Song of Hope
He is the most remarkable storyteller there is. More than that, the brilliant author. He speaks and there is light. From His voice comes life.
His workmanship becomes ingrained within our being. He weaves stories into our lives. Stories of triumph, of sorrow, of sheer joy. Stories of hope.
Reading your stories of hope captivated me as well as resurrected a story of hope I have seen in my life, in a place before Compassion.
When He gave me this story, my life became enriched. My heart now scarred with such sacred radiance:
Benson’s New Classroom
Benson wakes up at 6:00 a.m. every Saturday excited that he will see his friends and learn Bible lessons. On this particular Saturday, the children at his child development center learn a life-lesson, and child development director, Mercy, takes them through the devotion.
It’s chilly and the teacher starts the lesson. As drum beats fill the air, children fill with excitement — the right mood for a story.
Teacher Mercy starts,
“Once upon a time there were two buckets that hung by the Simenya Well. They kept on being drawn by the residents of Simenya. One late afternoon, tired with the day’s work, they took time to rest and spoke to each other.”
At this point Teacher Mercy coughs and holds two buckets as visual aid while pointing them to the children.
In the background, one hears a symphony of coughs and sneezes from the children because of the weather. Her “classroom” is outside.
She continues,
“One of the buckets was always grumbling. It never looked at life cheerfully. On this particular day, as it rested outside the well it said to the other bucket, ‘I am tired of the life we lead. However full we are when we are drawn up out of the well, we are sent back empty again. This makes me disappointed and dissatisfied.’
The second bucket looked at life differently. It did not grumble because it looked at the positive side of life. It said, ‘That’s true, but I always look at it this way — that however empty we are when we are set down, we are always full when draw up.'”
Teacher Mercy declares the end of the story, looks at the children, sees the cloudy skies, and whispers a prayer to God, “Please Lord, help us build classrooms to house these children.”
For the last three years, trees randomly placed in the Simenya Child Development Center church compound have been serving as “classrooms” for the children. Unfortunately the days can be nightmares for some of the children in the center, especially when they come to the wall-less classrooms, during extreme weather conditions.
According to Mercy,
“The long rainy seasons fall in March to May, while the short rainy seasons are during the months of August to September and sometimes trickle into October.
These are dreaded months by children, teachers and parents alike. One is likely to meet children shivering in the chilly days with hands tightly clasped across their chest, to preserve the little body temperature.
It is during this period, we have seen children affected by periodic fever. These are the times when we see children walk out of class or even stay away from the classes, with parents citing fear of fever attack.”
During the hot season months, we have not been spared either. This area has characteristic dry spells, which leaves the indigenous trees without leaves. Scorching sunbeams through the sketchy branches penetrate the out-door classes. Because of this, Simenya Child Development Center has made numerous efforts to address this immense challenge.
Totally Free Music: Kindgom Coming by Shaun Groves
UPDATE: The free music download period has concluded, but you can still release a child from poverty in Jesus’ name. To sponsor please visit compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/
After seven years of selling music on those little silver discs, I’m giving it away. My new song, “Kingdom Coming,” is totally free. But it might cost you something else.
Let me explain.
The song, I hope, will move many who hear it to give to those in tremendous need around the world, and right next door.
“Kingdom Coming” was inspired by my many years of partnering with Compassion to release children from poverty in 25 of the world’s poorest countries.
Four years ago, after seeing for myself how far a little goes in the developing world, my wife and I were inspired to sell our house, cut off the cable and make several other changes in an effort to simplify our lives so that others could simply live.
Because of those changes our expenses are so low that we’ve been able to do nothing for the last four years but sing and speak (100 times a year) and blog on behalf of Compassion, at no charge to the public.
In that time thousands of children have been sponsored through Compassion and have been educated, fed, healed, played with, and told about the love of Jesus as a result.
My hope is that thousands of you will enjoy “Kingdom Coming”, and then decide to meet the physical and spiritual needs of a child through a local church in the developing world by sponsoring them.
Helping me spread “Kingdom Coming” is helping bring the Kingdom (God’s will done on earth as it is in heaven) to the developing world.
Thank you for listening, giving and passing this music and message on.
Favorite Bible Verses
My sponsored child’s favorite Bible verses are . . .
Dominican Republic Blog Trip
And they’re off! Well, not yet. But they will be on November 2.
Be a part of the five-day experience (November 2-7) as these bloggers learn and talk about our ministry in the Dominican Republic (DR) first hand.
- Melanie – BigMama
- Jennifer Donovan – 5 Minutes for Mom
- Mary Ostyn – Owlhaven.net
- Tim Challies – Challies.com
- Shaun Groves – Shlog
- Brian Seay – A Simple Journey
- Marlboro Man, from ThePioneerWoman.com
We encourage you to visit each blog daily to find out what’s happening in the DR.
Would you like to be a Compassion Blogger?
Submit your blog, and add your voice to theirs. Tell the world how you are helping release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.
New Fall Fashion
It’s fall here in Colorado. The time when the trees and wildflowers turn vibrant yellow and red. The time of brisk blue skies and chilly nights and warm sweaters. The time when I stand in front of my closet and complain, much like a 14-year-old, “I have nothing to wear!”
Recently, I had a chance for a new perspective. Two of my coworkers here at Compassion (one of them being the lovely Becky Tschamler), and I decided to form a wardrobe co-op. Once a month, we get together and swap our clothes, quenching our thirst for new clothes, our own little Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, if you will. Monday was our second swap.
What an eye-opener to have friends see your possessions, which you had been suspiciously eying and disapproving, and proclaim how nice they are and how they’d love to borrow them. It left me feeling a bit silly and quite grateful for what I realize I’ve received. If my fellow coworkers think my wardrobe is nice, what would, say, a worker at a Compassion child development center think of it?
What about you?
You might think shoes and belts are silly, but what’s “your thing” that you sometimes feel a bit deficient in?
- Your car?
- Your home?
- Your kitchen?
- Your movie collection?
- Your out-of-date TV?
Look at it through someone else’s eyes. Through your sponsored child’s eyes. How would they see it?
When I look at my life through someone else’s perspective, a child, a person from another country…and especially God, I realize just how blessed I am and just how much I can bless others. Instead of clamoring for more, more, more, I can be content and focus on what I can do for others. Thank you, God.
Mistaff Meets His Sponsor
Stories and photos By Consodyne Buzabo, Compassion Uganda field communications specialist
An air of anticipation and excitement hung over the Muzahura Child Development Center on the morning of August 26, 2008. While any day at the child development center is always a day the children look forward to each week, this day was going to be extra out of the ordinary.
Special guests were coming to visit. On this day, 13-year-old Mistaff had a mixture of trepidation and expectancy coursing through him. Questions swirled through his mind. “What would they think?” “What do they look like?” “What will I say?”
On this bright and sunny day, Mistaff was waiting to meet his sponsor for the very first time. (more…)
One Million Prayers
Whenever we pay attention to just the news and not God’s Word, it can get depressing, can’t it?! Headlines with doom-filled words like depression and recession and deflation are daunting.
But I recently got an e-mail from our senior vice president of international program, and he included this verse, which helped me take a long deep breath. (I hold my breath when I get stressed. Bad habit.)
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)
The peace of God. Exhale.
Which transcends all understanding (even that of economic forecasters). Inhale.
Will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Exhale.
We are guarded, we are protected by God. We don’t know what will happen in this world or with this economy, but we do know that God has us in his hands. And as David Dahlin reminded us, we have the prayers of a million children surrounding us. All our church partners around the world and all Compassion-assisted children have been asked to pray. To pray for God’s peace, provision, security, direction and wisdom for us. Can you imagine? I’m humbled right down to my marrow.
A colleague from Kenya, Barrack, shared this message recently:
Throughout the chaos of our economic situation, we should not worry because Compassion will be protected. Although Compassion is accustomed to helping the children, during this season it will be the prayers and the tears of the children that will protect Compassion.
Wow. Talk about a cloud of witnesses surrounding us. I can think of no better prayer partner. With these little brothers and sisters, let us throw off everything that hinders us and, holding their small hands, run with perseverance, our eyes fixed on Jesus.
Separating the Best From the Rest
Compassion is one of only 45 charities to have received seven consecutive 4-star ratings from Charity Navigator, the largest independent evaluator of charities in the U.S.
Amar Walks In
And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:16-21 (NIV)
Yeah, sure. The oppressed are released and the poor are getting good news. Sure. Have you looked around lately?! The economy is bad, prices are soaring and our financial system got caught with its regulatory pants around its free-market ankles. AIDS is rampant, people are starving and the most lethal of diseases is carried on the wings of mosquitoes. How do you fight a mosquito? Forget about atomic bombs and IEDs. Try disarming a mosquito.
I feel this way most days.
But not today. Today a kid named Amar strolled into the story (the story that seems to revolve around me). Amar introduced himself outside a massive dump on the outskirts of Delhi. That dump was his home.
The son of migrants, Amar was born into one of the lowest castes of India. A death sentence.
When he was young he spent his days rummaging through a dangerous pile of debris that stretched on for miles, getting paid a few rupees for a day’s work (that would be about $.20/day). But today Amar is preparing to finish high school and plans to attend technical college as an IT engineering student.
Amar is smart. He speaks Hindi and English with ease and clarity. And what is most impressive is the hope and energy in his eyes, the kind that comes from knowing you were created special by God. He understands his worth.
How the change? What kind of transformation occurred? What kind of miracle? The miracle was a few ordinary Christians who started a Compassion child development center on the outskirts of the dump. They poured years of love and effort into Amar (along with many more children). The center staff got an official birth certificate for Amar, something extremely difficult for poor migrants to attain. With that certificate he was able to start attending a local government school and Amar has stuck with it all the way.
I think Amar gets it. He understands what Jesus was talking about when he said the oppressed would be set free. Against all the odds God’s redemptive work pushes, pokes and claws its way through the systems and circumstances that strip a man of his worth. No wonder they call this good news. Amar is good news.
The Story of Pablo Moises
Pablo is a 13-year-old boy who lives in the city of Danli, located at the east side of the capital city, Tegucigalpa. His life has been marked by a rare illness that has caused him the loss of his hair and eyebrows since he was five years old.
Because of this Pablo faced depression and nervous breakdowns while growing up. His mother, Petronila, was his support during this time of adjustment. Perhaps the most difficult time for him was school time; the idea of attending school without hair was a hard situation for Pablo. (more…)
A Different Visit to the Doctor
In the colloquial language of Ecuador, a doctor’s visit means a very short visit, a courtesy visit. It’s more like a social ritual through which someone shows his gentleness to others. The name also reflects the short length of a regular visit to the doctor in the city, where this encounter — usually impersonal and cold — lasts only for a couple of minutes.
But Dr. Pablo’s visits are not like that.
