I’ve
decided in my mind, whether I’m right or wrong, that poverty has a distinct
smell.
It
smells like exhaust and smoke.
I
suppose I have decided this because that’s what it’s smelt like when I’ve
walked and lived in poverty stricken places. I forced myself to ask the age-old
question: “why?�
Why
does poverty smell like exhaust from buses and cars mixed with the smoke of
burnt trash?
And
God just answered my question.
The
answer I got was that it’s the best they can do with what they have/know to do.
I’m
from a place where the nightly news talks about the disgusting affect of
traffic, therefore encouraging the public to participate in carpooling or
taking the bus. It’s something we fight for.
In
Tegucigalpa, I’ve found that the news on the lips of Hondurans is the
astounding degree of violence…how men are murdering their wives because they
run away after being beaten to a pulp all
the while the men are entertaining relationships with one or several other women…
they beat their wives because they
get jealous.
The
state of the human mind and the choices we make are staggering. We tend to
coast. To settle.
In
America, I grew up believing in that little thing called “the American Dream�.
Where the evening news consists of sports, the stock market, and what the
President just did.
In
Honduras, they are settling for poverty. They settle for a life that gets by,
huffing paint thinner and drinking alcohol to numb the pain until they die.
From
what I’ve seen, and what I’ve learned about God’s heart, is that both
lifestyles lead to a rancid pit of death. Either way, people aren’t truly
content (I know, I know…I’m generalizing. Grace por favor?). And we fool about in the dumps we’ve
settled for, when an offer to live as a prince or princess at the beach freely
sits for the taking.
I
think “poverty� and “the American Dream� are both choices.
I
also think living as a Royal son or daughter is a choice.
Granted,
some people grow up knowing only “Poverty� and or “the American Dream�…they
don’t know any different. But I’ll be damned if someone truly tries to tell me
“it’s the way it has to be.� Because, I’ve realized that I don’t have to buy
that lie. It’s total crap.
Because,
a person’s reality DOESN’T have to be that they live in a slum in Honduras, nor
does it mean a person is destined to climb the “corporate ladder� after getting
their Bachelor’s Master’s degree.
God
is offering a far more secure and life giving reality for the poverty stricken as well as those living in plenty—TO BE HIS CHILD and
walk in His power.
So
what message are you sending as a “Christian�?
Because
I’m pretty sure no one living in a slum, or in a 4-bedroom, fully furnished
house, wants or needs someone giving force-fed Sunday School answers to their
life’s tough questions.
At
the end of the day, people need to know that the opportunity for Royal living in
Christ is a state of mind and a reality, just like their shanty in the
dump or their six-figure-job-with-a-white-picket-fence-with-2.4-kids-and-2-cars
dream.
It’s
just that the former one brings TRUE
Life…
The
others…
Well…
Don’t.
p.s.
if you don’t know what it means to live as a royal daughter or son… go to a
quiet place (stop making excuses like you don’t have time or quiet places) and
ask God to show you what that truly means for your life. You’ll thank me later…
