Tinotenda and Theresia

Today I would like to give a shameless plug for World Vision. My wife and I each sponsor a child through them. My wife sponsors a little girl, Theresia, in Lebanon and I have a little boy, Tinotenda, in Zimbabwe. I chose to sponsor a child in Zimbabwe because it is a high risk area for HIV/AIDS. Tinotenda is a part of the HopeChild program which seeks to help children in these high risk areas. Unfortunately many children born into these areas lose parents and are extremely vulnerable.

Over the past (almost) 8 years my wife and I have had our children changed as they either grow up or move outside of the sponsored area. The most exciting letter that we have received was when one of the children my wife sponsors was removed from the program because the family's condition had improved significantly. All you can do is thank God for the work done by World Vision and ask that the family's condition remains stable. However I wonder just how stable their condition could possibly be given that they live in a fairly unstable part of the world to begin with.

One interesting story from the World Vision blog is about a woman that has decided to start sponsoring young girls in her home country of India. Aparna Sen grew up in Calcutta and had the opportunity to further her education in America. But her heart always remained for those growing up in India:

"I wanted to sponsor a girl since I knew that girls in India, especially from poor communities, are victims of discrimination in almost every walk of life. They rarely get an opportunity for education, and many of them are married off at an early age."

Aparna sponsored Rebika and eventually Aparna and her husband, Ritwick, traveled to India to meet Rebika. What they learned was that the sponsorship of the child affects more than a single child or even a single family. Aparna and Ritwick were greeted by the whole village when they reached Rebika's home.

"I wanted to tell them that I just sponsor a single child, not the whole village — but they made me feel as if I did! Then, I learned about how World Vision works not just with children like Rebika, but also their families and the entire community to provide a support network. I was convinced then that I had made the perfect choice in supporting World Vision to carry on their exceptional work in India."

It is a great testimonial about the impact of World Vision. There are so many affected children in the world and there are just not enough sponsors to go around. With the tough economic times here at home it can be very easy to cut back on charitable giving because when we do the lights are not shut off, the car is not repossessed and the house is not foreclosed on. Yet the tough economic conditions that we face are a mere drop in the bucket compared to what others face all over the world.

 

The Jericho Road

The long and winding Jericho Road connects Jerusalem to Jericho. My pastor had the chance to walk that road during his trip to Israel this past fall. He has been sharing the pictures and stories from that trip during our Wednesday night Bible Study and it has been fascinating to read corresponding Bible stories. Often those pictures have given me a whole new appreciation for the stories. The pictures of the Jericho Road last night were no exception in how the illuminated the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:25-36. 

The photo on the right shows the Jericho Road. You can see the road right in the middle of the picture. See...it is right there...that small little path that is winding around the cliffs... It is narrow and has cliffs towering above it on the right and cliffs dropping off to the left. It isn't anything like the wide paved roads that we have in the Chicago area. (I use the term paved loosely. Have you seen the potholes?) The distance between Jericho and Jerusalem is about the same distance between my house and downtown Chicago. If I were to drive that trip I would likely take I-55 which we here call the Stevenson. As far as modern expressways go it isn't all that great and is often in need of repair. But it is enormous compared to the Jericho Road.

 It would be very easy to travel down the Stevenson and not notice someone on the far side of the road. You could honestly pass someone by and not see them. Not so much on the Jericho road. There is no way that you could travel down the road and honestly miss seeing an injured person on the side of the road.

"A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side."

There is no way that the priest or the Levite could have missed the injured man. The point that Jesus was making was that they obviously went around. It is something that I knew was a part of the story. But my perception of what a road looks like is very different than what the Jericho Road really is like. It really drives home how intentional I can be when I decide to ignore someone. While I might be able to fool myself, I cannot fool God. There is no claiming honest ignorance. God sees right through that and it is good for me to have a very different picture of the intentional actions of the priest and the Levite. Now I just need to make sure I have the same picture in mind when I think about ignoring someone. 

 

Jericho Road picture courtesy Rev. Christopher Poest

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.