"IMPACT"

I was reading the news this morning, as I do most mornings, and I ran across this Time Magazine article, Making Capitalism More Creative. It's really less of an article and more of a vision shared by Bill Gates with the readers of Time. I have to say, coming from a man who was all geek back when computers weren't cool, it's amazing the vision he has for the poor of our world. Unlike most government programs, Bill is not advocating the "send me your money and I'll do good with it" point of view, he's advocating actually using our gifts, talents, time and money to make a difference ourselves. What an amazing concept! What if most Christians actually shared this point of view? Our world would look so different.

I wish that I thought about the gifts, talent, time and money that I could share more often. How would my neighbors react if I walked over and helped wash a car or mow the grass? How would my community react if I showed up to help build a Habitat home? How would a coworker react if I invited him home to have dinner with my family? There are so many little things that I could do to help make someone else's life better, but so often I sit at home and watch TV or surf the web. My normal excuse is that my fatigue or work schedule prevents me from being proactive in my community.

Can you imagine the impact on our children if we actually modeled generous living? Despite socioeconomics or cultural barriers, our children would grow to be men and women of action who serve instead of demanding service. I think we are at a crossroad in American culture and life, we're seeing the fruit of our Grandparent's labor; wealth, prestige, longevity as well as a greater divide between those who have and those who have not. We have more opportunity than ever before to ride the coattails and wealth of those who came before us or to leverage what we've been given for the good of our communities and world. What a vision for a better world, yet given our current attitudes and actions, what a shame.