I volunteered at the Compassion International table at a conference yesterday. My first job was to pass out packets to every person entering the worship center. Each packet had a picture of an adorable child (I kept thinking, "isn't every child God made just so beautiful") and information about them and their country. I stood there holding twenty packets, looking at piles more waiting to be passed. I was holding the lives of children in my hands. Hurried and preoccupied people walked right past me and my packets, until I held one out for them to take. I kept wondering about all those lives. If all the children were standing right there, hundreds of them, we couldn't ignore them. But all I had were packets and cute photographs that didn't always get looked at. Most of the packets were returned during my shift, with only about five people actually choosing to sponsor a child. Almost all of those five people were already sponsoring one child, or two or three, and just had to sponsor one more. Is that why Jesus said that those with much would be given more? Does being generous just make us more generous?
I know that many people can't afford to sponsor a child. They are already on a tight budget. Some are already making sacrifices so they can stay in a job where they feel called but don't get paid much, or living on one paycheck so mom can stay home. And others have committed their resources to other ministries and kingdom purposes. But I keep thinking, what about the rest of us? What are we spending our money on? Starbucks and cable tv? Cell phones and Sirius radio? Clothes and expensive salons?
Compassion brought a speaker to the event, a man who was sponsored as a child. Owen was one of three starving children belonging to a single mom in Africa. He used to beg for food or eat what he could scavange from the garbage dump. He felt worthless and alone. He wondered why God hated him. Then he got a sponsor. He found out about God's great love for him and he became a Christian. He had a full stomach and could go to school. Owen went on to college and just completed his master's degree. He is now studying to become a CPA. Did I mention that he sponsors four children? The circle is complete. He got married about a year ago and guess who was his best man? His compassion sponsor.
I wish people understood how a child's life is completely changed when they have a sponsor. I wish I would think about it more. Maybe the stuff of this life wouldn't feel so important if I thought about a child eating from the garbage dump. How many cell minutes would I have to give up, how many tv shows, how many diet cokes, to give a child a chance to live. Little faces in a packet with real hurting stomachs and no future ahead of them...can I see them? Can I choose to give them life?
