I won’t ever forget what I’ve seen the past few days. In the span of 24 hours my mind, no, my world has been blown.
On the way back from breakfast there was this dog. We were walking down the dirty streets and just trying to keep out of all the dirt and trash.
And then I jumped because I thought I saw the concrete move!
But it wasn’t concrete, it was a dog. Not it, he. He was a dog.
Mangy doesn’t begin to describe him. He was a sack of bones, shrink wrapped in old grey skin. The remains of a strawberry blonde coat lingered in sparse patches on his body.
He tried to scoot away when we got close, but he was so weak that he seemed to ripple all over and then fall down. I crouched in front of him and he just bared his teeth at me.
I wasn’t scared, I was just sad. It broke my heart.
I don’t blame him for not trusting me. I probably wouldn’t trust me if I had been through what he probably has.
I can’t imagine.
I asked around if anyone had water and I desperately tried to find some sort of container to put it in.
I found a couple of broken plastic cups that could hold what to us is merely a few sips, but I had to do something.
I walked away so angry. Someone said, “That’s so sad…” All I could think was, “there are people like that all around the world.”
I couldn’t get it out of my mind.
Someone might say, ” That’s just a dog! Why should I care?” I don’t care what it is. He is in pain and he is suffering and if you won’t acknowledge that, if that doesn’t move you in some way, then I doubt you will feel overly compelled to help people who starve to death every day while we, the rich(yes, we are rich in America), do nothing.
Our happiness, entertainment, and pleasure are all that matter and I think it takes looking suffering in the face to change that.
So LOOK
I want you to see that dog and picture a child that is important to you in its place. You might say,”That’s awful!” And you know what?
You’re right. It is awful.
I hope that makes you angry. But it’s not enough to be angry. If your anger doesn’t lead you to action, then who the heck gives a crap if suffering makes you outraged?!
That’s what I realized. I got back to the hotel, just wanting to take a nap after a late night of bar ministry, but I said “NO!”
I walked into the guy’s’ room and got my water and ripped a paper cup into a bowl. I told Casey, “I’m going to go feed the dog, you in?”
“Sorry I’m really tired!” He said. He was out super late as well.
I didn’t blame him at all, that’s what I would’ve done 5 minutes ago. But it made me sad. There must’ve been a pretty sad look on my face because he said he was sorry.
So I left. I was determined to do something. But before I left the room, I said this.
“I’m tired of just being angry at all the suffering in the world.”
I stormed down the street, hoping and not hoping at the same time that the dog would be there. And then I saw him.
He was hunched over the crushed, ripped, and leaking water cup, trying to lap up all the water he could. I had been gone at least 30 minutes, it was by no means a short walk, and he had just been able to get up and try to drink. That’s how weak he was.
He shuffled away and looked at the ground. I brought crackers and a whole lot of water. I poured the water and opened the crackers.
Then I started weeping…and then Casey showed up.
It was so good to see him.
“Maybe we should walk away…he might eat then.”
He said that a few times, but I just couldn’t. Here was suffering, and I was going to look it in the face.
I started talking to him and moving the stuff closer. I just wanted him to trust me!!!
He was shaking.
If you know me, then you know that I’m not a huge fan of pictures. I think people easily ruin moments by experiencing them behind a lense. But this didn’t ruin the moment, it created a moment.
A moment that you can now experience.
Then Casey said something that I won’t ever forget.
“It’s like the girls in the bars. You aren’t here to save them, you are here to love them.”
He said that because no matter what I did, the dog wouldn’t eat or drink anything. We agreed to hide a little ways off. What I saw next broke my heart even more.
We watched him look around, painstakingly get up, and slowly limp past my food and water and down a side alley, out of sight.
I said,” Maybe he doesn’t have the will to live anymore.”
“Would you?” Responded Casey.
I whispered “Probably not” as we walked back to the hotel in silence.
“Thank you,” I managed to choke out through tears.
“No, thank you,” he said.
While I was weeping, I told God,” I finally understand. Why does it hurt so much to finally understand?”
“That’s the price of love.” He said.
What I finally understand is that this tragic story is not just the story of an overly emotional guy and a dying dog.
It’s the story of the human race.
Every single one of us is that dog, and God offers us each his love which he knows will make us whole and well.
But we have the choice to reject it.
I said before that I don’t blame the dog for not trusting me. I don’t blame people for not trusting God and I don’t think He does either, but it breaks his heart to watch us suffer.
I love this quote by Jon Foreman:
“When things go wrong you ask yourself, ‘How can there be a good God?’ Jon ponders aloud. “I think the conclusion that I come to is that both faith and doubt are equally logical choices in the face of tragedy.”
I’m not blaming people for seeing suffering in the world and being bitter towards God because of it. I’ve been there.
But there has to come a time when all the questioning turns to action.
What are you going to do about it?
Wipe Every Tear is an organization that provides free housing, free college, free child care, and a monthly stipend to girls who want to get out of the sex trade.
Sounds great right?
The girls they help are not prostitutes, they are girls who have been prostituted and told that there is no way out.
Wipe Every Tear now has 80 of these amazing girls in their care houses and in school. In the Philippines you need a college degree just to work at Mcdonalds or at a gas station. No joke. So if you can’t afford college, you don’t have many options.
So we went into these same “bars” with the girls who used to work in them! They wanted all these girls to know about the amazing opportunities Wipe Every Tear provides.
They go back to show the girls that the price of love isn’t 4,000 pesos, but it’s free and it’s available
It would be easy to walk into these “bars” and lose faith in humanity and even in God. But the look on the faces of the girls when they found out that there was a way out would thaw the coldest and most skeptical heart.
I can’t tell you their names or show you any pictures, but know that these girls are just normal girls. They like the same things you do and they have dreams like you too.
There was this one girl who was only 20 and had 2 kids! And they were the kids from guys who had bought her for the night and were now God knows where.
My friend asked her,” If you could do anything in the world, what would you do?”
“I would provide for my children.”
Wow.
There are over five thousand girls like this on one block.
I can’t describe what it feels like to make friends with these girls just to watch some sleazy guy call them over or buy them for the evening. That makes me angry…and I hope it makes you angry too.
We show these girls love. That’s what it takes to live in the face of suffering. It takes love. And love isn’t love if it doesn’t act. You can’t say you love someone and watch them suffer and do nothing about it.
That’s what Jesus proved when he came and died on the cross and that is what it is going to take to change the world.
So what are you going to do about it?
