Andy Rowell

Author: andy.rowell

  • Christians should pay attention to the COVID relief bill in Congress because it could help the poor

    With Trump's impeachment over, "there is not much news going on." But I recommend paying attention to the bill in Congress because:
    (a) it is possible with the filibuster almost nothing else will pass in the next four years, and
    (b) this could dramatically help poor people.
    👇

    It is impossible to overstate the difference between the people struggling in the United States and those who are doing well. The stock market indices are at all time highs. The constant talk on CNBC is of large and startup companies being so rich there is worry about a bubble.

    People who have had money in the stock market in 2020 have reaped massive returns. And rich people have not been able to spend as much money on vacations, entertainment, and eating out so they have been spending it on nicer homes and on saving and investing their cash.

    Meanwhile, 15% of workers have been directly hurt by the COVID recession.
    https://twitter.com/hshierholz/status/1357692597469253634
    Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell (nominated by President Trump) says unemployment in January was close to 10%, which is horrendous.

    This 10% drop in employment is worse than other recessions.

    And jobs are coming back more slowly now.

    18% of households with children sometimes or often didn't have enough to eat in the past week in December! And this number was just going up!

    https://twitter.com/arelisrhdz/status/1354462341857947653

    See my recent January 26th thread about who to consider learning from with regard to policy solutions.

    As Christians, we can certainly jump in as private citizens and churches to meet needs. However, we can also advocate that government assist with helping people through effective means like SNAP benefits (food stamps).

    See: @rebeccavallas @laurenlbauer

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-biden-is-expanding-snap/id994153765?i=1000508803822

    Biblical support:

    See also my Jan 17th thread about the minimum wage.
    https://twitter.com/AndyRowell/status/1350877878553083905
    and today @wilsonhartgrove tries to explain the plight of the poor who work multiple jobs.

    Note too that the estimates by the Congressional Budget Office that raising the minimum wage to $15 would cost jobs is exaggerated.
    https://twitter.com/arindube/status/1358888317622755329,
    https://twitter.com/arindube/status/1359375749426212864,

    For those appalled by the idea of government assistance, note the leading conservative Republican thinkers (Brad Wilcox, Yuval Levin, Ramesh Ponnuru, Ross Douthat) are open to the massive payments Mitt Romney proposed to assist families with children.

    Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on February 15, 2021.

  • The use of humor by leaders, professors, and pastors

    In my class sessions this week, there was a lot of laughter. Surely that helps students wanting to attend. But online and offline, I have tried not to use sarcasm. With humor, we can easily confuse and hurt. Self-deprecating humor (about mistakes I've made) is usually safe.

    But as a professor or as a pastor or as a leader of a meeting, you are NOT a comedian. The point is not to get laughs. If you start trying for that, you waste people's time and skew the focus.
    But sincerely saying how you learned a lesson in the past is useful (and sometimes🤣).

    See:

    For example, I told stories about how I was a pastor and seminary student but was told I needed to develop relationships with non-Christians so I tried with the barber but it did not really work (and now I'm bald!) and talking to women at the gym who thought I was creepy.

    I also told about how when I was a pastor and we had lots of homeless people visit our church for handouts and we worked hard on comprehensive solutions. But also I found the people especially loved cookies and lemonade.

    Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on January 15, 2021.

  • On why dieting and exercise and trying to look good and be fit and thin may not have as much to do with excellence as having a paunch, serving others, taking walks, and eating meals with people

    On why dieting and exercise and trying to look good and be fit and thin may not have as much to do with excellence as having a paunch, serving others, taking walks, and eating meals with people.

    I have been reading about diets and people trying to lose weight. Apparently almost any diet “works” the first two weeks if you haven’t been eating carefully.
    BUT then it is slow (and therefore harder to stay with).
    AND regular bingeing on deprivation hurts your body long-term.

    From a Christian perspective, trying to “look good” is not really something we’re supposed to be focused on. We are specifically told in the New Testament not to worry about nice clothing, fashionable hairstyles, jewelry, or impressive physical exercise.

    Often people *say*: “I just want to be healthy” but it seems like they are rather interested in their appearance. They spend a huge amount of time and money on working out, the right clothes, and healthy food; and less time reading, caring for others, and socializing.

    I wonder if it is worth spending massive amounts of time on your body when this 2020 study found https://bmj.com/content/368/bmj.l6669 people (at 50) with no healthy habits lived free of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, & cancer until 74. With good habits, people lived to 81-84 without them.

    It is preferable to live from ages 74-84 without those health issues. But it is also misguided to deprive and discipline your self for decades just “for health.”

    And, it seems to me, often it is the fitness-obsessed people who have the most health issues in their 20’s-40’s!

    Where I am coming from is a heritage of Christians (evangelical Mennonites in the Midwest) who worked hard and enjoyed dessert a lot and were not particularly thin, nor were they fitness buffs. But most lived really long lives and were great people.

    I will also say that in my experience, there is no correlation between “fit and thin” leaders, pastors, and professors, and quality thoughtful work (though our culture constantly suggests that the marathon runners are more disciplined and productive).

    There *is* in my experience a positive correlation between those who are *active* with quality thoughtful work, if that *activity* is trying-to-help-others. But they often have a belly! Looking good is not that important to them. They care more about sharing meals with others.

    So find friends and a spouse who are active doing positive things (church and volunteering)—not on looking good or even “being healthy” (which I worry is code word for the former). And raise your kids to be active in activities (band, team sports, musicals, Scouts, Lego team).

    And eat meals with people as often as you can! Try a variety of foods! You’ll be happier.

    And do physical activities that need to get done (!) (playing with kids, lawn mowing, cooking, food shopping, laundry, cleaning, snow shoveling, leaf raking, and those at work), and a few physical activities you *enjoy* (taking a walk with someone, playing sports).

    Yes, I know that people in our culture initially judge people by their weight but it is WRONG! And once someone and your community gets to know you, they won’t care what you weigh! They will care about your warmth, your love, your unique contributions, you!

    Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on January 18, 2021.