$450 BILLION

So I realize that it has been forever since I have posted anything my bad...oh well it is just a blog. Last night I preached a message about Christian Consumerism, that was especially focused at our spending habits and trends around the Christmas season. It was interesting and fun to talk about, more fun for me and interesting because some of the reactions on peoples faces when I would read statistics were priceless, jaw dropping kind of reactions. Here are some of those stats, most of which I borrowed from Rob Bell's new book Jesus Wants to Save Christians.

America controls nearly 20% of the worlds wealth, while only comprising 5% of the worlds population.

One billion people in the world lack access to clean water while Americans use 400-600 liters (105-157gallons) of water per day.

Every seven seconds, somewhere in the world a child under the age of five dies of hunger, meanwhile Americans throw away 14% of the food that we purchase.

40% of the people in the world lack basic sanitation while Americans dispose of 49 million diapers a day.

One in seven children (about 158 million) has to go to work each day to survive.

Americans spend more annually on trash bags than half of the world does on all goods.

A stat from Advent Conspiracy.

Americans spend $450 billion on Christmas.

Some more stats that I shared last night to show what $450 billion could accomplish.

Population of Earth Approx. 6 Billion

The majority of the world lives on $2/day

Approx. $60/month

If the every human made $2/day in a month that would be $360 billion.

THAT IS STILL LESS THAN WHAT AMERICANS SPENDS ON CHRISTMAS

$450 Billion would do what

It could...

Repair nearly 3.5 billion wells in the world @ $130/well

Drill over 128million wells subsequently providing clean water for 89 billion people year round.

Sponsor 1.25 billion children for a year

Sponsor 45 billion malnourished children in a feeding clinic for 3 months

Provide a cow for 900 million families, who then pass the offspring to another family

This year Steph and I decided to spend less on gifts and give our money where it could actually be used. So somewhere in the world, for $130, a well is going to be repaired providing a community with clean water, lowering the risk of disease and death because they have clean water. Interested? Check out World Hope International, Samaritans Purse, The Heifer Project, or you could go to your local shelter or mission and give them money to help them at one of their busiest times. As Americans and more importantly as Christ Followers we need to realize the futility of the gifts that we give and their uselessness and what that money could have been used for instead.

Resignation Letter

I read this letter to the church congregation this morning @ 10:15...it wasn't easy.

Dear Church Family,

Over the past two and a half years here at Brookhaven Wesleyan Church we have struggled together, we have grown together, we have triumphed together, and we have worshiped together. In this time Stephanie and I have been more than welcomed by you, looking back it was something that she and I never expected being a new couple in ministry. Stephanie and I have cried with you and mourned the losses of loved ones, just as you have so recently with us.

We entered into this position 2 years ago with a great calling on our hearts to serve here, but also a calling for missions overseas. This is a calling that cannot be tossed to the wayside in our life. You have heard me speak on the importance of listening to the voice of God in our life and this is where His voice is calling. Our time here has been one of great love, and there are relationships that we formed here with this church family that we will never forget.

At this point He is calling me back to school to better equip me for the future ministry that he has intended for Stephanie and me. We will be moving to Deerfield, IL where Trinity Evangelical Divinity School is located, while there I will begin studying for my Master of Divinity and upon completion of that, move onto Doctoral studies. This is an emotional time for us, as we have never resigned from a church let alone moved to a completely new state where we know no one.

In light of this my ministry here will not end until the time I turn in my keys and we say our final goodbyes. Our goal for moving is tentatively set between April and July, all because we will have to sell our home and we do not know how soon it will sell. This is of course something that must be surrendered in prayer to God. We ask that as we make this transition and change in our life that you would join with us in prayer for a few issues. We would ask that you would pray for the selling of our house to go smoothly and quickly, pray also for the packing and moving process, pray also for job opportunities for Stephanie as we move to a new area, but most importantly pray that the Holy Spirit would be our guide and our leader in this endeavor, and that we would always heed his voice and not treat it as every other voice that we hear, but as sacred.

In Him,

Phil & Stephanie Stuller

Politics

Recently things have been more annoying to me than anything ever before when it comes to politics. I don't exactly know what it is that makes this campaign drudgery seem worse than all the years before...maybe it is because I am more mature and have stronger beliefs than previous years, I don't know.

One thing I do know is that the most annoying thing of this election year is the way that the convictions of both candidates are being portrayed as wrong. I call them convictions because that is where our beliefs stem from in this world. I am so annoyed/outraged by the way that we go around and talk about our convictions like they are Gospel and everyone must follow the exact same path. Since when are the convictions of one person the convictions of a whole community, I wish I knew, because last I checked people didn't call Mother Teresa wrong for wanting to help the dying, orphaned and diseased in India because she didn't want to fight a war but rather live out an example of love and peace. At the same time nobody called Gen. Douglas Macarthur wrong when he promised to return and save the lives of the people in the Philippines because he would rather protect and provide safety he thought everyone deserved. We today aren't just calling another person’s conviction wrong; we paint them out to be the devil, how very interesting.

I recently read an article in Relevant Magazine that everyone should read. It is the article advertised on the front cover, called How to Vote without Losing Your Soul. To sum it up, but even though I do this you need to read it, the article talks with two Christian leaders of today and it is interesting that both of them come to the conclusion that we should vote for our convictions that God has placed on our heart. I'll leave it at that, for that is what I will do this year.

Ever want to own an island?

Well here is your chance there apparently are hundreds of islands across the world trying to be sold. Johnny Depp bought his own island in the Caribbean (apparently fell in love with the area), and now he is turning it into every environmentalists dream. Take a gander, just make sure to buy me one.

Who said they were extinct

I just saw this video after following a link from RelevantMagazine.com, it is pretty amazing. The video was taken at the LA Museum of Natural History. You just have to watch this. Crazy museum curators.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

I don't know how many of you have ever heard of this movie, but I once watched the old black and white version with my dad when we lived in Kansas. He had the summer off from his other job and once and a while we would go to the library and get a movie and The Day the Earth Stood Still happened to be one of those movies. It was confusing and yet at the same time intriguing to me, and this summer is actually what likely started me loving movies, because I watched a lot with my dad.

Well now they are in the finishing stages of a remake of this classic movie, thankfully not in B&W. I literally just watched this Trailer. It looks like it is shaping up to be a great movie.

Life and Death

Life is a very interesting "creature" when you sit back and think about the way God put this system in to place and in motion. Whenever I watch channels like Animal Planet or Discovery, I always get a good chuckle and find myself wondering why God named things the way he did. For example the Aardvark. First of all look at the animal, if you don't think that animal looks a little funny and a little weird all at the same time. If you don't think any of that don't worry about it I'm probably the weird one here (no comment needed).

Then look at humans and our lives, and our existence for that matter. I find it very peculiar the way our bodies are created and our continuing growth. At this point in her life my niece is having problems with her ankle bones and the way they are forming. Interestingly enough the doctors were able to take care of the problem by putting a cast on her leg that forces her ankle to be shaped a certain way. How crazy is that? God in his foresight knew that bones could be fixed at their early stages of development because they are still soft and somewhat pliable.

Something I have thought of before, but has recently been coming up even more in my thoughts. The way we die is very interesting. I wonder why our bodies must stop working the way they do. I have been the on-call chaplain at the hospital here in Marion multiple times, seeing a person die and leave this life. Why couldn't our death just be like Enoch's or Elisha's. I wonder what our deaths would have looked like without sin in the world. In all reality death, while painful, is a beautiful aspect of our existence in this life. No pain, no suffering, no sorrow in the arms of Christ. So why do we die the way we do?...

Onward

Today is officially my first day back in the office after Steph's miscarriage. I don't really know what exactly to do here, granted today is a Food Pantry pick-up day so I just have to wait on people to come in and I get to hand out food. This is obvious but I am definitely getting back up to speed quicker than Steph is, this is not to say I don't care, it is just that I'm a guy and I didn't have to carry our child inside of me for 11 weeks only to bleed him/her all out in the bathroom.

Sometimes I wonder if my life being shaped so significantly by my dad's death when I was 14 was a hindrance more than a help for me and those around me. I not only have a bit of a callous over my heart because I have seen death firsthand and continue to see it as volunteer chaplain at MGH, but deep down inside of me things like this don't hurt like they used to 10 years ago. This being my child that has died, I am in a completely different situation than ever before in my life. There was nothing I could fix, nothing I could figure out what went wrong, nothing I could do to change any of this.

John Eldredge wrote a book called Waking the Dead, I haven't actually read all of this book yet, but desire too soon. I receive on a daily basis emails from Eldredge's Ransomed Heart Ministry, and one of the quoted this book and here is what I read.

The mind takes in and processes information. But it remains, for the most part, indifferent. It is your mind that tells you it is now 2:00 A.M. and your daughter has not returned, for the car is not in the driveway. Your heart wrestles with whether or not this is cause for worry. The heart lives in the far more bloody and magnificent realities of living and dying and loving and hating. That’s why those who live from their minds are detached from life. Things don’t seem to touch them very much; they puzzle at the way others are so affected by life, and they conclude others are emotional and unstable. Meanwhile, those who live from the heart find those who live from the mind . . . unavailable. Yes, they are physically present. So is your computer. This is the sorrow of many marriages, and the number one disappointment of children who feel entirely missed or misunderstood by their parents.

Yes, the heart is the source of our emotions. But we have equated the heart with emotion, and put it away for a messy and even dangerous guide. No doubt, many people have made a wreck of their lives by following an emotion without stopping to consider whether it was a good idea to do so. Neither adultery nor murder is a rational act. But equating the heart with emotion is the same nonsense as saying that love is a feeling. Surely, we know that love is more than feeling loving; for if Christ had followed his emotions, he would not have gone to the cross for us. Like any man would have been, he was afraid; in fact, he knew that the sins of the world would be laid upon him, and so he had even greater cause for hesitation (Mark 14:32–35). But in the hour of his greatest trial, his love overcame his fear of what loving would cost him.

Emotions are the voice of the heart, to borrow Chip Dodd’s phrase. Not the heart, but its voice.

Waking the Dead , 41-42)