{"id":758,"date":"2010-11-04T09:38:27","date_gmt":"2010-11-04T09:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2010\/11\/how-to-tell-if-you-are-crazy.html"},"modified":"2010-11-04T09:38:27","modified_gmt":"2010-11-04T09:38:27","slug":"how-to-tell-if-you-are-crazy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2010\/11\/how-to-tell-if-you-are-crazy.html","title":{"rendered":"Let’s take the “crazy” out of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman broke political fundraising records by donating $119 million<\/a> to her campaign to become California’s governor. Whitman may have spent up to $175 million<\/a> on her campaign.<\/p>\n

She lost the election, proving that although “Buy It Now<\/b><\/i>” works on Ebay, it doesn’t always work in politics.<\/p>\n

Is spending this amount of money to get elected to public office crazy? <\/p>\n

$175 million can sponsor 42,892 orphans through Children’s HopeChest for 10 years. <\/b><\/p>\n

We’re about to enter one of my favorite seasons–Christmas. Anyone close to me knows how much I enjoy the holiday season, and really wish I could live inside the pages of a Dickens Christmas story. <\/p>\n

But Christmas brings a crazy of its own. <\/b><\/p>\n

While we might not spend $175 million on Christmas presents for our families, Americans are projected to spend $447 billion<\/a> this holiday season. <\/b>(That’s 2,500 Meg Whitman campaigns and 10 years of sponsorship for 109 million orphans at HopeChest). <\/i><\/p>\n

Is spending this amount of money on Christmas presents crazy?<\/p>\n

This Christmas, I want to challenge readers to consider how they can make Christmas more meaningful than just spending statistics.<\/p>\n

<\/b>In a few weeks, I am going to announce a major Christmas campaign to help 5,000 children who need food, water, protection from trafficking, and education in primary schools. <\/p>\n

During that campaign, we’re recruiting a team of people who will commit to raise $500 from their friends and family. We’ll give you a Web site and the tools to email all of your contacts. We even help you write the message and integrate with your Facebook.<\/p>\n

All you have to do is be willing to share a little piece of your Christmas with a child who will literally get nothing this year.<\/p>\n

Consider that the statistics I’ve shared with you are all about the wealth of America, measured in dollars. The statistics facing orphans are measured in the billions of lives. <\/p>\n

<\/b>Each kid has a story. And right now that story is messed up. It’s s story filled with abuse and malnutrition and lack of opportunity. But we can change that story for these kids.<\/p>\n

<\/b>This Christmas, get really crazy and ask your friends and family to spend their Christmas dollars on the poor. Be the one that shows them that Christmas is more than a gift wrapped box. It’s about God changing the story of history by sending His son Jesus into the world.<\/p>\n

I’ll have more details later, but if this is something you’d like to do with us, leave a comment or question on the blog. And also leave your ideas about how to make Christmas about more than spending and gifts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman broke political fundraising records by donating $119 million to her campaign to become California’s governor. Whitman may have spent up to $175 million on her campaign. She lost the election, proving that although “Buy It Now” works on Ebay, it doesn’t always work in politics. Is spending…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-swaziland"],"yoast_head":"\nLet's take the "crazy" out of Christmas - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2010\/11\/how-to-tell-if-you-are-crazy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let's take the "crazy" out of Christmas - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Earlier this year, former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman broke political fundraising records by donating $119 million to her campaign to become California’s governor. 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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1886,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions\/1886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}