Every little thing is goin’ to be alright:

As parents, you wonder if you are properly impacting your children. It is the secret dread of parents, and although there are lots of chances where you see things that prove you are doing OK, it is the events which oppose your values expressed in your children that come to the front. In fact, these small events usually get talked about (sometimes loudly). These events are the subject of a child’s punishment, or special attention. These events worry a parent into sleepless nights.
Such has been one of my worries. I have over the last few years, due to a variety of circumstances, embraced simplicity and am trying to push excessive materialism out of my world. I am examining much of my world to find what is important and what is of limited value. What I found in this experiment was a value on things that were often free and/or of limited real cost. Value is a characteristic we add to an object.
Right now I am wearing one gold ring. The gold ring was the symbol of my marriage to my lovely wife. I have not weighted it, but since the value of gold has gone up, I imagine the value of that ring has also gone up. However, the real value of that ring is the representation of the marriage which is 18 years old this Spring. That is true regardless whether the price of gold goes up or down.
Of course, this emphasis against materialism is not always easy and I worried about how my children would respond. My daughters responded in kind. They caught our vision right away. The younger boys, to be honest were too young to think things were too different. My eldest son was my major concern. This week, we took a walk around town together to visit. My wife had bought me a new coat, and following the Biblical mandate, I was taking my old coat to a mission in hopes that they could give it to someone in need (John 3:11). I mentioned to him my concern. He and I were almost going in opposite directions. I was trying to de-accumulate while he was accumulating. Again, I am 39, he’s 15, so it’s not a shocker that “cool” plays a larger role in his world, and dressing the part of High School was vital to his existence. Our conversation was not harsh, just observational. It came and it went. I didn’t notice any real impact. My eldest has learned the “poker face”.
This week, I finished a book I was writing and sent it off for peer review, and am working through picking out a publisher. It is on a new design of how to flesh out the church. A significant portion of what I wrote centered on the fact that we have so neglected “the least of these” (Matthew 25). So, as I was putting some material together I found it was amazingly cost efficient to send a poor family in Asia a gift that would change their world. A pair of chickens (hen and rooster) would be as little as $11. This pair can produce up to 40 dozen eggs a year. If they let the eggs grow into chicks they can have a flock that can keep a family well fed for years. Eggs can also be traded. They are good currency to buy other stuff. Also, since an average family lives on $200/year, a couple chickens is generally a luxury that most people really can’t afford. They would have to starve themselves to save enough to buy the chickens
Goats, are another wonderful gift. $60 and you can have a goat sent. They will breed the goats. They normally have 2 babies (kids) a year, but they also produce milk which can be made into cheese. It’s a wonderful gift.
Or you can “have a cow, man!” $375 and you will change their world for years. Lots of milk, they can be bred for a full “cattle industry”, it’s a wonder.
If you remember the old Veggie-tale song “everybody’s got a water buffalo”, it sounded silly at the time, but a water buffalo is quoting from Gospel for Asia’s web site:

A gift of a water buffalo to a poor South Asian family is good news indeed! Transportation, plough animal, cart hauler, milk giver and more-all in one sturdy creature that is often considered a "member of the family."

How much would it take for everyone to have a water buffalo? $475. Maybe Phil Vischer was on to something.

So, I was talking to my children about this and the idea came up that we could pull our change together. Years ago, my family kept a jar out and we threw extra change into it and that became part of our vacation fund. Why not have a fund for “the least of our brethern”? I had a couple dollars in change, so I dumped it into the cup. One of my little boys threw in a “toonie”, which was a lot of money from the little guy. A couple other children threw in some change. We scouted around the house and got $3.50 in returned bottles. I was hoping we might have enough to buy a pair of chickens at the end of the week. We’d do it just before Sabbath, and we have a good deed done to start the day of rest.
My eldest son, grabbed his wallet and dumped a large wad of money in there. My wife and I stood silent. I am not talking a $10 or a $20, but well over $100, and then my second oldest daughter dumped another large sum of money she made. I was so moved I didn’t know what to say.
Later that day, I was alone with my son, and asked him…”what was up with that?” He said, in his usual, casual way, he’d figured he’d bought enough cool clothes and stuff for himself, he figured he could he could give some money to people who needed this just to have enough food to eat.
He’s done many things that have brought me joy, but I have to admit, I don’t think I have ever been so impressed with him as I was that moment. For just a second, I could see that maybe we were getting through. Perhaps, everything will be alright.
What will we do with the money? Right now, we have a decision to make. We might buy a cow (that would change a family and perhaps a village forever), or we might buy something like 30 pairs of chickens and impact 30 families for years, maybe forever. I think we will also spring for a water purifier (they are only $30) and that would turn poisoned water into drinkable water. For us, they are simple gestures, but for the “least of our brethern”, it will change the world.