THis feels weird. I’m on tour (currently in Ohio) to save kids from poverty. And I’m staying at a country club.
We woke up late this morning, walked to the “club house” and ate cheesy fries topped off with bacon, quesadillas, and watched middle-aged white millionaires hit golf balls on the driving range a few yards away from us. On a hill just beyond the fairway stands a home reportedly worth 14 million dollars. At the moment it feels unfair to judge this as excess – what with my stomach full of a yummy thirty dollar lunch and all.
(See the comments on this post. I caused some confusion with this one and do my best to clear it up there.)
It’s not really your excess, but I see your point. Did you decide where you would stay and eat or was that done by someone else? I’m looking at things differently these days too. I’d really like to get a new computer. Not because we NEED another one (we already have 3), but because the new one would be bigger and better with more bells and whistles. Some of which I’d probably never use and certainly don’t need. I’m still vascillating, but I’m getting closer to no. Thanks for helping with this post.
Beth
If you were really worried about the children you would have stayed at a La Quinta and had cold toast and a minuscule bowl of Raisin Bran with 16 month old raisins.
I don’t even know you anymore Shaun.
I’m curious. You are admitting the hypocrisy but at the same time kinda playin’ this off a sort of humor. How do you balance all of this? Is it just a part of what it takes to do the work/ministry? I don’t want to judge you or any of it either but wow, I can’t image those working to help the poorest of the poor who are not in the US enjoying this sort of comfort and wonder if we should reevaluate? And saying it’s part of the game or the system makes me cringe. Which is what I have been told by others.
I’m reading between the lines here and don’t sense humor. Can I just say “ I get it” PRAYING GBU!
Alexis
humor isn’t the right word, but i just sensed a “deflecting”. i appreciate the honesty of the post. shaun surely didn’t have to.
and i guess i just don’t “get it”. anyone care to explain? did compassion set all this up? if so, something just seems a little off.
i just think it would be an interesting discussion. if not here, somewhere.
The promoter is a member of this club and graciously allowed us to stay, at his expense, here in this room thats nicer than what we’re used to.
We don’t pay for rooms, nor does Compassion International. It’s the promoter’s choice. We ask for a room on par with Hampton Inn or Fairfield Inn. That’s all. We’re on the road enough that a good night’s sleep and a hot shower are requested – just requested. When stay someplace really nice like this instead I always feel a little strange about it – even if the room is donated to the promoter for us to stay in. It just feels weird to have it so well while speaking on behalf of those who don’t have anything at all. Not wrong. Just weird.
Maybe I’m just rationalizing here but what if we look at a gift like this country club room of mine and that great lunch as just that: a gift. Like expensive perfume poured on smelly feet.
I don’t know. That thinking helps ME sleep just fine tonight.
The feather pillows help too. ; )
-SG
To be fair…
I deleted the first line of this post, because the humor wasn’t gotten and was out of place. My fault. This post originally began with the words “The hypocrisy is undeniable.”
Perhaps something like “This feels hypocritical” or “Why do I feel like a hypocrite” would have been a better choice on my part. Or just “This feels weird.” Any of these are more accurate descriptions of what’s going on in my head today.
I get in a hurry. I say dumb things. Sorry for the confusion.
I guess since Shaun was brutally honest with his feelings, I’ll try and do the same. Yep, I confess, I am the member of the club and I arranged for the room for Shaun and Brody. Hypocritical? Not in my opinion. First of all, the room rate for members is not out of line with the aforementioned Hampton or Fairfield Inns. Second, the location is ideal for the venues on this leg of the tour. Third, and maybe a little more difficult to digest is to understand that my membership to this club is used primarily to further business relationships that provide revenue to my business, which in turn uses ALL profits to support various ministries throughout the world, my personal favorite being Compassion International. Our support of this tour is just a small portion of the expenditures in support of Compassion International over the last several years. All funded, in part, because of, rather than in spite of, this club membership.
I sincerely believe that we as followers of Christ can inadvertently create a division within the family of God when we judge others based upon perceptions of wealth or excess without knowing the individuals, their motivations, their heart, and their lives.
I understand the concern that many of you may have as you read this post and related comments. For that, I apologize and hope that your questions and frustration will be directed at me rather than at Shaun. I have met many artists over the last several years and no one has impressed me as much as Shaun in terms of his sense of purpose and dedication to follow through on the mission that God has placed before him. I feel blessed and energized due to the past several days and, other than the “fallout” here from Shaun’s honesty and sharing, I have no regrets.
27 children were sponsored while Shaun was staying at our club. Our company’s cost, per child saved, is negligible. By my math, less than half of the cost of that lunch. Seems like a bargain to me.
i am so lame. I had planned on seeing you on thursday for weeks, but it was finals week and I was helping my sister study…catch ya in august. lame…lame…lame.
I’m glad that there are Christians on different social, economic, and business levels, because the last time I checked, there were millionaires in America dying without Christ, just as there were poor kids in foreign lands dying without Him.
Strategically, we need to be everywhere. And we need to be responsible with what we’re given. I’ve seen people obnoxiously self righteous and prideful because of their “poverty.” And I’ve seen others with a much more humble attitude while managing great wealth and status that God entrusted to them, knowing that “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.” (Luke 12:48)
Providing such a nice room at such a good rate sounds like smart management to me. And it sounds like a great break for a couple guys who endure a lot of exhausting hours on the road and a lot of lumpy beds and Mc meals along the way. Not being used to and never asking for anything more than that from town to town, it would definitely feel funny to be in such nice surroundings, especially when the tour is about saving impoverished kids. If this level of accommodation were demanded in every city on this tour, that would be hypocrisy. But this sounds to me as if it’s a sweet treat on a long, tiring road.
Paul, thanks for being so good to my friend and thank you for arranging that concert. I have a feeling those 27 kids weren’t the only ones who were blessed that night.
n
When Jesus send out the disciples two by two, he told them to stay where they were offered a place and to eat what they were given. We think of that as “be thankful for what little you’re given no matter what”, but sometimes the lavish love of God is shown in situations like this.
If God has someone annoint your feet with expensive perfume, you don’t say, “That perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor.” You say, “Thank you”. He owns it all, you know. This is just a blessing for Shaun. It wasn’t requested. It was a gift he didn’t deserve, just like the lavish gift of Jesus; we don’t deserve Him either.