Workers Everywhere

There are an abundance of workers in the Philippines. Everywhere you go they storm you with helpfulness at the stores, service stations and restaurants. It is their culture. They even pick up your trash at McDonalds and seem offended when you do it yourself. You are taking someones job when you do it. It is kind of like a union mentality without the unions.



I am reading Men at Work , The Craft of Baseball by George F. Will a book I spotted years ago but not enough time to read it. It is a story about baseball. I picked it up at a used bookstore in Davao. In the book Will speaks of a category of government that baseball has contributed to aristocracy, plutocracy and democracy. He calls it "palocracy," government by old pals. I have seen it in the retired firefighters association in Oklahoma City. Baseball is run by men whose lives have been intersecting and entwined for decades. Workers in ministry are an example of that kind of government. It is not negative like the good ole boys club it is strengthening. There is strength in numbers, companionship and combined wisdom.


There are plenty to work in the Philippines and workers in the ministry are available but they cannot make a living doing it. Most of them have to do many other things to supplement their income to make life happen. One pastor's salary in the US could support more than 60 pastors in the Philippines. That seems out of balance to me. I was pleased that when some laymen from Snow Hill gave money to Andrew, my son, to give to some people for a Jeepney to use to make income that they bought that Jeepney for $2,000 and that it has provided income to the pastor's family and two other families in the church for three years. Just a $2,000 investment provided a source of income for three families for three years and continues to provide that opportunity. I asked to drive it but they would not let me. It is too risky. However they took my picture in it and here it is.

CRI pays Ed 75% less than the average pastor in the US and yet with those funds several people are supported. Two are household workers who cooked our food and washed our clothes this week. That seems bad to most Americans and hints at a luxury a person should not be able to afford but it provides for two girls who do not have much future otherwise. It also set Ed and Luz free to do work with people. They also have people at their store who work to provide for their family and at the same time a retirement can be prepared for Ed who is 56. He is assisted by his son Don Don who is working in Barbados as a nurse and sends back funds for investing in land and the store.


The key is that these people are willing and ready to work. They just need an opportunity.