Five months ago I left my job, my friends, and my family like many on my squad did. We took a step in faith and got on a plane without being sure how we would be fully funded. Small comforts like a bed, steady electricity, and communication with just about anyone are foreign now. Trying to adapt to a different culture all of the time does not get old. With all of that, the things that we see are breathtaking.
Instagram and Facebook are great tools to help us highlight some of the things this adventure has had to offer. Images of kids in school, on the street, or in their mother’s arms are common. Landscape shots give a small glimpse into the wonder God has created before our eyes. Lights and quotes make great reminders of peaceful moments. So asking for support can sound a little confusing.
What Instagram and Facebook does not show you are the moments that are not so pretty. Social media does not come close to explain the feeling of being uncomfortable on travel days. The tossing and turning trying to sleep in the heat doesn’t get many likes. This is what we wanted when we left, right? We wanted to grow. We said, “send me” and He did. Now, how do we stay if we are not fully funded? How do we ask that we want to continue this journey?
“Will you consider partnering up with me?” Please consider supporting…” I am sure you have heard this.You might say that you did support. You might say that you gave support, but you are not really getting anything out of it. Something else that you might not see is how your five dollars bought someone a treat (probably their meals for the day). Twenty dollars just helped someone do a Vocational Bible School (VBS) for kids living just outside a dump site for a major city. Kids that make toys out of trash. That Vocational Bible School (VBS) might be one of the first times the whole community HEAR the name of Jesus Christ. Those twenty dollars just went to a place that Jesus died for yet they have no idea. The one hundred plus dollars that you donated, you don’t see how that encourages someone. The feeling that it is not just them and God, but that other people actually DO care and believe in them. Those kinds of things are not transparent in pictures. When memories of home, family, and friends come to mind, it helps not feeling alone. That one hundred plus dollars gives a little reassurance that when this is all over, we won’t be some burden. That one hundred plus dollars means more than one hundred plus dollars. Beyond the money, praying for someone who needs support is probably the most important part of supporting. Money might provide small moments of joy, but it is nothing compared to the help that person needs through emotionally.
That prayer could go to help on travel days when comforts are stripped. Maybe it could be it could be the nights trying to sleep on buses, trains, or planes. Eating rice and beans in the heat in Africa wears you down. Rooming with four other people with no A/C and 90 degree plus nights on the floor is not easy. Being out here is actually pretty hard.
Hearing the stories of women who have been abused their whole lives and now working the streets are not stories you want to share. Seeing a mother work with her child on her back (because paying for a babysitter isn’t a thing) is difficult to watch. Seeing kids get high off of glue because it curbs their appetite and is cheaper than actually buying food is not a vacation. Hearing how they are better off depending on themselves instead of their families to live is sad. Seeing the face of an elderly woman as she is being read an eviction notice she didn’t know that she was carrying around because she can’t read is not a picture you want to see. It is difficult. It honestly sucks. It really sucks and the world goes on. Why are we asking for help to stay out here?
So when someone says, “Hey, I could use some support.” I hope that you better understand what it is that they actually mean. What you hear might be, “Hey, do you want to give me money to travel, see cool things, and talk about Jesus from time to time?” but what it actually means is “Hey, I am out in the world seeing some really cool things and some difficult things, hearing difficult stories, and getting emotionally wrecked over and over again all to share Jesus Christ with someone. I know in my heart that there is at least one person that will be impacted and I know that they are worth $16,000. I know that one person is worth is worth 11 months of my life. I have a conviction that God thought of me as worthy of Jesus dying for. Surely someone else is just as deserving and should know it. I can’t do this alone.”
Supporting someone is not easy either. It is hard not to wonder what the money actually gets used for. It is difficult to see that a few dollars could have an effect on multiple levels. It takes tremendous courage to have faith in a “just cause” situation when all seems to say otherwise. But that’s what we ask you to do. To step into that faith in your own life or with us, through us, is the purpose of our calling. We said, “send me” and He did. Now, how do we stay if we are still not fully funded?
It is impossible to describe the hurt and heartache that we go through. The building and the losing of relationships month in and month out takes its toll. You could be a consent in someone’s life. You could be that push that someone needs to make it another week or another month. There is a lot of good being done and you are already a part of it. Now, I just ask that you take the next step. I know that I may be asking for too much. I just need to get by with a little help from my friends.
I don’t say this is enough, but thank you all for taking the time to read this.
