Answer that Soft Knock on the Door

An unidentified child sleeps by a sewerage system. I saw this boy and wondered about his future.

Have you ever wondered what the relationship between affluence, effluent and influence is, and how the three can interract to deliver eternal rewards? Read on.

You must have heard the story of the boy who knocked at the door of this young lady, farmished he asked for a glass of water. Moved with compassion, the young lady not only offered the boy a glass of water but also a glass of milk. The boy thanked the young lady and walked away nourished. The young lady acted out of the teachings of her mother who always encouraged her to attend to strangers with lovingkindness.

Many years passed and the young lady was now an old lady suffering a condition that needed immediate medical attention. She was rushed to the hospital and the doctor informed her that she would have to undergo surgery. It was going to be very expensive and the old lady worried how she was going pay for it. During the operation the doctor recognized the old lady to be the young lady who, many years ago, offered him a glass of milk that saved his life.

After a successful surgery, the doctor requested that her medical bill be sent to him for review. When it was presented to him, he scribbled a sentence on it and handed it over to the accounts office.

Upon recovery, the old lady asked to be presented with her bill. She was worried she may not afford to pay for the surgery. Her fears were confirmed when she opened the bill; it was thousands of dollars. But at the bottom of the medical bill was a signed statement by the doctor who operated her:

“Paid in full with a glass of milk. You saved my life, thank you.”

Tears of gratitude rolled down her ageing cheeks remembering that day she heard a faint knock on her door and opening to be met by a starving face of a boy. That boy she had helped went on to become the surgeon who just operated her and paid her medical bill in full!

Talk of being rewarded with grandiose!

In my speaking conferences in the United States of America, from the north-east in New York to the extreme west in Washington State and far north in Minnesota to the southern tip of Florida in Miami, I spoke about the affluence I saw, the effluent I know and experienced, and the influence one could have if ye obeyed the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:42:

"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."

The unidentified boy lying down by a sewer (effluent) in India reminded me of how many people have retired from answering the soft knocks on their hearts to sacrifice the little they have (affluence) and rescue a life (influence) that is fleeting to give up the ghost if no one offers a cup of cold water.

I am not afraid to dream for my nation and influence development because someone responded to my faint knock and rescued my dream. You too, can respond to this faint knock today by visiting http://www.compassion.com/ and keep your reward account with the one who never forgets to reward us.

My Orphan Years: What Made it a Success?



The joy in this orphan's life smiled deep into my heart.

Orphan years can be crisis years. The vulnerability and uncertainty can take a wrong turn and bring untold misery to the orphaned child.
I was orphaned at the age of fourteen and I can't master the words to describe the loss. I was at a crisis age struggling with my identity, my sexuality, my role as a man and many other issues boys grapple with at this critical stage of life. I was lost with the loss of my mother: the only parent my life ever knew.

But there's one interesting thing about my orphan years; it was a joy unlike the case with many other orphans in the world. I had an opportunity to attend school, live and interract in a christian atmosphere and had something to warm my stomach and back like other children with both parents. These opportunities allowed me to dream with my head, heart and hands. This means; my head was filled with wisdom and knowledge, my heart saturated with passion and purpose and my hands equiped with servant leadership.

But what is it that ensured a successful orphan years? It is because of caring, loving and compasssionate people who understood the heart of God for orphans.

"When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow.When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow." Deut. 24:19-22.

God never fails on his promises: its only humans who fail to obey and follow his decrees.

You can put a smile on an orphan by helping them experience joy instead of pain and agony during these crisis years.  My prayer is that as you budget you'll leave something for the aliens, the fatherless and the widow.

Don't harvest everything, leave something behind  and put a smile on an orphan's life today.

A Dream Stuck Up in the Dump

S, I and another child at a dumpsite in secunderabad, India. He caught my attention since I did the same thing as a child


He gave me a casual look and only introduced himself as “S”, and then kept busy on the heap of dump.

He only spoke Telugu and hence we could barely understand each other. But people in poverty have another language they are fluent in - hope!

I smiled at him, he smiled back. I jumped in to help and he moved to accommodate me. Soon we were conversing fluently in smiles.

S is the boy I met in Secunderabad, India, scavenging for anything to survive the day. At his age, I had survived from this career – digging out of dumpsters.

 
We ‘exchanged many suspicious faces but in a short while, I won his trust. I offered to teach him how to take photographs. I took out my camera, showed him a few functions on the camera and in no time, he was by the road taking pictures of moving cars, people and buildings.

Many thoughts clouded my heart on what I could do for S. In no way is this story suggesting that I am a holier-than-thou Good Samaritan, only that “Once bitten, twice shy”. I have been in similar situation and advocating for children like S is speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves. It was my last day in India. 

S standing by the dumpsite I spotted him.
In the background is the slum he lives in Secunderabad, India

I had been in India for two weeks on a mission trip to make Jesus known among the natives.

Looking straight into my eyes, S asked for ten rupees as he handed back my camera. I reached into my pocket and handed him a hundred rupee note. He casually pocketed it, saluted me goodbye and went back to the dumpsite.

I walked away frustrated that I did not provide S a lasting solution. His dream was wasting in the dump.

Later, I asked a local pastor about what could be done to help the people at the slum where S lives. The response I got was acerbic. Men of God even grow cold to the plight of the poor. He responded in such a way to suggest that S community was not a group of poor people who needed help but a cartel of nuisance and insensitive land grabbers masquerading as slum-dwellers.

I am glad that someone had compassion and believed that I truly needed help. Watch my story of hope on : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbUK8D-xIdQ

It reminded me of the story of the Good Samaritan who was on a journey and found a man who had fallen in the hands of merciless robbers. As the story goes, the Priest and the Levite passed him by, ignoring the bruised man’s urgent need of help. My imagination tells me that the Priest and the Levite came from around and were better placed to help the bruised man. But perhaps they had grown insensitive to the needs around them.


S taking photos of his environment.
I wonder a skill like this could change his fortunes forever!

From the pastor’s response, I felt a sense that we have grown insensitive to the needs around us, almost indignant that people with need live around us.

Have you disengaged your head, your heart and withdrawn your hands from the plough?

God desires three things from you: to act justly –be fair in your dealings with others; love mercy – carry through your commitments to meet the needs of other people who need it; and walk humbly with God, meaning, to fellowship with God without arrogance.

In other words, be responsive to God, submitting to His will. This sums up the heart of our walk with the Lord.

When you look around your neighborhood and see need, are you insensitive to it? Have you passed a need today like the Priest and the Levite?

Be sensitive to the need around you. God planted you in that environment for a noble purpose.

CHILD SPONSORSHIP IS A GOD DIRECTED BEHAVIOR

In Haiti with my sponsored Child (in pink) and her brother.

 In this world, we are either serving God or our goals and sometimes goals ‘in the name of God.’ In the presence of options, either God or the goals take the trophy home.

David was a man after God’s heart. That means, he had God Directed Behavior (GDB) and not goal directed behavior.

A god is a behavior that commands your bodily functions to the gratification of a temporary desire.

Temporary desires have killer instincts. King David arose from the bed and took an innocent stroll on the roof of his palace where he was faced with temporary desire with killer instincts. The situation demanded a decision: either a God Directed Behavior or a goal directed behavior. He sadly fell for the latter and developed these killer instincts. In his checked out state of mind, David served a temporary desire and gave out his functions to a god of illicit passions.

If we are to contrast David with another character in the Bible who chose to embrace God Directed Behavior faced with a similar situation, it is Joseph. The stakes were high. He chose God for temporary desires. What an inspiration in decision making!

So, next time you are about to make a decision, ask yourself, is this a God Directed Behavior or a goal directed behavior?

Take a look at your monthly budget; are there items in your list that can be knocked off and embrace a God Directed Behavior? You can as well add one item that is God Directed Behavior - sponsor a child. It is only 38 dollars a month. Compassion International releases children from Poverty through this God Directed Behavior.

I am a product of a God Directed Behavior. Someone knocked off an item from his budget and sponsored me 20 years ago. Today, I am released from poverty and I have knocked a temporary desire off my budget to sponsor a child.

Choose to know better and do that right thing that glorifies God. Sponsor a child today. Visit http://www.compassion.com/ and embrace a God Directed Behavior.

Pull a Child from the RUBBLE in HAITI

When I was 12 years of age, I heard about Haiti on BBC News. The country was experiencing some hard times politically and those who continued to suffer were children and women. Sixteen years later, the August of 2009, I visited the Compassion.com website and picked a little girl to sponsor from Haiti.

Last year in July, six months after the devastating earthquake, I visited my sponsored child in the southern part of Haiti, Les Cayes.

On arriving in Port-au-Prince, my heart was broken to see tens of hundreds of people living on the streets and in tents. I saw children roaming the streets. It reminded me of my own childhood when I was roaming the streets digging out of dumpsters. I had one hope; that someone will hold my hand and take me out of the situation.

In Haiti a bunch of children ran up to me begging I take them with me. I wish I had the ability to take them all with me but at the time I couldn't financially. These children had lost their parents to the January earthquake. They had no one to run to.

Today, there are children still waiting for hope. That hope is you coming alongside and pulling a Child in Haiti out of the Poverty Rubble.

INDIA MISSION TRIP: The FEAR




Adorned with a garland on arrival in Hyderabad, India.
Felt like the crown of thorn that was placed on Jesus at the Crucifixion as fear gripped me
to imagine evangelizing in a country where Christians are persecuted.

 We arrived in India shortly after midnight on December 17, 2010 and the question that was forming in my mind was, "Am I ready to face the challenge?" I was asking myself this question becasue I had heard many stories of the persecuted church in India and I was not sure whether I was prepared to suffer for Christ.

In October, while in South Africa for the III Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization I learned about the 310 unreached and unengaged people groups (UUPG) in India which forms 71% of UUPG in the world and felt a renewed call to respond to the great commission.

As a student at Moody Theological Seminary, and from the inspiration of DL Moody, the founder of Moody Bible Institute, there was a fire inside of me; a passion for souls that drew me to get committed to the Great Commission. This fire drove me out of my comfort zones to go out and make disciples of all nations and from this I signed up for the mission trip to India.

At Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, I pondered about the mission ahead now that I was in the country. I thought about growing up as a sponsored child with Compassion International and what I had learned. The sponsorship had ignited passion for ministry in me and I was nurtured to lead with courage. I knew I had grown to be a responsible and fulfilled Christian adult and even privileged to acquire further theological training at Moody. But still I had fears. Then I remembered the words of Jesus to his disciples in Matthew 28:20, "...and lo, I am with you always..."

Suddenly, with a renewed confidence I exited the airport ready with the gospel in my heart for He who is in me is more powerful than he that is in the world.

My Sponsor Wiped My Mother's Tears Away

My Quiver? I would love one like this...these kids in Capetown blessed my heart. I love kids!

The moment I was sponsored through Compassion at age 8, I became aware that I was bigger than poverty. Poverty was a situation, a condition, but I was a life. All I needed were positive messages of hope to grow out of it.

It is the relationships that sponsorship promotes through letter writing, not so much the money, that ends poverty. Think about it this way: A child runs to a parent for protection not because he sees the parent carrying weapons but because the parent has fostered a relationship that assures the child of protection. In the same way, a starving child approaches the mother for food even when he can clearly see there is no food in the hands of the mother. This is a relationship that foster confidence and absolute trust.

The first sponsor letter empowered me. I heard him tell my 8-year-old heart that 'There is nothing impossible with the God I am telling you about'. It reminded me of a story I heard many times growing up — that the angel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth, saying to the virgin Mary:

 “Greetings favored one! The Lord is with you.”

I remember myself at that age wondering how God was going to release me from poverty. While at the thought,  my sponsor sends another letter saying that he is praying for me and encouraging me to work hard in school and to trust in God. At times poverty threatened and lied to me that life is impossible, but my sponsor would write to me and say:

“Jimmy, it doesn’t matter what you are going through, for nothing will be impossible with God."

The constant message of hope germinated, and I believed him like he was a messenger from God.

A candle was lit inside of me and I started believing in the dreams of my childhood. The circumstances didn’t matter: I believed I was bigger than poverty. In no time, I began seeing myself as the savior of my community from the oppressor; this grinding poverty. I became a joy to my mother. She loved listening to my positive messages. I became her favorite preacher. It satisfies me to remember the many times I made my mother forget her struggles, pain and suffering.

My sponsor restored my mother’s joy. Within a year of sponsorship, I could read the Bible that I had received from the Child Development Centre. I read her all my favorite childhood memory verses in English. Many nights she asked me to read her the Bible and then she would pray and we would go to bed a happy mother and a hopeful child. Some of those nights we went to bed on an empty stomach. On such nights, unable to sleep from hunger, I would hear my mother crying to God to let me live another day. In my innocence I would ask her why she was crying. She would reply:

“Because I can hear the rumbling in your stomach.”

I would assure her that I would make it to the morning. That was the strength my sponsor put in my heart — to be there for my mother. The resileince lives on today.

At her deathbed, my mother called me to her and shared her joy for having been my mother. She encouraged me to live a life of loving people just as my sponsor loved me. Then she bid me goodbye with the most visionary words:

“My son, I see you succeeding in life but I do not see myself sharing the success with you. Trust in God.”

A few months later, I received the sad news that my mother was no more. She had left my grandmother a gift for me: her Bible. From her Bible I quoted Jeremiah 29:11 to my sponsor when I wrote to break the sad news. In his reply, my sponsor Mark wrote:

“I am sorry to hear about the death of your mother. I cried when I read your letter. It was great to read your scripture reference – Jeremiah 29:11 — because I also believe that God has good plans for you. I shall continue to pray for you.”

I celebrate my sponsorship with Compassion because through the relationship with my sponsor, I caught the fire of hope. Sponsorship puts hope in the hearts of children and in return these children serve the rest of the world with that hope.

My mother died in hope, satisfied that she bore a son of hope; a hope she believed will survive and be taken to the ends of the earth to the glory of God.