Prepare for scattered thoughts:
I initially had begun to write this post with the intentions to make it an informative blog post. I wanted to share information about each of the countries I will be going to, so that you could have more insight about the people and the needs in these countries, as well as educate myself in the process.
However , in the process of doing that I became extremely overwhelmed when I tried to narrow down ” the most important ” things or the ” biggest problems” in each of these areas.
THERE ARE SO MANY.
You may have seen that heart wrenching picture of a Syrian boy , Aylan Kurdi ,who washed up on a Turkish shore recently. His death was just one example of the result of the current crisis with ISIS going on in the Middle East. Of the estimated 3.7 million Syrian refugees fleeing , at least 1.5 million have fled to Turkey and hundreds of thousands more to Greece( two of the counties on my route) . Tensions are high in these areas as the needs of these refugees exceeds the resources and people are desperate for help.
And that is just those TWO countries…From the widespread poverty and slums in India and their caste system and practices such as sati ( bride burning! ), and the abuse and mistreatment of woman in most of these nations, to the large amount of unreached people’s in JUST Indonesia (32 million with just the Sundanese )…..It’s enough to make you head spin …and to look away because to fix it almost seems impossible.
If I am being honest , for the longest time that is what I did.
Doing nothing is easy. It’s convenient and safe….but imagine if instead of most people doing nothing we all did SOMETHING.
Not doing anything is comfortable. Most of the time we get so comfortable with our things and luxuries that we just get stuck on those THINGS and acquiring more of them .
At the end of the day though or when your life is coming to an end those things do not matter. It’s people we long to have by our side, and people and the impact we made in their lives that we leave behind.
It’s PEOPLE that matter.
Dealing with death in my job has caused me to deal with this reality and “comfortable”is no longer comfortable for me. ( I hope that makes sense) .
” For we brought nothing into this world , and it is certain we can carry nothing out. ” 1 Timothy 6:7
Jesus knew that we were broken , but instead of deeming us hopeless He saw past that and sacrificed his life to bring restoration.
If he saw past that then I must also.
Most of us in the United states are so blessed ,we can all afford to sacrifice something to make a difference. Wether it be your money, or time ,or giving your talents and gifts, there is always something you can give.
The purpose of this post isn’t meant to make anyone feel guilty …I just want to encourage you all to take the time to think about what you could do with what you have been given in just your everyday life.
Sorry this is all over the place, this is just more of an impromptu post/ overflow of my current thoughts.
Basically though I am saying ,I know that not everyone can go and drop everything to be a world changer, but we can all do little things to change one persons world or to slowly but surely make our world better.
What can you do with what you have been given?
For me, right now, it begins with these countries and the people there : Indonesia, Bangladesh, India,Nepal, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Turkey,Morocco, Greece. I cannot do this alone however , so if you want to help send me to these places please consider donating.
Also I ask that you please pray for me and my team as we get ready to go into these countries. Pray that God would prepare us and the hearts of the people that we will encounter.
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, Who then can be saved.Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:25-27
