Visiting with friends...

This week we are spending time with our friends Edson and Claudia Souza and their little girl Rebecca. Edson and Claudia are missionaries in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. They are the founders of New Hope International Ministries and they serve in the favellas of Rio. Stan met them for the first time in June, 2007 when he went to Brasil on a mission trip. That trip changed our lives! I wrote about it then, in a post titled Brasil in Our Hearts.

Brasil is still in our hearts and we are still forever changed by what Stan saw there and what the Souzas mean in our lives. They are true heroes of the faith. They are the ones in the trenches, every day, living lives that most of us can not imagine. Lives filled with the stench of raw sewage, crying children, and unimaginable violence. Please don't hear me saying that we don't have a huge job here in America or that what you do, or I do, is not important to God. He knew the time in history and the area that He would place us (Acts 17:26). It is no surprise to Him that I live a life of ease right here in Naples, FL. However, when Edson and Claudia visit and I take the time to sit down, look at the pictures and listen to them tearfully share the things that they are discouraged about, when I hear their fervent, faith filled prayers crying out to the God we all worship, then I feel a burden. A burden for children all over the world who don't have a bed to sleep in at night or fresh warm pajamas to put on. Children who drink water that is not fit for an animal. Children with hollow eyes and no hope.

The book of Luke says, "Where much is given, much is expected." I think Uncle Ben in the first Spiderman movie said something similar, "With great power, comes great responsibility." My friends, we have great power here in the United States. Despite all the turmoil in our political arenas today and despite what I, and many, fear is happening to this country, we are still the richest nation on the face of the earth! What we consider poor, 98% of the world considers extremely wealthy. It stands to reason, then, that what we call "rich" is incomprehensible to the rest of the world. The home I live in, the clothes I wear, and the food I eat is beyond the realm of comprehension for the children where Edson and Claudia minister. They would be completely blown away to see our car, our toys, and our resources.

I feel a great burden of responsibility for these people without hope. Hopelessness does not only reside in Rio de Janeiro. It lives all over the world, even here in America. The above picture of the Souzas and Stan and me is at a fundraiser dinner for Darfur. Edson and Claudia, who struggle to meet the needs of the children they work with and who struggle to meet their own needs, felt moved to donate some of their own personal money to the Clean Water project to help bring fresh drinking water to the women and children of Darfur, Sudan in a time of great need and persecution in that area. Friends, that is sacrificial giving. I have no idea how much money the Souzas gave, but I do know that like the widow in Scripture who sacrificially gave her last penny, God was pleased with their offering and will multiply it. No one expected them to donate to another ministry, no one thought they should. They could have attended the dinner, gotten a great meal that we all feel like they deserve and no one expected them to write a check. In the moment they wrote their check I realized how little I know of sacrificial giving.

To wrap up this post, which I realize is a bit random, I just want to say that spending time this month with true heroes has changed me. I have heard their prayers and petitions, I have cried when I look at the pictures of the children at the ministry center, and I have truly seen the heart of our Father for the little ones that appear to be abandoned. When we cry out, "Where are you God, why aren't You doing something?" The answer comes back loud and clear. "I am doing something, child, I am sending you." Does that mean everyone will pack up their suitcases and move to a third world country? Of course not, some will, but if everyone did, then there would be no resources. But, what would it look like if God unleashed an army of "civilian" missionaries? People like you and me, "untrained" by seminary. People who understand that all of life is sacred and that God is God seven days a week and He is everywhere - from the favellas of South America to the streets of America. People who are willing to say with Isaiah, "send me, Lord, send me." I don't know what God has called you to do - I'm not even sure what He is calling us to do, but this I do know, we are rich beyond belief, we have material things that we do not deserve, no matter how hard we worked for it. It all still belongs to Him. I know we think times are hard right now, and they are certainly harder than we have ever had to deal with. For years, we have told God that we will use what we have to serve Him or He can take it all, whatever would bring Him the most glory, but truly I am afraid those were words that we truly wanted to mean, but didn't really. Finally, after Stan's trip to Brasil when he looked into little eyes filled with desperation and came face to face with pure evil in the form of demons and violence and abuse - finally, I am humbled to say that we mean it. God you can use our material wealth or You can take it - whatever brings glory to Your name alone.