DAY 1

So here we are on day 1 of our first “one dollar a day” week. Many of you are probably wondering what I mean by that.  It’s a long story, but I’ll try to explain.

The challenge is to live on a dollar a day for one week, and give the rest of the money that we earn this week to support Gospel for Asia. Obviously we still have to pay our phone bill, rent, and car insurance, so we’re going to take those expenses from the other weeks of our monthly income.  (I’m not sharing this with you to make us sound good, so please don’t take it that way. We have a LONG way to go, and we have nothing to boast about.) Normally I would not talk about this with others, because I think giving is a private matter, but my hope in sharing this with you is that you will be inspired by the need, take the challenge yourself, and encourage all of your friends to do the same. I hear many people talking about the situation overseas and not knowing how to respond. Here’s one way you can respond. This is not the “solution” to the problem, but it is a tangible first step.

How did the idea start? Last month I was reading a book called Revolution in World Missions, by K.P. Yohannan, and it opened my eyes to how extreme the poverty gap is in the world — on so many levels.  Actually, it broke my heart.

I am a Christian; I believe Jesus Christ is Lord, and I have seen Him do amazing things in my life and the lives of others around me.  He is so real, and I see that more and more everyday.  Yet I’m realizing that when I say, “I surrender all,” or “I will follow You,” or “I love you Lord,” I really have no idea what I am talking about.

We live in a country where we (the so-called “average” or “middle class” people) gorge ourselves on food, entertainment, and resources.  That is our norm.  For the most part, we are well fed, well clothed, well educated, well entertained, well informed, well housed, well medicated, well insured, well transported, well employed, well paid, well guarded, well furnished, well accessorized, and, well, incredibly ungrateful.  It’s a bad day if we have to wait 20 minutes in a grocery store line, or if the barista at the coffee shop is out of our favorite kind of syrup.  And we think we’re pretty generous people if we give a homeless person five bucks as we walk past or have some friends over for dinner.

But we are so blind to the deep pain of the world around us, as K.P. Yohannan of Gospel for Asia points out.  He writes that two thirds of the world’s population lives on less than $1 a day. In his book, Yohannan quotes economist Robert Heilbroner’s description of what that looks like:

“We begin by invading the house of our imaginary American family to strip it of its furniture. Everything goes: beds, chairs, tables, television sets, lamps. We will leave the family with a few old blankets, a kitchen table, a wooden chair. Along with the bureaus go the clothes. Each member of the family may keep in his wardrobe his oldest suit or dress, a shirt or blouse. We will permit a pair of shoes for the head of the family, but none for the wife or children.

“We move to the kitchen. The appliances have already been taken out, so we turn to the cupboards. . . . The box of matches may stay, a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt. A few moldy potatoes, already in the garbage can, must be rescued, for they will provide much of tonight’s meal. We will leave a handful of onions and a dish of dried beans. All the rest we take away: the meat, the fresh vegetables, the canned goods, the crackers, the candy.

“Now we have stripped the house: the bathroom has been dismantled, the running water shut off, the electric wires taken out. Next we take away the house. The family can move to the tool shed. . . . Communications must go next. No more newspapers, magazines, books — not that they are missed, since we must take away our family’s literacy as well. Instead, in our shantytown we will allow one radio. . .

“Now government services must go next. No more postmen, no more firemen. There is a school, but it is three miles away and consists of two classrooms. . . . There are, of course, no hospitals or doctors nearby. The nearest clinic is ten miles away and is tended by a midwife. It can be reached by bicycle, provided the family has a bicycle, which is unlikely. . . .

“Finally, money. We will allow our family a cash hoard of five dollars. This will prevent our breadwinner from experiencing the tragedy of an Iranian peasant who went blind because he could not raise the $3.94 which he mistakenly thought he needed to receive admission to a hospital where he could have been cured.”  (Revolution in World Missions, p. 40)

This kind of situation is completely unfathomable to me.  Yes, I have seen poverty. For a week or two I’ve even had the opportunity to live among people who are poor. But I’ve never lived in poverty day in and day out, with no end in sight, and no fallback plan.

So after reading this, I felt almost paralyzed. How do we even start to respond? If you’re interested, keep reading…