GREED

Greed and the economy are hot topics right now in the news and around the water cooler, from Wall Street, to AIG bonuses, to the unemployment rate and more importantly whether you yourself will soon be a part of that statistic. But you can watch the news 24/7 or go on the internet to hear all the talking heads beat that subject into the ground.

I want to talk about greed in a personal way, because it's very easy to blame someone else and not look in the mirror at myself. My wife happens to work at a rather large financial institution and I remember her coming home one day several years ago saying that one of the economic gurus in the company was concerned that Americans had begun using their homes as ATM machines. Taking the rising equity out to finance remodels, vacations, swimming pools, new cars and college educations. I thought that was an interesting way of looking at things, but then proceeded to do the exact thing he was talking about myself. Let's see, new kitchen appliances, pool table, a couple of vacations, new furniture, new bed, new windows for the house. I could go on, but you get the picture and I am still getting the bills!

Now just before all this bad economic news hit last year I went on a mission project to a village in Kenya called Rionchogu. I had never been to a third world country before and even though I had read about the living conditions, I couldn't relate. But, after spending 4 days in this village with no toilets, no running water, no electricity, etc. I survived, quite well actually, and I came to realize how much I take for granted and how much I indulge myself living in the OC. It's not that I want to live without electricity or running water or toilets. It's that I don't want these children, in this village, to get diseases they don't have to get just because of dirty water, or live in lifelong poverty because they can't get an education, or die from malaria because they didn't have a mosquito net.

What do you see in his eyes?

Before I left on the trip my iPod stopped working. Well, I couldn't spend all that time on a plane traveling and not have an iPod, so I went out and spent $300 on a brand new 160 GB model. Hmmm, ya know, $300 bucks will allow a child to go to secondary school for a year in Kenya.

Greed? Selfish? Indulgent? I'll let you decide.

According to author Erwin McManus in his book "Uprising" the opposite of greed is generosity. He once thought that the opposite of greed was poverty since at the time he was defending his monastic lifestyle. But what he came to realize was that the true opposite of greed was not creating poorness in his life but living a life of generosity. That's a life I want to live. Now, I am not going ask my family to sell our house and go live in in a commune. But what I do want to ask of myself and of my family is to give more away. To invest our talents, not just for our own gain, but to help others. The unhappiest people I know are those who hoard their wealth.

Well, you know I love video, so here is a music video to a song from Matthew West called "The Motions" It expresses for me a deep "e"motion. I desire to live a life of meaning. I don't want to just go through the motions anymore! Yes, there will be a cost and I am not just talking financially. I hope you will join me in that quest. In fact, as this is now my 4th post, if I am making any sense to you, or you are feeling a little tug as you read, please comment for all to see or email me privately. Though one person can make a huge difference, there also is strength in numbers!

Eaar