I wish to tell you a story about a voice, a whisper, and a boy named Samuel.
We’ll start with the voice. Echoing through the streets and the slums, it spins a convincing tale of consequence and fate. With loud delivery, it continually shouts that what is seen is what will always be — that lives wrapped in poverty will always be slaves to desperation.
Repetitive in cadence and abrasive in tone, the voice shouts a consistent chant of defeat:
You’ll not leave this place.
You will not know peace.
You’ll not overcome.
You will know defeat.
There is excessive power in the voice; for it seems to shudder and shake the most inward places of the heart. Children are the ones with whom the voice holds the most authority — and they quickly fall in line and repeat the defeated chants.
This is not fiction, nor embellished fact. Oh, that we wish it were.
We see it all the time on the news, don’t we? Children, living in the places far away from our comfortable homes, caught up in slavery rings. Recruited to army ranks. Dodging hunger’s death bullets.
They chase survival through whatever means necessary — begging for scraps, stealing for bread, fighting for life. This is the undeniably true story for millions of children across our world.
Enter the whisper.
The whisper grows in the same dark places where the voice shouts. It builds in the tiny little hearts of the ones who fight for life and beg for food.
Bringing good news, the whisper has a way of deafening the voice with a disruptive message, offering a different tune than the chant of defeat. The whisper sings a compelling victory song:
You will better this place.
You will bring peace.
You’ll know victory.
You will be free.
The whisper holds potential and promises strength. It offers a new and different story, a rebellious notion that what is seen can be overcome by the kindness of God and His followers. It offers a perspective that what is true is what cannot be seen today, but can be known tomorrow.
From where does this whisper come?
It comes from you. It comes from me. It comes from us — the ones who choose to disrupt poverty’s story through small whispers of hope and mighty acts of love. This is truly what sponsorship is — a constant whisper of hope that silences the shouting voice of poverty.
Enter Samuel.
At only 5 years old, the voice had shaken Samuel into obedience. Hunting the streets to survive, young Samuel believed that his future was sealed. He believed his tomorrows would be filled with dealing and stealing — doing whatever it would take to survive. It’s a story that many children believe about themselves.
Yet, Samuel lives a different life today because a whisper made its way into his heart. Through Compassion, the words of a sponsor reached Samuel. Constant letters whispering a song into his life.
It is possible to dream again.
It is possible to have hope.
You can be whoever you want to be.
You can be free.
A whisper built within the heart of Samuel, giving him the courage and opportunity to overcome the voice of poverty. Because of a whisper, Samuel’s life is a loud and celebratory shout of God’s redemption and kindness.
Enter you.
Sponsoring change is, I believe, a declarative act that starts as a whisper and builds into a loud and celebratory shout.
It is about investing in the things of heaven — in things like compassion, belief, and “the least of these.” It’s about disrupting the story that poverty tries to continually tell –about reaching into the dark places, far from our comfortable homes, and shining bright lights of hope and possibility.
Sponsorship is about giving children more than a chance; it’s about giving them a future.
Will you join your voice with the whisper today?
Here are two ways you can join the millions who are sending out whispers of hope that overcome the voice of poverty:
- Sponsor a child today. We have helpful resources to help you discover the child you can immediately impact with constant messages of hope.
- Be a social advocate. Share this post on your Facebook wall, or send it to a friend. Encourage your network to join you in the courageous act of sponsorship.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jake Kaufman is a writer, a dreamer, and a very awkward dancer. He lives in Columbus Ohio, and blogs at jkstories.com on the kingdom and pursuing stories that matter.