This video is an introduction of sorts to the Mama Tara Miskito Orphanage ministries. In it there are interviews with Mama Tara and a few of my fellow board members. They describe their connection with their sponsored children. It was my inspiration for this blog entry of how the Lord led me down the road to Mercy.
My father led me to the Lord soon after his own life changing conversion in 1985. I was only four years old. Being a musician, it was important to my Dad to surround us with Christian music. My brother and I wore out our Beta Max tape of Carmen and cassette tapes of Petra, Leon Patillo, and David and the Giants. In fact, Petra's Beat the System became the soundtrack to my early childhood.
My Mom, on the other hand, enjoyed the ever increasing popularity of the televangelist movement. Still a preschooler, I was emotionally moved by the 'sponsor a child' commercials depicting malnourished children with swollen bellies and big eyes. I wanted to help them. Not knowing how, I prayed for them... and ate all my dinner as not to waste food when "there are starving children in Africa."
As a teenager, my Dad bought a cd of Beat the System to replace our long worn cassette. I listened in nostalgia. I felt a familiar tug deep in my heart when this song played:
(click on title to see youtube video)
Matthew 25:35-46
Words & Music by Bob Hartman
Another day in Nigeria the children beg for bread
The crops failed, the well ran dry
When they lost the watershed
A baby dies, its mother cries the children gather 'round
They're wondering what the day will bring
Will they be the next one found
Do you dare to look into their hollow eyes
In the crowded sheds the children lay their heads
To escape the Haitian heat
The hunger pains drive them to the street
Wondering if today they'll eat
Some found food in the refuse heap
Others find disease
Some find it harder just to live
When they can die with ease
Do you dare to look into their hollow eyes
The least of these is hungry
The least of these is sick
The least of these needs clothing
The least of these needs drink
The least of these knows sorrow
The least of these knows grief
The least of these suffers pain
And Jesus is his name
I thought about those commercials that moved me as a child, "Maybe now I should sponsor a child?" That thought, however, came a midst growing criticism of sponsorship organizations that were reportedly misusing funds. Not long later though, our youth group attended a convention we loved to frequent called, Acquire the Fire. There, Mr. Luce endorsed an organization and showed videos of actual children who'd been helped. As a group, we decided to sponsor a child. Although, all good, I didn't receive the fulfillment I thought I would.
In 2000, I joined Teen Mania Ministries on a mission trip to Trinidad. It was, as is the Global Expeditions motto, 'a life changing experience.' What I found missing in that trip was the same thing I longed for in sponsorship... connection. In effort to fill that, I went on the same trip a year later. Again, an amazing experience that I would not trade, yet I wanted more.
Now 2001, I was an intern at Teen Mania's Honor Academy. One night during a worship time, Mr. Luce offered us a challenge. He asked us to prayerfully consider making a commitment to God to spend at least three years of our lives on the mission field. I was no stranger to responding to challenges made by Ron Luce. In fact, it was his bold teachings that had shaped my youth. But, I warned myself not to be too quickly moved to accept this challenge.
It wasn't long before I was sure God was tugging my heart to commit. The thought was intriguing, but too scary to really grasp. I raised my hand at the altar call later that night, but didn't tell many people about it. I consoled my frightened inner self, that could not believe it when I raised my hand, "You can just go for two weeks every summer until your old." "I mean, surely you'll get some connection that way," I reasoned.
It would be almost four years before I put the next 'dent' in that commitment. I went to Thailand after the tsunami of 2004. This trip was different for me. It fact, it changed everything. It was heart wrenching to see such devastation. After the trip, I felt as I had after each of my others, though. It seemed that I had little to offer. I seemed to always be ministered to more than I felt I did ministering.
Oh, I got a connection.... but it was not what I had expected. I had heard the Christianese terminology that said 'the Lord broke my heart for the lost.' It seemed just that Christianese, but now... but now my heart was actually broken at the thought of hurting people without the hope of Christ. That challenge that once scared me was challenging me again.
I told myself I was going to get serious about that commitment. But truthfully, I was feeling a much deeper calling to Christian service, but three years seemed much more reasonable. So, I signed up for another trip. A month this time, and to the 10/40 window. I was determined to make a connection and to really be a World Changer.
That trip fell through and I joined some friends who were going to Mama Tara Orphanage in Puerto Lempira, Honduras. That summer I met two people who would forever fill my longing for connection, Mama Tara and a sweet shy little girl with deep eyes and the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. Her name is Mercy.
TO BE CONTINUED....
