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I like to blame the politicians because it’s supposedly their job, you know, to take care of the populace and all. I like to blame the Presidents for all the bad things that happen in our country – the unemployment, the poverty, the unrest. I like to blame the laws for allowing people to live lives I disagree with.

Change the laws! Change the leaders! Get out the vote!

But after coming back from Sri Lanka I wonder if a different majority shouldn’t be taking the blame. I wonder if there’s another group that’s held a lot of power that needs to bow it’s head in shame at the lack of progress that’s been made in this country. Not a political majority, but a cultural one. A religious one.

Namely, Christians. The Church.

In other words, Me.

* * * * *

Maybe it’s time for Christians to finally take a back seat in the massive power grab going on in the United States. While we argue over policy, while we get in line for chicken sandwiches or explain the most recent natural disaster, another family spends the night hungry in Detroit or Lancaster City or Sri Lanka. While we fan a holy rage over an empty chair or “you didn’t build that,” a Sri Lankan girl quietly celebrates her birthday, limping around her back yard on a mangled leg, the result of a man who hit her with his truck and then kicked her into a ditch. Just another poor girl. Just another sad story.

The fact is, you can do a massive amount of good in this country without holding the majority in the Senate. You can do immense good in this world without having “your guy” in the Oval Office.

Why do we wait?

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I am a Christian. Part of the self-heralded “Moral Majority.” I guess.

While overseas with World Vision, I traveled around with a group of Sri Lankan Christians. They are working in a country that is 80% Buddhist, 19% Hindu and Muslim, and less than 1% Christian. These Christians have learned how to operate as a huge minority, and let me tell you, it was a beautiful thing to see. They were humble beyond measure, kind to everyone they met, and thoughtful in their interactions with the other religions.

They were not bullies – they couldn’t be. They were not boisterous or pushy – they didn’t have that kind of power. They simply dwelt quietly amongst the poorest of the poor, bringing water and food and dignity and hope to anyone whose path they crossed. Wherever they showed up, whether it be at a Hindu celebration or a Buddhist temple or a mud hut, they were greeted with smiles and bows and appreciation.

They were known, everywhere they went, by their love. People sought out their prayers. Children knelt, touching their feet, awaiting their hands of blessing.

I saw they way they worked, and I thought to myself, I want to be in the minority.

* * * * *

I don’t want to be in the majority anymore. I don’t want to fight for laws that will force people to live the way I want them to live. I don’t want to manipulate with my money and my excess. I don’t want to identify myself with a donkey or an elephant. I just want to walk alongside people who are hurting and bless them.

And isn’t that what lies at the heart of this thing we call Christianity? Jesus had no concern with earthly power. Jesus was not in a law-making majority. His was no iron fist hell-bent on self-preservation.

Instead, he was in the minority. He led a group of men who offered hope to the poor and the broken through reconciliation with God.

That’s something I’d like to do. That’s something I’d like to be part of.

* * * * *

This post is part of a synchroblog over at Andi Cumbo’s blog. To see all of the other blog posts on this topic, click HERE.

“This is one of the most painful reconciliations to make in the creative life…But maybe it doesn’t have to be quite so full of anguish if you never happened to believe in the first place that the most extraordinary aspects of your being came from you but maybe if you just believe they were on loan to you from an unimaginable source.”

“Don’t be afraid. Don’t be daunted. Just show up and do your job.”

– Elizabeth Gilbert

“I’m convinced that if I could somehow tie the stories of the poor people here in Sri Lanka to America’s favorite fried poultry that, perhaps more Americans might take a moment and just pay attention to what’s happening on an island in the middle of the Indian ocean. That perhaps a headline like “The Five Ways Chick-Fil-A Failed Sri Lanka” or “The Church Goes All Chick-Fil-A For Sri Lanka’s Poor People” might create enough viral noise so that people might engage a story or two about what’s happening in Sri Lanka.” (Matthew Paul Turner)

“When she was three, Afra was playing with the neighbor children in her village. A truck driver coming down the road swerved playfully at a friend he saw. But he didn’t see Afra. She was pinned up against a wall, and her leg was crushed and mutilated in the truck’s rear wheel. The trucker got out of his truck, saw the little girl and, thinking that no one was looking, kicked her into the ditch. To him, she was poor trash.” (Tony Jones)

“Then I stop. I stick my feet down into the flow of time and I will it to pause. Pause, darnit! I want to absorb the entirety of this moment and keep it for myself for later and for DanO to recount to him and for you, friends and readers (who are friends I just haven’t met yet) so that I can tell you what the face of a sponsored child – and a mother of a sponsored child – truly looks like, feels like.” (Allison Olfelt)

“Today I saw something I have never seen in the developing world before. I saw the end of poverty.” (Roxanne Wieman)

“We climbed back up the hill towards the World Vision vehicle and I looked down the road at the row of shaky, squatting huts.  Instinctively, I framed a photograph in my mind of the structures contrasted against the tall palm trees.  I raised the camera and thought, ‘this would make a beautiful picture.'”

“Shocked, I lowered my hand.”

“This is not a beautiful picture.” (Laura Tremaine)

“Denying aid to Sri Lanka because they aren’t helping us first is like telling the victims of the Joplin tornado to manicure the White House lawn before we will help them rebuild. Requiring a third world country to help a first world country is like telling a child sex slave that we won’t rescue them until they send Donald Trump $100.” (Joy Bennett)

“There is one major difference between Amila and myself. While I make about the median income for an American household, he worries about these things on an average wage of less than five dollars a day when he’s lucky enough to find work at all. To put that in some perspective, that means that it takes him almost six weeks to make as much money as I make on a normal day.” (Darrell Dow)

* * * * *

World Vision is in the midst of this, forming relationships and leading communities out of poverty in sustainable ways. Please read more about what they do HERE and consider sponsoring a child.

(All photos by Matthew Paul Turner. Copyright World Vision.)

In a move considered improbable by most (and impossible by everyone else), Facebook is running for President of the United States. Early polls suggest that the organization has claimed 98% of the coveted “soccer mom” vote, 87% of the ice-cream-eater vote and 72% of the stay-at-home dad vote.

Labeled “pure genius” by Democratic strategist James Carville and “breathtaking” by Republican Ann Coulter, Facebook seeks to become the first organization to serve as President of the United States. Facebook will run under the newly created Social(ist) Media Party.

The aim of Facebook? To create a more user-friendly government. Senators will be able to “Like” bills proposed in the senate, House Representatives will be granted a certain number of “Poke”s, and Supreme Court Justices will be allowed to friend, block or ignore particular cases. The public will be allowed to unfriend, block or unfollow members of Congress, potentially barring their presence from the Senate or the House.

But what does it all mean for the future of our government?

“It would be an unmitigated disaster,” President Obama opined at a recent press conference. “It’s un-American, unprofessional, and uncalled for. I don’t “like” it one bit, and I’ve taken the liberty to cancel the Facebook accounts of everyone in my administration.”

Mitt Romney was unavailable for comment, though sources claim both he and his wife are now torn over whether to vote for Romney when they cast their ballots in November or to join the Facebook camp.

Facebook first considered the move after witnessing the number of political comments appearing in its news feed.

“We noticed how many people were making excellent political points in their status updates,” one anonymous Facebook source claimed. “The conversations were unbelievably civil and the discourse engaging. We decided it was time for us to throw our hat in the ring.”

In order to comply with election rules, the organization will be listed on the ballot as first name Face, last name Book. Possible vice-presidential nominees include Twitter and Klout. Google+ was unavailable for comment.

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Similar post: The Disease That Spreads Through Facebook

Photo by Matthew Paul Turner; copyright World Vision

It’s 3:17am here in Paradise, Pennsylvania. Jet lag has got the best of me, and after a day of barely being able to keep my eyes open, I’m now wide awake.

It’s 12:47 pm in Sri Lanka right now – I wouldn’t have known that two months ago, back before I traveled with World Vision, back when I wasn’t 100% sure of where Sri Lanka even was.

There’s a lot I didn’t know two months ago. I didn’t know about a 33-year-old woman named Parameshwari. Now, after World Vision taught her how to garden, she makes almost ten times what she made as a day laborer simply by selling produce and seeds. And she’s helped 78 other women in the area start their own home gardens.

I didn’t know about Sudesh, World Vision’s ADP manager, and how his willingness to walk peacefully beside the other religions in his community is helping the poorest of the poor.

I didn’t know that Matthew Paul Turner is afraid of snakes.

I didn’t know Afra’s story.

I had never met such solemn-faced teenagers, kids who sometimes go days without eating yet stay strong and don’t complain, all for the sake of their parents.

I didn’t know it was possible for complete strangers – Buddhists and Muslims and Hindus – to tree me with such respect and dignity. Their kindness has given me a new lens through which to view the world.

There was so much I didn’t know. But now, knowing, there is so much that I want to do. Will you help me?

Please consider sponsoring a child through World Vision. I’ve seen their work, and it’s amazing.

So during our trip to Sri Lanka, Matthew Paul Turner made sure we all knew how scared he was of snakes. His greatest fear was that he would see a cobra and not have Rikki Tikki Tavi to rescue him. Well, we got tired of waiting for him to encounter a snake, so Tony Jones arranged this (and put the video together as well):

Awesome.

Do you even know who Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is?