Blog

Having just arrived home from a tough trip to Lesotho, Africa with World Vision, I am still jet lagged and trying to get back on schedule. I get tired earlier and am ready for bed around 4:30 in the afternoon, and I wake up much earlier than normal (like 9:00am). It was only a 7 day trip, 2 of which were spent on a plane, so it shouldn't take long to get my body back to Tennessee time.
Most of the trip was very exciting. Some of it was very disappointing. My poor wife fell ill the very minute we arrived on African soil, and was laid up in bed until the very last day when we packed up, checked out and left. She even spent a full day in an African hospital hooked up to an IV to keep her hydrated. We're still not sure what caused the unfortunate nausea. All in all, she endured the doctor's 21-rapid-fire-question consultation, random pills and prescriptions, 5 bags of IV fluid, a couple blood tests, an ultrasound, and a pregnancy test (negative). All for less than $150 US. Next time I decide to get sick, I'm flying to Africa...it'll still be cheaper.
We were very fortunate to get to meet two of the kids we sponsor through World Vision. Actually, I met one without Carol, and we met the second together on the last day, just before we left. It was an exciting and awkward thing. I wanted to run up and hug them and kiss them and tell them how much I love them, but they were both shy and quiet. I know meeting their sponsor is something they very anxiously anticipate, but I tried to put myself in their shoes. Here is some person I've never met before, from a different country, much older than me, speaking a different language, offering me gifts of toys and candy. Kinda weird. So I enjoyed the short time we had together, made sure the translator told them I was very happy to meet them, and we were on our way.
The rest of the trip consisted of meetings with World Vision staff, tours of their facilities, an emotional debriefing with the team at the hotel, and a rushed half hour shopping spree just before we boarded the plane to go home. The passion of the people at work in these development projects gives me a renewed confidence about the money I give to this organization. The employees love their jobs and they are thankful for the opportunity to help. They work with diligence and fervor, knowing that there are people around the world praying for them and counting on them to be the hands and feet of the Body of Christ. I think of sponsors like they are the good samaritan in Jesus' parable, and World Vision is the innkeeper with whom they have entrusted their money.
The statistics I have learned on AIDS and HIV really hit home while I was there. To think that every third person I passed on the street was living with the disease just boggled my mind. We met a man who was a former soccer star, infected and now in the last months of life. His feet were elevated to help manage the pain, and there were lesion scars speckling what skin was exposed. I prayed for him, laying hands on him, wondering why God would let something like this happen in the world He created. I looked into his eyes and saw emptiness and hopelessness. He seemed to look straight through me, past me, his mind a thousand miles away.
Then I turned and looked at the hundreds of kids who had gathered on the hillside to watch us as we sang and prayed with this man and his family. I was thankful that these kids had a chance. They lived in a community where World Vision was active in educating people about the danger of AIDS and HIV. They were being reached. This disease could meet its end in our generation if enough people get on board to help. These kids can have hope. And if we reach them in time, they might not ever have to experience the hopelessness that is destroying this man and many others in Africa.
As I looked into the eyes of these children with that thought still fresh in my mind, I was immediately proud to be a part of the work World Vision is doing. And I realized that God has not forsaken that man or his country. He is using organizations like World Vision to make a difference. To build his kingdom. To do his will on earth as it is in heaven. We are his church, and we are storming the gates of Hell with our prayer, our unity, our resources, our action. I am thankful to be in a position to do something about poverty, hunger, and AIDS. I am blessed so that I can be a blessing to others. God, use me in this fight.