28 August 2017

What a weekend... massive natural disaster in Texas, so much sorrow.  May God watch over those who trust in Him, may He bless as much as possible those in need, may He help us all to recover from this natural event and prepare for the next. Amen.

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The immediate area around the house where I live had a power loss due to a pole down... and it took about 24 hours to get the power back on.  It reminded me of how hard it is to live without our luxuries... and helped me to resolve to keep less perishables and find a way to make food when this happens again... I think I may get some of those little propane tanks with the stove attachments... that would help.  More candles, too... and get all this stuff into one place!!!  I wondered how I was going to find my candles and batteries in this overnight blackness.  I still don't know where I put them... I am still moving things around and finding a permanent place for tools and supplies and projects.

My small distress made me remember hard times in the past, and the hardships of those in Texas right now.  Nothing much you can do when disaster strikes... we recover the best we can.  I hope the homeless and poor are able to find relief.  People with credit cards and bank accounts and cars and places to go don't know how hard it is to be homeless, even without a disaster.

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This is a good place to share one of the pages I discovered as I sort through my things...  I probably shared it somewhere, but don't recall where right now.  It is called the Seven Steps to Poverty.  It is dated 29 September 2014, with a note about the source being World Vision on a Focus on the Family program.

1.  Imagine only 1 outfit to wear, no other clothing.
2.  No electricity, no power.
3.  No clean water to clean, cook, bathe.
4.  No house.
5.  No food.
6.  No doctor or medicine.
7.  No hope for the future, for tomorrow.

Some other notes on the page...  If you make $40,000 a year, you are in the top 1% in the world.  Three-fourths of the people in the world live on less than $10 a day... which would be about $300 or less.  My current income is Social Security Retirement Benefits of $382 a month, with about $200 in Food Stamps in addition to that...  I am rich by those standards, but would be barely surviving on the streets if I wasn't living at my son's house.  Another note says that most of those included in this global reflection live in a 10 x 10 mud hut with a dirt floor... for the whole family, whatever their size.  Those without food are forced to eat from garbage piles, which makes them ill or kills them.

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Another thing I thought of when I was in the darkness was the solar lanterns I have seen on Facebook and would love to purchase... LuminAid, I think that's the name.  This event makes me want to get one for sure... just to have it in case I need it.

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On a fun level, I also found this handy tip again... I can't wait to try this one, too.  From an old 2010 Woman's Day magazine, and Whitney Cobb ::  Marshmallows---stuff one in the bottom of an ice cream cone to heep it from leaking, or drop one in with your brown sugar to keep it soft.  I was impressed with the ice cream cone part.  :-)

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I don't have a TV of my own... well, I did buy a monitor hoping I could use it for an antennae TV and VHS screen and possible computer monitor... it didn't work very good as a TV because the reception was limited to intermittent activity.  I go upstairs to watch on my son's TV (with cable) when I can, but nothing regular.  So, all of that to say I haven't seen news today.  I hope to find some reports later.  I can only deal with so much pain and suffering... so I like to check on what is happening and then I have to let it go.  It's emotional overload for me.

I was thinking of that today, as everyone want to solicit funds for their program... ministry, etc.  How can we make this better for everyone... make our money stretch as far as it can... make sure it gets used for what we give it for.  I don't know yet, but I am thinking about it.  These are the lean months for ministries... summer.  In bad economies, donations disappear even more.  Our nation is suffering the same lack... money.  We have to find answers that will help us all survive together, without wasting what we have.

That is one reason I worried about my perishable foods in the frig... I can't afford to throw anything away... it would have to be replaced, somehow.  Preparing for things we don't know will happen takes time and money and planning, something I have tried to do all my life with little to no resources. 

Our nation is like a large family.  Its budget is created with our tax dollars.  If we don't spend these dollars wisely, we suffer for it later... well, someone suffers.  It is a pattern of the government to increase taxes, create new taxes, barter taxes for votes, and blame others for their bad choices.  Our current debt load has made us more like a poor family than the wealthy one we are use to being.  We don't want to give up special habits we have, in programs that can be modified or reduced or eliminated for other community partnerships.  As a poor person, as a senior now, I see the repeated pattern of blaming the poor and elderly.  Like our veterans, the poor and elderly cannot survive without some source of financial assistance.  How to meet these needs, fairly, is the challenge in my view.  Blaming people who can't fight back is cowardice, not politically expedient.

In our fight against the national debt, natural disasters are also a threat.  We can't afford them.  We never know when they will happen, and huge disasters like Hurricane Harvey are beyond planning for.  How can we manage our financial problems and include a margin for unexpected expenses like this when our debt is out of control?

I don't know if I like the budget choices of President Trump, but I know we have to reduce our spending and change the political priorities we have lived with too long.  We talk about Federal taxes, State taxes, County taxes, gas taxes, harbor taxes, road taxes, building fees, fines, regulatory punishments, property taxes, income taxes, retirement taxes, unemployment taxes, earning too much, not paying enough, rich versus poor, business versus environment, international trade deficits, import taxes, subsidies, guaranteed loans, tax bargaining, and... you see the trend... it's too much. 

We are a nation of citizens ruled by our politicians... we have lost sight of what is right and good and fair.  Before we lose our lives to the tax battles, we need to find a better way to fund our government, to limit the government to only what a government needs to be involved in, and to change the balance of paying its costs.  I have already shared some of what I think is fair.  Before it is too late to recover from all these political decisions that are not good for us as a nation, I hope we find a better way through this debt problem.

In poverty there are no choices... you struggle just to find the basic needs of food and shelter, everything else is like a gift. 

If the government is economically poor, what would our basics look like?
What is the government really responsible for providing for us? 
How can we replace what the government provides with community supports? 
What rules and regulations are truly necessary for our group survival? 
If we had just ONE TAX, which one would be the best, and how would you limit it permanently, and what would be a fair amount for everyone to pay? 

Will the government decrease itself? 
I don't think it will... so how do we create a new financial foundation for an old country?

In Christ,
Deborah Martin

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May the GOD of our universe help us to make the right decisions.  May He show us what is truly important, necessary, and critical to our survival.  May His Hand of Protection be on those who are striving to honor Him with their lives, and choices, and actions... with the wisdom of Truth and Faith.  May we all begin to help each other and not rely on the government to do it.  May churches begin to grow by the needs of those who search for GOD at their doors.  May our nation find a way to pay down its debt and create the financial cushion we need to survive unexpected emergencies, natural disasters, military conflicts, and anything else we need money for.  May our hearts find rest in our efforts to be better than we think we can be.  Amen.