A month or two ago our Sunday school class read the book Radical by David Platt. He is the pastor at Brook Hills in Birmingham. That book slapped all of us in the face and made us ask ourselves what we are doing to take the gospel to the ends of the Earth. I will honestly tell you what we were doing. Not much. We tithe, of course, but couldn't we do more?
Every morning we (meaning Adam and I) get out of our warm bed and look over all the clothes we own yet declare we have nothing to wear. We go to the kitchen where a stocked refrigerator awaits yet we claim there's nothing to eat. We get in our fairly new cars and dream about having something bigger or nicer. We go to work and complain because it's stressful. (Or for me complain that I had to leave my baby.) We come home and complain because there are dishes to be washed and clothes to be folded. We proceed to complain because we have to make the effort of cooking something for supper. All the while there is a momma somewhere watching her baby starve to death.
A few weeks ago Rick and Bubba dedicated a couple of days to having the people from World Vision come and talk about sponsoring children around the world. Rick said something that caused me to think I had been slapped across the face. He said, "we know what we should do. The Bible is clear about that. The question is are we willing to do it"? Adam and I are both lucky enough to have parents who raised us in church. We know the verses and the Bible stories, but often we choose to ignore them. Just as David Platt talks about in Radical we Americanize God and his word. We take the Bible and make it fit into our lives instead of the other way around. We simply ignore the parts that cause us to be uncomfortable.
So when I got home that afternoon Adam and I discussed what we had heard on Rick and Bubba and agreed to sponsor a child. Why we have not done this before I do not know. The next day I began the process of picking a child. It was overwhelming. I felt as though every face spoke to me. Every face told a story of a kid who has gone to bed hungry while I have rarely missed a meal. Their mothers are desperate for their babies to get the vaccines that would save their lives while I have spend countless hours reading about the side effects and debating whether to let our baby get them. I don't know the conditions of all of the children, but I have a good feeling they would cause me to gasp in horror. After looking at child after child on my computer screen I had a little talk with Jesus (tell him all about our troubles...hear our fainted cry...and he will answer by and by)(focus Elena!) and agreed to sponsor the next child that appeared.
Let me introduce you to Lodia. She is from Haiti. She has one brother and one sister. (I asked Adam for help picking one. He had one request, "Let her have a name I can pronounce.") Very helpful, A-master. (After I showed him her picture he said, "Congratulations. She looks just like you."
How about her birthday is 9/9/99. I feel certain there is some irony there, but I can't put my finger on it.
It bothers me on a deep level that their isn't a trace of a smile on her face. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could actually meet her one day? Maybe we will. I think there are so many lessons to be learned from Lodia and others like her.
I really don't know exactly how the process works, but I think we will continue to sponsor her until she is a certain age and then we can pick or be assigned another child?? I realize I am a wealth of knowledge here.
If you are interested in reading more please go here.
Matthew 25:40 "Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me."
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