Compassion...totally out of order...don't hate

Okay, so I've had something kind of random on my mind for the past day...so even though this is not in sync with my "going back through the summer" series I have going on right now, please indulge me for a minute while I talk about something I care about. Now, anybody who knows me knows of my involvement with YoungLife- a ministry for high school students that I work with. If I ever had to choose a favorite ministry (and thankfully, I don't) it would without a doubt be YoungLife. My heart and soul is invested in this ministry. There's not a whole lot I feel sure about in life, but it is evident to me that God has called me to this ministry. Having the awesome opportunity to walk alongside my high school friends and share Jesus with them is almost unfathomable and indescribeable. I love my kids...I love my fellow leaders...I love how YL is incarnational and doesn't judge. I could go on and on about how awesome it is and the amazing things God has done that I have seen and heard about through the years...and I probably will one day in this blog...but for now, I actually want to talk about another ministry that I've felt called to recently.

You see, because I'm involved in YL, I've always felt like that kind of filled my "ministry" area of my life. I mean, I put lots of time, effort, and even money into it. So whenever people talk about other great ministries, I have thought "yeah, that's great for them...but I have YoungLife and that's what I do". However, I've learned that right when you think you know what you're doing and where you are...the Lord will call you to step up to the plate and follow Him even more. Thus is the case with my newfound inclination towards Compassion International. My family has had a compassion child for a few years, so I already knew a bit about the program-- and it seemed legit. Well, recently as I have started following various blogs, my roommate and I started reading some "Compassion blogs"...these are the blogs of different individuals who have gone on trips with Compassion to visit some of their service centers, the children Compassion serves, and even meet the specific kid they sponsor. Reading these blogs reminded me of poverty that I don't see.

Around the same time that we started reading these blogs, my roommate and I watched Slumdog Millionaire. Alex (the roomie) declared that she wished she could adopt all the little children in India in the slums...to which of course I reminded her we didn't have the money to do (I'm the realistic one sometimes- Debby Downer if you will). So, we left it at that, read the blogs and talked about how cool it was and moved on with life. Until one day Alex called and said she was on the Compassion site and wanted to adopt all the Indian kids on the page. Again, as Debby Downer I reminded her that we couldn't quite afford that...but that maybe we could afford one. So, we (well, technically Alex) adopted Karthigai- a 12 year old beautiful girl from India. As we discussed how we would pay for it, we decided that our best option to be financially responsible would be to give up cable...and so we did. Like that, it was easy actually. Now, I've had cable all my life...so while it wasn't a huge sacrifice it was definitely a change. We currently have about 12 channels...and most of them are church services. I personally prefer to attend my church services in person, so I don't spend a lot of time in the TV Church land. But I digress...

Somehow I found myself looking at the Compassion webpage a few days later. (I blame flowerdust.net- I was reading her blog that day- more on her later)...and up popped a picture of a precious 4 year old boy that had been waiting for more than 6 months for a sponsor. He had a kind of adorable scowl on his face and I looked at him and saw a kid just like my nephew (I have a nephew that just turned 5, so I have a lot to base that on). It didn't take much more to make me decide to adopt Debu, I knew then and there that he was my boy.

Now proudly displayed on our refrigerator are pictures of 2 beautiful children on the other side of the world...but its the same world...and thats the cool part.

Fastforward to yesterday....I was in Atlanta because my nephew Ross just turned 5. I love all my neices and nephews and it was such a blessing to get to spend some time with Ross. I got him a sword for his birthday because he recently told me he collects swords. It's pretty cool- lights up and all that. I was excited that he seemed to be pumped about it too.

Anyways, on my way to Atlanta, I saw that one of the Compassion bloggers that I also follow on twitter was going to be speaking at a church near where my nephew lives and I thought this would be a great chance to go hear her speak. Her name is Anne Jackson and she might be my new hero. She was at Oakleaf Church in Cartersville (which is an amazing church btw-- they played Zac Brown's "Chicken Fried" after the service...won me over) talking about Compassion. A lot of the message Anne had to bring I already kind of knew-- I mean her words had already helped in convicting me to adopt Debu, but it was so cool to watch the videos she made in India on her Compassion trip and hear the stories as she talked about these children that it was evident she cared about. Its so easy to forget about poverty in the world. Its so easy to live in my nice little North Macon neighborhood and ignore the hungry people downtown and around the world. One of the things Anne said at that service last night was "if you don't live like you believe you were created to change the world, then you are missing the point of salvation" (that's the Amy Kenney paraphrase probably). That really hit me...I guess because its a pretty bold statement...but so true. Its so easy for me to settle for trying to be a good person, but in reality, Jesus rescued us so that we could go and share his love with the world and if we don't go do that we are missing the whole thing.

So anyways, I've been thinking about the whole Compassion International deal in the past day especially in relation to my neices and nephews. Debu is the same age as one of my nephews. He could be right in there with them. I have 7 (and one on the way) neices and nephews and they are some of the coolest kids in the world. I love to be able to buy them things and take them places and just spend time with them. I don't know if Debu has anybody who loves him as much as I love my neices and nephews...but he has me now...and I hope that I can show him that I love him like that...I pray that as I continue in this relationship with Debu that the Lord will teach me how to show love to a precious little boy all the way across the world.

So, I hope that if you're reading this blog you've at least been inspired to read up on what Compassion is about. You can go to their website www.compassion.com. It's an awesome organization and a great way to get involved in really combatting poverty in the world. Check them out, and if you have the means (or can give up cable or something!) look into adopting one of the precious children. It's only like $38 dollars a month. You can choose an age or country or gender or whatever. One side note, if you do decide to check out adopting a kid- look to see the ones with little hearts by their name- that means they've been waiting more than 6 months for a sponsor. Oh, and to read Anne Jackson's blog check out www.flowerdust.net.