Trapped!

We spent seven hours last Saturday trapped on I-77 in West Virginia--it wasn't snowing and as far as we could tell the roads were reasonably clear, but someone had apparently decided we couldn't go, so there we were in a long line of cars and trucks, unable to go anywhere and with no idea when traffic would start moving.

This was, as you can imagine, a very frustrating experience! As we sat hour after hour in the same place, I thought about the poorest of the poor, "The Bottom Billion" that economist Paul Collier writes about in his book of that name that (coincidentally?) I had just finished reading. These folks are also trapped, not just for a few hours in reasonable comfort as we were, but for a lifetime in living conditions that are deplorable.

Jesus talked about "the least of these." Those of us who claim to follow Jesus (speaking for myself) are often both woefully ignorant about the poorest of the poor and too self-focused to think about what God may want us to do to help change the status quo.

Reading Collier's book has helped with my own ignorance and--after having a small experience of being trapped--I am hopefully a little more motivated to be a part of what God is doing to make a difference in the lives of "the least of these."