Last book I read... Our Heart for the Poor.. Written by: Brian Houston

We don't have to look very far to realise that there is great need and injustice in the world. Nearly half the world's population live on less than $US2 a day, nearly a billion people entered the century unable to sign their name or read, 850 million people go hungry everyday, with a child dying of malnutrition every five seconds, and an estimated 15 million children have lost one, or both their parents to AIDS.Bobbie and I have been on several trips to Uganda recently and have seen first hand the devastating impact HIV AIDS is having in Africa, and the enormous consequences it's having on a generation. Whilst there, we saw the incredible work Pastors Gary & Marilyn Skinner are doing with widows and orphans through Watoto Ministries. When faced with the sheer size and complexity of the problem it can leave you believing that the need is insurmountable, sometimes preventing us from responding at all. But as Christians, God's Word implores us time and again about our responsibility to the poor.Psalm 41:1 reads, "Blessed is he who considers the poor?" My question is, "Do we?" I wonder how much time do you spend considering the plight of the poor? Is the poor just the homeless person on a city street and those living in poverty in parts of Africa? Perhaps where you live you don't see a whole lot of poverty, so you're not directly confronted by the need to consider the poor. We can sometimes bring our definition of 'poor' to its lowest and most absolute form, which in turn can affect how responsible or involved we feel we should be in bringing answers. When we start thinking of the poor as anyone who is less fortunate than ourselves, we'll never have any difficulty finding people to consider.Considering the poor is the responsibility of a Christian, and it's a responsibility that comes with promise. If we read on in Psalm 41 it says: "Blessed is he who considers the poor; The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him