This is very disheartening (Kiva loans statistics).

This was brought to my attention via twitter update from Zach Lind:

Below is a screen shot of the two highest lending groups on the micro-lending website Kiva: Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious, and Kiva Christians. As you can see in the "Total Loaned" section it shows the Athiest group with $432,950.00 loaned, and the Christian group with only $349,250.00 loaned.

(click for larger view)

It's pretty interesting to see that the group with the Savior who spoke so much about the poor is more reluctant to loan out money than the group with no Savior, or God with a heart for the poor. This should be pretty disheartening for those of us who call ourselves Christians, especially since this is the loaning, not even GIVING of your money.

Here are three of the over 300 verses in the Bible on the poor, and social justice:

Matthew 5:42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Deuteronomy 15:7 If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.

Luke 16:19-25 There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell,where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.

If you are not yet a member of Kiva or have never tried micro-lending, the passages below were taken from their website. I signed up for the site today and made my first loan to a man named Haytham in North Lebanon for his CD & Cassette shop on behalf of the Kiva Christians group. They're doing some really cool stuff with this site, please consider it.

---

What is Kiva?

We Let You Loan to the Working Poor

Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.

Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified entrepreneurs. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva, our partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but our microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.

Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way. To do this, we are using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Child sponsorship has always been a high overhead business. Kiva creates a similar interpersonal connection at much lower costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery. The individuals featured on our website are real people who need a loan and are waiting for socially-minded individuals like you to lend them money.

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT: julioanta.tumblr.com

my thoughts exactly

before conversion of course...

www.eatsleepdraw.com

twitter.

i'm also on twitter. why the rut? well i'm just getting to ready for when I'm a million miles away and i want to keep in touch with the world. either way, twitter is a fascinating networking site, to say the least. if you're too busy to check out multiple sites, my twitter updates are right on the side of melast. what's twitter noel?!

once again, wiki comes in to the rescue.

"♦Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length."


TWITTER .

tumblr.

i'm currently working on a site where i will be sharing from as soon as i move overseas... it's still under construction so don't expect anything, but you could bookmark it and check back on it sometime in January, twenty-10. meanwhile, i'll still be blogging on melast.

to who it may concern.
noel.

my fingers are on my keyboard at this precise moment all because of one man's suggestion. he suggested that i update my blog, probably because it's easy to lose my readers if i don't blog frequently. i understand that this is true, and i do care about you guys, but I'd much rather facebook or talk on the phone. see, on this blog thing, it's only me putting myself out there (or here).

[and for what reason?]

either way, I'm putting my fingers to a task that they have come to abhor. and before you make the assumption that i have lost my love for writing, consider this: i have spent most of my time [outside of class and work] on this laptop of mine, doing an exaggerated amount of Theology homework. it has consumed my life, nearly. after spending an hour & 1/2 on my report prior to this,



i thought that it would be o.k for me to invest into the blogosphere. i don't feel as though i have much to offer today, (or for the last few weeks), so please pray to God that my mind would not be so caught up on learning [guitar and theology] and looking at/drawing random pictures on random scraps of paper.



my life lately has been pretty mundane. i have been experimenting with some new things lately, like fasting and interacting in class.

broomball is quickly becoming one of my favorite sports; not so much because i'm any good at it, but mostly because it gives me an excuse to hit people. broomball, for you southerners, is a lot like hockey, except without skates. it is played on ice.
which means that you fall a lot. A LOT.



oh, BIG NEWS ! I'm [almost] officially going to Kenya in January for sixteen months. for you new readers, I've been training to be a missionary for the last six months, and part of my training involves going to school in a country overseas. the options are to either go to Austria, Central Asia, France, or Kenya. I've decided to go to Kenya!

and that's where i am at. on the outside. for more intimate details about my life, call me... or wait for me to post a blog at one of my weak moments.

i would really love to hear about you and you're life (wow, i made it seem as though they are separate).

compassion

Mark 6:34

“And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd.”

That’s the kind of heart I want to have. A heart that is completely moved by compassion. And those are the kind of eyes I want to have. Eyes that are on the least of these. Eyes that don’t see the speck on someone elses eyes, because I have one too. Eyes that see through a veil of love. And those are the kind of feet I want to move me. Feet that are moved by compassion. Where my pride is diminished and my selfishness is left behind. Where someone else’s need comes before my own wants. Where I don’t possess anything I can’t give away. Where it’s not about me. But it’s about you. And it’s about God. Because at the end of the day, that is what Love does. Love gives. And you and me and them and us, we’re all the same. We all want love. Because we were designed to desire our Creator, who IS love. That is the denominator that we have all fallen under. So I will love, because He first loved me. (1 john 4:19)

Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. - Mother Teresa

For today's blog, I would like to redirect you to my favorite blogger's recent post.
His name is Stephen Christian and the link is
Www.modesty.blogspot.com
Read all his stuff but specifically his blog titled
"thr33 lies"

obrigado e boa noite

Journey

I've been really inspired lately, and it's all been because of what God's been teaching me about journey. I've realized that we as humans are on this journey, of following the two Christ commandments. Because it's a journey, it makes the yoke easy and the burden light on following both of those commandments. On the God part , I beat myself up because of my constant failings, but am encouraged that I will be on this journey for eternity, and I will have many ups and downs. On the loving people part, I am jubilant that I am not on this journey alone, but that I'm surrounded by a cloud of witnesses of struggle and success. I love that there's there old and young alike that can say amen to my feelings of loneliness and apathy, alongside with my zeal and ecstacy. The journey makes me forgive quickly, we don't have time to waste on silly disputes and hiding behind the bush of our mistakes. We have all said wrong things; but it's jubilee time. It's time to forgive all debts, wipe the slate clean, and love each other. One day we will all look back at our journals and pictures and laugh at our crushes and divisions, and yet still be on the common theme of life: the journey.

For the sake of love and harmony, let's lay aside all that divides us. the doctrine, status, past, or even romance are all like the fading grass.

so i woke up today, walked out my dorm to find that it was -41 degrees (wind chill) out. all is not grim though, they say that it will be 30 degrees this saturday.

i tried to describe how great this story of friendship is, but i found it to be impossible.

he and i just spent the last half hour sharing journal entries with each other.(no homo)

i'm so glad that i've written in my journal all these years

because now i get to go back and read my entries and see how goofy i was/am .

there are some things that stuck out to me :

there's this one girl's name that remains inscribed over and over again, from 16 to 19, and it's annoying because there will be a time to think of her, and write to her, but then nor now is that time. these years are so peculiar. my mind can be free of that pursuit, and responsibility. i am happy to say that these last three weeks have been [nearly] completely free of any romantic thought. three weeks! [can you believe it?]

there seems to be this pattern on the pages : i love you jesus, followed by "God, forgive me" [repeat and rinse] .

i enjoy my writing more than anyone probably ever will.

“I am enamored of my journal”

-Sir Walter Scott , ditto.

honesty

Matthew 15:8
‘ These people draw near to Me with their mouth,And honor Me with their lips,But their heart is far from Me.

I think when we become ‘professional christians’, we find it easier and easier to speak with our mouths what our hearts really don’t believe. Its like we become accustomed to say what we believe God wants to hear, even if we really don’t mean it. This has just been in my heart lately… how we can speak so quickly and try to impress God with our sayings when in reality our hearts are far from what we say. We say we’re ready, when we really aren’t. We say “have your will”, when the truth is we really don’t want his will, we want our will. We say we are His, when our hearts are divided. But our acts only work on an audience. God IS truth, so im starting to think he wants our honesty more than he wants our pick up lines.

Doesn’t the Bible say that if we confess with our mouths what we believe in our hearts, we will be saved? Maybe that’s why we aren’t really free… cause we have confessed what we really haven’t believed.

So I changed my prayer, and I told God the other day “God… help me believe you. Help my unbelief.” … and I meant it… and it felt good. :)

be inspired !

love you guys !

blah, blah, blah

i have too much time on my hands today. being an outcast gives me this great joy.
anyhow, i was reading a blog tonight that was mostly a complaint sheet listing all the things that annoyed that particular person. so i thought, "hey, almost everything annoys me. why don't i write about some of those things on my blog ?" and then i thought back to myself, and said "maybe because no one reads my blog and it would just be a waste of time".
but i can't go to sleep so here it goes .

here we go, the things that annoy a 19 year old bible college student :

[these are the things i think about]; pray for me .

1. Small talk.
Just get to the point already!

2.Brushing your teeth then drinking orange juice.

3.Cold toilet seat

4. The idea that the world runs on money

5.Wet socks.

6.When people leave time remaining on the microwave and you walk by assuming it's the correct time. happens all the time !

7.Getting out of a warm bed, when your house is freezing.

8.Bad internet connection.

9.When you forget you have headphones in and walk away from what they're plugged into

10.Grocery shopping carts with a bad wheel. i'm a walmart junkie .

11.beyonce's stupid commercials .

12.When someone that gets on your nerves IMs [or facebooks] you.

13. When your ears don't pop correctly and you get this excruciating pain as you descend in altitude on the plane ride.

14. crumbs an my keyboard [ as i type this, there are cracker crumbs on my fingers]
-because i can't stop eating in college .

15. popcorn getting stuck in my teeth .

16. Someone calls you. You miss the call by a second. You immediately call them back. They don't pick up. [ or the fact that i left my phone charger in Miami]

17. messy roommates .

18. when everyone seems to want to talk to me in the morning.

19. people waking me up in class. [ or church ]

20. the word "umm" [ especially in prayers ]

21. really loud praise and worship .

22. the one Asian lady in my class that asks me if i left my feet in Miami" everyday [ because i wear sandals to class and its 10 degrees outside ]

23. snow on my feet.

24. my lazy eye

25. pimples.

26. when you're talking to someone and they keep looking somewhere else .

27. People who tell stories in class that's irrelevant to the discussion. oh, grace.

28. Not remembering your dream from the night before

29. when you "feel" your phone get a text message, only to find that your inbox is empty.

30. Someone standing over my shoulder reading the computer screen. {...}

31. when your butt itches and you have to move around in your seat to scratch it, but it doesn't go away. [ or does that only happen to me? ]

32. People who voted for Obama just because everyone else did.

33. when people are praying for you and their breath smells like crap.

34. the "myspace angle" picture that every 15 yr old girl seems to have .

35. when people critique your posts {...}

36. when you're typing and the cursor moves to another spot

37. Fake laughter.

38. People who ask "Can I ask you a question?"

39. sweaty armpits [ only reason the cold is good ]

40. forwarded emails that say " if you believe in God, pass this on to a million people"

41. dorm mentors who wake me up everyday by pulling my sheets off.

42. old people complaining about young people. [ "back in my days, blah,blah,blah" ]

43. people who always want to DO something when all i want to do is read or watch movies in my pj's.

44. when i ask for a plain McChicken and they screw up my order .

45. having to pee every time i wake up.

46. people making fun of my buddy holly glasses. [ just because they don't have lens]

47. when you feel like sneezing but it won't come out.

48. contagious yawns .

49. when churches try to be hip. [ lights, hip youth pastors, the fact that every worship leader has to dress cool ]

50. long offering speeches .

51. benny hinn.

52. spanish radio.

53. Venezuelan spanish.

54. people telling me to "buckle up" in a car .

55. Waking up for class

56. not being able to sleep at night.

floating

this morning in class i prayed that i would be able to fly in a hot-air balloon. i've left where i didn't want to be and yet I'm not yet where i want to be and i won't be there for a while . a hot-air balloon ride would be perfect. i must be careful though because the dissatisfied place is a dangerous place. it is where most of humanity hangs, floating. distant from reality . it is of great importance that i touch land and follow the Sovereignty of the season.

i don't want to be floating forever.

romance and the cold like each other .

"do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready." - Song of Songs .

i am a mess .
i want to be 12 again and fix what i broke
i want to go back 2 1/2 months and not write that note .
i want to be 16 again .
Jesus feels so distant yet so near to me at this broken place .
someday i will look back and thank myself that i said no to her .
even if i feel like crap at the moment
right ?

[ashley g.] ART

the last ten days of my life have been fascinating.
i was homeless for two days on the streets of downtown minnesota .
i turned 19 .
i went back to miami for a few days .
i preached a sermon on the love of money wearing glasses with no lens .
went to boca beach in my new jeans. > water was cold, waves were huge .
overdrafted my debit card on cici's pizza
envied Julio Anta's beard .
witnessed an arrest, followed by a brawl between the arrestee and arrestor(s) .
^ on the plane that was supposed to take me back to campus.
> was switched to another plane because of the blood .
arrived to campus at 430am . ( thank you roomie for picking me up so early in the morning)
tons of snow fell from the skies today
^ we responded by having massive snow ball fights/ wrestling matches
and sledding down hills for an hour .

Advent Conspiracy

Deep cries to deep

The Father to His Son & Daughter
The Lover to the Beloved :

And I long, to cover you with grace
And I long, to anoint your feet with praise
And I long, to see you face to face
Wont you come? Wont you come?

The Beloved responds
The bride is awakened and dawned... and she speaks :

And I long, to feel your warm embrace
And I long, to love and be amazed
And I long, to see you face to face
I will come.... I will come