God gave me an analogy that has helped me so much. I was thinking about the parable of the talents:

"Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a trip. He called together his servants and gave them money to invest for him while he was gone. He gave five bags of gold to one, two bags of gold to another, and one bag of gold to the last--dividing it in proportion to their abilities--and then left on his trip. The servant who received the five bags of gold began immediately to invest the money and soon doubled it. The servant with two bags of gold also went right to work and doubled the money. But the servant who received the one bag of gold dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money for safekeeping."After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of gold said, `Sir, you gave me five bags of gold to invest, and I have doubled the amount.' The master was full of praise. `Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!'...."Then the servant with the one bag of gold came and said, `Sir, I know you are a hard man, harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth and here it is.' "But the master replied, `You wicked and lazy servant! You think I'm a hard man, do you, harvesting crops I didn't plant and gathering crops I didn't cultivate? Well, you should at least have put my money into the bank so I could have some interest. Take the money from this servant and give it to the one with the ten bags of gold. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away.

So I was thinking about being an American and why I have been born into a country of such wealth. Why me? What did I do to deserve this? Just because of where I was born I have countless opportunities and basic necessities, clean water, food, safety, etc. And then I started thinking about this parable and how living in America is like a talent. What am I going to do with this talent? Am I going to bury it? Live in suburbia ignoring the pain and suffering and disease that is rampant throughout the world? Ignoring the fact that over 26,000 children die a day due to preventable causes? Or am I going to invest this talent? Am I going to choose to invest in organizations helping the poor, to not live by the world's standards of accumulation of stuff but to give as I have been given? I do not have this figured out but I am ready to say ok Lord this is Your money and I am no longer going to spend unwisely on me and my family, we want to invest in Your Kingdom on earth, right now.

"We can be the generation that no longer accepts that an accident of latitude determines whether a child lives or dies- but will we be that generation? Will we in the West realize our potential or will we sleep in the comfort of our affluence with apathy and indifference murmuring softly in our ears? Fifteen thousand people dying needlessly every day from Aids, TB, and malaria. Mothers, fathers, teachers, farmers, nurses, mechanics, children. This is Africa's crisis. That it's not on the nightly news, that we do not treat this as an emergency- that's our crisis.
Future generations flipping through these pages will know whether we answered the key question. The evidence will be the world around them. History will be our judge, but what's written will be up to us. We can't say our generation didn't know how to do it. We can't say our generation couldn't afford it. And we can't say our generation didn't have reason to do it. It's up to us."-Bono


Found this Pastor from Katie at Amazima and then my friend Jen just put this on her blog, had to share. I have listened to the first 3 sermons, they are amazing, convicting, inspiring, life changing. What I love about this man is that he is not claiming to have every answer. He speaks from a place of personal conviction, he is vulnerable and real. He brings the conviction of our hearts and what God has been moving us towards into this series that leaves us in a place of choice. And the series is overloaded with scripture, I love it!!