Congo Helping Hands, Inc.

- One of my favorite podcasts is How I Built This, by Guy Raz. The program is about how modern-day entrepreneurs that started companies such as Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, Dippin' Dots, Zappos, Airbnb, Yelp, just to name a few. I've listened to about a hundred of the 179 episodes. At the close of each episode, Guy Raz asks a now-successful entrepreneur how much would he contribute his success to hard work or his knowledge or skill and how much to luck? I have never heard anyone give themself more than half of the credit for his successful company. I believe that a person or nation, who gives itself too much credit, runs the risk of trusting themselves too much and sadly, having contempt for others. In the Gospel According to Luke, chapter 18, versus 9-14 tells the parable of two men praying. He, Jesus, also told this parable to someone who trusted in themself and that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt. Two men went up to a temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying this. "God, I thank you that I am not like the others. "Thieves, rogues, adulterers, and even a tax collector. "I have fasted twice a week, I've given a tenth "of all my income." But the tax collector, standing far away, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other. For all who have exalted themselves will be humbled. But all who have humbled themselves, will be exalted. I attribute the failure of Congo to the luck of an abundance of natural resources. But others attribute their failure to corruption, ignorance, poor governance, and et cetera. In the early 2000's, the Presbyterian Church of Congo produced a document entitled "Our Riches Have Made Us Poor". Please pray that Congo's resources are used to benefit its poor citizens.