Bead For Life

Bead for Life...what a cool organization.  I had only vaguely heard of them prior to last month.  In our small group Bible study we are doing a book that teaches the essentials of discipleship.  One of the lessons last month was on the topic of justice...social justice (or the lack of it) to be more exact.  It brought to the forefront some issues that have been going through my head for a long time...a LONG time.  What am I really doing to help the poor, the needy, the down trodden?  I came across this verse in Ezekiel that really hit home for me: "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." (Ez. 16:49)  Jesus has a heart for the poor...we should too.  So we started to talk about ways we could do just that.  What does it look like?  Sometimes it may be going to serve at the local mission or the local Crisis Pregnancy Center.  Or volunteering your time to help a struggling family with whatever.  Or it may be adopting or assisting with an adoption. 

Sometimes our focus is too local, though.  I absolutely believe we should be looking locally for opportunities, but we should also have a global outlook as well.  Many times we think we can't do anything because we're stuck here, right?  Not so.  There are plenty of things we can be doing to help the poor and the oppressed across the oceans.  What are some of those ways?  Support a missionary...this is a little indirect, but extremely important none-the-less.  You could also check out a few websites that offer "gifts" to buy for individuals in rural communities all over the world.  Samaritan's Purse has a catalog that allows you to purchase things like chickens, goats, and donkeys for people in need.  Then one of the ladies in the group brought up this organization Bead for Life and how it helps Ugandan women work their way out of poverty by selling their product.  So the ladies from my small group decided to do a party to sell their products today.  Let me tell you, their work is absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  They make all the beads by rolling recycled paper, and it really is amazing what they can do with that.  The really cool part of it all is a certain percentage of each sale goes STRAIGHT to the beader and another hefty percentage goes towards supporting programs in their communities to help eradicate poverty there.  If you have never heard of them check out beadforlife.org to learn more.  Here's just a couple a pics from our party today.  Props to Alisha and Anna for laying out the jewelry.  It looked awesome!

So, back to the point.  I just encourage you to take a look at what you can do to help the poor and oppressed...both around you and many countries away.  It doesn't have to be huge...it doesn't have to be many.  There are lots of opportunities...we just have to take them, doing it all with a generous, grateful, and loving heart.

-You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?  But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.- Luke 11:40-42