Category Archives: A Life of Adventure

One dollar – Day Eight

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One dollar – Day eight:  (The last day?)
If you have made it this far, you might be thinking, “I see my one dollar – and even see people – differently, but what can I do to help? The need is so great, and I am only one person!”

 

There is no one answer to this question. We all have heard about food rotting on docks, supplies stolen by corrupt governments, and money squandered. If big organizations cannot end the poverty problem can one individual really change the world for one other person?

 

You CAN greatly impact another person’s life…for one dollar a day. What is impossible for us is more than possible for God in us.

 

You see, I’ve watched a $200 loan from Go Light Our World help desperate moms to generate income for their families. I’ve seen a $50 GLOW gift pay for the school tuition and supplies for a twelve-year-old girl who was otherwise destined to the streets. I’ve seen $25 buy medicine so a mom could keep working. I’ve seen $12 buy a child’s first pair of new leather shoes that fit. I’ve seen $50 buy hot nutritious meals for FORTY children.

 

Don’t worry, this isn’t a pitch for you to donate money to Go Light Our World. I’m not going to ask you for a dime. Maybe it is enough for now for you to keep that one dollar posted where you can think about it each day for another week, or more. I’m keeping mine in place. Talk with God about your one dollar. Likely, you will come up with more questions and ideas to discuss with Him. Write them down. Pray about them!

 

Maybe God will nudge you to join the GLOW team as a monthly supporter of one dollar a day. Or maybe He will move your heart to sponsor a child through Compassion International, or to buy a water filtration system through Samaritan’s Purse. Maybe He will convince you that it’s worth the effort to become a Big Brother or Big Sister. Who knows how God will move your heart when you ask Him to see other people through His eyes?!

 

Share your experience with others. Ask them to join you on a one dollar journey. Discuss it with your children and grandchildren. See how many ways you can discover to generate one dollar a day that could change someone’s life.

 

People living on one dollar a day are not just fighting for a better life. They are fighting for their life. Imagine what happens when we “live more simply so others may simply live” and how that could change the world for one other person.

 

You CAN impact another life with one dollar. But really, it’s not just about one dollar. It’s about your legacy. It’s about how important it is to you to actually change the world – one person at a time. Ask God for wisdom, courage, and strength of heart to see others as He sees them and to respond in His name.

 

Today is the last day of this adventure …

– or is it just the beginning?

 

 

One dollar – Day Seven

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One dollar – Day seven:
On one dollar a day, there is no emergency fund if the storm washes out your crop or carries off your house or even your small piece of land gets washed down the river. It is incredibly hard to save up to buy a cooking stove, never mind a hospital visit or medicine.

 

In a flash of thought your one dollar makes you ask, “What if I could get a loan to get by or to start a small business?” A $200 loan would start a weaving business. The profits could be used to buy thread and pay for studies. $120 to open a store to make money to fix the house so the water doesn’t come in, maybe to put in a real floor. $200 for an onion farm that could double your income to two dollars a day, if you can wait two months  till harvest…and if it survives.

 

You find the one man you know who has a regular income from cleaning jobs. He is willing to give you a temporary loan. But most of what he makes goes to care for his own family. A small loan will require you to make payments of $7 every two weeks. You think to yourself, $7 is a week’s wages, sometimes more!

 

You go to the bank. To get a loan requires proof of income, utility bills for three months, and proof of steady income. But documentation isn’t provided for one dollar a day workers, you can’t afford utilities, and there is no guaranteed work. You find another bank is more willing to work with you. But you have to commit to a long-term savings account and you need every penny to survive. You discover a local church ministry provides small micro loans, but even at no interest you have to be reliable to repay the loan over time. You look at your one dollar and think, maybe this is my opportunity for my family to escape poverty.

 

Looking at your one dollar in the evening, you see your children studying by candlelight. They are so eager to learn! You’re trying to choose between keeping them in school or feeding them. It is your lot in life that holds them back; it is NOT who they are!

 

What opportunity do YOU see when you look at YOUR one dollar?

 

 

One dollar – Day Six

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One dollar – Day six:
As I brush my teeth, I notice the water run down my sink. I notice my one dollar stuck to the mirror and quickly shut off the water until I’m ready to rinse. You cannot afford to buy bottled water on one dollar a day. You will have to get it from a stream or lake or puddle or from the town’s tainted water supply. You know it will make you sick, but you need water to survive.

 

You look at your one dollar and realize that the doctor’s fee and medicine for just one stomach illness costs more than $30…a whole month of one dollars. On top of that there are the lost wages.

 

On one dollar a day you constantly think to yourself all day long, I have to stay healthy. I cannot get sick. I am tired of thinking about one dollar all the time! Wherever you go, whatever you do, the thought of one dollar crowds your mind. Maybe you wonder if there will be enough room left to think about God. You question if He thinks about you or if He cares about your one dollar. You know He does, but when you are honest, it feels like your one dollar doesn’t mean much to Him. Before you lay your head down on your mat tonight, what will you say to Him? Is He still the one you worship on one dollar a day?

 

I’ve never had to and probably won’t have to be concerned about getting down to my last one dollar. Probably you won’t either. Looking at my one dollar, I’m realizing this is not just about the money. For me, looking at my one dollar is like looking dimly through a window that sees beyond my little world. It reveals a view of some of God’s people I don’t think about every day. As you look at your one dollar, maybe you’ll ask God to show you what He sees when He looks at people, around the world AND in your path every day.

 

 

One dollar – Day Five

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One dollar – Day five:
As you look at your one dollar, what food will you buy for you and your family? You have to be careful, because it needs to be both safe and nutritious. Your toilet paper and other essentials also come from that same one dollar. What if one dollar per person per day buys you only flour and grain, maybe rice and beans to cook over an open fire? One dollar might provide enough food to generate maybe 800 calories per person. You soon realize that at 800 calories a day you will lose 20-30 pounds in a month. You grin, thinking that maybe you could stand to lose some weight. But then you wonder, “What happens after that?”

 

Look at your one dollar and ask, “How will I keep going if I can only afford 800 calories of food?” I must have enough strength to work or my family will not survive!” You realize that you used to think of poor people as being lazy, but on 800 calories a day you find fatigue and lethargy to be constant companions. You learn that if you mash your beans and refry them in lard, you will increase your calories consumed per day. But on some days when there is not even a dollar, your children eat only salt and tortillas. In Bolivia, many children and parents chew on coca leaves to reduce the hunger pains. Usually they have smiles and like to play games. Days like these, they are too tired even to play.

 

I wonder if your one dollar looks different from how it looked just a few days ago. Mine does. I’m thinking more about the one dollars I spend that really change my life at all.  But I’m getting a better idea about how much one dollar COULD change the world for someone else.

 

 

One dollar – Day Three

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One dollar – Day three:
As you look at your one dollar, consider what would it really be like to live on one dollar or less a day?

 

For one thing, it’s not one dollar every day. You have no steady or guaranteed income. Some days you have NO dollars coming in. Some days you have two dollars or more. Maybe sometimes you only have $4… for the whole week. It is like playing the income lottery every day. What you make is determined by how hard you work and whether you can produce something that someone else wants to buy that day, and if the weather cooperates. You work every day of the week, every day of the month. There are no weekends or vacations, no paid holidays, no sick leave. As you look at your dollar, ask, “What will I do if I am too tired or too sick to work or if I get hurt?”

 

Think about this as you look at your dollar today. Ask yourself, “Would I be able to manage my money, actually budget it, or would my focus be on just surviving? Where will I get ANOTHER dollar a day to protect and feed my spouse and yet ANOTHER for my child?

 

As you live on so very much more than one dollar today, maybe you will find yourself giving thanks for every dollar you are able to spend to feed and clothe yourself, to provide comfortable shelter, and to share with others. Maybe you will discover the joy of writing “With thanks!” in the memo line of each check you write, on the back of every check you sign, or under your signature of each message you write! I wonder, if you gave thanks for every good thing in your life today, including your one dollar, how long would that list be compared to your list of complaints? I hope you find yourself in awe of how amazing it is that we are able to have an audience with the creator of the universe whenever we want! It doesn’t even cost one dollar. It’s free.

 

 

One dollar – Day Two

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One dollar – Day two:
Look at your one dollar. Did you know that more than a BILLION people in the world today live on one dollar a day… or less?
That’s every person in the USA…times THREE!

 

You may be thinking, yeah, but the cost of living is so much less where they live. Right you are. But do you know why the cost of living is so much less? It is because they cannot afford the luxuries of things like clean water, new shoes, school supplies, safe food, cooking tools, medicine, or other basic living needs. Certainly one dollar cannot buy insurance for your health, life, house, or possessions. It doesn’t go in the vending machine!

 

I’m not telling you this to put you on a guilt trip. I’m not even asking you to give up a dime. But will you continue with me on this journey into another world not very far away? It only requires some of your time and the willingness to see things through different eyes. Maybe you will ask God to see the people around you through His eyes today: the person in the line with you, your coworker, person who just sent you a message. Maybe you will look through your address book or church directory and note the names of people you haven’t seen for a while. What does life look like for the person who makes half what you make? Or less? It’s not just about money. Ask, how would God want me to see the people I label ‘liberals’ or ‘conservatives?’ Ask yourself, “What would have to change in my life if I actually could see people through God’s eyes? Would it change how I live today…for the better?!”

 

Think about this as you look at your dollar before you go to bed tonight. You do have a bed and a pillow, and comforter, right? Living on one dollar a day, you are probably sleeping on a mat on a dirt floor with the fleas and lice that constantly bite at your skin. I’m not telling you this to gross you out or manipulate your emotions in any way. I’m on this journey with you. It’s not an easy one, even in the comfort of my home, but I need to press on. I hope you will continue with me.

 

 

One dollar

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You’re invited to take an adventure with me to a different world! Anyone can take this trip, whether you are young or old, healthy or sick, and whether you consider yourself rich or poor. You don’t need to buy a ticket, sell your house, or quit your job.

 

The journey you will take is across the paths of your mind and the recesses of your heart. But it’s not merely an intellectual exercise. For some of you, this adventure will catch you off guard. It will knock you off-balance until you find your footing again. If you invite God to go with you, it has the potential to transform the way you see your life and the world around you. It may cause you to question the way things are and compelled by how they could be. Along the way you might feel both humbled and blessed, impoverished and enriched at the same time. In the end, I think you’ll be thankful for having walked the path and find your heart strengthened.

 

Let’s start right now!

 

Day one:
Take a one dollar bill. Put it where you will see it throughout the day, every day, like the bathroom mirror, the refrigerator, the TV or computer screen, wherever you will see it often.

 

Whenever you see this one dollar bill today, think about what that one dollar means to you. What could you buy with it? Start noticing how the transactions you make today. Plan to do this each day of this journey. When I first created this exercise for myself, I noticed the yogurt I ate for a snack cost me 50 cents, a tea bag 15 cents. I bought a pack of gum that cost nearly the whole dollar. A bottle of water, almost free at home, cost nearly two whole dollars at the convenience store. So did a can of pop and a candy bar. Don’t make judgments about your purchases. Simply take notice. Awareness is at the beginning of all change in the world, in our minds, and in our hearts.

 

Take a look at your checkbook and credit card statement for the last month. I’m not asking you to judge them, just take notice. Ponder how easy is it to get what you want when you have one dollar or a handful of dollars? How far do you have to travel to buy what you need or want? Is it readily available?

 

This may seem strange to you to think about one dollar and perhaps not much of an adventure. But ask yourself, “What if this one dollar was ALL I had to live on for one day, every day?” How would you feel if you lost your very last dollar? What would you do? Where would you turn for help?

 

At the end of the day, talk with God about what you’ve noticed about the one dollar in your life today. Ask Him to reveal more of Himself to you, even as you sleep.

 

From routine to the edge of adventure

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Do you ever have the feeling like you are stuck in a routine, doing the same thing over and over, never really getting anywhere, but instead just running in circles, and just wasting your life away?

 

That was the plight of Bill Murray’s character in the movie, Groundhog Day. Every day he would wake up on Groundhog Day and everything would be the same as yesterday. The same pointless routines, the same meaningless dialog, and the same boring and unfulfilled existence.

 

Maybe you feel the same way. You look back at the past year and ask, “Where did time go?” You look back over a lifetime of toil and ask, “What happened to my goals and dreams?”   You’re stuck in a rut that seems like a grave with the ends dug out. You ask, “Is there a way out?”

 

Maybe today is the day to drive a stake in the ground or draw a line firmly in the wet concrete that proclaims, “I’m not going to waste my life. I am going to live a life of adventure with purpose and passion!”

 

What does it mean for a Christian to ditch the wasted routine and start living on the edge of adventure?

 

Jesus said “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23). He said it is like one who lost a treasure and gave up everything in order to find it.

 

It might look like Paul who considered everything he once sought to win as becoming like rubbish, worthless compared to knowing Jesus. Not just knowing more about Jesus, but knowing Him in such an intimate way that compels you to follow Him in everything you do. As the martyred Jim Elliot said,

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

 

Elliot’s fellow missionary, martyred by his side, summed it this way:

“I have one desire now – to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy into it.”

 

Francis Schaefer said it is the life being visibly marked by the expression of God’s love for others. Like a mentor of mine when I was a youth said, “To have even your unconscious thoughts and desires bear the mark of Jesus.”

 

Maybe the question isn’t, “Am I ready to get out of a rut?” Maybe the question is, “Do I really want to bear the full mark of Jesus and live the ‘abundant life’ adventure of following Him?” The call is yours. Answer it today.

 

 

Another dimension

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We all understand what comprises a 2D drawing or 3D image. Maybe you’ve seen a 3D movie where the screen ‘comes to life.” At the outstanding 4D movie presentation of Beyond All Boundaries at the New Orleans World War II Museum, live actors appear to literally walk off the screen and onto the stage. You vividly experience the wind, the fog, the smells, and the vibrations from the explosions of war seemingly happening all around you.

 

Did you know that science does not restrict the study of dimensions to the physical realm? Mathematics and other sciences deal with abstract spaces quite independent of the physical space we perceive and live in.  And so we might consider another special dimension of life where we are in one certain physical place, surrounded and filled by real physical components, and yet at the same time quite separated from those elements:

 

Consider the spiritual dimension of God’s presence. The dimension of God’s presence is one of such closeness to Him that one can relate to and experience the “existence beyond the visible universe, departing from what is usual and normal especially so as to transcend the laws of nature.” (Quoted excerpt from Merriam Webster dictionary’s definition of supernatural).

 

Just as we enter the experience of a 4D movie theater by walking in and sitting down, we enter the spiritual dimension of God’s presence by making ourselves receptive to Him, by inviting Him to sit with us, and by responding to what He reveals to us. As a 4D movie can give us a glimpse of actually “being there,” even more so does entering the dimension of God’s presence give us a glimpse of heaven, on earth, here and now. It is putting oneself in a position that transcends our surroundings. Storms may prevail, but the sailor who dwells in God’s presence finds peace in the storm.

 

Paul calls this sufficient grace. (2 Corinthians 12:9). He shows us that we enter this grace by offering our body (our life) as a living sacrifice that is pleasing to God. Our experience of the dimension of God’s presence is measured by the ways become transformed by the renewing of our minds by His Spirit and His Word, and by not conforming to the ways of the world. And beyond simply transcending our circumstances, entering God’s presence reveals His purpose for our lives, His good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)

 

Are you ready to experience the adventurous dimension of living that transcends the troubles and worries of this life? Make yourself receptive to Him and respond to His voice.

 

If you believe, you will see the glory of God. John 11:40

 

ASK for discernment and wisdom

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Imagine reading an intriguing mystery, a complex novel, or a detailed how-to book. Now imagine having the author of that book right at your side so you could ask questions any time you wanted! That’s probably the best way I can imagine to read the bible. Before you read and as you read, ASK GOD to reveal what He desires you to know.

 

Ask God? The thought might conjure up a vision of young Oliver in the movie of the same name, cringing as he walked to the front of the workhouse meal room and asking, “Please sir, could I have more?” “More?!” Screamed the foreman who proceeded to belittle and threaten young Oliver who had been put up to the task by his cruel fellow inmates. It makes for an exciting movie scene, but it is not an accurate of our great God who loves to reveal Himself and his plan to us.
While teaching his followers how they should best live, Jesus said,”Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:7-12
As you read the bible, ask God your Father in heaven. He desires to give good gifts to those who ask him. Ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened. I’ve never known this to be more true than when God’s children ask, seek and knock to find and receive understanding and discerning wisdom. God’s Word is about the revelation of who he is and what His plan is for us.

 

Look toward 2015 as a year of adventure as you let God’s Word unfold before your eyes. Ask him to reveal himself. Seek after the treasures of understanding and wisdom he offers. Knock at the door of mystery and have it opened before you!