Health Care and Chainsaws

Although I enjoy discussing politics a great deal, I've stayed away from commenting on the health care debate that has gripped our nation over the past year. I came across an article this week, however, that has inspired me to write.

I'd like to start by making two statements about my stance here:
1. If you're hoping or waiting for the government to solve all your problems or to make anything perfect, you're a fool.

2. If you're waiting for the invisible hand of the market to solve all problems or for individuals to use their freedom to act responsibly in their own best interest, you're equally foolish.

I suppose that makes me an independent. . .

Anyway, the article I read was about faith-based health care cooperatives. These people don't have health insurance - they belong to these co-ops and collectively take care of each others' medical bills. They are asked to donate a monthly amount, and each month they are given the address and names of others in the co-op who need that money for their medical bills. When they themselves have medical bills, they submit their need to the leaders of the coop, who funnel enough money their way to cover the expenses. Though the article emphasizes the faith required in others in the coop coming through, there has yet to be a medical expense that wasn't covered for a member.


This is the way a church should act. The church shouldn't be looking for a free market solution or a government solution. A church should take care of its own. The members of the Acts church did this. They took care of those who needed care, shared what they had, and supported where needed. There was no unmet need among them. Why doesn't this exist more? When I need my car fixed, why don't I turn to those in my church who can meet that need? Or when I need a baby-sitter? Or a chainsaw? Or financial advise? Or tutor? Or snowblower?


Imagine the sheer amount of money spent by individuals in the private sector when qualified individuals who can fill the need exist in the church? Why does everybody own one of everything, when conceivably all members of a church could share their possessions that they've hoarded. I know I sound like I'm advocating for some hippy utopian paradise. Maybe I am. It doesn't sound all that illogical to me, though. It's working for the thousands getting their health "insurance" this way.


All of this got me to thinking about my small town and how my community of people here acts like this vision I have for church. This week my neighbor came over and picked the excess grass off my lawn with his riding lawn mower, helped me fertilize my lawn, and brought his chainsaw over to work on a bush that needed taken out. That same friend and another sacrificed a day of their Spring Break with their heads under my sink trying to fix a plumbing problem. Another community member shows up with his 4-wheeler when the snow is really deep to help me with my driveway. Last summer I told another neighbor about some landscaping work I was doing. When I came back outside after a break, I found landscaping materials cut exactly the size I needed sitting in my lawn. This same man was out on the coldest morning of the year, trying to help a friend of mine who was staying at my house start her car.


I've been on roofs doing manual labor in the middle of hot July days, I've taken care of pets, and other odd jobs around here. I won't ever come close to repaying the work done and the equipment borrowed in my community. When I moved here I was told there is only one rule: Don't keep score.


My family is terrific like this, too. That's why I'm so glad that I live close to our families, glad that I didn't have to relocate this year. They love with sacrificial love, and they've saved Emily and I on an almost daily basis. Good families, like good communities, do this. I have both.

I guess I believe good churches should do this too. Churches are great when it comes to weddings and funerals and major tragedies. I'm not saying that. I just don't see it often in the day to day needs people have that could be taken care of by other church members. Instead of waiting on the government or relying on ourselves, why not help each other in the day to day? Like with health coverage. Or chainsaw work on a spring afternoon.