Day of.

wow.

(as an addendum to what was written last night... check out psalm 49.)

1 day left: camels and needles

the camel is trying... he's struggling to breathe.

tomorrow i leave.

tomorrow i leave a lot of things...

the states

the comforts

the complaints

friends

family

my love

my things

my way of easy life

my sense of place, of home

i'd be lying if i said this has been easy...  

if only 8% of the population of the whole world has a car, then those of us with cars truly are rich (see rob bell's nooma video about this)... and perhaps not too unlike our young rich friend who asked Jesus what more he could do (to inherit eternal life).  he had - after all - followed all the rules to the letter.

"sell everything you have.."

none of these proved easy answers for our friend... and 2000 years later they still aren't easy.  giving away 'things' is difficult, especially when we look around and see how many 'things' we have... i can't count the number of things that have been bagged in / boxed up / thrown out.. and parting with those things?  it feels like a hump on this camel is struggling... pushing prodding its way through a narrow needle's eye.  

but how many 'things' did i actually use?  part of this trip is an experiment: how little can one live on?  how little can this one live on?

"give to the poor."

..isn't easy either... recently there have been great discussions on the poor: what cultural elements affect poverty?  when should we give to the poor?  how can we test the motives of the poor?  should we?  in the mire of these questions, the camel can just give up... it's not worth it.

"then come, follow me."

.. is another tough one... Jesus, where are You?  where are You working? do You want us all as missionaries?  then what happens to america?  what happens to the hot dog salesman at the baseball game?  who ministers to him?  here the camel becomes confused as to which needle's eye he's actually supposed to go through.  but this camel's going to managua, he wants to see where Jesus is indeed moving... he's trying not to be selfish, he's trying to move without being in control, this camel's trying to find You, Lord.

i'll try not to be this winded in the future... i'm sorry - just a lot on my mind, recently...

one day left.

go camel, go.

e <><

the most important question.

what is the purpose of hope fields?

simply, there is a dump with 1000 people living on/around/in it; we don't think that should continue.

but who are we to determine where these people should be placed?  and if we 'bring them out of poverty', where are we bringing them to?  is that new place/situation 'better'?  where is the code that determines what type of living situation is better and which is worse?  is that code determined by our culture?  or is there a universal code?

more questions to follow...

the beginning...

something new is starting...

hope fields is not about bringing hope to people.

hope fields is about celebrating the hope that is in people... and growing that hope.