Why am I doing this?

This is the first post and the beginning of my dream becoming reality.  You may be wondering why I am doing this.  Why such a big fuss over being a generous individual?  It's ok to ask!  I have asked myself that same question.  You may have drawn the conclusion that I am a wealthy individual looking to "give back".  Well, you would be right! but probably not in the same way as you think. To see where I am coming from, you need to understand some of the backdrop.

God has given me a heart for the poor.  A trip in 2007 to Kenya and Ethiopia really opened my eyes to how the rest of the world lives.  Never did I think I was a minority on this planet.  My worldview was rocked while spending time in the slums of Africa over the next 6 years.  Questions kept coming to my mind like "why am I so blessed when the majority of the world is suffering?"  If you have every asked yourself this, then you know what I am talking about.

I have heard first hand stories of newborn babies being dumped in a latrine seconds after giving birth.  I have met young girls that have been trafficked for sex since they were 6 years old.  Yet, I sit in my comfortable chair with a full stomach and a bank account that would make the rest of the world blush. 

I spent almost 10 years connected to an organization attacking these problems.  I am passionate about making poverty obsolete.  It can happen in our lifetime.

Does God want us to just continue to thank him for living in the west as middle class citizens?  Or, are we supposed to do something "uncomfortable"?  From what I gather from God's Word, we not only are supposed to bless others with our wealth, we are COMMANDED to by the Creator himself.

My life is in no way as been trouble free.  In fact, the past year has been the roughest time I personally have ever experienced.  This does not give me an excuse to sit back and feel sorry for myself.  Instead, the Spirt has prompted me to use my life as an example and to bring up our children to understand that the way mom and dad live IS NOT NORMAL.

Would you consider joining me in some way?  Jesus did it with 12.  How much more can we make an impact in the world we live in having such an abundance of resources?

Lets change the world together.

Clarification

Today I had lunch with a good friend. He is one of those guys that I really trust and can confide in. We met up to discuss my ideas in regards to 2-Tunics. During our discussion we spoke about responsibility as Believers who are blessed with much. While talking I came to the realization that this concept could be misunderstood. My guess is that the majority of people think of money when they hear the word “generosity”. I could be wrong but it does seem like that.

I want to clarify some things. First, I believe you can be a generous person and not spend a dime. More often than not, money is the easiest method of giving which is why we probably think that way. You can be generous with your time, which can be very difficult. You can be generous with your words! Compliments and encouragement go a long way. Second, you don’t have to be wealthy (by Western standards) to be generous with money. Many people are struggling to the point where $20 will make a big impact in their life.

To sum it up, be generous with EVERY blessing, gift, and resource that God has given you, whether it's money, time, words, or anything else.

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 “Men should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God… Moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful to his gifts.”

Being Vulnerable

A bit of vulnerability……

Today our family arrived back home from Florida. Getting back home is bittersweet in the sense that you are grateful to be back but realize there is work waiting on you. Laundry, dishes, cleaning, yard work, and much more have not been done for over a week. Sound like I am complaining? I am….

We are such planners that we cleaned our home, did laundry in Florida, and completed most tasks so that we did not have to worry about them after arriving home. That part was nice but something hit me while putting clothes away tonight.
Our family created this organization to encourage generosity. We also want to make people aware how blessed we are compared to the rest of the world. Do you know how you compare to other families globally? If not, its worth your time to research.

I was putting our two kids shirts on hangers and organizing a bit when we returned. While doing so I found myself sighing about how many shirts I had to hang up. When we created started 2-Tunics it was based on our responsibility as blessed people to share. But how much is enough? (BTW, this is one of my number top questions I will have for God).

Ready for this??? I stopped counting at the number of shirts our TWO children have. 153…………No kidding. Is that normal for American children? They are hand-me-downs but 153!!! Why? This is not including clothes that do not fit or ones waiting for them to grow into.

Not only do I have 2-tunics…..I have 153!!!

Tonight made my “Holy Discontent” even more real. Our family, your family has a responsibility.

How much is enough? Hard question to ask ourselves isn’t it?

Death

At the anniversary of a family members death recently, a lot of things went through my mind. Death really does have a way of bringing things back into perspective. My mother-in-law was 52 years young. Dieing is not a fun topic to discuss but all of us have to ask certain questions at some time or another. Here are some of the questions that ran through my mind:

- My life could be over this afternoon. Am I living this way? What would look different?
- Since we DO know that our earthly lives will someday come to an end, how should we be living day to day? What should our focus be?
- Has my life up to this point been a reflection of Christ? (ouch that hurt)
- WHO am I investing my time in?
- WHAT am I investing my (God's) money in?
- How has my words impacted others, or am I even focused on that to begin with?
- Where do I want to spend my time? Working for more stuff?

Each day, what is our focus? If we do not come to grips with these answers now, be certain they will be asked again in eternity. James 4:14

I want my life to be different. I want others to look at me and see Christ.

Just a dime.....

While at the gym this morning, I was walking out of the locker room and stepped on something. It made a noise because of the type of floor, otherwise I probably would not have noticed it. As I glanced down I noticed it was a dime. All of us have been there at some time or another (especially in the United States). You try to decide if it is worth your time to stop and bend down to pick it up. “Its really only a dime” we tell ourselves. What good is a dime?

Often times this is how we approach generosity. We see a need, even if a small one, and we shrug it off as not being something worthy of our time. What if it was and we didn’t know it? What if a simple compliment or smile could literally change someone’s day? Is it worth it then? We can get so caught up in seeing the result of our good deeds that we forget that outcomes are out of our control.

Acts of generosity are not solely about money. We now have less than 13 hours to the end of this day and the start of another. What if we made it our goal to be generous in some way and NOT expect to see the outcome? Are we still ok with doing it? Ask God to search your heart and give you His motives, not our own.

Find some good ways to be philanthropic at www.2-tunics.com

Whatever you do, do it now.

This morning while at the gym, a question was posed to me. “Do you think you will be working out at 70 [years old]? The question was from the wife of a couple that continues to stay in shape refusing to let a number determine what they do. My response was that I would be thrilled to be alive at 70! The discussion went on to talking about how fast time goes. Most of us are familiar with these discussions. You talk about how fast the kids grow up, the changes in life, and things of that sort. I didn’t really put much brain energy into it until the husband stepped in and said “Whatever you do, do it now.”

What a statement! There is great wisdom in what he said. How often do we procrastinate whether it is getting physically fit, or going on a mission trip, or something as seemingly simple like telling someone you love them. We think “tomorrow I will do that” or “the time just isn’t right”.

What if tomorrow never comes?

I think in the area of my passion, philanthropy, we can justify not helping another person, family, or organization just as we do the others. We tell ourselves that we cannot afford it or they will use my gift for something bad, so I just wont help. We pad our savings account, retirement, and 401k’s while others suffer.
In our marriages, we think the other person will always be there no matter what. Why put off telling your spouse how much you appreciate them? Why not say how much we love them MULTIPLE times per day? If we notice something, why not point it out?

Again, I ask, what if tomorrow never comes?

Every single day we are faced with a plethora of choices. You could say that we have multiple “paths” to walk down each day. The question to ask ourselves is “am I taking the path of least resistance, or the path of the narrow gate”?

Don’t wait because tomorrow may not come.

"And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality...."

- 2 Corinthians 8:10-14