I just spent an hour with His Highness, going through pictures from the Honduran missions trip he and others just returned from. There were the "These are the ancient ruins" and "This is where we stayed" photos...and then there were the children.
His Highness's eye for aesthetics was gifted as usual, and children in ratty, dirty, outdated clothing were beautiful. His Highness's enthusiasm and value for the kids gave personality and life to two-dimensional images. But God--God worked in my heart.
Just before we sat down with the album, another friend stopped in and talked about her dissatisfaction with her own Christian service.
*I bring two little girls to Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, and I get puffed up about it. I want something more. I want to do something more.*
2 Samuel 24:24 (New King James Version)
24 Then the king said to Araunah,
“No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt
offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought
the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
Pages of faces... Bright, brown eyes. Chubby cheeks framing downturned lips. Hand-me-down leather jacket in the heat of a Honduran summer. Immaculate white shirt against the deep tan of a wiggling and grinning four-year-old.
Oh, dear God, what do I do? What is the future of these children?
My heart felt like a frog climbing out of my throat. Still does, but at least it's more socially acceptable to let the tears flow now that I'm alone. What do I do?
His Highness mentioned wanting to see if one or more of "his" kids needed sponsorship. That reminded me that I already have a child through World Vision--a little 2nd grader in Colombia. Yes, my monthly payment of $30 goes in...but what's my investment? A dollar a day? Not enough to buy a threshing floor.
Three goals (the setting and following-through of which is also a new venture for me):
- When my next World Vision statement asks if I'd like to sponsor another child, say yes. $2 a day.
- Invest in the life of "my" child(ren) by sending letters and pictures. Being a pen-pal with a 2nd grader from a different language isn't easy--more of a challenge than the financial aspect.
- Tell you. I've always been a cynic toward child sponsorship organizations, but something cracked a year and a half ago at a Women of Faith conference. I knew it was time, and I knew that World Vision was the group to trust. I haven't regretted it. My only frustration was looking through all the faces and choosing only one. That's still a struggle, but it's remedied the way so many things are--by passing it along. Think about it, pray on it, and if you're convicted, check out the link.
Extra credit: buy a goat. 75 bucks for food, fertilizer and fun!
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