Tag: faith

Bringing Baseball to the Batey: Rained Out

Yesterday, I made it into Batey Aleman, during a complete rainout. Tropical Depression Bonnie paid a visit and the rains haven’t ceased.

Right before going to the batey, I stopped at the Compassion Dominican Republic office and saw the 87 boxes of Rawlings and Nike equipment lining n entire wall three feet deep. I also learned quite a bit about Albert Pujols involvement in all the details of this league, including the discussions he had with Nike and Rawlings about what the team would look like.

Sponsored Child, Radio Evangelist

It is 6 a.m. in the community of Talanga, just 45 kilometers from Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras, and the radio program for children, “Oasis of Love,” is about to start.

One of the commentators is 12-year-old Olvin, the voice for the children in this special radio program produced by his church pastor.

The radio program is organized by the Iglesia de Dios de la Profecia and intends to spread the message of God’s love to every child, through music, Bible stories, a prayer time, and a question and answer time — an important part of the program in which Olvin has a big participation as he expresses his comments over the questions, and later prays for the children’s needs.

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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?

Faith Rising

In December, The Times Online published an article entitled “As an Atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God.” 

I was as intrigued to read the article as I was skeptical to see what the inevitable “spin” would be. Come to find out, Matthew Parris, the author, was born in Africa and raised throughout the country, and was personally familiar with Christian missionaries who often lived and worked in villages close to his own.

As a frequent contributor to The Times, he was asked to go to Malawi to see the charity that the paper supports. In his first few paragraphs, Parris comments that:

“. . .  travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too:  one I’ve been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I’ve been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God.

“Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa:  sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.”

Reading that ignited myriad thoughts and questions, and for a brief moment, I sat in simple silence as I basked in God’s love for this man. 

“An observation I have been unable to avoid since my childhood” is nothing short of the gracious, patient and relentless love of a real God gently knocking on the door of his heart waiting to be invited in. 

The “spiritual transformations” he has witnessed and has humbly admitted to, despite his own personal belief to not believe, must be speaking louder in the halls of his heart than he realizes. 

He goes on to say that the change and impact that Christianity has brought to so many people, tribes and nations throughout Africa is undeniable and is worthy of recognition. He remarks that “only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it.” 

So why am I telling you this?

Because I am so encouraged. I am encouraged because God is still seen and reflected in and through the lives of His children. Despite the turbulent circumstances that plague our world, the love and light of Christ is recognized. I am encouraged to see that the Word is in fact living, active and true. 

The most encouraging thing is knowing that Compassion is a part of the change and impact that so many are seeing, believers and nonbelievers alike. We work in many of the countries that Parris mentions, and while he may not have seen our children, he did notice and feel the difference that the Spirit of the Lord makes.

So perhaps what he felt and what he saw was the result of faith rising in the hearts and lives of little ones who are in fact being used to make a lasting impact and change. Maybe what he witnessed was the result of a child’s pure and innocent faith being proclaimed in a way that only children can demonstrate.

It could be that the children we are serving in Africa are in fact now serving us in America.

Letters From Kenya

It amazes me how often God uses the “least of these” among us to teach us valuable life lessons. Having worked here for a little more than four months, I have already experienced this phenomenon many times, as the children we serve “speak” to me about things such as hope, faith, love and trust.

Last week, they spoke to me again from a place where you wouldn’t expect to find much of anything at all except despair, doubt, hatred and cynicism. (more…)

Faith of a Child

I think of my own sponsored child who, in his very first letter at the age of seven, told me of his intention to be an artist. This is a little boy in rural Africa who had never owned a box of crayons or a set of paints in his life. But what does that matter to a child who has faith?

Doing a New Thing

It is officially my last Tuesday in the office, and I am … speechless. Where did the last six weeks go?

Despite the fact that there are only three days left in this work week, it feels as though there is two weeks worth of work to be done. I will be putting the finishing touches on the proposal today and will be presenting it to the marketing “big-wigs” on Thursday.

The presentation is weighing heavily on my mind for a number of different reasons. For starters, it will be the first, and potentially only, chance that I have in front of such an influential audience here at Compassion.

Secondly, I simply want to do well. This project is close to my heart and I want to do it justice. I don’t just want to sell it. I want to inspire my audience to feel as passionately about it as I do and see the vision that I have for it. I don’t want them to merely associate this proposal with “the intern’s project,” but instead I want them to think that “this is where Compassion could go; this is what Compassion should do.”

While there are other matters that seem to float aimlessly around in my thoughts, the most important and imperative at the moment is the question of my immediate future. I have applied for several positions here at Compassion, (more…)