Hosive

around this time every year, i used to preach a graduation sermon to my graduating high school students about what a different world they are about to enter. the inspiration for the series of messages came from the show ‘a different world’ which was a spinoff of ‘the cosby show’. the themes of my talks were the same on the cosby sequel: there is another world out there and its beyond what you can imagine.

something mind boggling has happened in burma/myanmar. a cyclone slammed into the country last week and the projections include 100,000 dead and millions displaced. articles are a-plenty about the situation. i’ve included a few links from diverse sources:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gBw5sUoXe5e0Q25UniUtc29D2lYQ

http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/pray-for-burmamyanmar/#comments

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/893E25D5-625D-4ECC-A56C-FA267738DFA1.htm

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/08/myanmar/index.html

meanwhile in this country….its a different world…..we do not have to worry about water, shelter or burning our dead….instead many are preoccupied with what to do with our $600/$1200 rebates from the government. i was challenged by a passing comment that i heard: most folks are only thinking about how they are going to spend it on themselves….and not thinking about how they can bless others.

i think i know what we’re doing with our rebates.

if you are thinking of giving, two groups that our church has worked with on the issues of disaster and relief are world vision and samaritan’s purse. we sent a team down to new orleans to aid with the clean up and rebuilding. we also have been sponsoring children(all in the one village)in rwanda. so we like both of these groups and trust their work. both are receiving donations.

perhaps this is a visual parable to how different a world i live in….i was struck by the amount of packaging and waste needed to get me my replacement headphones. shure sure makes some fraking good headphones. and they have a great warranty….replacement or repair up to 2 years! my left earbud went out and i happily sent it back in for an exchange

to my shock, i got this packaging limo for my headphones. look at all that plastic, cardboard and bubblewrap needed to get me quality sound! i also got 5 copies of instructions in 5 different languages! rather than “waste” time with shipping different booklets to different countries, they give everybody every volume!

i live in a world where headphones get better treatment than…………

(for those unfamiliar with parables……you may have to do some work to connect it to (your own) real life)