While talking to someone about the amount of money I have to raise for The World Race they said to me "Why don't you just send that money to them to buy food with it rather than spend that much money to travel there."
I thought why don't people understand? Missions work is about more than just feeding the starving children that you see on TV. I explained to her that I was going to feed them spirituality not just physically. If your not a Christian this may be hard to understand.
I believe North America's view is when there is a problem we need to fix it. For example, "There are hungry children so lets give them food" or "there are people dying of AID's so lets find a cure". When we feel like we can not fix it we give up, try to ignore the problem and become depressed or take drastic measures that causes more harm than good.
God doesn't expect us to 'fix' the world. He has called us to 'love' the world. "Love one another." John 13:34
On the World Race we are going to encounter more than just starving children. We will all so be working with the sick, underprivileged, lonely, abandoned and those affected by the sex trade industry. How could we help these people by just throwing money at them and walking away? Even if we could feed every child, what then? Is it a parents job just to feed and cloth his/her children? No. He/she all so teaches, nurtures and love his/her children so that they will grow up to become kind, loving and successful adults.
God has given me a love for other people. I want to show people that I love and care for them as individuals, not just as a problem that needs to be fixed. 1 John says "We love because he has first loved us." Because of the love that God has for me, he has taught me how to love like he does. " Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us." Ephesians 5:1
Nobody is prefect, certainty not me. I am sinful and broken but God has healed and renewed me over and over again because he is a merciful and loving God. I'm so thankful for that. I still struggle but I try to have faith like a child. So when my loving Father says 'Go!' Luke 10:3 and "defend the rights of the poor and needy" Proverbs 31:9. Why would I refuse?
"The righteous care about justice for the poor" Proverbs 28:7. "All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor" Galatians 2:10. There is no question the Jesus had a passion for the poor. That is where he spent most of his time. He didn't spend his days in churches with Christians, he went out into the street where he could minister to the poor, heal the sick and dine with prostitutes.
We don't have to be perfect to be loved by God. Jesus didn't come for the righteous but for sinners. 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick" Luke 5:31. God wants us to be a part of his Kingdom but Gods Kingdom doesn't have to wait until Jesus returns but is present now, read Luke 17:21.
So why do I want to go on The World Race?
"The entire law is summed up in a single command: Love your neighbor as yourself." Galatians 5:14
Enough said!
