This is the place to utilize gold, where such rampant poverty exists upon so many faces caused from hands acting with greed. In heaven, jewels lie around in the streets; people have discarded them the way one might stale bread.
This month I went off to SMI Philadelphia - a summer Christian medical outreach, that serves people in north Philadelphia, an urban neighborhood that deals with crime, poverty, homelessness, drugs, and a lack of God. As an outsider, I think it was important for me to recognize that I was suffering from internal sin, with rampant poverty in my heart - greed, worry, lust, loneliness, etc. Outside poverty is easier to recognize, just as external sin is easier to recognize. It's more difficult to recognize invisible brokenness, the suburban brokenness that comes from lack of faith, long working hours, a focus on an income driven career. It's easier to recognize the visible brokenness here - domestic violence, single parent homes, lack of education, unhealthy food choices, etc. Conversely, it's imperative that we recognize both as very real and very in need of God's presence.
To continue with excerpts from Gibran's letters, on October 11, 1920 Gibran wrote: "We cannot teach happiness, people must find it for themselves. We cannot lead people to the hearts of life. They must go by themselves, and each one must go alone. What people feel or think is part of Life, and you and I have always accepted all of Life. The root of a tree is not lower than its highest branch."
This month I went off to SMI Philadelphia - a summer Christian medical outreach, that serves people in north Philadelphia, an urban neighborhood that deals with crime, poverty, homelessness, drugs, and a lack of God. As an outsider, I think it was important for me to recognize that I was suffering from internal sin, with rampant poverty in my heart - greed, worry, lust, loneliness, etc. Outside poverty is easier to recognize, just as external sin is easier to recognize. It's more difficult to recognize invisible brokenness, the suburban brokenness that comes from lack of faith, long working hours, a focus on an income driven career. It's easier to recognize the visible brokenness here - domestic violence, single parent homes, lack of education, unhealthy food choices, etc. Conversely, it's imperative that we recognize both as very real and very in need of God's presence.
To continue with excerpts from Gibran's letters, on October 11, 1920 Gibran wrote: "We cannot teach happiness, people must find it for themselves. We cannot lead people to the hearts of life. They must go by themselves, and each one must go alone. What people feel or think is part of Life, and you and I have always accepted all of Life. The root of a tree is not lower than its highest branch."
SMI Philly 2014
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