One of my oldest friends

Okay! Why didn't anyone tell me that I can publish photos onto the blog directly? Here is my friend Erin and I took last week when we had lunch at Union Station. She is extremely high on the list of people who make me laugh uncontrollably... a very good thing.

In other news, what was I going to share with you? Oh yeah. So we (at work) were just all having pizza in the conference room. And we were talking about the Live 8 conference and aid to developing countries and of course that evolved into the proclamation of American generosity. Now, yes, Americans are generous. But why do we so, so, SO love discussing how generous we are as a nation? It is on the news, in magazines, newspapers, in daily conversations... anywhere and everywhere, people are eager to discuss their awe and pride at how generous Americans are in times of need. It is true but it makes me uneasy because I happen to believe there's more we could be doing. We do give more aid than any other country, but proportionate to our wealth? We rank dead last among industrialized nations. That means we aren't giving sacrificially. It means we are not doing all that we can. If that's the case, I feel very uneasy sitting around patting ourselves on the back.

It's like Dan Haseltine's article in the new Relevant. He said somehow the Church has found a way to look into the eyes of a starving child and say "we have done enough."

I'm not saying I've arrived at sacrificial giving and perfect love. But I would like to get a little closer in this life, if possible.

On a lighter note I was going to put another picture of Erin rolling out dough with a can of beer, but it won't let me place it where I want it to go. Hmmm.