Help those in need.....

"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Psalm 82:3-4

If there is anything that can instantly make me mad, it is to drive past a house that I see that is completely unfit to be lived in, and SOMEONE is collecting rent for it.
My wife and I delivered something to a needy family tonight that our church bought for them. I am so grateful that my wife was able to be the bridge between this family and our church. She did not give up until she saw a need of theirs met....and I love that she did this. However, tonight when we delivered this to the family I got the see their living conditions. I do not look down on this family for their conditions....I want to do more for them. But what does make me upset, is the fact that they are renting the house that they are in. That means that someone is collecting money for a house that well quite frankly can barely be called a house. I see so many government agencies get created all the time that I think are ridiculous and unnecessary. But here is an idea for one I would fully support. 
I wish that each county was aloud to employ "x" amount of people (based on their population), and the jobs of these people would be to get a list of every rental address in the county. Together these folks would personally visit each address to inspect the condition of the rental property. If the property did not meet a standard set of conditions...like all windows are intact, there is adequate heat for the home, there is proper restroom and bathing facilities (inside the home!!), and the home can be made secure at night....(just to list a few)....then the agency would tell the landlord that they are not aloud to collect another dollar in rent until these things are taken care of. If the landlord does not want to act quickly and make things right, then the family living there should be aloud to take their rent money and apply it toward getting these things fixed. For each month they do not pay the landlord rent (because the agency has decided this....not the tenant) then the tenant would be aloud to use the rent money to make repairs or purchase what is needed for the home and could turn in the receipts to the agency for the amount of the rent. If the tenant had to take care of the repairs themselves, then the landlord would ALSO be fined for the cost of the repairs. 
I know this may sound a bit harsh, but I will also say that before I ever owned my first home I rented from some good (and a few bad) landlords. So I know, and appreciate, the difference. If you do not want to take care of the family that is providing rent to you, then do not get into the business. It is rare that you find a landlord that has the mentality that by renting a home they are actually HELPING someone who can't buy a home. So ACTUALLY help them and do not rent houses that could never be considered a home to someone.
Please understand that I know there are bad renters out there too. Renters that tear up nice property... and I believe there needs to be justice for those folks as well. But that is not what I am writing about tonight. Jesus said we are to help the poor, needy, less fortunate, widows, orphans and feed the hungry. As this time of the year rolls around where people who don't have; go hungry and cold, please consider helping them out. Even if you can't give because you don't have a lot yourself, please make sure you get that family's name to someone who can. God will bless you for your acts of kindness when they are done out of the goodness of your heart and love for your fellow brother and sister. 
To those who know you are renting homes that are in less than livable conditions, please think about what you are doing and make things right. I wouldn't want you to be the one that stands before God some day knowing you took advantage of a single parent trying to raise their kids on minimum wage, and I let them live in a home not fit for an animal to stay in!

Let's start thinking about things....

As my wife and I took a walk tonight a conversation started up about the things we see in this world every day. This started because I walked past a fire hydrant, right beside the fire station, that has had a steady stream of water running out of it for at least 2 months now. As I walked by it again tonight I asked the question...."Who is paying for all this water that is just running down the street?" I know if I had a steady stream of water running out of my house I would sure be getting billed for it. And my guess is that somehow I am paying for the water coming out of this hydrant too. But I also asked another question...WHY?...Why is this water just running out like this. How many people in our own country don't have clean...running...water to drink. And let's not even bring up other countries that are deprived of such a privilege. But yet here we are, just letting it run out like there is always more. Cause let's be honest....that is how we think...but let's hope not all of us think that way.

If you ask my kids something about me I bet they would say I hate to waste. I hate to waste food, drink, energy.....a lot of things. And they hear it from me when they do. I am not saying I have it all figured out or I do everything exactly right. But I am saying that we should question what we see a lot more than we do. I don't want to get political with this blog and I am not out to try to get you to agree with me. I am simply challenging anyone who might read this to think. Thinking is a God given right that we don't do nearly enough of. And as you begin to think about something I have mentioned or will mention in the future, I hope it challenges you to think about other stuff you see every day. See I might not have the answers to everything I talk about, but I am hoping that by provoking thought that someone else who has the ideas, the means or the power to make changes will do just that! Let's stop accepting everything around us because it is the easy way out and let's start demanding a change for the better.

I began my talk about waste....it drives me crazy. But so does abuse..to me they go hand in hand. If you are abusing a system, or a handout, or a service you are ultimately wasting it. 

I want to state right up front that there are many, many programs out there that I am proud that my tax dollars support. I believe in helping someone in need. I believe in helping a man, woman or family get back on there feet when times get hard. And I am glad we have a country that has the ability to offer this kind of help because of the tax paying people that live in it! Having said that......let me start to talk about the things I don't believe in......

I watched a news story about 4 schools in New York that are going to offer the "morning after pill" to girls 14 and older. The school sent home info to the parents so they could "opt out" of this program. They reported that only 2%...yes 2% of the parents did opt out. So, like I stated early...I ask WHY? Why would they want this offered to their kids. Oh, and did I mention that once the programs starts that the kids can get the pill WITHOUT the parent ever having to be told. So again...why would a parent want this. BECAUSE THEY ARE LAZY! Sorry to be so blunt, but it's true. If we let the school offer this then it is one less thing as a parent that we have to worry about. Now our kids won't get pregnant and we didn't have to do a thing. It is one more thing that we can let "the system" take care of. No more worries for us. So wrong!!!! If we would spend the energy teaching our kids to save themselves and spend the time enriching their lives so they understand why then we wouldn't need this assistance from "our system"! Now, let me also challenge you with this thought. Obviously you would not need a morning after pill if it weren't for 2 different reasons. One being that you actually had sex when you shouldn't have...and two because you didn't use protection when you did decide to do it. So let's talk about reason number 2. If we have kids that need this pill cause they had unprotected sex, and now you have offered them a "free" way to not get pregnant. Then what is going to get them to use protection now. NOTHING! So don't be at all surprised when the next issue we are dealing with is rapid spread of sexually transmitted diseases. I mean come on, think about it. If these kids are willing to risk becoming pregnant and not use protection...and now you have removed "that risk", then what makes you think they will use protection now. THEY WON'T! And when that starts just remember....we enabled this! So we better start working on the next "program" take care of this problem, cause it WILL be a problem.  And by the way, this isn't going to come for free. No matter how you look at this, someone is going to end up paying for it. And my guess is that it will end up being a funded program that whether I support it or not, I will end up having to help fund. Just like so many other things that my dollar helps fund that I DO NOT agree with!

I am going to stop this blog here for now....I have so many more things to write about and I will continue these blogs as long as the thoughts...and things I am sick of...keep coming. 

Thank you for reading and I hope that you continue to read them...and you continue to think and challenge yourself of the things around you that NEED TO CHANGE.