Using One Word to Fight Your Personal Spiritual Poverty in 2010
Do you talk with God? Or do you talk at Him or to Him? How much of your prayer life, your conversations with God, is about you? You talking. What you want or need. What you think should happen. When you’re listening, are you interested in what’s on God’s mind? Or are you really just listening for God to talk about the subjects you choose?
Continue Reading ›Does My Sponsored Child Really Need My Help?
In all the time and through all the experiences you’ve had with Compassion, have you ever questioned whether the child you sponsor really needs your help?
Have you ever seen a photo of a Compassion-assisted child and thought, “That kid doesn’t look poor. Does he really need Compassion?”
If so, you’re not alone. Those thoughts even enter my mind – The Poverty of ME.
I have a preconceived notion of what abject poverty in the developing world should look like, and it doesn’t involve a DVD player, television or refrigerator.
My preconception doesn’t mean the child isn’t in need. It just means that the child doesn’t seem to be in the type of need that I feel as rewarded in fighting, when compared to other children’s needs.
To me, this is the same thing I face when I look at all the other needs in the world I’m not helping with — the homeless in America, the persecuted church in China, etc.
I can’t help with everything, so I have to make judgment calls based on something, and sometimes that something happens to be appearances.
So in light of this,
Continue Reading ›Would your child’s easy access to e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, etc. affect the level of poverty you perceive your sponsored child enduring?
From the Outside Looking In
Back in May I published a photo and asked you to give it a caption. I also included a little context from the photographer.
“Along the wall outside the Compassion project, many children watched and waited while the other children played and sang. With hundreds and thousands of children needing the hope that Compassion brings, our hearts broke to see the ones that could not be helped. Hundreds more are waiting for their chance to be sponsored, to be given hope, to be shown the love of Christ.” — scfish7
Then recently, I received the following e-mail.
“I read the blog about the children who are registered who are able to sing and enjoy meals while the unregistered ones just stare at them, wishing they were one of them. I have a hard time imagining what this is like.
“Is it like there is a ‘Century Fence,’ so to speak, that separates these two groups, where the unregistered look in and feel sad as they watch the sponsored eat hot meals and be carefree?
“Does this make them feel more unloved?
“Is it appropriate to send a picture or have one on this Web site so I can see what you are talking about? I have a hard time understanding this and maybe a picture would help.”
What are your thoughts? What do the children on the outside looking in feel?
Jesus Laughing – Poverty Transformed
The first time I ever saw this picture of Jesus laughing, I was transfixed.
There’s life in it.
And even now, I still respond to His expressive joy. I laugh. He laughs. He knows how I feel!
This idea that Jesus knows us isn’t just a concept; it’s actually for real (Whoa!), which isn’t quite how I feel when I see a “typical” portrait of Jesus, the kind that defines the image I carry with me when I imagine or speak with Christ.
But now, after two years @compassion (Happy anniversary to me today.), I see Jesus a lot differently. And I see poverty differently.
This is poverty transformed. Do you see the similarities?
Sponsor Letter Photos (Part II)
It’s been eight months since my last sponsor letter photos post, so I felt it was high time to raid our digital library again and round up another batch of photos showing sponsored children reading letters from their sponsors.
Alexander Needs Heart Surgery
Have you ever heard of Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)? Apparently, it’s a congenital heart defect.
If you have a defect in your interatrial septum, the tissue that divides the right side of your heart from the left side, your blood can get confused. And if that happens, you end up with blood that goes where it shouldn’t. That’s bad.
In a normal heart, the left ventricle has to produce enough pressure to pump blood throughout the entire body, but the right ventricle has to produce only enough pressure to pump blood to the lungs.
In the case of a large defect, this pressure difference means that blood from the left atrium can flood and enlarge the right side of the heart and, if left untreated, can result in heart failure.
That’s ASD in a nutshell. And this is why I tell you.
Alexander is an 8-year-old Kenyan boy who has ASD. He is in the third grade and is the youngest child in a family of five. Because his heart has been pumping deoxygenated blood to his growing body for his entire life, Alexander is smaller than most children his age.
In August 2008, during an evaluation at the child development center, a pediatrician noticed that Alexander has a heart murmur. Follow-up tests in Nairobi identified the birth defect and recommended a cardiac catheterization procedure and open heart surgery.
But Alexander’s parents are peasant farmers, and his mother sells fruit at the market to earn extra income. They survive on $13.70 per month.
$13.70 a month is barely adequate to meet the family’s basic needs, let alone pay for open heart surgery.
At this point, heart failure is a real possibility for Alexander. However, studies have shown that patients with a surgically repaired ASD have an excellent prognosis, particularly when the operation is done before the age of 25.
But Alexander’s family can’t afford the operation. It costs $8,303.
Alexander has been waiting to receive the surgery for several months now, since early December, but he can’t wait any longer. His condition has recently worsened – which made me think of something Amanda suggested back in February.
“I am just kicking around a few ideas here. What if Compassion had a “Spotlight of the Week” – or “Spotlight of the Month?” It could be either a child (medical need?), family, or small community need. It could even be in the area of the global financial crisis, disaster relief, Child Survival Program, or some other facet of Compassion. For example, one week you could highlight the (global food crisis) need of a community in Uganda to have goats or seeds for crops (or both). After the donations have been given, you could easily follow up with a story in the blog to share the results of the giving.”
So, Alexander has a need. And our objective is to give him a normal heart. Can we do this for him?
Make a donation to help pay for Alexander’s surgery. (Update: May 21, 2009 – You did it! And more. You contributed around $10,000. I expect to have the exact amount tomorrow.)
Thank you for loving this child.
As I receive updates on how Alexander is doing, I will share them with you. I can’t promise you updates with any degree of regularity though. I can just promise that there will be a follow-up.
Rwandan Genocide: Where Was God?
In a country identified as 90 percent Christian, Christ-like behavior essentially vanished as children and babies were hacked apart with machetes. What happened to God? Where was He?
Drinking Bottled Water is Not a Sin
Take a swig of this.
I drink bottled water because I like the convenience and because I like the taste. I LIKE … and every bottle I choose demonstrates what I value most. I value myself.
Drinking bottled water is not a sin, and this post isn’t about guilt, but they are both about perspective. And so I bring you to my perspective for making bottled water a whipping boy.
Bottled water is the embodiment of self-indulgence.
Word of Thanks
A word of thanks to everyone who shared their one word for 2009.
A copy of the 2009 Compassion calendar is being sent to:
- Daryl G. Short, whose word for 2009 is innocence.
- Jolanda, whose word is action.
- Holly Spiotti, who received the word Emmanuel.
- Evelyn, who had on her heart the word nurture.
- Gin, who chose dedication.
Outliers Need Opportunity to Succeed
Malcom Gladwell’s latest book, Outliers, doesn’t mention Compassion once. But it’s still about what Compassion does: We transform lives by giving children in poverty opportunities to succeed.
Fellowship of the Unashamed
I’m a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His and I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.
Your Caption Here
Besides giving a caption for this very cute photo, what country do you think the photo was taken in?
Your caption here
