Compassion

I am overwhelmed! God is so gracious, it just blows my mind. Let me give you the long version of the story.

Back in March, Owen’s Mom’s Day Out program sent little banks home with each of the children to collect money for a feeding program for kids around the world. Owen loved putting his change and even some dollar bills into his “feed the children bank” as we called it.

On Easter Sunday, the boys had an Easter egg hunt at my mom and dad’s house. There were lots of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters and even a few dollar bills in the eggs. When we got home, Owen was given the choice of putting his money in his piggy bank or his feed the children bank. He chose to feed the children. I don’t know how much he understands the concept of money and where it goes and who gets it, but I thought it was neat that he was excited about helping kids around the world.

This got me thinking . . . how can we continue teaching Owen about the issues of poverty and how it affects kids all over the world. I brought this matter to the Lord and pondered the thought for several days. I remembered sponsoring a child through World Vision while I was in college. I also remembered hearing about Compassion, a similar program with the motto “Releasing Children from Poverty in Jesus’ Name.” I checked out the Compassion website and continued praying. A few days later, I was reading a blog that I frequently check. One of the writers was preparing to leave for a Compassion sponsored trip to India.

In the meantime, I talked with Brandon about the possibility of sponsoring a child. He quickly agreed that it would be a great idea for our family to do this. I began searching for a special child that our family could sponsor. I wanted to find a little boy around Owen’s age. I read many profiles and did many searches. I began focusing my search on children with a mental or physical impairment. My original intent was to sponsor a child with a speech impairment. I’m a speech-language pathologist, so I thought this would be a good fit. As I searched, I found a little guy from Indonesia (see the map below) named Tinus. Although he didn’t have a speech impairment, he does receive regular medical care for a vision impairment. What drew me to Tinus? In his profile, it was listed that he liked to tell stories, ride his bike and play hide and seek. Sounds just like Owen, especially the storytelling part! However, I didn’t take the step to sponsor Tinus just yet.

Later that night, I stood in front of the bathroom mirror. Tinus’ little six-year-old face kept popping into my head. I knew that this is what God was calling me to do. He had led me to this place and guided my steps . . . now it was up to me to act. This is the part where I often get stuck. I over think things or put things off or just wimp out. The next day, I finally made the choice to obey. I went to the website, found the picture of Tinus and just did it! I was so excited!

Fast forward to today. This is the overwhelming part! The boys and I went out to the mailbox. Our sponsorship packet was in the mail! We went inside and opened it immediately. It was fun to see the picture of Tinus and some information about his family and where he lived. After the boys left the kitchen, I began opening the rest of the mail. We received two separate checks with our tax returns. I didn’t think much of it. The last thing I opened was a large envelope from the Nielson Company. This is the group that compiles the television ratings. We have kept track of our television viewing habits for them in the past and they had called to ask if we would do it again.

So what is the big deal? In return for filling out the television diaries, the Nielson Company sends cash . . . this time it was $30. I was so excited!!!! This almost completely covered our first month of sponsorship! How cool that we received our sponsor packet and the first months payment on the very same day! I called Owen into the kitchen and shared the exciting news with him! He wanted to put the cash in an envelope and send it off right away. I gave a pretty poor explanation of credit card payments and banks and how all that works. Anyway, I was about to leave the table when I realized something. I pulled out a calculator and did a little figuring. One of our tax return checks plus the thirty dollars in cash was almost exactly the amount of money it cost to sponsor Tinus for one year! When I say exactly, I mean within $4!

God honors obedience. He doesn’t wait until we have it all together and are living a perfect life. He doesn’t wait until we have all our issues dealt with and under control. He doesn’t even mark us down for taking a little longer than we should have to do the right thing. God honors our obedience, period.

Luke 11:28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”