No, I Have Nothing For You!

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I've been reading lots of meaningful posts this season, but one that has really touched me recently is from The Idea Camp:  A Young Boy and the Start of a Movement.

It's a story that takes place in Zimbabwe, which seems so far removed from our lives at the moment, but brings back all kinds of African memories.

A young boy grabs the author and says:  “Sir, thank you for visiting my country. I’m really sorry it’s in the state that its in. I don’t want to beg, but I have not had food in days. Is there anything I can do to work for you, so I can have a meal?”

The author's reaction:  I was confused, overwhelmed and tired. I looked at this humble boy (created in the image of an almighty God) and said these devastating words: “No, I have nothing for you!”

As I was looking through our old photos for pictures to go with this post, I realized how much Chris's short story could be my own.  Surrounded by poverty, it's so easy to become jaded by the great need, to marginalize the poor due to a couple of bad experiences, to feel helpless to make a difference, to miss one God-given opportunity after another to change the world. 
 

Fortunately Chris has a longer story to go with the short story.  He goes on to explain how that encounter - that boy - has compelled him to start a movement and to make a difference in the lives of countless others.

I got out the map to figure out how far Oregon is from Arkansas - is there any way we could get to the Idea Camp in February?  It's a really long drive and not financially feasible for us right now - but for those of you a little closer - please consider!

I look at these old photos of Esmé high-fiving AIDS orphans, and I KNOW there's got to be a way, a better way, to deal with the global orphan crisis.

Some way to make room for these little Christ-children in our world...