part of a community. She was a contributor, a leader, a servant, and a true believer in Jesus, her savior.

So try it- just one person. Be Christ to them, and give, and give, and give some more. The Lord may just bless you with a Kim.

Taking A Break?

Having only been in the world of non-profits and volunteerism for a few years, I have already noticed the broadly accepted and frequently cited summer "break". I am not talking about kids being out of school and Old Navy doing better business in their beach-wear department. I am talking ministry break. It is all too easy to see that bit of rest on the distant horizon, and run at it, full force, leaving behind the fragile beginnings of good intentions and high hopes.

In the Autumn, with the scent of crisp apples and recently sharpened pencils in the air, it is not so hard to get people excited. It is the beginning of new things, of new ambitions, projects, and plans. You may have noticed the explosions of sign up sheets, kick-offs, and committees. Everyone wants to be doing! -Which is great! Don't get me wrong. I am all about doing. I am also all about resting. If we committee-ed, volunteered, fund-raised our way around the year we'd be exhausted. But here is the thing: why are we resting, and what from?

I myself am a victim of this waving of the white flag, this surrender to all things work-related and volunteer driven. I would be crazy to try and start a new project in June. I would be out of my mind to put a sign up sheet out Memorial Day weekend. People just respect their vacation time and expect you to do the same.

But putting the yearly calendar aside, lets talk about spiritual compartmentalizing. Yes, that's right. I jumped to the spiritual just like that. In the same way that we often look forward to that much needed break -and sometimes leave things undone in our anticipation- it is easy to avoid giving of ourselves to others, because we are simply too "burned out" to do otherwise. Or maybe we are just so uncomfortable, it just seems like a good idea to avoid it completely. We can make it to church on Sunday, drop the kids at Wednesday night activities, maybe even go the church picnic or volunteer in the nursery every once in a while... but visit with strangers? Try to find a homeless man a job? Invite him over for dinner? ...with my family? But I don't have time, you say. Or maybe you are already maxed out and your family needs more of you. Fair enough.

Here is my challenge: (for you and for me) take the time to think through how you might skip that "vacation" this summer. Not to keep on working at the office while your family goes to the beach, but to invest in another person. This might not even mean adding hours to your busy day. This can be done by including others in the blessings you are already receiving from the Lord, like inviting someone over for dinner who doesn't have a home or family of their own. You could give an anonymous gift to your pastor so he can get that car fixed. You might bring your teenage son with you on a Saturday to fix up the house of a widow, instead of playing ball at the park. I am challenging you to live for God- and therefore, for others- by living a life that is full of giving, as well as thankfulness for He who has given. I honestly believe that, though it may seem to tax you in giving, the rewards will be so sweet. ... and definitely better than any sharpened pencil smell.

Hope Spring 2010 Update

Hope for Northwest Georgia News

What's Happening

Hope for Northwest Georgia is currently partnered with several local churches in the Chattanooga and Northwest Georgia area. One of those churches, Chattanooga Valley Presbyterian Church of Flintstone, Georgia, just wrapped up a 17-week Jobs for Life course. Please pray for our graduates as they continue in new jobs and higher education. We could not be prouder to see the progress each has made as they pursue careers and big life changes. Pray too for their mentors as they continue a relationship outside of the classroom setting.

Where We Are Headed

Hope is excited to announce that we will be partnering with Highlands Presbyterian Church in LaFayette, Georgia, to host a Jobs for Life class this coming fall. Eric Self will be the JfL Site Leader. Please pray for us as we gather volunteers and get the word out into the community.

Rev. Travis Hutchinson and Hope Director Heather Prettyman are currently wrapping up a Financial Literacy course to be used with Hope participants as well as in Hope partnership churches. Travis and Heather have designed the course to help participants to get out of debt and take charge of their finances while discovering God's desire for them to live full and abundant lives to His glory! Hope plans to have these materials ready in the next few months.

How You Can Help

Please consider partnering with Hope as a volunteer or by joining us as a Hope congregation. We would love to come to your church, Sunday school, or small group to lead a training session or to simply share about our work in the Northwest Georgia area.

If you are able to give financially to Hope, please consider donating a one-time or monthly gift.

Pray. We greatly covet your prayers as we engage with community members and churches in the Northwest Georgia area. As we attempt to equip churches to spread the love of Christ to the poor in their community, it is only too easy to see our own sinfulness. Pray that the Lord would do above and beyond all we might attempt to do!

Sale Skills

The following is adapted from materials prepared by Randy Bucher, a local Chattanooga Business Man and volunteer at Jobs C.O.R.E, a Hope for the Inner City program designed to develop, encourage, and lead individuals -to find and keep employment.

1.Become Persuasive: All great leaders have the ability to convey their visions. Skilled sales people use stories, dreams, color and humor to sway opinions. Ask God to help you use your life stories, dreams and maybe even a little humor to help gain favor in someones eyes that may hold the key of opportunity to success.

2.Focus on Serving: It doesn't matter who you are or what position you're in -you can't succeed if no one wants to work with you! All good stewards of God's gifts work on the golden rule (serve others as you would like to be served).

3.Be Honest and Dependable: If you don't build trust you'll close more doors than you'll open. No one wants to work with someone who is a known two-face. Be honest in all your dealings and God will bless the work of your hands.

4. Learn to Self Motivate: No matter what is going on around you, stay confident in Jesus, the one who can lift you up! Pray for the development of inner strength, conscious willpower, wisdom, and overwhelming desire and determination to reach any goal you personally want to achieve.

5. Love People: Ask God to help you love everyone with whom you come in contact. This will go a long way in building a good network of friends and relationships that lead you to success. Think about the little things that concern others, not just the big problems that need to be addressed. You are truly "successful" when you genuinely want to leave others better off than when you found them.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to our Jobs for Life graduates! This past Sunday, May 2nd, 5 students graduated from our Chattanooga Valley Jobs for Life class. Tub, Utacha, Jeff, Barbara, and Kassandra celebrated with us at the graduation dinner, ceremony, and dessert. We are very proud!

Who is the Widow?

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Christ calls His Church to care for the orphans and the widows of this world; but how do we figure out who is an orphan and who is not? Although our society is quite different from that of biblical times, the urgency of this call remains the same. Those who live in isolation, who do not have the support of a family or the connection of friends in high places, or who are permanently unable to provide for themselves- these are our orphans and our widows.

Based on this, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Am I currently helping the orphans and widows in my community? Is my church?

2. If not, how can I create an environment where this is possible?

3. Am I (or my church) currently providing relief to individuals who are not orphans or widows? How might this help harm those who are receiving it?

4. If I am providing aid to those who are not orphans or widows, how might this effect those who are, and are not receiving it?

Seeing the Need

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye"

Matthew 7:3

Amy needs her light bill paid. Now! It is past due and they are about to turn it off. If she can just pay it, things will turn out just fine...

When someone comes to us with needs, they simply want them addressed. They know that they are hungry because they hear their stomachs growl. They know that they need a place to stay, because they are cold at night. It is clear to them that their car lacks gas, because it is on empty. But what about the needs they cannot see, those that, to them, simply do not exist?

As someone who cannot remember a time when I was not going to church, who grew up memorizing scripture and praying before bedtime, it is all too easy for me to see these invisible needs. I saw them in myself, and so asked Jesus into my heart ...about 12 times. My sins are all too clear to me. Day after day, they just keep coming back. I neglect reading my Bible. I complain about teaching Sunday school to rambunctious 4 year-olds. I harden my heart against others. I think thoughts that should never be thought. I sin against my God daily!

But you know what I am really good at? I am really, really good at seeing the "needs" of others. What they seem to miss, I am sure to see. Why can't they see that what they are wearing is so immodest? Isn't it clear to them that they should not be addicted to tobacco? If they would only work 60 hours a week, they could get out of this financial crisis.

I am all too humbled by my own thoughts. Though I have set out to help someone in need, I am debilitated by my own inability to understand them and to love them as Christ! I am so concerned with "making them see" that I do not realize that my confidence is unfounded, the blind leading the blind.

Maybe what we both need is to just know Christ, fully.