Friday, July 22, 2011

The Power of Children

It is amazing during this time of building support for our mission this coming fall who surprisingly steps up to the plate to help out.  Over this past month we have had children from grade 6 and under in our community show up to our house with donations to help the girls we so love in Casa Hogar.  In total between 8 children they have raised close to $600.  I know when I was that age the idea of helping someone off in a distant land didn't cross my mind.  It simply amazes me that these kids have forgone birthday presents, spending time playing, and/or buying something of their own interest to ensure that a just act can be done for those they don't even know.
Two of these children held a birthday party and through their own decisions came to the conclusion that another gift is meaningless compared to the value of investing in others, so donations from the partygoers to our mission was what they opted for instead.
Another of these kids took it on himself to go door to door in his neighbourhood with our brochure and talked to these people about our mission to raise support.  Pretty brave act in my book since I am not the type to be overly comfortable in a "sales" situation.
Often I am humbled by the noble and faithful acts of children.  As an adult, I often do risk analysis to many situations in my life and sometimes fail to act on things because of the unknown.  How many of us are skeptical of how our donations are being spent?  It is within good reason and prudent to find out what is being done with the money God provided for you.  We all have heard how some organizations fail to exercise effective use of monies.  However is this true for most?
After meeting a series of people in missions work I have witnessed more often than not the dedication and (as some may call it) sacrifice these people endure to ensure the betterment of others.  An example of this is my former gym teacher in high school.  He has travelled to Zambia for the last few years to develop communities over there that are in need of aid through basic housing, infrastructure and education.  His devotion to the cause and development of the mission caused him to set the goal of raising $30 000 per year for aid services for the next five years.  It has now ballooned to $500 000 in total donations received within the same time period.  The staff is completely volunteer and no cost is ever directed to covering the expenses of these volunteers when they do the short term missions.  This and many other stories exist out there of people's dedication making it possible for those donating to see God's money being used to the greatest extent.
As Mandy and I continue down this faith journey we often need to pause and have that child like faith that this too will work out.  It is not to say that planning and strategizing how we are doing this is being thrown out, but to believe that God has people in mind for us to give us support and that He will be abundant in providing for us is what we lie heavily on now.  Our prayers are that people see us as effective stewards of what God has entrusted with so far in our lives.
In the meantime, work must carry on and trust that this will work for the glory of God.

Matt