Who is the Widow?

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Christ calls His Church to care for the orphans and the widows of this world; but how do we figure out who is an orphan and who is not? Although our society is quite different from that of biblical times, the urgency of this call remains the same. Those who live in isolation, who do not have the support of a family or the connection of friends in high places, or who are permanently unable to provide for themselves- these are our orphans and our widows.

Based on this, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Am I currently helping the orphans and widows in my community? Is my church?

2. If not, how can I create an environment where this is possible?

3. Am I (or my church) currently providing relief to individuals who are not orphans or widows? How might this help harm those who are receiving it?

4. If I am providing aid to those who are not orphans or widows, how might this effect those who are, and are not receiving it?

Seeing the Need

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye"

Matthew 7:3

Amy needs her light bill paid. Now! It is past due and they are about to turn it off. If she can just pay it, things will turn out just fine...

When someone comes to us with needs, they simply want them addressed. They know that they are hungry because they hear their stomachs growl. They know that they need a place to stay, because they are cold at night. It is clear to them that their car lacks gas, because it is on empty. But what about the needs they cannot see, those that, to them, simply do not exist?

As someone who cannot remember a time when I was not going to church, who grew up memorizing scripture and praying before bedtime, it is all too easy for me to see these invisible needs. I saw them in myself, and so asked Jesus into my heart ...about 12 times. My sins are all too clear to me. Day after day, they just keep coming back. I neglect reading my Bible. I complain about teaching Sunday school to rambunctious 4 year-olds. I harden my heart against others. I think thoughts that should never be thought. I sin against my God daily!

But you know what I am really good at? I am really, really good at seeing the "needs" of others. What they seem to miss, I am sure to see. Why can't they see that what they are wearing is so immodest? Isn't it clear to them that they should not be addicted to tobacco? If they would only work 60 hours a week, they could get out of this financial crisis.

I am all too humbled by my own thoughts. Though I have set out to help someone in need, I am debilitated by my own inability to understand them and to love them as Christ! I am so concerned with "making them see" that I do not realize that my confidence is unfounded, the blind leading the blind.

Maybe what we both need is to just know Christ, fully.

Hope for Employment

Hope for NWGA and Jobs for Life were recently in the news! Check out this Walker County Messenger Article:

In Walker County: Jobs for Life gives Students, Community Hope for Employment

Hope in Your Community

Hope will be at the following Resource Fairs in the Northwest Georgia area this spring. Come visit us at our booth!

Walker County Abilities Resource Fair

Where: the campus of Georgia Northwestern Technical College located at 265 Bicentennial Trail, Rock Spring, GA 30739

When: Saturday, March 6, 2010 from 9:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

Catoosa County Transition Fair

Where: The Catoosa County Learning Center at Benton Place Campus (next to the Colonnade off Battlefield Pkwy 2A).

When: March 30, 4-7pm

Hope will also be conducting a Mercy Ministry training at East Ridge Presbyterian Church on Wednesday, March 10th, 17th, and 24th, from 7-8 pm. All are welcome.

For more information on these events, please contact the Hope office at 706.820.2833.

How to Interview

Check out this New York Times interview with Bobbi Brown, CEO and founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/business/24corner.html?ref=jobs

...and this interview with Susan Docherty of General Motors:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/business/07corner.html

Questions for the Interview

1.What can I bring to this company?

2. Why do I want to work for _________________?

3. What are my top 3 character traits?

4. What would I change about how this company runs, if anything?

5. Think of at least one question you can ask at the end of the interview.

Hope Computers Ready for Use

Hope is now equipped with three computers, courtesy of Chattanooga Valley Christian School! We are very excited that our participants can now access the web in their job searches as well as in their pursuit of higher education. Please let us know if you or someone you know can make use of these new additions in your pursuit of a new career, online class, or any other "life pursuit"! Heather is in the office Mondays and Fridays, and the Hope office is accessible at various times throughout the week. If we can assist you in any way, please stop by the office and let us know!

How Can I Help?

Since the earth quake last Tuesday in Haiti, many people have been asking, "what can I do? How can I help?" There are so many ways presented to us- food, blankets, and water, or simply cash. But before we even ask what to give, we need to ask another question all together:

What kind of poverty is this, and how is it different from any other kind?

When Helping Hurts, a book by Brian Fikkert & Steve Corbett, presents this quite well in the chapter entitled "Not All Poverty is Created Equal".

"A helpful first step in thinking about working with the poor in any context is to discern whether the situation calls for relief, rehabilitation, or development. In fact, the failure to distinguish among these situations is one of the most common reasons that poverty-alleviation efforts often do harm.

"Relief" can be defined as the urgent and temporary provision of emergency aid to reduce immediate suffering from natural or man-made crisis... The key feature of relief is a provider-receiver dynamic in which the provider gives assistance -often material- to the receiver, who is largely incapable of helping himself at that time.

..."Rehabilitation"...seeks to restore people and their communities to the positive elements of their pre-crisis conditions. The key feature of rehabilitation is a dynamic of working with the victims as they participate in their own recovery...

"Development" is a process of ongoing change that moves all the people involved -both the "helpers" and the "helped" -closer to being in right relationship with God, self, others, and the rest of creation. In particular, as the materially poor develop, they are better able to fulfill their calling of glorifying God by working and supporting themselves and their families with the fruits of that work. Development is done... with people.

So when we look at the Earth Quake Crisis- or any other situation where there appears to be in need, it is imperative that we evaluate the situation before jumping into action; because, though our motive in wanting to alleviate that need may be right, our solution may not be. And that is how we end up doing more harm than good.

In considering how to help, you may want to evaluate your own resources as well as the long term situation. Funds and volunteers are currently pouring in to help those suffering in Haiti. But what about 6 months, 1 year, 12 years from now, when those who survived are still trying to get back on their feet, begin a successful business, build better schools, or fight corruption? Because although the crisis of the moment cannot be ignored, neither can we toss our money today, and turn our backs tomorrow.