enroute

First of all, I need to thank Compassion for allowing my wife and I go on a Compassion trip to the country of Nicaragua. It was a great opportunity to see first hand how Compassion lives out what they believe God has called them to do around the world. I need to thank Ben, Nate and Mark for leading us on behalf of Compassion – they all did a great job allowing us to experience the trip but more importantly speaking to each one of us in a personal way.

Let me say this about the ministry of Compassion. This ministry is the real deal – last year through their child sponsorship program, they sponsored almost 850,000 children around the world. (My mind automatically goes to the administrative nightmare that would be…) Each month when you send in your sponsorship of $32 it actually goes to the development of the child that you are sponsoring. Last year, they only used 16% of it for administrative costs – one of the lowest percentages with all ministry organizations.

The Compassion staff in Nicaragua were phenomenal. In North America, a lot of times, we see people working the 8 – 5 job to collect a paycheck; this is not the case with the Compassion staff. This staff, many of them more highly educated than what the job required, really embodied what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus. They were excited as they talked about the kids, they were brought to tears recounting the numbers of kids still yet to be reached, they were hopeful for the future of Nicaragua and they loved the chance to raise up Nicaragua future generations. It was a privilege to them and they wanted to make sure that they were being obedient to what God was calling them to.

I have been to many places around the world but I have never seen the poverty that Nicaragua has. The homes are built with metal and the majority of them have dirt floors. Running water and even electricity are not the norm here for the people of Nicaragua. The amazing thing with the number of home visits that we took was that the people were proud of their homes being more than willing to show us all around their single rooms with their few belongings.

Poverty is described as a condition of being without the basic necessities of life (shelter, food, and water). I will admit that seeing the poverty in Nicaragua did shake me as a North American Christian and father of two children. It caused me to question – am I doing everything that I possibly can with the resources that God has blessed me with? It seems like the wants and desires I have had really shouldn’t be at the top of list anymore.

Here is what I am going to take away from my time in Nicaragua and my prayer is that I can communicate to as many people as God would allow me to. The kids, the parents and the staff at Compassion Nicaragua all believe in something that we have taken for granted that God gives us and that is hope.

In North America, we hope for sunny days, a raise at work and a chance to sleep in for a few hours on the weekend. These people in Nicaragua hope to make a difference in their country. They want to be presidents, doctors, teachers, lawyers, etc and they don’t hope for those things because of the money that they bring (I am pretty sure they don’t have a clue how much those jobs pay) but they hope for those things because they want to change their country by helping their country.

When Christ came to earth, it was all about hope. Hope for a restored relationship, hope for a new covenant, and hope for eternal life. When we accept Christ into our hearts, it would be great if He took away all the struggles here on earth but He doesn’t because He allows us to hold onto the HOPE that one day all of these things will be gone when we join Him in heaven.

I was so confronted in Nicaragua about the sad amount of hope I have in my life to make a difference in the world, not because of recognition or some selfish inner desire but simply because that is what God calls us to have.

I was also confronted that the message that the world needs to hear and I believe will rally around is the message of hope. How much of our message to the world is filled with the hope that Christ offers?

I encourage you to support Compassion because they are being the hands and feet of Jesus to a world that desperately looking for a Savior.
- Matt