A Quick Follow Up

I said I would keep thinking about the whole problem of shopping cheaply at the potential expense of those living in poverty around the world- So, I think I've concluded that there is no real answer. I like things to be black and white and have a concrete right thing to do but in this case, and in a lot of cases, there just isn't really an answer. I do know that it would be wrong for me to just live my life without even considering the hands that have made my cheap clothes and other items around my house- I don't want to live in a bubble.

I don't know why I was born here with so much instead of in Vietnam, India, somewhere like that. I don't know. I don't think it's because I am somehow more loved by God than any of the children around the world. I think it would be wrong to think that I have somehow done anything to make myself worthy of the blessings in my life. I don't really have an answer- but I'm going to be thankful for what the Lord has blessed me with and pray that I hold it with open hands.

A couple years ago I read this book- Money, Possessions, and Eternity by Randy Alcorn and it really made me think. He was talking at one point about how it isn't wrong to buy a nice car, for example, but if I could buy a functional car for a little less so I have more to give away, then that is better. He also talked about how we are sort of like UPS drivers- we get these possessions but not so we can just keep them- it's so we can deliver them and be used by God to bless others- just like it would be goofy for a UPS driver to keep every package he had in his truck- that wouldn't be fulfilling his purpose.

So I think that I need to live wisely, more so than I have been, and really consider where I'm spending my money and what God could be doing with that money.

Someday I want to maybe adopt some kids from one of those destitute places but I think that might be a ways down the road. We'll see. That makes me wonder too- how could I adopt a couple kids and leave thousands?

Hard questions for me...

In the end, I guess I need to live one day at a time and listen to the Spirit in me and be generous with my time, my money and myself.