My Live Below the Line Challenge: what & why

So I’m doing the Live Below the Line Challenge but I’m going to try spice it up a bit (more to come).

The challenge is to feed yourself on $2.25 (aprx $1.80 US, $1.35 EUR) a day for 5 days, in an effort to raise money, awareness & to give me a little insight into the lives of the Billion-plus people who live below the extreme poverty line ($2.25) every day… and that $2.25, it covers everything for them, not just food.

Now I’ve had a half hearted attempt at this before (which prompted this reflection) & in a moment of weakness brought a bottle of Powerade for a game of basketball and blew out my budget.

So this time I know I’ll need a plan, I’ll need to scout out the supermarket, I’ll need some rules & some people to keep me accountable.

You can sponsor me here if you feel inclined, otherwise I encourage you to join in yourself or feel free to hang around as I blog this brief journey.

Why am I doing this?

Partly to get a little more insight into the lives of others, partly to gain a greater appreciation for what I have. But mostly because I believe that with all the wealth, technology & resources we have available world, that it’s criminal that people die because of poverty.

I often wonder – when looking back at our history – how Christians (others as well) stood so idly by during the civil rights movement & apartheid era, and advocated for, or remained silent against a clearly oppressive & inhumane way of treating people.

I often find myself thinking, “how can you even call yourself a follower of Jesus?”

Harsh, I know.

That’s the beauty of hindsight.

We can see something so clearly looking back, that we can’t when we are immersed in it or it is the acceptable norm. Which makes me wonder what they’ll say about us in the future…

Poverty – an accepted norm.

In 50 years time will the Christians of the future look back and question us? Will they say, “I can’t believe you had so much & did so little…”

This is why I’m doing the challenge, if nothing else it may change my heart & attitude a little. Hopefully it makes a small difference in some one else’s life.