Doing Good

I've had this on my list of important things to think about and do...I thought I missed it but decided to post on it anyways.  It's been on my mind alot lately and I do alot better when I air out my thoughts through writing!  :)

My little blog is a relatively small voice in the great big world of Blogging, however I firmly believe that sometimes it just takes one to pay it forward...it just takes one to make a difference, it just takes O.N.E.  Probably if you are like the majority of other Americans (or maybe you are from another country) you are concerned about this economy crunch that we are apparently in the middle of.  However, I find it interesting that everywhere I look in my area of the country, it is business and spending as usual.  The restaurants look just as full to me as they ever did...the malls and stores are still packed with people and their loaded carts...teenagers are still carrying around their iTouch phones.  I am in no way judging anyone who is doing these things but it just makes me wonder ~ gosh, do we even have a clue what being financially tight really means??!  I kinda don't think so.  We would all get a rude awakening if we didn't have enough money to buy milk or bread one week.  Or if we had to shut off our direct tv service or cancel our cell phones.  Or if we had to go without renting a movie or going to the movies.  Or if the only clothes we had were out of style let alone thread bare.  Listen, these are thoughts and questions that roll around in my mind and I ask myself these same things.  I am so guilty of being wasteful and ungrateful and spoiled rotten!  

When we were missionaries overseas we saw poverty and it haunts me to this very day.  Our dear friends only got to eat rice when we brought it for them.  They eagerly accepted our used clothing as if it were the greatest treasure imaginable.  Their children only went to school when they could pay the school dues, if they didn't have the money the kids didn't go to school.  We watched them send their oldest daughter away to another province to give her the chance for a better life and a better shot at education.  

I honestly can't tell you if there is an answer to World Hunger and Poverty and the difficulties that so many are facing around the world.  There may not be ONE answer...but that doesn't mean that we can sit back and do nothing.  Making a difference can start with one small action. My family made ONE small action a few months ago when we began sponsoring a little boy through Compassion, Syrus from Uganda.  We now have the privilege of knowing that Syrus is eating this month and going to school and learning about God.  We also have the privilege of sending him and his family Christmas presents...maybe they will have presents for the first time ever.

There are a whole lot of profound thoughts going on out there in the blogging world...and people we are doing ONE small thing at a time.  Please visit and read...think about what ONE small thing you can do to make a difference!  

Kelly wrote about Poverty @ 5 Minutes for Mom.

Matthew made a ticker for Blood Water Mission.

Compassion has a fantastic blog that posts about true stories of changed lives.

Red Letters Campaign is Living Faith to End Poverty (blog).

Alece works with Thrive Africa in South Africa and had some powerful words to say today.