extreme

My kids and I both blown away by the new TLC show "Extreme Couponing". On one hand I feel silly for not taking advantage of coupons... but then I hide that hand from my brain... LOL

Last night the idea for this post hit me like a load of bricks when I watched this woman "collect" all her things. This has got to be a sin. There just isn't anyways around it. How will this chick ever manage to consume and use these products? (Here's a great one - the other lady on this episode -her and her sister buy diapers though they are not mothers or even married... they had stockpiles of Huggies... stockpiles.)

What did Jesus say about it...' “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be." ' Matthew 6:19-21


This stuff this woman is hoarding for herself... she will never ever be able to take any of it with her. She is wasting her life trying to accumulate things that she cannot even use. How sad! It's beyond sad really... and a bit on the more pathetic side of things if you ask me. All her efforts will amount to diddly-squat. Nada. Worthless....


Then I thought of another episode where I saw the fella give all of his stock pile away to homeless shelters and the needy in his community. How cool is that?! So I guess it isn't all bad... I am not bashing coupons. In fact, I wish that I could make them work for me!!  But this is the point that I am trying to make. Our nation as a whole is hoarding... Read these figures:


There are 6860 living languages in the world.
Only 457 of those languages have the entire Bible.
Slightly more than 2100 have part of the Bible.
More than 4300 have NO printed Scriptures....
And of those 4000 more than half do not have a translation started. They are completely unreached.
Those Bibleless languages represent 340 million (about the population of the USA and UK combined).
From those 340 million - 2.4 million people - die every year without ever reading God's love letter in their language.


So why are we hoarders? I am so glad you asked! The English language (one of those 457) has almost 500 versions available. FIVE HUNDRED. We can choose from whatever makes us happy (in fact I usually reference the New Living Translation and the New International Version and The Message!!)... but 93.5% of the world's population cannot. They -those millions - have nothing while I have stockpiles. Stockpiles.


I am heartbroken by the need to reach these Bibleless. I feel conviction in the smallest choices I make everyday. I cannot ignore the facts. I don't want to... 


I continue to pray that God will send people into our family's life that will have this same desire to impact the Bibleless communities. We are helpless alone. My daily prayer comes from John 17:20-23 where Jesus prayed for his disciples...  that others will come along beside Marty and I and join with us to fulfill this great task for the glory of God.

"I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me."

See these extreme couponers coupon alone. They are the ones doing all the work and reaping the benefits they cannot use up. Bible translation isn't like that... we cannot fund ourselves, but we don't ask that a few select pour out the big bucks to make it happen either. A lot of people working together can tackle this God sized task. (I am not sure that Marty and I are communicating this well... when we speak, email, whatever...) If everyone we communicate with or have shared with or has read about what we are doing could give up a small amount each month Marty and I could be fully funded and on our way... :o)

If you feel compelled to be extreme... consider an eternal investment. Bible translation, maybe?! **hint hint**