What if the Hokie-Pokie is what it's all about?

You've song it as a kid, danced it at a wedding or prom, even at the ball game. It's of course the Hokie-Pokie! I recently saw a t-shirt that stated, "What if the hokie-pokie IS what it's all about?" It seems so simple really, so innocent. A children's song and dance. So why seek deeper meaning, why take something so pure and ruin it by over thinking, over analysing and generally
Well, its the American way!

Have we complicated life? Have we taken this simple gift and made it into something terrible, rushed, stressed? I wish I had a dollar for everytime someone told me they where too busy. Busy doing what I like to ask people. That's when I get the laudry list of things, take the kids to school, pick up the dog, stop at the post office, get my nails done, go to the doctor, pick the kids up from school, take them to soccer, oh yeah eat lunch, make dinner, clean the house, wash the car, wait did I forget something, where's the dog?

I'm not going to stand and judge over anyone's schedule or whether their business is real, created or even imagined. People are what they believe they are. But is it all worth it. Are the things we're in such a rush to do the important things. It's funny, but all the times I've asked people who tell me thier busy I've never heard, I have to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and get drinks for the thirsty, then I have to visit the sick and imprisoned.

Now to be fair, my schedule isn't over flowing with these things either, but why not? These are the things that Christ tells us are important. These are the things that matter in life. Oh sure, we get to them, eventually. We volunteer to work at the food pantry or the soup kitchen. When someone we are close to and love is sick, we visit them, we may even find time to visit a loved one in prison. We clean out our closets and donate our old clothes to the thrift store. All good things, but never our priority.

Have our lives become so complicated, so technology driven, so much about our time, that the simple life is gone? I even know retired people who still carry daytimers and planners because their schedules are so packed full of events. By being so involved are we missing something? Pastor Steve said it so well a few weeks ago, our lives are full of emptiness.

It makes me think that the world too is full of emptiness.

The statistics are outrageous. Here's one to get you thinking. The big worry nowadays is Avain Flu. Experts predict that if an epidemic where to occur 1 to 2 million Americans could die. Stagering numbers I admit. Since 1997 there have been 217 documented cases of Avain Flu in humans, with 123 deaths.

Now compare that to Hunger.

Hunger is a threat that faces our world everday. Not becuase of natural or ther types of disasters, but because of greed, control and corrupt governments. An estimated 24,000 people die EVERYDAY from hunger or malnutrition. Since 1997 that's = 78,840,000 people. To put that number in perspective, take the population of all the states that border Missouri, (that's Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky) including Missouri plus add Texas, Ohio and Mississippi, that's how many people 78,840,000 is. That's almost 30% of the population of our country. Keep in mind, hunger isn't even a disease, it's completely curable/avoidable!

So why does it persist? Why do millions die every year from a curable condition? I don't have any great answers to these questions. I am certainly not a model example of how to fix these problems, but maybe if each of us started to examine our priorities and just make simple, little changes in our daily routines, things would begin to change.

And then we would learn that hey, the Hookie Pookie is what it's all about!