If you hang around here a lot, you’re probably familiar with verses like these:

“He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” – Proverbs 14:31 (NIV)

Or one of my personal favorites:

“‘He defended the cause of the poor and needy… Is not that what it means to know me?’ declares the Lord.” – Jeremiah 22:16 (NIV)

There are so many verses that demand we deal kindly with those in need around us. But here’s another little nugget from the Bible:

“Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” – Leviticus 19:15, NIV (emphasis added)

Do not show partiality to the poor? The first thing that my mind jumps to is, “God, is this really a big problem? People being too nice to the poor?”

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What is Evangelism?

Have you ever wondered how Compassion, an openly evangelical organization, is able to work in Muslim or Hindu countries where evangelism is illegal? I have.

The other day I had an opportunity to spend an hour with a couple of our field staff, Mathew from India and Kevin from Bangladesh, and I asked them this question:

How can Compassion work in India or Bangladesh or Indonesia?

Here is what they said …

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A Child in the Midst

What if a child had been in the room during the penning of the Declaration of Independence?

Do you think our founding fathers would have addressed the importance of children by adding a line stating they were seeking independence “for the future of our children?”

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A Field Perspective on Sponsor Tours

This e-mail from Samuel Llanes, our field communication specialist in Guatemala, about his recent experience accompanying a sponsor tour gave me a new perspective on sponsor visits.

We’ve talked a lot about how a sponsor tour impacts the sponsor and how it impacts the child, but this e-mail made me realize a whole other aspect: how it impacts the universal Body of Christ.

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Last summer, heavy rains poured into the village where 12-year-old Arpita lives. The ground, already saturated from previous rains, left nowhere else for the waters to go … so the entire village flooded. Muddy water, one foot deep, filled Arpita’s home.

When you live in extreme poverty, access to clean water is hard to come by, but filthy water seems to make its way to your door with great ease.

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Maila’s Dream

I’m willing to bet that every person, at some point during your involvement with Compassion, ponders some variation of the following question:

Does Compassion’s ministry really work? Compassion knows how to share stories, but how do I know it’s actually making the difference they claim?

Guess what? We’ve wondered the same thing. So 11 years ago we set out to get proof.

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Are You for Real?

It’s after work and I’m in my business casual, walking through the mall having just bought a not-so-scrumptious dinner of Sbarro’s pizza when I see a sad sight before my eyes.

A girl, probably about 12 years old, of the tomboyish type with short brown hair, is kinda hobbling along. Her left leg is in a cast of some sort. It crosses my mind that I’d seen this girl a bit earlier, walking in the same condition — looking rather lost with a super sad face. Destitute was the word that came to mind. Well, not really destitute as far as her clothes went, just the expression on her face was.

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I Didn’t Think I Would Cry

We arrived half an hour earlier than scheduled and did not expect for our sponsored child to be there. “Edwin!” I heard a staff member howl, and from the tone of her voice I knew right away that our child was already there waiting. She came an hour early. I looked to where the voice came from and there she was, smiling, walking towards me with a card in her hand. I walked to get the card and knelt before her. My wife followed closely behind.

“Are you Shan?” I asked.

She nodded and gave the cutest smile.

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Throw-Aways

I’ve been putting off writing this post. There are some things that are just easier not to think about.

They’re called “throw-aways,” people whom the world has no use for. Children who don’t have anyone to feed them, youth with no identification papers, people with no options. So the world finds a use for them.

There are more slaves in the world today than there were in the entire trans-atlantic slave trade of the 1800s. Approximately 1.2 million children are trafficked each year into exploitive labor, such as agriculture work, prostitution, or child soldiers. 2 million children currently are forced to work as prostitutes.

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