So last year, my wife bought me a gym membership. This Christmas, she got me a bike. If this lady gets me a Thigh Buster next year, I'm gonna think that she's sending me a passive aggressive message that she's not happy with my body. Lol.
In all seriousness, after nearly 22 years in Seattle, I finally started biking. I am now an official, true, legit, credible Pac NW tree hugger but not vegan meat lover.
Two proofs:
1. I biked to work. Okay, it's only one mile but I don't care what naysayers say. I biked to work!
2. I've been biking nearly every day and actually biked when it poured today. Biked nearly 10 miles. Okay, you got me. It was only about 7.5 miles but pastors are tempted to round up numbers. So...10 miles!
Thanks to my wife and kids for the gift. And shout out to @philliplewis_ for the hookup!Look at the second picture. Incredible ride and view at Golden Gardens.
In such crazy times, I'm so encouraged and inspired by Jeremy Lin 林書豪. The world became familiar with Jeremy when #Linsanity exploded out of nowhere in 2011. I watched every single game with awe, joy, and wonder...and loved watching my kids immersed in his story. He was the first Asian-American that made it in the NBA!
Some time ago, I had a dream that I was traveling with Jeremy. I know...strange dream but God has often spoken to me in dreams. As crazy as the dream was, it got crazier when Jeremy contacted me out of the blue after reading my book. He asked me if I had time to chat with him. So, I said, "Let me think about it." LOL.
Eventually, one conversation led to other conversations and then, eventually, a formal collaboration where Jeremy felt convicted to donate a game's paycheck to support the work of One Day's Wages. This year will be the third consecutive year that Jeremy will be donating his paycheck. Additionally, he'll be donating $100 for EVERY assist throughout this NBA season. Thus far, he's donated nearly half million dollars to our partnership to empower vulnerable children around the world...and it's been beautiful to see his generosity making an impact in the lives of so many. Two years ago, this crazy dream came true as Jeremy, his foundation's board, and I traveled together to northern Thailand to learn about the complexities and challenges of human trafficking. (I have some blackmail pictures of him sleeping while drooling in the van!). But in all seriousness, I've been most captivated by his genuine desire to live out his faith as a follower of Christ. I've appreciated his honest questions, his humility, and the commitment to be about the Great Commission AND the Great Commandment.
Here's Jeremy's invitation: Visit his campaign page below. He's asking his fans around the world to consider donating $7 (his jersey number), $70, or any amount. Rest assured that 100% of all donations will go directly to empower vulnerable children: http://onedayswages.org/jlin
And for those in the NW: Click on the link in bio about info to watch him in Portland and to meet him after the game!
#linsanity #jlin7 #ODWandJLin7
Friends: Happy New Year. 2019 will be like other years - mixed with joys and hardships, mountaintops and valleys, and much in between. This is called life - in all its simplicity and profundity. A prayer for us as we begin a year anew:
May we be humble in the triumphs, steadfast in the trials, and faithful in the mundane.
May we not be held captive to our circumstances and fears but rather, may our faith speak both honestly and bravely to our circumstances.
May we have ears, eyes, and hearts open to learning from whatever circumstances - endearing and challenging - that lies ahead.
May we practice what we've learned - especially that what matters most aren't material things but relationships. Relationship with God and relationships with family, friends, neighbors and fellow humanity.
May we be stirred, moved, disrupted, and compelled by compassion and empathy. May we not grow weary in doing good and pursuing God's Kingdom here on this earth.
May we embrace the gifts of silence, sabbath, and rest. Not to revel in themselves but to know that we are NOT God - so that we can also continue to that which we're called to with faith, hope, and love.
May we be aware and sensitive to the presence, guidance, and power of the Holy Spirit. To be reminded that we are not alone...and that we can't do it alone.
And through it all...may we...be present.
May God keep you, guide you, and shine His grace upon you. In Jesus name. Amen.
Thank you so much for partnering with me and @onedayswages. Just now, on the last day of the year, we just sent an additional 9 grants - totaling nearly $190,000 - to support local, indigenous leaders who are lifting their communities out of poverty around the world. So challenging and complex...and yet, so inspiring. This year, we had our most impactful year thus far and it wouldn't have been possible without you.
Thank you so much and Happy New Year!
is that really a complete sentence? it reads weird.
Perhaps a rather simplistic presentation, one that some viewers might dismiss for not discussing a wide array of other factors. My first reaction was, “Yeah right.” If I hadn’t already done some research on it, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it.
But it’s actually true. The correlation between opportunities for women and economic stability is huge. One stat from the Girl Effect website: Women invest 90% of their income into their families, as opposed to 30-40% for men.
I stumbled upon another organization earlier this morning actually, called Kiva (www.kiva.org). They facilitate microlending opportunities in developing nations. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of individuals seeking loans were women.
That’s a pretty effective video. Davo is right to say it’s no surprise. One of the largest case studies of this of course is Muhammad Yunus’ work in Bangladesh with the Grameen Bank. I got to hear him speak the UW several years ago and the impact on Bangladesh through women becoming business and landowners was pretty striking. One interesting note from here: http://www.grameen-info.org/dialogue/dialogue37/action.html
is that the loan repayment rate for women given micro-loans was 99.4% in this study. Pretty impressive.
@Eugene: are you thinking about micro-credit as part of your new org?
Wow – moving video.
I did a research project in university studying the effects of literacy and education among women on their villages/society. Mostly in Northern Africa and having a lot to do with FGM (female circumcision). It’s amazing what a seemingly small difference to a handful of girls can do to a whole village, region.
I have heard of Kiva, but not Girl Effect.
@tyler: not sure. i was just c/p a short description on youtube.
@davo: kiva is fairly well known now. they even made it on oprah and supposedly the servers got knocked out with the response. i very much enjoy what they’re doing because they’re somehow able to connect the giver to the recipient, empower the individual, and lastly, you’re not really GIVING money but rather, LENDING, money and on their website, they reportedly have an a fairly incredible “success” rate in terms of money being returned.
@beattieblog: not really. its something that we’ll do but probably can’t afford to build the infrastructure do that. as you can imagine, d. richards is a big fan of microlending and sees that as one of the proven ways to systemically change the environment for global poverty. we might engage in microlending as a participant. what we’re envisioning really is granting funds to small NGOs that have a proven or growing effect on poverty in their local context. small NGOs that most people have not even heard of. that’s not necessarily new but how we hope to raise funds is new in the sense that we’re trying to use this thing call the global web 2.0 community. i’ll send you our vision letter and you can mail us a check for a million.
I confess to not being as well educated on this topic as those of you who have responded so far, but from my time in Africa, the thing that touched me and broke my heart was talking to the mothers that we met. They desperately wanted to see their children be whole and healthy. Ulitimately, to do this, their community must be healthly and stable. While there can be no doubt that men want this for their children, speaking as a mother, it is the the very core of of most mothers’ hearts. We are all fallen, men and women alike, but I believe that empowering women with the tools and support they need will make a world of difference (I know it’s cliche, but it’s true).
Very interesting topic.
I don’t have a vast knowledge on how the credit scheme works, but I think it would surely help women get more involved on politics.
In Brazil, there is a program for microbusiness funding, but, as far as I know, most investors are men. I suppose it would encourage more women to get involved if a specific program were developed for them… but that’s the kind of discussion that is not spread, focused or even wanted in society.
Pardon my poor English. 8- |
Shalom.
Tyler,
I think the quote is the definition of “the girl effect”, not intended to be a sentence.
I.e., The girl effect: (n) The powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate in their society.
the “educate the girls” campaign that our denomination (Evangelical Covenant) supports for girls in Congo is a similar attempt to address this very important injustice. thank you for sharing this video Eugene…i continue to read your blog and am excited to hear more about the development of your organization…
altough its a c/p from youtube, but i think its true an really great statement. just imagine there’s no girl, it would be not complete society. girl makes difference 🙂
just check my blog and see the difference.
http://1worldlove.blogspot.com
I think there’s a direct corrolation between how people are treated (i.e. women in this case) and how healthy an environment is.
Perhaps…you see some revolutionizing historical incidents have women’s names wirtten in golden below…for eg:Cleopatra,Mother Teresa,Marie Curie,Florence Nightingale,George Eliot,Princess Diana,Indira Gandhi,Sirimavo Bandarinayike,Hillary Clinton,Condolezza Rice,Aung San Suu Kyi…to name a few.
http://www.adherents.com/people/100_women.html#Influential
You may examine history for solid proofs in support of your claims,if you wish.
http://nirveda.wordpress.com
I don’t understand… Wouldn’t doing this for both boys and girls in developing countries have the same (if not greater) effect? Why can’t we do it for all children, regardless of gender? I feel like there are more problems than solutions in this video…
@Brad
You said, “Wouldn’t doing this for both boys and girls in developing countries have the same (if not greater) effect?” This is a great question, and I’m glad you brought it up. The question to assume that women have equal opportunities when it comes to education and economics in developing countries. However, this simply is not the case. Educational and economic opportunities for men far outweigh opportunities for women in many developing nations. So focusing on empowering women (as this organization promotes) would, at best, raise opportunities for women to the same level of men.
The reality is that harmful societal structures in a lot of countries (including the US) perpetuate gender inequality. This inequality causes instability. Empowering women wouldn’t put them above men (which assumes that women are already on equal grounds with men), rather it would raise women to the same level as men.
There are volumes of statistics showing a direct correlation between investing in/empowering women and increasing economic stability. If you’re interested in learning more, I know that http://www.care.org and http://www.oxfam.org have some good resources.
I’m not sure what I think about this, though I don’t doubt its veracity. In the US among Black communities, women actually have far greater educational opportunity than men and it has not led to stability at all. Rather, it has perpetuated a system wherein men can continue to be radically irresponsible and women can continue to shoulder more and more share of the burden.
hmm.. thank you very much. usefull information