I have a very clear understanding of inflation. Yesterday, after buying gas, I went back inside to get a receipt and saw a cooler of small Coca-Colas in glass bottles and I picked one up. It cost $1.06. The irony of that moment was my immediate memory of buying my first Coca-cola from a drink machine at my elementary school back in Wilcox County, GA in 1960. The cost was one nickel and one penny, in that order, or the machine would not take it. Out came a small bottle of Coke. In the 48 years since, the cost has risen to more than 17 times the cost of that similar bottle of soft drink, and now they use corn syrup instead of sugar as sweetener, a less expensive substitute.
When I was 16, and buying gas for an automobile in 1970, the cost was .30 a gallon. Today that price has escalated more than 10 times and instead of 98 octane it is 87. At least now it is unleaded.
The fact of “inflation” has economists climbing the walls. The Feds who hold the purse strings on funds for banks have been playing hardball with the interest rates of late, trying to relieve the pressure on the banking industry that is faced with the fallout of too many mortgages extended on too many properties at too high an appraisal rate on too variable an interest basis. The result…a lot of people are over their heads in house payments. The downside -- prices are plummeting, making it look like better to default than hang on to overvalued real estate, leaving foreclosures in excess everywhere. The results leave banks holding real estate rather than loans. A situation they do not like at all. What good is an empty house, much a less a street full of empty houses, or a neighborhood full of empty houses…it’s a mess waiting to get worse. So our president offers everyone a quick payday, sometime in May in hopes people will go out and buy stuff to kick he economy into big spender mode once more so it can grow. What nobody is willing to recognize is that there are too many people without jobs sitting around waiting for a better day. Likewise, there is too much expenditure going out the back door for a war that has no end in sight. Added to that scenario are the results of unbridled spending that doesn’t show a lot of benefit for the investment in many places where it has been spent. Too bad accountability is a bad word in congress. The facts of rising prices will not dissipate with the rest of the world having economic growth while ours flounders.
The bible refers to “the work of our hands” in many places. That’s just another description of “labor” in all forms. Labor is something we had better start doing, in the ways we know to do it if we expect there to be progress worth having. Easy street without labors has always had its days numbered. We would do well to get to work.
In terms of the American workplace…that means catching sight of what makes sense to invest in. We need better roads, safer bridges, lines painted down the middle of most of the highways I drive on. We need good teachers and good doctors and good preachers and good scientists and good engineers and good carpenters and good plumbers and good electricians and good accountants and good cooks and good nurses…you get the idea.
We need people with a passion for excellence in the context of love and service and commitment that don’t falter on hard days and that take the challenge of every day and move forward. We need to pray for the Lord to “prosper the work of our hands” and to know that He is our strength for getting the work done well.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The Case for Environmental Stewardship
Continuing world population growth mandates a rethinking of our use and present patterns of abuse of the environment. Areas of high population density with poor food supply readily become flashpoints of conflict, instability, and political upheaval. Areas that both deplete and in some cases eradicate natural resources are on the rise globally.
Similarly, those most affected by sustained drought, displacement due to floods, hurricanes, or other “natural” phenomenon are likely to face higher rates of poverty, hunger, disease and death, even among children.
Global warming scenarios have become realities in persisting extreme weather activity, polar icecap melting, and rising ocean temperatures. Pursuing an internationally linked commitment to practices of environmental stewardship seems to be a far greater global need than many seem prepared to address. Education in this area is vital for change to begin to take place at the levels of government cooperation, policy-making, and industrial acceptance of new practices.
Environmentalists must become more adept at communicating and promoting measures for environmental preservation. Short of suggesting we populate colonies on other planets, an extremely impractical suggestion, it is vital that we understand the importance of maintaining the viability of the earth as a planetary environment capable of sustaining life.
The growing crisis in clean water supplies for many population centers continues to escalate. The failure to protect air quality continues to affect increasing numbers of persons with long-term health concerns and now in climate change effects.
As Christians, we share this earth’s bounty and we must likewise share in its stewardship. It is time for Christians to affirm the witness of scripture that calls for our acknowledgement of the “earth” as “the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” We are here to make use of it in ways that are not meant to destroy it, but to be a blessing received and shared. Jesus said that we are to be stewards of all that we have been given responsibility for. Whether great or small, our obligations of stewardship are to God. Are the ways we are exercising stewardship pleasing to Him?
Similarly, those most affected by sustained drought, displacement due to floods, hurricanes, or other “natural” phenomenon are likely to face higher rates of poverty, hunger, disease and death, even among children.
Global warming scenarios have become realities in persisting extreme weather activity, polar icecap melting, and rising ocean temperatures. Pursuing an internationally linked commitment to practices of environmental stewardship seems to be a far greater global need than many seem prepared to address. Education in this area is vital for change to begin to take place at the levels of government cooperation, policy-making, and industrial acceptance of new practices.
Environmentalists must become more adept at communicating and promoting measures for environmental preservation. Short of suggesting we populate colonies on other planets, an extremely impractical suggestion, it is vital that we understand the importance of maintaining the viability of the earth as a planetary environment capable of sustaining life.
The growing crisis in clean water supplies for many population centers continues to escalate. The failure to protect air quality continues to affect increasing numbers of persons with long-term health concerns and now in climate change effects.
As Christians, we share this earth’s bounty and we must likewise share in its stewardship. It is time for Christians to affirm the witness of scripture that calls for our acknowledgement of the “earth” as “the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” We are here to make use of it in ways that are not meant to destroy it, but to be a blessing received and shared. Jesus said that we are to be stewards of all that we have been given responsibility for. Whether great or small, our obligations of stewardship are to God. Are the ways we are exercising stewardship pleasing to Him?
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Post Katrina Update
This week’s news: Toxic levels of formaldehyde gas are affecting the health of FEMA trailer occupants, some at levels 40 times higher than normal exposures.
114,000 people remain in FEMA trailers along the Gulf Coast after nearly two and a half years since Hurricane Katrina came ashore.
Obviously the scope of need is yet beyond the imagination of many who might offer some elements of correction to these problems.
Resources have been expended at a significant level, but apparently large amounts of money have been diverted away from productive relief.
Baptists helped to rebuild more than 700 homes in the area and are to be commended for the outpouring of effort to make these improvements possible. At the same time, there is the simple human reality, that some folks are hard to help, some have not yet found their way to resources sufficient to meet their needs, and some people cannot and do not have the capacity to make those changes themselves without help.
The “safety net” for thousands in our nation has been the pattern of government to “send money” and assuming that will be sufficient to fix the problems. It never is. The realities lie even in the encounters we have had in our own disaster relief efforts. Elderly persons often do not have the physical strength to take care of what has to be done to rehabilitate a home and property after such a loss. Those without close family or friends who can assist simply are neglected, left without, and often in circumstances of great difficulty.
Similarly, those who have other physical or mental incapacities are often incapable of making the necessary adjustments to a radical change in their world environment. Coping with the loss of family members, their homes, or their livelihoods often leaves them without recourse to the most basic of services and provisions.
Rebuilding infrastructure in places that do not have the support of government, current policy, and planned effort, remains a cloud over the entire prospect of a future existence in those places. Decisions by large corporations, not to supply resources and reinvestment in those areas, leaves them destitute. It is one thing to tell the able bodied to“get out of Dodge” and rebuild your lives elsewhere, but short of the biblical accounts of the Babylonian Exile, there seem few parallels to the aspects of abandoning the poorest, the sickest, the oldest and least able to circumstances beyond their capacity to change…with no eye or aim to do so. America should speak up and take up the task.
114,000 people remain in FEMA trailers along the Gulf Coast after nearly two and a half years since Hurricane Katrina came ashore.
Obviously the scope of need is yet beyond the imagination of many who might offer some elements of correction to these problems.
Resources have been expended at a significant level, but apparently large amounts of money have been diverted away from productive relief.
Baptists helped to rebuild more than 700 homes in the area and are to be commended for the outpouring of effort to make these improvements possible. At the same time, there is the simple human reality, that some folks are hard to help, some have not yet found their way to resources sufficient to meet their needs, and some people cannot and do not have the capacity to make those changes themselves without help.
The “safety net” for thousands in our nation has been the pattern of government to “send money” and assuming that will be sufficient to fix the problems. It never is. The realities lie even in the encounters we have had in our own disaster relief efforts. Elderly persons often do not have the physical strength to take care of what has to be done to rehabilitate a home and property after such a loss. Those without close family or friends who can assist simply are neglected, left without, and often in circumstances of great difficulty.
Similarly, those who have other physical or mental incapacities are often incapable of making the necessary adjustments to a radical change in their world environment. Coping with the loss of family members, their homes, or their livelihoods often leaves them without recourse to the most basic of services and provisions.
Rebuilding infrastructure in places that do not have the support of government, current policy, and planned effort, remains a cloud over the entire prospect of a future existence in those places. Decisions by large corporations, not to supply resources and reinvestment in those areas, leaves them destitute. It is one thing to tell the able bodied to“get out of Dodge” and rebuild your lives elsewhere, but short of the biblical accounts of the Babylonian Exile, there seem few parallels to the aspects of abandoning the poorest, the sickest, the oldest and least able to circumstances beyond their capacity to change…with no eye or aim to do so. America should speak up and take up the task.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Priorities, Dreams, and Faith
What Do Federal Budgets Say about Priorities?
The recently proposed federal budget, totaling in excess of 3.1 trillion ( yes, trillion) dollars, makes it clear that “keeping America safe” …code word for “more war”…wins the bulk of new appropriation increases while Medicare and Social Security are called upon to make deep cuts, notably no increases for hospitals and doctors who provide medical care and services….code word for “ignore inflation” and “pretend it isn’t there.” Likewise numbers of other programs will be cut, particularly in areas of education…obviously children don’t need music and art and drama where they might learn to think and sing and create…better to be a weapon’s dealer or missle manufacturer in the new economy. God forgive us for discouraging the poets and the painters and the purveyors of literacy beyond the codes of text messaging.
What Do Our Choices Say about our Dreams?
In the name of justice, we send more Afro-Americans to prison than to college. In the name of education, we provide a prescription for failure in public schools around the nation where we call for “no child left behind” only to leave thousands behind every day by policies that do not promote family stability, adequate health care, and quality education for all. Economic games are played in neighborhoods all across the land where the wealthy neighborhoods get the books and the struggling neighborhoods get the word that they have to share the book among each class of students because there aren’t funds to go around. Some schools get the computers, but not the software or trained teachers to use it well in effective ways. We struggle as a nation to produce enough engineers and scientists to satisfy the needs of industry and infrastructure needs facing our nation currently, but we pay our teachers a third of what similarly educated persons are making in the marketplace. Football players who make 50 tackles and 8 sacks in 6 seasons with the NFL earn multimillion dollar contracts while those with Ph.D.’s in our universities earn barely $50,000 a year in many settings.
What Do Our Choices Say about our Practice of Faith?
Christians largely have ignored the global climate crisis. In two years half the area of the Polar ice cap at the North Pole has melted. In 5 years, at the present rate of melting, we won’t have an icecap at the North Pole. As that pattern relates to the South Pole, large sections of ice shelf are showing sudden patterns of breaking off and with just a small rise in the ocean temperatures, and a corresponding rise of sea level, hundreds of thousands of people will become “climate change refugees”…forced out of their homes by rising water. We think humanitarian crises have been limited to hunger, poverty, disease, and war….wait til we add to that the suffering of thousands displaced from their homes, coupled with excessive drought, excessive flooding (more intense periods of heavy rain) , larger and more powerful storms…both tornadoes and hurricanes… we haven’t seen anything yet! These are real changes, with scientists relatively “screaming” for nations and lawmakers and industry to respond. The church should be joining in the call for responsible action toward the creation of God.
Studies indicate that 2-3% of all those currently in prison are innocent. We are finding over and over again evidence of injustice and a failure of responsible measures to
dispense justice fairly across the economic spectrum. Overloaded courts and warehousing of prisoners to the neglect of education, work, and rehabilitation add to the long term issues. Christians have a responsibility to visit the imprisoned, to proclaim release to the captives…in the name of our Lord who transforms lives and gives hope.
Patterns of injustice around the world are often ignored by those who choose simply to be self-absorbed and un-informed. Thinking we have no influence betrays our neglect to pray for those who face injustice on a daily basis. Neglecting to speak for those whose voices have been silenced is an indictment on our comfortable apathy. May God forgive us for not using our voices and votes and vigor to call for change in our world.
The recently proposed federal budget, totaling in excess of 3.1 trillion ( yes, trillion) dollars, makes it clear that “keeping America safe” …code word for “more war”…wins the bulk of new appropriation increases while Medicare and Social Security are called upon to make deep cuts, notably no increases for hospitals and doctors who provide medical care and services….code word for “ignore inflation” and “pretend it isn’t there.” Likewise numbers of other programs will be cut, particularly in areas of education…obviously children don’t need music and art and drama where they might learn to think and sing and create…better to be a weapon’s dealer or missle manufacturer in the new economy. God forgive us for discouraging the poets and the painters and the purveyors of literacy beyond the codes of text messaging.
What Do Our Choices Say about our Dreams?
In the name of justice, we send more Afro-Americans to prison than to college. In the name of education, we provide a prescription for failure in public schools around the nation where we call for “no child left behind” only to leave thousands behind every day by policies that do not promote family stability, adequate health care, and quality education for all. Economic games are played in neighborhoods all across the land where the wealthy neighborhoods get the books and the struggling neighborhoods get the word that they have to share the book among each class of students because there aren’t funds to go around. Some schools get the computers, but not the software or trained teachers to use it well in effective ways. We struggle as a nation to produce enough engineers and scientists to satisfy the needs of industry and infrastructure needs facing our nation currently, but we pay our teachers a third of what similarly educated persons are making in the marketplace. Football players who make 50 tackles and 8 sacks in 6 seasons with the NFL earn multimillion dollar contracts while those with Ph.D.’s in our universities earn barely $50,000 a year in many settings.
What Do Our Choices Say about our Practice of Faith?
Christians largely have ignored the global climate crisis. In two years half the area of the Polar ice cap at the North Pole has melted. In 5 years, at the present rate of melting, we won’t have an icecap at the North Pole. As that pattern relates to the South Pole, large sections of ice shelf are showing sudden patterns of breaking off and with just a small rise in the ocean temperatures, and a corresponding rise of sea level, hundreds of thousands of people will become “climate change refugees”…forced out of their homes by rising water. We think humanitarian crises have been limited to hunger, poverty, disease, and war….wait til we add to that the suffering of thousands displaced from their homes, coupled with excessive drought, excessive flooding (more intense periods of heavy rain) , larger and more powerful storms…both tornadoes and hurricanes… we haven’t seen anything yet! These are real changes, with scientists relatively “screaming” for nations and lawmakers and industry to respond. The church should be joining in the call for responsible action toward the creation of God.
Studies indicate that 2-3% of all those currently in prison are innocent. We are finding over and over again evidence of injustice and a failure of responsible measures to
dispense justice fairly across the economic spectrum. Overloaded courts and warehousing of prisoners to the neglect of education, work, and rehabilitation add to the long term issues. Christians have a responsibility to visit the imprisoned, to proclaim release to the captives…in the name of our Lord who transforms lives and gives hope.
Patterns of injustice around the world are often ignored by those who choose simply to be self-absorbed and un-informed. Thinking we have no influence betrays our neglect to pray for those who face injustice on a daily basis. Neglecting to speak for those whose voices have been silenced is an indictment on our comfortable apathy. May God forgive us for not using our voices and votes and vigor to call for change in our world.
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