I find myself in church this morning singing over and over again, “Break our heart for what breaks yours…”
Or in my room at night praying for vision and purpose and understanding.
Or asking for His heart to awaken mine to what moves His.
And then it comes. The things that break His heart begin coming into view and there’s a choice to be made. Do I turn a supposed blind eye and pretend I didn’t hear the statistics or am too consumed in my own world to care? Or do I stop and listen and pray, seeking how I can play a part in ministering reconciliation to a world that is longing for more than just human relief work — that is longing for wholeness and restoration that only One can bring.
Swaziland is crying out at a crisis point, with the statistics highlighting the reality of the situation that they, as a country, are in right now.
50% of the 24-29 year-olds are infected with HIV/AIDS.
32 years old is the average life expectancy
2050 is the projected year the entire Kingdom of Swaziland will cease to exist.
When it comes down to it, it is the church that must answer the cry. It is the church that must enter the tension between what life looks like here and what is happening out there in places like Swaziland. It is the church’s opportunity to go minister in the gap and be an active vessel of change to a country that is literally dying without it.
This is where we have to choose. Do we enter that place of discomfort and out of it begin to seek how we can minister hope to a nation that is heading towards death in our own lifetime? Or do we forget it — assume it is someone else’s responsibility — and continue on with our own problems?
Below is a video created by two July ’08 racers who are out on the field in Swaziland having their hearts broken for the people of this country. I pray that this video would activate all of us to begin seeking how we can play our own part…
…so that by 2050, Swaziland isn’t the country that has ceased to exist, but the country that is thriving spiritually, economically, and socially in this world.
That’s a God-sized dream that only a God of real power, compassion, and presence can take from dream to actual manifestation in this world.
…and for some reason, He always chooses to let us partner with Him in fulfilling such visions.
