Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

I praised the Lord, again. I took a shower and had hot water. To many that may be a small thing but for months our hot water heater kept shutting down. We were able to buy another one and have pay someone to install it. Now we have hot water every time. On demand. I forget all those times we did not have hot water. It went on for months. So, again, I praise the Lord for this luxury. Yes, luxury. Hot water. For that matter, there are literally millions, maybe billions, of people in this world who do not have plumbing. Or even clean water. And I am considered poor in this country. Americans are so spoiled and have no idea how rich the average person in this country is. Compare yourself to the multitudes who do not have plumbing in their house. Or worse yet have no clean water. Americans are so spoiled.

Tags: hot water, hot water heater, poverty, praise the Lord, take a shower, the luxury of hot water, the poor and plumbing and clean water, the spoiled Americans
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The poor are always among us.  This was a letter I wrote to a friend of mine who was doing surveys for the department of welfare and he said how could we let people live like that:

There is something important you can do about the people you visit and interview.  You can pray for them–each person and their circumstances.  You said, ‘People should not live in such poverty.’  The poor have always been among us.
Pray for each person you meet.  If you have to, make a list of the households and people you meet.  People are poor for different reasons.  Sometimes alcohol or drug abuse is involved.  Sometimes it is mental illness.  Other times it is just plain bad luck.  Someone lost a job, ran out of unemployment or a bad illness was involved and they did not have health insurance or it did not take care of their needs.
There are all kinds of reasons people live in poverty.  Pray for each person, the children or their parents you meet.  Never stop praying.
Everything is by grace.  Praise the Lord for your health, your living quarters, everything.  Everything is by grace.  Continue to pray.  Prayer can move mountains.

Your friend

Tags: everything-is-by-grace, poor people, poverty, praise the Lord, prayer can move mountains, sometimes all you can do is pray, the poor among us, the poor are always among us, the power of prayer, There are different reasons people live in poverty, your health
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One bar of soap.  Does not seem much.  There is such a schism between the rich countries and Haiti, who is having a cholera epidemic because most people can’t afford one bar of soap to wash themselves after they go to the bathroom.

Our church is collecting wrapped bars of soap to be sent as part of a kit to Haiti.  Haiti is one of the poorest countries of the world and there are still hundreds of thousands of people living in camps after an earthquake devastated their country maybe a year ago.

They have been out of the news but their poverty has not left them and they have not recovered from the earthquake.  And now cholera is sweeping through their midst.

And something as little as one bar of soap can slow down the spread of that disease.  It gives you some food for thought.  No American gives any thought to buying a bar of soap.  Yet it is a luxury there.

Tags: American, bar of soap, cholera, earthquake, go to the bathroom, Haiti, living in camps, luxury, our church, poor countries, poverty, rich countries, washing
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Some people have more, some people less.  It has been that way from the beginning of time.  Poverty has always existed.  You can’t even measure wealth in dollars signs.

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, once the richest man in the world, wants a legacy other than his material wealth so he and his wife started a foundation to see how they could impact the world.

Another misconception of wealth is it refers just to material wealth. Each of us has gifts and a personal sphere we can influence by utilizing and giving away our time.

Russia found out their large socialistic farms were unprofitable.  We kept selling our surplus of wheat to them.  Others need to have a personal stake in their success (or failure).

The world has always been that way.  Some people have always had more and some less.  The poor have always been with us.  Maybe, that is why God has commanded us to give to the less unfortunate (???).

He also says when it is in your power to give something to someone and you don’t, it is a sin.  Giving does not always refer to material wealth.  It is also giving of your time and gifts freely.

Maybe God created the world so each person would be dependent on the other.  We are commanded to help each other.  We need to reach out to the people in need within our circle.

Unfortunately money insulates us giving us the idea we don’t need God and others.  And that is the furthest from the truth.  We are interdependent:  we need each other.

Tags: Bill Gates, dependent, giving, giving of your time and gifts freely, giving our time, God, help each other, material wealth, poor always with us, poverty, reach out to people, richest man in the world, Russia, sin, we need each other, wealth, wisdom
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It is so easy to center on what you do not have.  And this always leads to unhappiness.  It is so easy to do:  center on what you lack.  The commercials in the media feed on this.  If you buy their product you will be happy and fulfilled.  Sex is used to sell everything.

Our gross national product is based mostly on consumer buying so this is no accident.  Start centering on your many riches and be satisfied with what you got.  The best things are free.  Love has no cost.  The things that matter the most can be freely given:  acceptance, love and an ear to those closest to you.

It is true:  you need the basics:  food and shelter.  God just needs to provide you with that.  Poverty has always existed in this world.  And we are commanded to help those in need around us.

But we desire so much beyond that.  And it always makes us unhappy.  And I struggle with that, too.  I know money is going to get tighter but if I can focus on everything I have, I will be happier.

Tags: acceptance, be happy and fulfilled, be satisfied with what you have, best things in life are free, center on what you have, commercials in the media, consumer buying, focus on everything I have, food and shelter, God, God provides, God's commandment, happiness, help those in need, love, media uses sex to sell, money, poverty, unhappiness
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Coveting is always wrong.  There is a reason one of the ten commandments was ‘Thou shall not covet’.  The truth is everybody has something that someone does not have.  Some people have less and some people have more.  Poverty has always existed through the ages.

Be thankful for what you have.  Then it no longer matters what someone does not have.  View all your possessions with a spirit of gratitude.  If the truth be known, what you have is only on loan.

If you can be thankful for what you have you will have peace of mind, which is priceless.  So guard against covetousness.  The world is full of good things.  Accept what you have and thank God for it.  You will sleep easier at night.

Tags: accept what you have, be thankful, Bible, covet, coveting is wrong, God, peace of mind, possessions, poverty, sleep easier at night, spirit of gratitude, ten commandments, thank God, thou shall not covet, what you have is only on loan, world full of good things
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I was lying in bed and thinking as I was trying to fall asleep.  I must thank the Lord for everything–even this comfortable bed and pillows I am resting my head on.

Everything Is by grace.  There is no way around that.  You can think otherwise but it is futile.  You can rail how unfair life is but that is futile, too.

Less is always more.  And God does not owe us anything and everything we have is by the grace of God.  Life is never fair:  some people have more and some people have less.  The poor are always among us.  The war on poverty–a campaign by Lyndon Johnson, the president of the United States, in the late sixties was a failure.

It is true each person has to help the other in any way you can but the poor will always be among us.  Blessed are the poor in spirit.  Being poor sometimes forces us to rely on God for our provisions.  Money can insulate us from God.

There is the illusion we can provide for ourselves when we have enough money but that is only an illusion.  We need one another.  No man is an island, the famous words of John Donne.

It is far easier to lead your life with thankfulness.  Gratitude is a blessing and each person needs to reach out to others in any way they can.  In fact, in the Bible it say that if it is in your power to help someone and do not you have committed a sin.

I have to count my blessings each day.  My wife is only here by serendipity.  My attitude of thankfulness for the provisions of the Almighty gives me grace that I can not earn.  And everything is by grace.

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