www.ONE.org

You may have noticed the recent addition of the ONE.org banner at the corner of my blog. ONE.org is an organization that is dedicated to ending (or at least reducing) severe poverty in the world. If the U.S. devoted 1% of the federal budget to world poverty relief, they argue that great strides could be made.

Honestly, I don't know how much of a difference 1% of the U.S. budget would make. I don't know through what organizations those monies would be channeled and if those organizations are run leanly and efficiently. Frankly, I don't think any of us even completely understand the scale and severity of the problem of poverty in the world.

Here's what I do know: many, many of God's children don't have food, water, and healthcare. I know 1% of the U.S. budget directed to world aid certainly couldn't hurt the cause.

I also know Jesus said the poor will always be with us, so ONE's goal of eliminating world poverty is pretty unattainable. Hopefully they are ready to deal with failure. And hopefully they are willing to keep trying even while they know they'll never completely succeed in attaining their goal. Hopefully they will measure success by the number of people they help and not by the number of people they don’t.

I know people in the United States are blessed with wealth beyond the wildest dreams of most people in the world. I know what Jesus said about wealth and about social justice. I know I have been entrusted resources that I must wisely steward.

I know my name on ONE’s petition is just one name, and I know my contribution is very small. I know we won’t ever have perfect social justice, but do I hope we get closer.