As many of you know, I've traveled quite a bit-- and LOVE it. However, I've never had the experience of traveling to a third world country and serving. At this time in my life, this is something I've been wanting and praying to experience. This world is SO big, and God is SO big, and I think sometimes we all get wrapped up in our lives right here and now. It's hard not to get wrapped up in this world around us, but gosh, even though we are so blessed and lucky here in America, there are still so many places in this world full of brokenness, poverty, corruption, and illness, that are just needing restoration and love and compassion. I just started reading a book, recommended by my former youth pastor, called Serving With Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions With Cultural Intelligence, by David A Livermore (thanks, TK!). I'm just getting started on the book, but I'm already blown away by some of the statistics. Here are some of the statistics from the book:
- 20% of the world lives on $1 a day (yes, ONE dollar!)
- Another 20% live on $2 a day
- 20% of us live on more than $70 a day
- The remaining 40% are somewhere in between
- Americans make up 5% of the entire world, and consume 50% of the world's resources
- More than 2 billion children live in our world, half in poverty
- One of every four children in the world has to work instead of going to school
- 8% of people in the world own a car
(Livermore, 22-23)
Now, I'm not trying to be a downer by any means, but it really does put things in perspective. I'm sitting here worrying about whether I want a latte or iced coffee from Starbucks, and what clothes I'm going to wear tomorrow, and almost half of this world lives on less than 2 bucks a day!
I am hoping that on this 10 day journey, I'll be able to just a little something, to make a difference in these communities that are less fortunate than us. And I pray that through this journey, that I might be prepared to serve with an open heart, open mind, with perspective, with compassion and love, and I might be bold in the parts that are difficult or frightening to me. I pray that our team that is going will prepare our hearts for this journey and that we would work together so that we can serve this community in the way that we have been called. All of your prayers for this are greatly appreciated! I also pray that through this blog, that I might be able to share with you some of my experiences, hopes, worries, and that I might be able to bring a greater awareness for how much need there is in this world, and how much we can do to help.
Tomorrow is my first meeting with the Missions Team-- I'm anxious to meet all of my team members, and to get more details on the trip, as well as training and preparation for this journey. I will keep you all posted!
