The Hole in Our Gospel

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Rescue the weak and needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
-Psalm 82

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
-Jim Elliot

Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
-Jonah 2:8

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.
-Mother Teresa

Tragically, in the industrialized world there is a terrible absence of understanding or concern about those who are enduring lives of despair and hoplessness.We have not yet made the commitment to share with others an appreciable part of our excessive wealth. This is a potentially rewarding burden that we should all be willing to assume.
-President Carter

I'm reading The Hole in Our Gospel. It is destroying me.

Things I've Learned:

1. Only 4% of American charitable giving goes to international causes.

2. 26,500 chidren die every day of preventable causes related to their poverty. That is like 100 jetliners crashing today. And again tomorrow. And again the next day.

3. A journalist named Susan Moeller coined the term "compassion fatigue" to describe what we have these days- I think its a brilliant term.

4. The average income in America is $38,611 per person, or $105 per day. 40% of the world population (that's 2.6 billion people) live on less than $2 per day.

5. The wealthiest 7 people on earth control more wealth than the combined DGP of the 41 most heavily indebted nations.

6. The top 20% of the world's people consuume 86% of the world's goods.

7. The poorest 40% of the world's people receive only 5% of the world's income.

8. In 1820, the gap between the richest and poorest countries was about four to one.
In 1913, the gap was about eleven to one.
In 1950, the gap was about thirty-five to one.
In 2002, it was seventy-five to one.

What do we do with that information?
What do you do? What do I do?