grains for hope

I'm proud of my hometown today, doing more than I've ever done to wipe out world hunger. I'm proud of the people brave enough to move an idea past conception into production. I've met these people. Hey, I'm even related to some of them!

Sometimes I'm hard on Sabetha. I count the people in it as closed-minded -- far from progressive. I figure most of them can't see past their little corner of northeast Kansas. Well, let's just say I've been proven wrong.

God bless Mrs. Spangler, a woman who cared enough to get my high school involved. Because of her, students did the research to discover the needs of people in Mozambique, and now Sabetha businesses are partnering with these kids to package and ship vitamin-fortified rice to Africa.

Watch this Topeka ABC news broadcast or check out the Grains for Hope website .

They're really doing it -- and all in my hometown of 2500 people. You wanna change the world? Move to Sabetha.

words without pictures

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but there's no need for both, at least not on this blog. And since I'm a novice of photography, words are my tool of choice.

My generation has lost previous generations' hunger for words -- for novels, for poetry, for the ability to express oneself with the pen. And it's really sad, you know? People would rather sit in front of a television to see a story with their eyes than to have it painted in their minds by reading words on a page. All this film media dulls the imagination, I'm telling you.

I volunteered to keep a blog for our small group at church. One of the first comments I received was "more pictures!" More pictures? Aren't my words worth enough? To top that, I heard someone else (who considers himself a bit of a guru of writing composition) call blogs without pictures "boring."

So many blogs out there post a picture with every entry. "Oh, look! There's a picture of a guy with a beard! I bet I'd be interested in this post!" The photograph may draw me in, but as I scan through the post, my attention wanes. The words hold little value. And then I realize that the pictures are only there to cover up the writer's empty brain. Lured in again... and left to dry and die in the sun.

Call it boring if you want, but I have resolved to keep passage picture-free. It challenges me to write words of value, to think before I post. I'll try not to waste your time; I'll try to keep you coming back. And hopefully -- someday -- both of our brains will get a little exercise.

may challenge: loving my neighbor as myself

I admit it: every time I set a goal, I imagine that at the end of the time period, I will have mastered whatever I had set out to master. I guess that's a good thing because I am now a faithful prayer warrior! Ummm... whatever.

But I did decide that instead of kicking myself in the shins for failing to meet my own expectations, I would rejoice in the grace of improvement. My prayer life is more solid than it was a month ago, praise God! I expect that my future spiritual discipline challenges will be reason enough to keep praying.

I struggled to choose a specific discipline for the month of May. I feel compelled to practice reaching out to people -- my literal neighbors, the poor, my husband, just to name a few. I considered focusing on hospitality or generosity, but I decided to start with something more general because of the things I want to accomplish this month. If I need to develop a more specific discipline in a later month, I will.

I think the biggest challenge this month will be practicing genuine love. I have some specific ways I would like to reach out to others -- actions that I hope they will interpret as love -- but to know in my heart that I really love the people I am reaching out to is an entirely different thing. First Corinthians 13 keeps going through my head: "and though I give all my goods to feed the poor, but have not love, it profits me nothing."

song of the middle class

We don't ask for much -- just a simple house in a clean, safe neighborhood. We need a place without crime, so the kids can sleep soundly at night, each of them in their private rooms. The schools need to be good, quality institutions with caring, well educated teachers.

Our landscaping just needs some healthy bushes, a few bright flowers. Our neighbors need to be friendly -- people we could ask for a cup of sugar when the need arises. There should be a good church within reasonable driving distance. The church should be passionate and preach sound doctrine.

We'll need a big-screen television -- not because we can't do without it -- just to relate to the culture, you know. We ask to have a night or two out to dinner every week, to get a break from the stress of cooking our own meals. A vacation every year -- just a week or two -- will be the escape we so desperately need from the usual rat race of the working life.

We need a reliable car -- nothing fancy. Just as long as there's a good CD player, cruise control, air conditioning, leather seats. Also, it'll make our life so much easier if we could just have a laptop in addition to our desktop computer. Since we spend so much time on the computer and all. Our wardrobes don't have to be elaborate. We just need some trendy clothes so we don't look like total dorks; we ask for enough variety that we don't get bored with what we wear.

We'll need a large enough salary to build a stable 401K for retirement. We don't want to have to worry if we'll make it through our sunset years. We need to have a little extra to pay off our debts, to pay off the mortgage, and live comfortably... so that we can give to the poor.