A Note From Tom: February 10th, 2012
Hey, Everyone!
Hang on a sec....uhh...
...Sorry...I need to finish something....let’s see..
“...so we pray for you everyday! We hope you have a heart full of happiness today! You are precious to Jesus and we love you!
Blessings!
Tom and Tina”
Let’s see...hit “Send”!...
There!!
Done!!
Sorry, folks! I was in the middle of writing to our Compassion International child in Uganda when I started my email! And I realized I needed to finish it before I started something else or I’d never get it done!
Our Compassion child we sponsor every month, Doreen Akello is the cutest thing in the world! (Not sure what Compassion International is? Check it! compassion.com) She’s growing strong in Jesus and tells us all about it! We sent a little extra for Christmas and she wrote to thank us and tell us she used it to buy some shoes, some meat for her family (know any kids who buy meat with extra Christmas money?) and she made a Christmas offering to her church!
When you sign up to sponsor a Compassion International child, you send a little money a month...like $38...and you make it possible for a ministry of people who love Jesus who are working in an underdeveloped country to provide food, schooling, health care, and spiritual nourishment for that child! And the kids know that someone somewhere who loves Jesus, also loves and cares about them! It gives a child a heartful of hope in a hopeless world! Not bad for a few bucks a month!
And you write to them! They write you back! You become an important person to a child who is learning he or she is special to God because, among other things...well...because of you!
I don’t know what I could ever do to change the oppressive poverty and despair of Uganda. But a child in Uganda has the food and medicine a growing child needs, she goes to school, and she knows Jesus loves her. And she knows that other people she’s never met love her, too.
And that’s not a little thing.
Sometimes on Sundays, I worry that maybe I said something in church that I shouldn’t have. And sometimes I wonder if I didn’t say something the way I meant to. A few weeks ago, I was worried about both. I had a heaviness in my heart because I had read that much...or maybe most...of the chocolate we consume in the U.S. is made from cocoa harvested by children in the Ivory Coast who work as slaves. They are stolen from, or sold by, their families and live a life of oppression and bondage. Some chocolate companies are trying to change this horrible situation. Some don’t seem to care. I didn’t know whether it was good to speak of it, but I couldn’t help it. I said that it is estimated that as many as 315 children work and live in slavery so we can have chocolate to eat, though they’ll never taste chocolate their whole brief, miserable life.
As I was driving away, I thought, “Should I have spoken of that? And did I say 315 kids?”
I called Tina.
“Did I say 315 kids live in slavery in the Ivory Coast?”
“Yes. 315.”
“Oh no! I wasn’t sure if I should speak of it. But 315 isn’t what I meant. It’s 315,000.”
315,000 kids.
315,000 boys and girls live in slavery in the Ivory Coast. So the world can enjoy it’s chocolate.
What can I do? How can I change a world gone bad? Maybe there are things I can do for the kids of Africa! There are certain brands of chocolate I haven’t touched since then! And I know I want to care about this!
But I thought, “What if it WERE only 315? That is STILL too many! 315 lives lived in misery and pain. What if there were only one?
I can’t change everything. Maybe I can change more than I think if I care more than I do. I know Jesus is coming and children won’t be slaves then! Isaiah says “little children will lead us!”
But I can help one child.
We do. She lives in Uganda. Her name is Doreen. We write to her and we tell her she is precious to Jesus. And we tell her she is precious to us.
Both of those things are true.
Have you written your Compassion child in a while? You can do it online now! It’s super easy! Just go to compassion.com!
They’re waiting to hear from you!