I've ordered several books recently that are about Orphans, AIDS, Africa, Russia, etc. I want to understand exactly what the needs are. What our "America" doesn't ever deal with or go through.
I wanted to put "a name" on the crisis, on the orphan, on the one hurting. Without a name...there's just "some issue" going on in a far away land. It's something I can give too...but, really have never "got". I see the blurbs on t.v. of those starving...but, my life goes on. I have read that Americans throws away around 120 pounds of food each month. I've read the statistics of where we rank in the most wealthy...see at the bottom of this post for those statistics. But, it's sad, still with all of that...my heart has never "been there". Really went across the ocean to the "real deal".
So, I wanted to journey into the unknown. Out of my pampered life and into the real world. I can't say, "I want to serve. Just don't ever send me to Africa." You see...a long time ago I told God with all of my heart, "I will follow you and go wherever you want." (That's called surrendering...if we aren't willing to surrender to Him...then do we love Him? It doesn't mean he'll call us away from our job or life as we know it...but, we should be willing.) I just didn't know what He had in store for me. I never thought it would be adopting from a foreign country or having my heart changed. My heart feel something for HIM. Yes, for HIM. Each of the people hurting is a hurting Jesus. He lives in them. He wants us to reach them.
Well, I thought I was "getting into the groove"...understanding all of that until I picked up this new book. It's called "Red Letters" by Tom Davis. I knew it was about learning to live out the words Jesus has said in the bible...I just never thought it would make me defensive.
I didn't get very far into the book. It was only the intro. THE INTRO! Maybe this book was a waste of money. As I read the intro. and thought..."That is not true." And I quickly closed it. I sat and thought about what Tom Davis said. And I began to "get it".
Here's the intro.:
An Apology...
"The Christian church owes an apology to the almost fifty million individuals in our world currently infected with HIV/AIDS.
Those of us who claim to follow Christ's teachings should be ashamed for what little we've done to help the countless millions of women, children, and orphans who have died or are dying. Entire nations are going up in flames while we watch them burn.
Bono and the supporters of the ONE Campaign are right to use words like "crisis" and "emergency" when talking about the situation in Africa. The continent is on fire with AIDS, and unless drastic action is taken, entire countries will be wiped off the face of the planet by this disease.
Sadly, the church has been slow to act in response to this crisis. Like the priest and Levite of Jesus' parable, we have passed by the man on the side of the road, too busy or too "holy" to involve ourselves in lending a helping hand.
Africa is indeed on fire. But as we argue or fuss about how it started and who should be save first, thousands more children are orphaned each day. Every hour, another one thousand children will die. Did you know that you are just a short plane ride away from a world where eight-year-old girls prostitute themselves for food?
The true state of emergency lies within the church--it lies within us. It's our problems. We can't leave Africa' children lying by the side of the road as we pass on by."
ERRRRR.....my brakes just screeched to a halt when I read that.
I thought, "Our church does a lot. We have a HUGE missions program." I thought..."So, does many other church's." SLAM! Book closed.
But, as I sat and thought about it...God spoke to my heart. "Jennifer, you are the church. Each Christ believer and follower is the church. If you are following me...you will follow me into the slums, the AIDS orphanages, the streets where the children are living in homes made of trash." That is me. THAT IS ME JENNIFER! What have you done to reach me in the last 30 years since you were transformed into my image?." Wow! Yes, I've given to missions. We've increased our missions giving each year during the missions conference. I've given! So, there! "No, what have you done? It's not the few you give too! Those few can't possibly reach every dying one. That is irresponsible for you to think that! The "missionaries" aren't responsible for what I've asked you to do. I've called YOU to DO SOMETHING. You've been called no different then the ones who actually put action to their calling. You should be ashamed." These are all the thoughts that were streaming through my head while I sat in Great Clips waiting for Lauren to get her hair cut.
I think it's true. I should be ashamed.
He did go on to say that things are looking up a bit...Christians are starting to respond more, but, we have a long way to go.
I flipped through and in chapter 7 he quoted Bono again. This is what was said, "This is not about charity in the end, is it? It's about justice. The good news yet to come. I just want to repeat that: This is not about charity, it's about justice. And that's too bad. Because we're good at charity. Americans, Irish people, are good at charity. We like to give, and we give a lot, even those who can't afford it.
But justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties; it doubts our concern, and it questions our commitment. Six and a half thousand Africans are still dying every day of preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. This is not about charity: This is about Justice and Equality."
That really hit me. Because I've heard so many say, "Well I reach those in America. Or in my community." 1st I find it hard to believe just how many do this, (we let the government take care of them or we don't put money out our window, questioning the motive of the one on the corner). I know I don't spend enough time reaching those in my own area or America...So, I just have a feeling most do not, (not judging...just my gut feeling). When was the last time you worked the local feeding center? I know it was high school for me...the "Kitchen"... (praise God for those few friends I know who do reach those in our community). But, I thought...dang it! It is not about "our own soil"...frankly I get a bit tired of hearing that kind of stuff. I love that I was born into America as much as the next Red-Blooded American. But, it's NOT ABOUT US! That is what was screamed at me today. Why I was born here I don't know. In many ways I think it was a disadvantage because I don't fully understand the needs of others that are really suffering (but, who's fault is that...ummmm...Mine...I need to get off my comfortable butt and go, and do, and see, and feel, and be, and love...not just let others...yes, giving to Corbin & Lauren or other projects is also important, it's an awesome start...the same as we have gave above and beyond our missions giving to help missionaries with needs or to help someone in our church with a need...but, after that...we should want to "do more"...have our hearts turned inside out for God). Every single human in this WORLD is equal. God knew each of them before they were in their mother's womb, He created them in HIS image. And He doesn't see global boundaries.
I'm ready to put a name to those hurting. It's not okay with me!
The story in Janine Maxwell's book, "It's Not Okay With Me." literally made me want to vomit. Why? Why? Because it is so horrific and because millions are sitting in their comfy chair doing nothing...that is the answer I heard. Here's the story in her book (she's the multi-million dollar marketing person gone missionary):
"That night was the first night of my life. I knew nothing before that night. I didn't exist. We left late in the evening as the children do not "bunk down" until after 10:00 P.M. At every corner we saw large piles of garbage lying along the sidewalk in a strange yet orderly fashion. Chite pulled over and stopped beside one of the piles.
The night was very dark and I squinted to see what I was looking at. As we stepped out, my eyes focused and I saw the garbage move. It was just a rustle--a flash of motion and then it was gone. Were they rats? Was it a snake? And then at the other end of the pile, another movement. And then I saw it. A head. A tiny little jet black head poked up from under the pil. This was not a pile of garbage. These were children, carefully wrapped in garbage to keep the cold away...I did not know until later that night that it was estimated that there were 75,000 street children in Zambia alone.
At this site, there were in total, a dozen boys lying together. they were so drowsy they could hardly wake up to speak to us. this journey has one of those "don't try this at home, folks" warnings attached to it. These boys are very dangerous. They steal, they stab, they kill, they rape, they destroy. But they are boys. they are children, few of them above the age of fifteen, some as young as seven.
As it turns out these boys could not wake up because they were in a drug-induced sleep. You see, the kids will eat from garbage bins and steal food to survive, but the money that they can beg from strangers is held exclusively for bostik, their warm blanket on a cold night. We were ablt to rouse a couple of them long enough for them to tell us who they were, how they came to the street, and what bostik was.
Bostik is a "wonderful" combination of gasoline (petrol) and glue. This magic potion is critical to their survival. (Sounds crazy doesn't it? but it is.) Bostik helps the children forget. They forget that they have not eaten in two days. They forget that they were raped twice yesterday and three times the day before. They forget that their skin is crawling with lice and fleas. They forget that their father died in front of them after their mother had sat and nursed him day and night. They forget when their mother was too weak to get up and go to the bathroom and when they had to fetch water and clean her private areas for months until she finally dies. But, bostik will never let them forget the day their mother died. And that they only had two or three cups of Nshima, enough for a few days if the didn't eat much. And then what would they do. Seven children under the age of ten. Alone. and two of the little ones had bad coughs and couldn't eat much..." "Bostik was "good". It was a magic drug for these children. Even after we learned what it was, we wouldn't dare tell them to stop taking it, though we knew it was frying their brains and killing their bodies. Who would be so cruel as to leave them alone on the street with their reality and their memories without a crutch? Not me."
In the book she then tells about meeting a boy named Kantwa. Here's some of the accounts:
"We later found out that this was also the night that Kantwa was raped repeatedly by the older boys as he became their sex slave. He would be the one stuffed through small broken windows to let the older boys in the front doors to rob the houses..."
Is this really their life? Boys raping boys? You know it just breaks my heart. I had to think about this Western world. Instead of this being an epidemic here, (and yes, it happens here and those child molesters...errr...that's a different topic). We have boys not much older...high school, college and on...enjoying this type of behavior. But, what stops AIDS from being an epidemic here? Condoms. Sorry just being real. We have medicines, we have condoms. Even what happened on the above mission trip...even with these boys being rescued...(and yes Kantwa and 3 others were taken to a home 3 days later and taken off the street)...if they have AIDS...they will just die. Nothing of their own fault. Where's their choices? But, they will die. If they get married and want a happy life or they become Christ followers and turn their lives around from the sadness they were living...they still have the disease. Is condom's the answer? Of course not. Christ is the answer (for both here and there). Compassion and not judgment is the answer. Help is the answer. I was just saying...the reason we have not had a "crisis" here in the U.S. is because there's access to "protection". All the luxuries at a fingers tip in the USA. Keep sinning. So, sad.
So, I have finished neither book. I don't know what Janine is doing for the African country as of now. I haven't gotten deeper into Tom's book. But, I'm willing to have it all laid out there and do something. It's time.
Here's what Mother Teresa said,
"When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. I t has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed. We have refused to be instruments of love in the hands of God to give the poor a piece of bread, to offer them a dress with which to ward off the cold. It has happened because we did not recognize Christ when, once more, he appeared under the guise of pain, identified with a man numb from the cold, dying of hunger, when he came in a lonely human being, in a lost child in search of a home.
I looked in the end of the book...there is a program called Five for 50. It is a plan to bring Christians from all across the globe together in solidarity with the soon-to-be fifty million people living with HIV. You'll have to get the book for a full outline...but, these are the Five steps:
- Give five minutes a day to pray for those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
- Give five hours a week to fast for those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
- Give five dollars a month to the Five for 50 Fund to support worthy causes.
- Give five days a year to travel overseas to help alleviate poverty and suffering.
- Give five people an opportunity to join you on your journey.
I just think...how can we expect just a handful of missionaries to do it all? Yes, they can be our base and we can support them while they do the work God has called them too. But, what about us being His hands and feet? I think this journey is changing me. The one's hurting in Ethiopia will be my child's family. If everything was perfect...my child's birth mom would not have had to give up her child. In a right world we would help these women so they could keep their kids and provide for them.
I will continue reading this book...I "get it". I understand. I am the church. We don't have to wait for the leaders of the building where we attend weekly to put it all together, or to organize a trip...we can start something do something. Even our kids can!
I was thinking about the latest mission's trip our church body went on. I thought, "So, few went." Then I thought...what if all of the ladies that went to Beth Moore, (I was there and got so much from it and loved it)...would have chosen the mission's trip instead? What if. How many more could have been reached and helped. Hmmm. We do have a choice...in the USA we are blessed with that opportunity...to chose so many things. Africa...not many choices. Babies are raising babies and just trying to survive.
Here's what Janine Maxwell said at the beginning of her book, "It's Not Okay With Me."
"The book you are about to read is my personal journey from riches to rags, success to significance, or as my girlfriend said about me, "Marketing chick to African Chief in five agonizing years." I did not want to write this book. I did not want to tell you about my business successes and failures, my fears, my doubts, my depression or my disobedience. Frankly, I didn't think it was any of your business. But I swallowed my pride, was obedient, and wrote it. And somehow it got into your hands, so now it becomes your business."
The last sentence hit me hard. It's now my business. How can I turn away from what I need to be doing as a Christ follower? If I truly follow Christ...I will have to follow Him to the hard places...and that's not here. Cont. Below...
I thought I would always own my successful marketing company, always be making money, and always be designing creative campaigns. But now I am a missionary, of sorts, and designing a new kind of campaign. You are about to read the kick-off to that campaign. I am committed to telling the world the truth about what is happening to the children of Africa and trying to get people to do something. (Hopefully, this book might help to reach the goal a bit quicker). I want everyone to look into the eyes of an African child and see the hope that I do. I want everyone who says, "It's not okay with me either," to act! To do something to make a difference. It could be as simple as baking cookies or having an annual garage sale, or as big as recruiting your small group to go to Africa with you and help out for a week or two...
Although the book is my story, it is really a witness to how God is calling ordinary everyday people to step up to the plate and make a difference in the world. I always thought that it was priests and pastors and reverends who were supposed to be doing God's work. But apparently I was wrong. There are far more of us "ordinary types" than there are religious leaders. Each of us has the power to change the world. Imagine the transformation that could occur if we could put our pride aside and united together. Just imagine."
Good stuff...Lord, please change me forever. I see you in them, I really do.
So, with that I ask...will you give to Corbin & Lauren's fundraiser for the orphans (the info. is on the sidebar and the blog below this one...when we go over for our 1st trip for our adoption, our 10 & 12 year old want to go and take supplies to the orphans...their idea, their project...will you give to buy supplies and get them there)? I typed none of this for that reason. This was all about my day and my God speaking to me. But, we have a chance to "do something"...and hopefully it will be a part to help a nation in crisis. We can be a nation of Christ followers following Him out of luxury and to the hard places. Where He is
Here's where we rank in the most wealthy in the world:
Consider this: in the United States, the average income is $38,611 per person or $105 per day. And that’s just the average – we all know people with incomes that are a multiple of that amount.
Out of the 6.7 billion people we share this planet with:
- 60% or 4 billion live on less than $4 a day
- 38% or 2.6 billion live on less than $2 a day
- 15% or 1 billion live on less than $1
If you make more than $25,000 per year, you are in the top 10% of the population. If you make $50,000 per year, you’re now wealthier than 99% of the world’s inhabitants.
That fact has the potential to dramatically change how we see the world.
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