January 25, 2017 - The Poor You Will Have with You Always

January 25, 2017

The Poor You Will Have with You Always

I was chatting on Instagram with a friend from Germany.  She was telling me how much she liked my pictures and how beautiful Bolivia was.  I told her there is poverty here and a lot of it.  My pictures have not been telling that story. 

I am retired.  I have retirement money to live off of.  The school wanted me to come as a missionary through one of the sending organizations.  I had two problems with that.  First, I am getting money through the State of Texas, that I earned as a teacher for nearly 30 years.  I don’t have a lot of money, but I have more than enough to live on here.  Second, if I went through a missionary organization, and I sent my retirement money through them, the organization would take some of the money.  Well, there is a third problem too.  I can’t ask people for money when I am getting a monthly check.

That said, I chose to live in a nice part of town.  I am a bit far from the school, but there is transportation.  Many of the missionaries live closer to the school in places a bit cheaper and surrounded by the real Bolivia.  I did that when I lived here in the 80s.  I have enough money that I don’t have to do that now.

Here are some facts about Bolivia to make you think a bit: 60% of the population live in poverty, 37% extreme poverty, while 80% have running water and electricity, only 50% have sewage connections.  The government is now paying $29 a year to encourage kids to continue school past 6th grade.  The government now gives $258 a year to the elderly. 

Americans truly don’t understand poverty.  The average income in Bolivia is under $3000 a year.  That average takes into account many on the high end of the scale.  Many people never see $1000 a year.  Imagine living on just one of your incomes.  I say this because most American families have two steady incomes.  Now imagine your family just living on one month of that for an entire year.

It is true that I am taking nice pictures, because there is so much beauty here.  And I live in a nice neighborhood.  I have water, electricity, gas, and air conditioning when I want it.  I have food on my table, usually too much.  There are restaurants around that I can enjoy with friends.  But it only takes a few minutes to walk into a different world.

Now about the title.  Christ did say that.  He wasn’t minimizing the need of the poor.  He was emphasizing that He comes first.  If we decide to live like Jesus did, then we don’t ignore the poor.  He surrounded himself by them every day.

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