What a horrible question to ask of the God who created all that is.  But yet, I suppose it's understandable for us, in our comfort, to look out at the suffering surrounding us, and knowing that we intend to do only the bare minimum, try to pass the buck.  Why do you allow poverty?  Why do I?   I won't dare speak for others, because while I can guess, or speculate, hypothesize, or pontificate, ultimately, any reasons I come up for your failure to solve poverty are only known to me because they were first my own.  I have failed to address poverty.  I have more than I need.  I have more than most people on this planet.  That's not my fault.  I wasn't handed a huge inheritance allowing me to languish inactively in opulence.  I was given gifts by my Father in Heaven.  He gifted me with the ability to focus, to study, to learn, and to achieve academically.  He further gifted me with patience, and a work ethic, and compassion which has allowed me to take my knowledge and seek to use it for good.  I have thus earned a living, which has allowed me to be comfortable.  My children have food and toys, they're warm in the winter and comfortable in the summer.  They've ridden roller coasters and water slides.  They've seen movies and gone to the beach. 

What if you wrote a check to a charity and designated that the funds were to be used to help those suffering in Hati.  Your heart was with Hati, and you made a personal decision to bequeath some resources toward that end.  Let us then imagine that the charity took that money, and didn't follow your directives.  Maybe some of the money went to Hati, but some went to other causes.  How would you feel.  Cheated?  Violated?  Enraged???

So when God gave me the gifts, and he wrote in the memo box "feed my sheep...."  When God tells me that whenever you do so for the least of my children you do so unto me....   Do you think there's an echo?  No response or acknowledgement... just the sound of the pebble falling down a well, with no hope that it will make a difference. 

Am I more clever than Jonah that I think I can steal from God and not be found?  Am I any less deserving of a storm, not only threatening my life, but the lives of all who find themselves in relationship with me... all those on my ship?  Truth be told, it wasn't Jonah's ship, nor is it mine.  Do you regret offering me passage along with you?  I am holding my breath, waiting to be deservingly thrown overboard.   I find myself a fugitive of what is right and Godly, hiding amongst others, hoping that because their behavior appears on the surface (obviously I don't know the hearts or giving of any others and thus if my words do not accurately reflect you, then you should not feel painted with a broad brush) like mine that I can become lost in a crowd and swept into the arms of a loving Father because we can't all be bad?  How long do I delight in being the lowest common denominator.  Do I want to make my way to Heaven as the lowest bidder? 

So am I guilty that I've been thus far successful in financial matters?  No, there have been others who lived far more rich lives financially and been in His good graces.  So then my guilt comes with my inertia toward others.  That I would allow others to have less while I have more.  I'm not talking about I have three pieces of gum while you have one, I'm talking about I have a pantry full of food, and your family is buried under rubble.  I drink Aquafina and you drink water that has been urinated in.  I have a pick up truck, and you don't have shoes.  My life lacks the richness of using my gifts and talents displaying the love of God toward his children.  It is only when I can accept that I am not more deserving, simply more blessed, and that richness in life is achieved in giving to others so that they may partake in the goodness that is our loving Father. 

I talked with my brother in Liberia yesterday.  He is the father of 2 of my children, and uncle to a third.  He is out of work.  He can't afford internet access (I know, there are no local Starbucks to drive up to for WiFi).  There is no post office for him to get a postal box.  I literally have virtually no way to get to him.  But our lives are entwined because our God has chosen to make us known to one another.  And from there, I become known to his extended family, and his friends.  So I choose to make him known to you.  I long to see Joseph and his son Uriah, whom I also spoke to yesterday.  I long to help their plight, to improve their situation.  I long for them to live in a country where 1 in 4 children don't die before 5 years old.   I long t be obedient and to make a difference.  So I give myself this pep talk, and ask all those that care to help hold my feet to the fire.  Help make me accountable to those in need.  Let us all choose a cause, and then another, maybe a third.  Let us give until we can give no more, then get excited to work more so that the outflow can continue.  What if we became servants of the Most High God.  What if we give it all.  Why does God allow Poverty?  I can't help but imagine that God wants to ask us the exact same thing.