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Posts Tagged ‘Frank King’

YOUR PIVOTAL MOMENT

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 27, 2015| 8 Comments »

Jennifer Fulwiler atheism ChristianityFor life-long atheist Jennifer Fulwiler, the pivotal moment came when she held her first child for the first time.

“I looked down and thought ‘what is this baby’?” she recalled in a YouTube video. “From a pure atheist, materialist perspective, he is a collection of randomly evolved chemical reactions.

“I realized if that’s true, then all the love I feel for him is nothing more than chemical reactions in my brain. I looked down at him and I realized, ‘that’s not true’. It’s not the truth.”

Jennifer went on to research the world’s major faiths, but considered Christianity not worth the bother. Then her husband suggested she investigate Christianity because one of its most significant claims — that Jesus of Nazareth is God in the flesh — would be easy to disprove if it wasn’t true.

So she did. Jennifer discovered a world of deeply intellectual thinkers (like Thomas Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo) who were also serious Jesus followers.

Men like them made such a compelling, reason-based case for the life, death and resurrection of Christ that, in Jennifer’s words, “I started to think something world-changing happened in first-century Palestine.”

Jennifer realized that atheists “don’t have the lock on reason that I thought. Christians had all the knowledge of science, but they have the total picture of the human experience — love and triumph and hope. Christians could articulate that in a way that atheists couldn’t.”

The result of all this is Jennifer went from denying there is a creator, to becoming a serious follower of the man who many people believe is the Son of God.

Why do all this? Let me make it clear that following Jesus can be hard, especially when most of the world (sometimes including your family and friends) doesn’t follow Him and you can be mocked or even disowned for your beliefs.

As far as I’m concerned, the upside more than compensates. When I decided to follow Jesus, little things immediately changed (I stopped cursing and swearing) and bigger things followed (my wife and I have a firm commitment to donate regularly to charities and to our church).

In other words, like me, you’ll get a new perspective on life. The holy grails of our culture — gaining power and prestige, buying a bigger house, going on expensive cruises, having the latest iPhone — will start to look shallow and pointless.

You’ll start living for the approval of your creator, who the Bible says “loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in his Son would not be lost, but have eternal life.”

And as you start living for God and start attending a church regularly, you’ll be surrounded by others who are also in the midst of being transformed by following Jesus.

Finally, when this life is over, you’ll have real and solid hope that you won’t become nothing more than rancid worm food. You’ll become a citizen of Heaven.

Interested? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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THE TRUTH OF MOTIVATION

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 20, 2015| 17 Comments »

TruthOfMotivation 6.15What’s your motivation to do good? I wondered about that after encountering this meme.

Is it true that people who follow Jesus of Nazareth — who many people consider to be God’s Son — do good only because of fear and a desire of eternal reward in Heaven?

Here’s the answer: Almost all Jesus followers are motivated by faith and trust in Jesus. In the primary source documents about His life on earth, Jesus told His followers stuff like this:

  • Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God.
  • Whenever you saw a brother or sister hungry or cold, whatever you did to the least of these, so you did to Me.
  • Be generous. Give to the poor.

It’s statements like these, and many more, that inspire millions of Jesus followers to fuel the work of organizations like Samaritan’s Purse, Compassion Canada, World Vision, Food For The Hungry, International Justice Mission, World Relief Canada and many more.

Most Jesus followers keep in mind this key statement, found in one of the primary source documents about Jesus: This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Jesus, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.

Since God loves the world (and that means EVERYONE in it), then those who follow God’s Son should have the same attitude.

Is it true that atheists only do “the right thing” because “it’s the human thing to do”? Well, let’s look at the truth: figuring out what is right is very often like staring into a mud puddle. What’s right for one person (atheist or otherwise) is often quite wrong for another. Just a few bloodcurdling examples:

  • In Nazi Germany, the right thing to do was imprison, torture and exterminate millions of Jews, gypsies, Slavic people, homosexuals, Jesus followers and many other groups.
  • In 1994 Rwanda, the right thing to do, for thousands of Hutu people, was slaughter members of the Tutsi tribe. As many as a million died before the massacre ended.
  • During the 1970s in Cambodia, the right thing to do, for many thousands of members of the Pol Pot regime, was execute, starve and torture more than a million people.

When I consider all this, it makes sense to decide what is good or right by following the one person who always had (and has) it figured out: Jesus of Nazareth.

By following in Jesus and trusting in what He accomplished through His life, death and resurrection, you’ll find yourself doing good things. Why? Because when you believe in Jesus, your life will be, in a word, transformed. Now and for all eternity.

Interested? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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‘COMPLETE TRUST OR CONFIDENCE’

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 13, 2015| 2 Comments »

faithIf I’ve learned anything during my years of writing about faith, it’s that there are folks out there who absolutely DETEST that word.

Most of those people would vigorously agree with the graphic that inspired this essay, which I found on an Internet atheism community.

Maybe you’ve never given the word much thought, but now that you’ve read the graphic, you’re thinking “ya, it’s all about ignorance!”.

So let’s look at the word for a moment. The Pocket Oxford Dictionary defines faith as: 1. complete trust or confidence; 2. firm, especially religious, belief; 3. religion or creed; 4. loyalty, trustworthiness.

First off, I want nothing to do with “religion” and this blog explains why: http://wp.me/p2wzRb-eu.

Secondly, would anyone in their right mind credibly call someone like Henry Schaefer ignorant? Schaefer, a chemist, earned the 1979 American Chemical Society Award in pure chemistry. He also wrote Science and Christianity: Conflict or Coherence?

Here’s another person that no thinking person could ever label ignorant: Ard Louis teaches theoretical physics at Oxford, one of the world’s most prestigious universities. Before that, he managed to get rid of just enough ignorance to teach theoretical chemistry at Cambridge University.

What do Schaefer and Louis have in common? They follow Jesus of Nazareth, who many people believe is the Son of God. And there are many, many more Jesus followers who are making contributions in chemistry, physics, engineering and biomedical sciences.

Schaefer and Louis have what the Pocket Oxford calls “complete trust or confidence” in Jesus — His teachings, His death, His resurrection and the truth of what He said about His creator (who also happens to be your creator).

So what isn’t faith? A pastor at my church, Henry Shore, laid it out:

  • Faith is not a positive mental attitude.
  • Faith is not a belief in a force or in a formula
  • Faith is not psyching yourself up with wishful thinking
  • Faith is not believing I can accomplish anything if I put my mind to it.
  • Faith is not believing if I believe hard enough, like some TV preachers would have us believe, then it’ll become a reality.
  • Faith is not faith in our words, it is not faith in ourselves, it is not faith in faith.
  • True faith is in God. The focus isn’t on the faith; but on the object of our faith.

From a Jesus perspective, faith is having firm belief — based on a mix of evidence and belief — that there is a creator for all that you and I see and experience. And that creator offers you and me a gift: Jesus.

Look into that gift. Talk to knowledgeable Jesus followers about Him. Despite what your friends and family may tell you, this is important and serious stuff. And it’s good news.

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WHAT GETS OVERLOOKED?

Posted in In The News, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on May 30, 2015| 29 Comments »

Mike O'BrienUntil his death in 2015, I’d never heard of Mike O’Brien. You probably hadn’t either. But something he wrote sure grabbed my attention. This is the start of a story about O’Brien in the Calgary Herald:

In his final blog posting, Mike O’Brien said he exuded faith — faith in his radiologist, surgeons, nurses, pharmacists and counsellors — but not in God.

“Of course, I may be wrong. I often am. Fortunately, if God really exists, I’m confident he’ll look at my overall record and let me slide on the faith/skeptic issue. It just sounds like the kind of decent thing he’d do,” he wrote.

I need to satisfy your curiosity before going any further. O’Brien, who died of cancer at age 51, warranted a newspaper article because of his roles in several Canadian TV series, including the comedy cult favourite Corner Gas.

So, what about Mike’s blog post?

I can certainly understand why a hideous disease like cancer might turn a person into an atheist. A life-threatening condition tends to drive the victim into the arms of God or into the arms of…well, nothing, I guess.

The thing is, Mike exuded faith in an entire team of people. And, sadly, all those people could not stop what was happening to him.

Meanwhile, Mike ignored his creator. Now, considering what happened to him, you might say “well, what good did Mike’s creator do for him? He died of cancer!”

On the surface, I get that. But hang on; what if relieving Mike of his four-year painful struggle meant bringing him home? That might not be what his loved ones wanted, but do we hugely imperfect humans always know what’s best?

Sadly, I’m not sure the story goes like I just put it. I’m glad Mike left this world confident that if there’s a creator, that creator would “look at my overall record and let me slide on the faith/skeptic issue”.

But where on earth would such confidence come from? How does Mike, or anyone else on this planet, know how their overall record really looks?

The God that many people believe in is active in this world. He created us to have a relationship with Him – now and for all eternity. We messed that up by going our own way and, so often, doing what Mike did: claim He doesn’t even exist and this planet – heck this universe – somehow came from nowhere.

To repair that broken relationship, God has done far more than what Mike might call the “decent thing”; He offers us a gift: Jesus of Nazareth, who many people believe is God’s Son.

Jesus lived an extraordinary life, offered love and forgiveness to folks you and I wouldn’t turn our head to glance at, then died to make up for all the wrong things we’ve done and all the right things we’ve failed to do. To finish it off, he came back to life after three days, showing God’s power to do whatever God wants.

All we have to do is accept the gift of Jesus. Then we can have more than Mike’s vague optimism. We can have complete confidence that when this life ends, God will absolutely overlook our many, many shortcomings and welcome us into His presence forever.

Interested? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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THE GIFT OF UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2015| 28 Comments »

Bill Maher atheismFirst of all, “religion” certainly is dangerous, and for more reasons than Bill Maher lists in this meme. Like Maher (a well-known TV host/political commentator/atheist), I want nothing to do with “religion” and I explain why here: http://wp.me/p2wzRb-cP.

Now, what about “faith” (an entirely different thing) being dangerous? Are there people out there who believe their faith affiliation supplies all the answers to every question? Sadly, yes.

In my faith, saying Jesus of Nazareth — who many people believe is the Son of God — is the answer to everything is superficial and, in my opinion, shows a disturbing lack of thought.

(Then again, we live in a culture that discourages thoughtful living, so this shouldn’t be a surprise.)

I have all kinds of questions that following Jesus doesn’t answer:

  • Is there life on other planets?
  • If there is life on other planets, do they know about God?
  • Why is our world set up so people and animals kill and eat each other to survive?
  • When is Jesus going to return (as primary source Jesus biographies say He will)?
  • Why is spirituality so repugnant to some people and so welcome to others?
  • And finally, how did hip-hop ever become popular? 😉

What’s truly fascinating is that Jesus Himself didn’t know the answers to all the questions. Before He was crucified on a Roman cross, one of his followers asked when He would return. Jesus replied “No one knows when that day or time will be. The Son and the angels in heaven don’t know when it will be. Only the Father knows.”

Does this bother some Jesus followers? Probably. But it doesn’t bother me; serious Jesus followers like me believe He is God AND man and when He was physically on earth, Jesus set his Godhood aside. Thus the lack of knowledge about His return.

But what about my questions? There was a time when some of them, especially the third question, disturbed me greatly. I’m not nearly so disturbed today, but these unanswered questions are still important.

Our culture tends to suggest we can be God, with all the wisdom, all the technology and all the resources to command our lives and destinies. But my questions (which I don’t believe science can ever answer) are important and necessary because they remind me that God is God. And I am NOT.

So what about you; do your unanswered questions keep you from seriously investigating what it means to follow Jesus and be transformed by His love, His life, His death and His resurrection? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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SINS, MISTAKES & SHORTCOMINGS

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2015| 5 Comments »

SinIt’s easy to make this call about a word that’s so loaded, isn’t it? In our culture “sin” has come to be associated of judgementalism, arrogance, hard-heartedness and “religious” people.

Some of those people, who lack full awareness of their own failures, think they’re doing good when they shame others for the wrong things those people might have done.

But does that mean the word “sin” should be tossed in garbage? The person who created the meme that inspired this blog might shout YES.

I suppose it’s easier to think everything is relative and there is no real “good” or “bad” that would necessitate a word like “sin”. Do you really think that’s so? Isn’t murder a sin? What about setting someone’s house on fire — can you think of a reason that would condone arson? Is there an excuse to justify printing and distributing counterfeit money?

Just like you, I haven’t done any of these things. But I examine my own life and see plenty of behaviours that qualify as sin:

  • I’m tired of the slow truck ahead of me, so I dangerously cut off another car in the passing lane to get around it.
  • I find pathetic excuses to stay on the computer when I should be helping my wife clean the house.
  • I allow ancient, petty squabbles with my relatives to stop me from connecting with them.

Maybe these aren’t “sins” to you. Our culture might come up with softer descriptions like “shortcomings” or “mistakes”. To me, a shortcoming is not being able to resist sugary snacks (I’m absolutely guilty). A mistake is misspelling a word in a Frank’s Cottage essay (often guilty). A sin is different and I hope the bullet-point examples above make that clear.

So what can I do about these sins and many others? Lord knows, I’ve tried and tried to change my ways. I’ll bet you’ve tried to fix your sins, too. And I’ll bet you’ve had as much success as me. Kinda sad, eh?

But there IS something real and substantial and meaningful that we can do. I’ve done it and it IS making a difference. Not as quickly as I (or my wife) would like, but the change is happening.

Prepare yourself for what this is, because it’s radical and controversial: believing there is a creator. A creator who knows YOU. A creator who cares about YOU. A creator who is involved in this world and wants to be involved in YOUR life.

Furthermore, this creator has a son, whom He offers to everyone (including YOU) as an extraordinary, life-changing gift. He is Jesus of Nazareth and God invites YOU to accept the gift of Him. When you do that, you’ll come to know that He died on a cross to make up for ALL the sins of EVERYONE who believes in Him and follows Him.

When this life is done and you come before God, He no longer sees your sins. He sees the sacrifice and the perfection of His son. Sound interesting? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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WANTING IT ALL

Posted in Special Days, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 20, 2014| 20 Comments »

Dear Santa: I want it all!As I walked into my gym for a workout, I saw this stocking hanging amongst other Christmas decorations and it immediately set my mind racing.

OK, so most of us would never admit to wanting it all. But hey, isn’t that the message our culture tells us? Get, get, get, get. Don’t have the savings? Then put it on credit. Make your Christmas wants clear and make sure your loved ones know it if they don’t come through for you.

In our better moments, we know this isn’t what Christmas is supposed to be about. And yet, the pressure is ON. We’ve been conditioned in ways we can’t even detect to have certain expectations and to keenly feel those expectations from loved ones.

When I think about this, I realize this is part of why I struggle with Christmas and why there are lot of Grinches out there. We just don’t want to be part of this emotional cesspool of expectations and disappointments.

So what do we want? Let me venture a viewpoint: we want a day that is truly HOLY. A day that transcends the numbing daily routine of life – not because we try to make it different, but because it IS different.

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, where winter tends to be colder and darker, Christmas can be seen as a light in that darkness. As hope in what can feel like a hopeless season for sun-deprived people. In other words, holy.

How is this possible? Let’s consider the spiritual point of view. All the best known faith systems articulate what we can (and must) do to connect with our creator. It’s up to us to pray more, sacrifice more, worship more, give more, meditate more. How can any of us know when it’s enough?

Now consider Jesus of Nazareth, who many people believe is the Son of God. Most people who believe in Him and follow Him understand that at its heart, Christmas is not about us doing. It’s about God doing. Christmas is about our creator seeing our broken condition and reaching out to us — coming to earth as a helpless baby born in an obscure Middle Eastern village.

We never have to wonder if we’ve prayed enough, sacrificed enough, worshipped enough, given enough. God did the heavy lifting and that child grew up to change the world through outrageous ideas like loving your enemy, forgiving no matter what and making it clear that eternity in Heaven is available to EVERYONE, no matter who they are (or aren’t), no matter what they’ve done (or haven’t done).

So what difference does that make to you and me? When you accept the gift of Jesus Christ — who sacrificed His life to make up for all the wrong things we’ve done and the right things we haven’t done — this is what will happen:

  • You’ll see all people with new eyes as you understand they are loved by God just as much as you.
  • You’ll realize that life isn’t about getting rich, buying the biggest flat-screen TV going and getting praise and admiration from others.
    Jesus explained what it’s about in one of the original-source documents about His life: “Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behaviour: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them.”
  • You’ll come to understand that this life isn’t all there is — in fact, it’s just the introduction to eternity.
  • You’ll start to love Christmas because it’s concrete, life-changing evidence of God’s powerful, active love for His creation.

Does this make sense? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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DENIGRATED OR CELEBRATED?

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 13, 2014| 3 Comments »

Seth_AndrewsIf you haven’t thought it yourself, then I wouldn’t be surprised if you heard someone say it: women are second-class citizens in Christianity.

That’s certainly the opinion of Seth Andrews, who grew up in a Christian home and is now a leading atheist.

If Seth is right, then you certainly don’t want to give any serious thought to this faith.

So is he right? Rather than enduring the words of an old white guy like me, I’ll offer you the answers of three women who saw this graphic and are happy to explain why they are serious followers of Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God).

CHANTELLE OSBORNE: What If I said I didn’t feel belittled by Christianity and the Bible, but empowered? Empowered to redefine femininity from how society and the media too often define women: as sex objects who need to maintain a certain physical appearance to be accepted.

As a Christian, I am empowered to embrace my uniqueness – that God has created me different from men with a unique perspective.

Jesus’ trust and confidence in women was evident during Bible times and still is as Christian women throughout history have sometimes had the courage and conviction to accomplish things that men have not.

DEBBIE FLETCHER: If you look at how Jesus treated women, you will see that far from denigrating them, Jesus defied the prevailing views of the day by noticing, listening to and respecting women.

In the presence of Jesus, women were valued and given a voice. (See two accounts of Jesus’ life, called “Luke” and “John”). Furthermore, through Jesus’ sacrificial death on a Roman cross, men and women were brought together as equals.

An early Christian missionary named Paul wrote a letter to a church and said that because of what Jesus had accomplished through His death and resurrection, the distinction between classes of people had been removed.

“There is now neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” Paul wrote.

In fact, Paul tells men who follow Jesus that they should “go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting”. This is the farthest thing from being denigrated; this is being given a value beyond anything we could ever comprehend.

DORIS FLECK: Early in the Bible, we see that God created man and woman in His image. They are set as equals. Women play prominent roles throughout the Bible and even feature in Jesus’ genealogy, which is unusual because the culture of that time did not look highly on females.

When Jesus was physically on earth, women could not receive an education and had no voice in their marriage. Jewish men were not supposed to talk to a woman in public. If they did, it was considered a shame. But Jesus of Nazareth created controversy by swimming against the stream (for evidence, check out “John”, one of the accounts of His life). He gave great honour to women.

Author Philip Yancey comments, “For women and other oppressed people, Jesus turned upside down the accepted wisdom … Jesus violated the customs of his time in every encounter with women recorded in the four [original-source accounts of His life].”

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So there you have it. Does this cause you to rethink your ideas about Christianity? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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WILL TOMORROW BE LIKE TODAY?

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 15, 2014| 4 Comments »

HSBCWhenever I fly, I always enjoy seeing the unusual HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) advertisements posted along the walls of the walkway into the plane.

This one struck a nerve. Why? On one hand, the statement is, in the broadest sense, true. Just think about all the changes that have happened in the last 30 years: iPods, internet commerce and media, iPads, “apps” on a “smartphone”, rear view cameras on vehicles, flat-screen TVs, Twitter and Facebook.

Together, these changes have created entirely new business models and changed the way many of us live. I can’t imagine what will happen in the next 30 years, but there are already entire teams of smarter people than me working on technologies and inventions that could make tomorrow “nothing like today”.

On the other hand, I feel quite safe in writing that in even more important ways, tomorrow will be exactly the same as today.

  • Human beings will still want and need love and sometimes do horrible things to get it
  • We will still be insecure and behave quite sadly to get others approval
  • People will still judge others on many ridiculous “criteria”, often without even knowing it.
  • Greed will still haunt us
  • We will still look to other people to bring us happiness and fulfillment — and still be let down many, many times.
  • Our egos will continue to rule over us, often convincing us to do and say ridiculous things.
  • Most human beings will still to be their own worst critics, driving us into depression and stunting our emotional growth.

All the technological, medical, scientific and psychiatric breakthroughs that humanity can ever hope to achieve will not alter those bullet points.

So what will? Let me be quite controversial and absolutely radical when I suggest this: a living, breathing relationship with your creator.

If you’re still with me, consider this: Loving God and having a daily connection to Him through Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is God’s son) has the potential to take all these bullet points off the table.

With God, you don’t have to do horrible things to be loved. You already are loved, beyond all measure. And the evidence is this: God offers Jesus  as a gift to you and every other person on this planet. No exceptions. All you have to do is accept the gift.

With God, you don’t have to feel better by judging others or looking to others for happiness. God has already done the judging. And every one of us has fallen short. That means the intrinsic value of a terrorist is exactly the same as that of a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Furthermore, He spoke these words through an ancient prophet: “I am the Lord, and I don’t change.” That means the things I’ve just written about don’t change. God’s love is the same  yesterday, today and tomorrow. The gift of Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. And our falling short of God’s standard is the same for everyone, yesterday, today and tomorrow.

But when you accept the gift of Jesus, declare Him (in complete, sincere seriousness) to be your Saviour, leader and best friend, all the judgement disappears. God sees you as he sees His Son: Perfect in every way and ready to spend eternity in Heaven.

Does this sound attractive? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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WHAT’S WITH THIS ‘PLAN’?

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 25, 2014| 7 Comments »

plan 10.14It’s something most serious followers of Jesus of Nazareth believe, that God has a plan for each human being who decides to follow Jesus  (who many people believe is God’s son).

For people who have accepted the gift of Jesus, that means seeking God’s will for their lives through carefully reading the original source documents about Jesus’s life, praying (alone and with others) and attending worship services.

Does this mean we’ve got it all figured out — that’s learning God’s plan is simply a matter of following an equation? Not even a little.

One of the things thoughtful Jesus followers take very seriously is the truth that God is God. And we are NOT. God is, in many ways, a mystery. Indeed, God described Himself through one of the ancient prophets, who wrote “I [God] don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.”

With that in mind, it’s no surprise that figuring out God’s plan is sometimes as easy as decyphering string theory. Frustrating? Sometimes, but careful reading, praying, attending church and consulting knowledgeable, experienced people of faith can make the process easier.

So what about the graphic (found in an atheist internet community) that inspired this essay? Is God’s plan for so many a life of starvation and early death? Absolutely NOT.

Let me go out on a limb and write that in many ways, starvation is humanity’s plan. What am I talking about? Consider this:

  • Corrupt governments in developing nations are often far more interested in spending money on guns than on growing food.
  • Stingy governments — and the citizens they represent — in well-off nations just don’t care about people far away (who should just suck it up and feed themselves, darn it!).
  • Big business, which is beholden to shareholders, usually concentrates on sponsoring local charity runs and local community projects. In other words, helping people in well-off nations who are potential customers and/or shareholders.

All these things are certainly NOT part of God’s plan. Indeed, a case can be made that on a larger scale, the God that Jesus followers believe in makes His plan crystal clear. In one of the original source documents of His life, Jesus tells anyone willing to listen that “Anything you refused to do for any of my people here, you refused to do for me.”

And because God so loved THE WORLD that He gave His only Son (that fact is found in one of the four original source documents of Jesus’ life), that includes everyone who is starving.

You can be part of God’s plan, by welcoming Him into your life so you can learn what He has planned for YOU. Just accept the gift of His Son. And if you’re serious about it, watch as things start to change. For the better.

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