Category Archives: Sacred Mundane

This is the final post in our Gift-Giving Guide series by Kris Zyp. Read posts one, two, and three here. Enjoy!

As we finish this series, here are several recommendations and final comments.

Bread for the World –

This is a distinctly Christian organization with strong focus on Biblically driven values, and seems to be very productive and influential. I wish that they were more narrowly focused on international issues. While they do advocate on international issues, they spend a lot of their focus on domestic poverty that has lesser returns. http://bread.org/

Micah Challenge –

This is a UK-based organization, that is also a Christian organization (their name comes from Micah 6:8). I love their strong focus on international issues, advocacy for the millennium development goals, which cover the range of important poverty issues. They have also done a good job focusing on injustices that have received relatively little attention, including tax havens, and their impact on developing countries. There were chosen by Live 58 as their advocacy organization to support. However, this is a UK-based organization, and I haven’t found much evidence of their influence in US policy. http://www.micahchallenge.org/

Jubilee –

This organization is based on the Biblical principle of Jubilee, and thus focuses specifically on the issue of debt injustice. Third world debt is well-known to be a major factor in keeping countries in poverty, and this movement’s focus on this issue has helped them to have influence in rather spectacular victories in debt cancellation, freeing billions of dollars for development. http://www.jubileeusa.org

It is also worth noting that while I have been primarily doing comparison in financial terms for consistency, in comparison to other efforts, you can easily have a powerful impact in advocacy with your own time and effort and minimal training. Becoming an effective missionary can take years of theological training and language acquisition, other aid workers often require similar levels of training before they become fully capable workers. On the other hand, with a little bit of research you can instantly start emailing and calling your representatives to affect change.

In addition, there are many aspects of fighting poverty aren’t simply matters of injecting more money; sustainable change really requires policy changes in areas like trade injustice, debt relief, tax havens, immigration constraints that cost the poor billions of dollars every year.

Gift Matching

Gift matching is another catalyst, encouraging others to give to cause by increasing the incentives and potential to attract other donors. This is a great strategy for those that are well-researched and have significant funds to offer. Note, this generally requires some coordination with charities to start such an offer. You can also take advantage of gift matching with donations that have matched offers. Many charities offer multiplicative donations, based on existing donor offers for matching. However, be aware that the actual impact of gift matching can easily be overrated. Typically the donor that offers that matching funds has minimum and/or maximum amounts and the offered matching funds may be released by other donors regardless of whether you give, making the multiplication level an illusion in many cases.

Some Comments on Projects I Didn’t Recommend

Fair trade or charity-connected products

It may sound surprising that someone who writes about social justice issues would not be a fan of fair trade and charity-connected products (buying a product where some money or item is donated to those in need), but these products have simply not demonstrated cost effective benefits to others that are anywhere close to the other recommendations I have made. Fair trade has very limited impact, and can create market distortions that are actually counter-productive. Charity-connected products combine marketing and charity in ways that typically are sub-optimal on both counts.

Now if you were really faced with the isolated decision to buy a fair trade produce vs a standard product, than yes, buy fair trade. But, this ignores the alternate opportunity cost. If you are truly interested in doing the most good, buying a cheaper product, and giving the difference to a high quality charity is almost always the most beneficial approach.

There is a caveat. Buying certain products can have a side-effect in raising awareness. While the economic benefit may be dubious, buying a product that raises awareness of poverty or trade injustices can further the social movements that working towards real policy reforms that do make a difference. I wrote about this in greater depth here: http://thezyps.com/2012/06/14/trade-injustice/. Also, the one decision you can make in choosing between similar products is simply to prefer products from developing countries (even just choosing China over US products is better for fighting poverty).

Animals

Making donations for the purchase of livestock for poor families is common way to contribute. While this is a good idea, and has benefits, there is a lack of any evidence that the benefits are big or long-lasting as the other projects recommended. The complications and ineffectiveness of giving animals has been expressed with more detail by Givewell:http://blog.givewell.org/2009/12/27/gifts-of-livestock-eg-heifer-international/

Still there are a couple of reasons why giving animals is not bad: such donations can be a good entry way to encourage people to start giving (with a gift that appears quite tangible). There is another bright side to giving animals, that may seem surprising: most charities involved in this type of work don’t actually spend most of the donated money on animals. This may be disturbing, but the reality they often spend most of the money on the more important and beneficial details of community development and education that are far productive than the animal gifts themselves.

Making Your Own Evaluations
I have made several recommendation, but you may want to make some of your own assessments. Hopefully these recommendations demonstrate some key ideas of researching the cost and benefits of different approaches. In addition I wanted to share a couple more ideas for assessment:

Often people use program expenditure percentage to evaluate an organization. This is a natural inclination since it is one of the few objective measures that we can really directly compare between charities. However, it is also one of the poorest indicators of the value of the work a charity is doing. First, the difference between the different activities carried out by charities can easily vary in efficacy by hundreds of percentages points, thus the different in program expenditure is usually negligible in comparison. Second, non-program expenditures can be very valuable in growing in charity. Spending more on marketing doesn’t necessarily indicate ineffectiveness, it can easily prove to be an investment in the future of the charity that will pay off in the years to come (charities frequently vary greatly from year to year in percentages).

Instead, If you really want to look at a simple objective numerical indicator, here is what I recommend: look at how much of their funds come from foundations. The unfortunate reality is that success in acquiring funds from individuals is based on the quality of marketing, how well a charity tells it stories, and has little relation to the actual quality of their work. Foundations, on the other hand, exist to make more in-depth evaluations. Foundations pour through statistics, assessing the efforts, sometimes do interviews and read papers on different programs. Therefore foundations have a huge advantage in accurately directing their funds towards organizations that are actually doing good work. While it is not always true, in general, organizations funded by individuals are good at marketing, programs funded by foundations are good at helping the poor.

The most effective giving is directed to those in the deepest global poverty. Not only is it a morally logical to help those in greatest need, it also is most effective. Numerous factors like exchange rates and opportunity for impact, and combine to make dollars spent internationally towards developing countries result in the greatest benefit (see http://thezyps.com/2010/09/20/international-giving/ for more on this).

I hope this giving guide will provide some useful insights and suggestions for you, as you look to obey the Biblical call to help the poor, bringing them the greatest benefits, driven by love that looks to the interests and needs of others. Thank you for reading!   {And thank you, Kris, for writing!}

Do you remember being 13? I remember experiencing a common teen-girl behavior: freaking out. I believe all teen girls do this often — triggered by any variety of things  ranging from a zit to a stolen boyfriend.  Chalk it up tor hormones or whatever you like, but freaking out is the norm at 13. (Or 30 for some … but that’s another issue.)

Not for Mary. If anyone had cause to freak out it was her. She is nine months pregnant with the Son of God, still enduring ridicule from all sides, but probably holed up her in her home nesting like crazy, getting the nursery ready and having everything prepared. We who have had babies know that crazy-nesting period when we can’t shampoo the carpets enough times and can’t make enough gallons of soup to freeze before baby’s arrival. We’re nuts, all of us.

But just as she’s about to bring baby boy into the world, all the plans change:

Road trip. 

And not just any road trip: a donkey-riding roadtrip of almost 100 miles. Oh for the love! Can you imagine? I could hardly walk up the stairs at 9 months pregnant, and this little waif of a thing was trotting across Israel about ready to burst. This girl is amazing.

But that’s not it. Sure, she’s thinking, surely there will be a nice hotel waiting for us when we get there. One of those special doula birthing suites with a Jacuzzi tub. Nope. No room.

How about a barn? 

I’m sorry, ladies, but can you stinkin’ imagine this??!! We think that the childbirth nightmare is not making it to the hospital in time and giving birth in the car. No … this is the childbirth nightmare. leaning against a hay bale while pushing out your baby, then lying him in a feed trough for his first night of sleep. Good grief.

This was God’s plan. Would Mary freak out?

No. She was calm, cool, and collected. No epidural. No Jacuzzi tub. No nothing. Every plan changed. Nothing was as she expected. There may have been tears, I can only  imagine she was humanly hormonal, but her cries weren’t loud enough to make it onto the page.

She must have wept quietly. She must have talked to herself instead of listening to herself. Must have chosen to submit her emotions to the rule of Christ — who she held in her arms.

She was the first to bow the knee. The first to submit to His plan. And the result was a calm, cool, collected first-time mother who cradled the glory of God in her very arms. Why? She knew her God.When all is out of control, nothing is out of His control.

Do we remember this when all is spinning out of control? Nothing is out of His control. 

:: Mary kept confidence.  Besides freaking out, the other behavior commonly known to teen girls is called “blabbermouth syndrome.”  Yes, that is, there is no gate on that beautiful mouth and so everything comes out. Again, some girls never outgrow this … but that’s another topic.

While Mary was entrusted with the Savior, she was also entrusted with a Secret. As God gradually revealed the magnificent truth about this God-child, she was given a first-hand glimpse of the miraculous Rescue Mission her very Son would spearhead.

Would she tweet it? Blog about it? Put it all over Facebook?

Could she be entrusted to keep quiet? To hold the truth in confidence, knowing that God would unfold His plan at the appropriate time? She did. When the shepherds shared with Mary the amazing news that had been told them by the heavenly host, what did she do?

“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” (2:19)

Where did she treasure them and ponder them? In the quiet of her own heart. And then, as Jesus grew and revealed in His own words more about His mission, that He must be in His father’s house, once again,

“she treasured up all these things in her heart” (2:51)

God’s glorious gospel-plan depended on the discretion of a teenage girl. It wasn’t time to blab about her boy.

Mary wasn’t called to be a prophet, just a mom.

Would she quietly be faithful to her task? She was. And in God’s beautiful time, the Rescue Mission unfolded, the glorious love story of a Groom seeking a Bride.

Here’s the cool thing for us: We will never be called on to give birth to the Son of God (that seat’s taken!) but we will all be called on for some mission of God. We each have a unique calling on our lives. Will we follow through? Is God’s glory safe with us? 

Will we be courageous when everything is scary? Will we stand in confidence with our future looks unsure. Will we stay calm, cool, and collected even when everything’s spinning out of control? And will we keep confidence, showing discretion at the appropriate times. The qualities that Mary needed for her mission are the same qualities we need for whatever mission God has for us.

And He does have a mission for us. He has good works, prepared in advance for us (Eph 2:10). How will we respond?  I’m grateful for a girl named Mary who quietly, simply, humbly submitted her will to God’s and let Him write her into His story. I pray the same for us…

{Revisiting this from last year … bless you as you prepare for His birth!  Thanks for reading.}

I’ve been at a loss for how to do this week’s end with thanks. On the one hand, I am overflowing with circumstantial things to be thankful for.  They go like this …

• Hikes and Daddy Day and a wonderful week with my kids.
• The house we live in (rent) SOLD this week! Perfect timing for us moving and for the people who own this house, and the dear couple moving in, and for us. Excited for all three parties!
• Packing. As much as I don’t love moving, I do love organizing everything, tossing, purging, and cleaning out closets. It’s a great feeling and I’m grateful for it!
• God turning another publisher rejection into another opportunity to praise, grow, learn. VERY excited to be putting out TWO e-books very soon, just in time for Christmas, and excited to give one to YOU.
• Great friends.
• Homemade pizza.
• Discovering new friends who are “weird” just like us. That’s so fun!

On the other hand, this week was one of unspeakable tragedy. The shootings at Clackamas Town Center and Sandy Hook Elementary have us in constant prayer for those dozens of families who have lost loved ones this week.

It seems, in response, there are two ways to thank in the wake of this weeks’s events.  

One, we can thank God that it didn’t happen to us. This is very natural. I am absolutely thankful that I tucked my children into bed last night. That as I type these words my son is playing with Legos right beside me. That my daughter is snuggling in bed with daddy. I watched them sleep last night, their tiny chests rising and falling, and couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with gratitude that they are still here.

But, our thanks can get deeper (and better) than that.

See, so often our (my) thanks just stays there. Though it’s natural, and normal, all it is essentially is: “Thank you, God, that that person’s suffering isn’t mine. That you that that didn’t happen to me.” In some ways (though not as pridefully), it’s like the Pharisee’s pray of thanks in Luke 18:

“‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”

It’s only an itty-bitty step up (if at all) to merely thank God that we aren’t experiencing the horror and pain that other people are. And although we’d never purposefully put it that way, if we aren’t careful we will naturally become people who merely thank God when bad stuff doesn’t happen to us.

So this week, I’ve been thinking about how to thank God in ways that are deeper, better, truer, than simply, “Thank you that my children are still alive!” I’m not pretending that’s not in my heart, but here are things I’m thankful for beyond that, in light of everything this week:

• That God is in control of every single moment and every single event and that nothing is outside His sovereign power.
• That God WILL right every wrong and bring absolutely justice to every situation and every person on earth, in the end.
• That God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
• That God has a special love for children.
• That every single one of those precious children, I believe, are safely tucked into the arms of Jesus.
• That, I believe, God will use this tragedy to draw many to Himself, first and foremost the parents of those who were killed. Praying and believing that!!
• That perhaps, I pray, these atrocities will awaken our nation to the reality of evil and show us the natural outcome of a culture that celebrates sin and death. Please God, open our eyes. Turn us back to You.
• That the gospel, our faith, rests entirely on God bringing the greatest good out of the most horrific tragedy of all time. NOTHING is so terrible that God cannot bring it to good. He showed us that on the cross and He can do that today.

I hadn’t been on a Ferry since I was a kid. I had memories of standing on an open-deck, leaning over a rail, sea-breeze blowing my hair, looking out at some beautiful Canadian vista. So I was excited for the Ferry over to Whidbey Island.

We thought we’d catch the 4:30pm Ferry, just in time to catch the sunset as we crossed over.

We caught the 6pm Ferry. Pitch dark. Couldn’t see a thing.

We walked up to the upper-deck, which was all enclosed and resembled the DMV–people looking depressed, sitting around waiting. I sat down and opened my book and waited for the Ferry to move.

But we just sat there. And sat there. When will we take off from shore? I wondered. I could hear the motor whirring, but we never moved. I squinted my eyes to look out the window, but everything was pitch black. We just sat there, never moved.

Then, just when I thought I’d go crazy sitting there, not moving, a voice came over the intercom: “We have arrived at Whidbey Island. Please return to your cars and disembark.”

Huh? We were moving that whole time and I didn’t even know it? How could I not feel it? 

Apparently, the Ferry is so big that you can’t even feel it move. Unless you can see out the window, it’s impossible to tell whether or not it’s moving. And since it was dark, I just couldn’t tell.

I thought we were just sitting still, but next thing I knew we were there.

It’s sounds cheesy, but isn’t that true with God too? Lately everywhere I turn I hear stories of how God does more than we can ever imagine, but it takes longer than we expect. As I read The Circle Maker and Rees Howells, Intercessor and watch men like Richard Stearns (who didn’t step into his “calling” until age 47) and realize that so often we feel like nothing is happening. Years go by and we wait and pray and wonder where on earth God is. We pray and wait and look around and wonder, Why aren’t we moving?? 

But then, just when you lease expect it, a voice alerts you:

You’re there.

It’s done. 

All the time we thought we were standing still, God was really moving us right along, without us even knowing it. And if a Ferry is so big that we can’t feel the movement, imagine what it’s like to be traveling “on” God!

He’s so big we sometimes can’t even feel His movement until the whole journey is over. 

For me, this just speaks encouragement. When we feel like nothing’s happening, keep trusting, praying, and relying on the God of the unseen.

It might be dark outside, but God is big, and He’s faithfully moving us along. 

Trusting Him, with you. Thanks for reading.

True story:

A few years ago we were out to dinner in downtown Portland with family the day before Thanksgiving. We were supposed to pick up Jeff’s brother at the airport later in the evening, and knew traffic would be bad. So, halfway through dinner, we checked Google Maps and clicked “show traffic” to give us our estimation. The route was red the whole way up, and the estimate was:

4 hours.

No joke. 4 hours. What on earth? We were only about 10 miles away, how on earth could it take that long? We shook our heads and figured traffic must be horrendous out there. After weighing our options we realized there was no way we could get Jeff’s brother in time, so we texted him and asked him to hop on the Max and come to us, as it would be 4 hours before we could make it to PDX.  About an hour later, he arrived, found the Max, and traveled across Portland with his wife and two small kids, finally arriving at Pioneer Square at 9pm.

Meanwhile, we finished our dinner and made our way outside to find our car. Surprisingly, we saw no traffic. We pulled the car out and started making our way along the street.

No traffic.

We picked up Jeff’s brother, navigated our way home, and, to our surprise, made it home in 30 minutes.

No traffic.

How could Google Maps be so wrong? Finally, a little light went on in my mind. I picked up Jeff’s smart phone. Turned it on. Looked closely. Yup:

Walking Directions.

Yup.

We’re still laughing. I love that instead of just looking out the window of the restaurant to see the traffic, we relied so heavily on our Google Maps that we had no idea what the reality was.

The truth is: There’s just no way to know how long it will take. No one can tell you. And the best bet is to just get out there and get on the road. 

We discovered this on our road trip last week as well. A 5-hour drive turned into a 6-hour drive because of an unexpectedly long Ferry wait. I had our departure time mapped out down to the minute, and yet the reality is We can make great estimates, but there’s just no telling how long it will take.

But there’s good news.

God has enough grace for however long the journey is.

I’m a hopelessly optimistic estimator. 

Things take a long time. It takes a long time to build a relationship, to write a book, to train kids, to establish rapport and build trust. Everything worth doing just takes a long time. And the truth is, We don’t have any idea how long it will take. When we’re on a journey, in our efforts to control, we’ll usually try to find answers, estimates, methods that make us feel like we know what’s ahead.

We can spend all our time trying to figure out how long or how hard the journey will be.

But the best bet is just to get out there and get on the road. 

Love whoever’s in front of you. Do the next thing. Accomplish the task at hand. Finish the chore. Make the current relationship right. Say you’re sorry first. Instead of sitting around trying to figure out the future, we’re better off just getting out there on the road and trusting that God has enough grace for however long the journey is.

I guess that’s the moral of the story. Oh, and be sure to click “Driving Directions” next time you use Google Maps. Thanks for reading.

Today I am celebrating my lifelong friend, Janae. We have literally been friends from birth, as our parents and brothers were friends before us. As I perused through some old photos, I kept thinking how there’s just nothing as precious as an old friend, one who knew you during your awkward stages, poor choices, victories, and everything in between. But the only way to have an old friend is to spend a long time with a new one. So here’s a few ideas — learned by watching the wonderful friends around me — for forming great friendships. (And a few fun photos for celebrating Janae! Yes, that’s us as cheerleaders. Oh dear, I love you Janae!)

• Be DAILY filled up by God. We all know it’s true. Needy people make others run for cover. No one wants to be sucked dry, and when we aren’t filled up by God we automatically turn our straws to someone else and get our fill. People full of God’s presence and joy are attractive to others.

• Be mindful about first meetings. How sensitive are you to those you meet for the first time? Do you ask, when you meet them, whether it could be that God has a reason for bringing this person across your path? Also in first meetings, consider for a moment your own person and presence. How do you carry yourself? Does your body language say, “Welcome!” Or “No, thank you.” At church, sitting in an empty seat, do you keep your head down, studying the bulletin, or do you look up and around, watching for anyone who needs a place to sit. When you see people, do you smile? Do you look them in the eyes? Do you use appropriate touch and warmth? Proverbs 18:24 says, “he who has friends must show himself to be friendly.” Seems common sense, yes? Are you friendly? Ask a friend (hopefully you have one!), Am I friendly?

• Remember names. Our own name is the most important word in our vocabulary. Remember Hagar? God spoke to her by name, and often that is all women need to know they are accepted, remembered, included. Remember names. 3 John 15 says, “Greet the friends, each by name.” Say your friend’s name. Write it out when you type her an email. If you do forget someone’s name, stop and ask her name again instead of just ignoring and not using it. (And while you’re at it, help a sister out and if you’ve met recently, offer your name again for her so she’s not embarrassed if she forgot yours. That’s part of loving her.)

• Be careful who gets a straw. Remember “that post about milkshakes”? Some of us already have too many friends and may need to scale down to make sure our families are thriving as well.

• Be honest. (In love!) Proverbs 24:26 “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.” Maybe this is a given, but no one wants a fake friend. Perhaps I’m a bit sick in this respect, but I’ll admit there are times I’ve literally wanted to stop someone and say, “Ok, please just tell me you have some area of weakness or struggle because otherwise I’ll never want to hang out with you again.” On the flip-side, we also don’t want loose-cannon friends who blab every dark thought that comes through their mind, yes? Dear me, discretion is godly!  

• Be vulnerable. This is certainly related. Now, I do not mean we all have to hang out our dirty laundry the first time we meet someone. But vulnerability is very attractive. At the root of this is humility and confidence. When we’re humble we can be confident and when we’re confident and secure we have the courage to be vulnerable. Sometimes the best gift you can give a friend is sharing a piece of yourself with her, seeing and recognizing when our friends need to be needed. If you’re the one always giving, listening, loving, think about opening up and being vulnerable in appropriate ways.

• Be careful. That said, be very very careful. Ephesians 4:29 says “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” THINK. True? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind?

• Listen. We’re all terrible listeners. I’d argue that the single best way to bless those around us is to listen. Note: The goal isn’t to “be a great listener” the goal is to listen.  Check out The Lost Art of Listening!

• Be reliable, dependable, loyal, faithful. Simply treat them the way you’d want to be treated. Be on time. Return phone calls. Do what you say you will do. Believe the best. Forgive. (Ugh, I’m starting to feel convicted …)

• Be purposeful. This is the best way to decide who to be friends with: Who makes you love Jesus more? Who makes you want to be like Jesus more? Who leaves you feeling full, inspired, courageous? Or, conversely, who sucks you dry and leaves you feeling negative?