So, I found a new blog that I'm slightly obsessed with called Jesus Needs New PR. As with any blog, I don't agree with all of his postings, but many of them are really convicting and inspiring. And technically I'm not plagiarizing if I give him credit, right?
Many of you know that Uganda and the plight of the orphans there is pretty dear to my heart, and the author of this blog got to visit Uganda in January with World Vision, a Christian humanitarian agency that's working around the world to facilitate sustainable change in the name of Jesus. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by global crises, and honestly, my heart literally breaks for the seemingly rampant pain and festering wounds of poverty and evil, including in the United States, while I sit at home in my comfy home with a full pantry, a wonderful family, access to great education, and the ability to get water for cooking, drinking, cleaning, etc whenever I want. Why am I so blessed when others are in such agony? Talk about a heavy question. Luckily, Jesus has a HUGE soft spot for the poor and oppressed and that gives me hope.
World Vision tries to live out the gospel and bring spiritual and physical healing in the name of Jesus to those suffering from injustice and oppression world wide. And 85% of what sponsors give goes straight to the kids. That's an organizational statistic that you can trust. I think it's an awesome agency, and Tucker and I sponsor a child in Haiti for only $30/month. We're praying about sponsoring another one, but of course, we're anxious about stepping out in faith to commit to a financial obligation when we don't have solid jobs. It's tough to trust sometimes, but when I think about how often we eat out, or how when I go to Target I spend $100 (it's a terrifying trend... that's why I only go about every 4-6 months), I realize we can TOTALLY afford to give hope to a child who needs food, vaccines, education, and even a birthday party. Not trying to guilt you all or anything, but seriously consider the tremendous impact of what may be a small or even large monthly sacrifice. Click here to sponsor a child. You can even choose the country, age, and gender of your child!
Now onto the inspiring and water-works-inducing words of my blogger friend (can I say that if we've never met? I'm gonna say yes):
"As I prepare for my first day walking among Uganda’s poorest of the poor, I’m wondering how Dr. King’s dream relates to the children I will meet tomorrow in the hot dusty sands of the Gulu District in Northern Uganda. In honor of Dr. King’s day, I borrow the finale of “his dream” and rewrite it in perspective of what’s currently on my mind…
…Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations that exist all over the world–in places like the broken and turned-upside-down roads of Haiti, in the war-tattered deserts of Sudan, and in the stifling ghettos of Uganda’s Gulu District…
…I still have a dream.
And I believe it’s a dream deeply rooted in God’s dream for humanity.
I have a dream that one day God’s people will rise up and live out the true meaning of Jesus’s creed: “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.”
I have a dream that one day in the dry wells of Guatemala, clean water will rise up.
I have a dream that one day those who live in Darfur, a people sweltering in the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into a community of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my son Elias will one day will love every man, woman, and child regardless of the color of their skin.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the country of Haiti, whose people cry out in pain, desperation, and hopelessness, will be transformed by the light and furious grace of God’s people.
...This is our hope. This is the faith with which I go today into the back streets of the Gulu District.
With this faith God’s people will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to hell and back together, to stand up for justice together, knowing that all people will one day be free in Jesus.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within; grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that is greater than all our sin!”
And if the people of God are to be the hands and feet of Jesus, this must become true: Let freedom ring for the child sex slaves in India. Let freedom ring for the African mothers who will soon give birth to HIV-positive babies.
Let freedom ring for the hungry child in Appalachia.
Let freedom ring for the Central American community who needs clean water.
Let freedom ring for the oppressed women and children of Iran.
Let freedom ring for the Haitian child who still hasn’t found his momma.
And let freedom for the young boys in Uganda’s Gulu District, sick with the indoctrination of hate, worn from the ramifications of civil war, and beginning to find hope in the good and loving hands of God-loving/people-loving humanity.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every ghetto, from every state, community, and city, from every homeless shelter and every church AA meeting, from every small group gathering, deacons meeting, and praise and worship service, from every home who needs food, medicine, and hope, we will be helping God’s kingdom find a reality here on earth and making true the words of the old Negro spiritual…
Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last...
So today, as I engage the people of the Gulu District, will you pray? Pray that I remember this dream. Pray that the people we engage will experience this dream. And pray about joining the dream in whatever capacity you are able…
But just like Martin Luther King, if he was living today, in addition to preaching, teaching, blogging, Twittering, and promoting God’s dream… let’s be God’s dream."
Really, this encompasses much of Jesus' vision for his kingdom on earth, a vision we as the church are called to commit to implementing. Child sponsorship is one simple yet astonishingly effective method of helping catalyze Jesus' mission. I pray you'll consider sponsorship. I promise, you'll be SO glad and blessed by your child, all the while showing that child Christ's blessings.
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