Non Celebritity but Famous

It is a shame that the large media spend so much time, money and space on famous celebrities who are famous for being famous. But, we must really like it and tune in or they would not do it.

In a refreshing break from beauty and rascally, Jonathan Alter recently wrote a great story in Newsweek Magazine about a man named Norman Borlaug who is estimated to have saved a billion people from starvation. WOW! When I read the headline I thought Newsweek had made a mistake but they intentionally meant to use a B rather than an M so BILLION was right.

See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19886675/site/newsweek/

I can well remember when the gloom and doom nay sayers of the 1950s and 60s who were predicting economic and social disasters because the population was outgrowing the production of food. They had not considered the advent of scientific research to produce more food; lots more food. Alter writes,

The experts who said peasants would never change their centuries-old ways were wrong. In the mid-1970s, Nobel in hand, Borlaug brought his approach to Communist China, where he arguably had his greatest success. In only a few years, his ideas—which go far beyond seed varieties—had spread around the world and disproved Malthusian doomsday scenarios like Paul Ehrlich's 1968 best seller "The Population Bomb."

In 1960 about 60 percent of the world's people experienced some hunger every year. By 2000 that number was 14 percent, a remarkable achievement. But as Borlaug cautioned at the ceremony in his honor, that still leaves 850 million hungry men, women and children.

Mr. Borlaug is 93 and still thinking creatively. There are millions of Seasoned Believers who have the knowledge, ability and wisdom to make a difference in the world. It would be a stinking shame if they simply stopped thinking and serving to play golf or Canasta all day until they die. That kind of thinking that my friend Kim Terry called, "Shuffle Board Theology" is contrary to God's intention and call. It will lead to depression, hopelessness and early death.

It is time for us to start thinking about how we can FINISH WELL