Grace to Make a Difference

No youth group experience can be considered complete without a mission trip. From Honduras to Cambodia we trot the globe volunteering in orphanages and distributing goods to the needy. 

          The first time I ventured out of the United States, I landed in Latin America. I felt a massive sadness at seeing shanty towns and barefoot school children. I thought of how lucky these people were to have me here. I was 20 years old and ready to pay back a debt I owed to the rest of the world.   

          Looking back, I'm surprised to see how wrong I was. I felt guilty for my “American life.” I was embarrassed that so many children didn't have the advantages I had. It's a common process. And 12 years later I’m still hearing the word GUILT associated with the motivation for a mission trip. 

          Many Americans have no idea how the average African lives. They are shocked when they see a child bathing on the side of the road or an old woman carrying 50+ pounds on her head. But what are we guilty about?

          Last year, I attended a meeting where a small group of American students met to discuss their African mission trip experience and share what they had learned. Almost every student said they felt guilty to be from a wealthy country. They didn't feel guilty about how Africans lived but about their own American lives. The question “WHY?" needs to be answered.
     
          Why does Angela from Atlanta have a more secure life than Fatima from Tanzania? I have read confusing answers in books on psychology, sociology, and politics but these aren't good enough. 

          Corruption, slavery, human trafficking, genocide, and starvation are the reality for much of the world, but not for Angela. So, why does God allow some people to have long comfortable lives and others short difficult lives? Hmmm.

          One day, in the jungle of Peru, a man asked me a question I will never forget: "White man, how long have your people lived out from among the trees?" I had to think about the question for a moment before responding. "Pablo, we have lived 1,500 years in the open ground." 

          It was a sobering moment for me, a 23 year old American. But there was a time when northern Europeans did live in nomadic family groups. Our lives were filled with hardships and violence. 

          In looking at my life versus Pablo’s, I see two very different levels of progress. I’m from a world of microchips and refrigeration; my friend, from a land of foraging and tracking. My culture has migrated many times; Pablo is in his native land living in the ebb and flow of hunger and disease. 

          As I write, I look 9 years back and I have learned much since then. I truly hope Pablo's culture will one day have access to good medical care and not live with seasonal hunger year after year. I have searched for answers but find only GRACE.

          By grace my culture has education and healthcare. By grace we have cooperative societies and relative equality. 

          But what can I do to help a world that is hurting? What can I do to be part of the solution? This is a question many of us are trying to answer. 

          The situation of our pitiful world came to my attention while I was in my early 20s. The nightly news was a solemn reminder that the world is a broken place. I had to do something. What did I have to offer? Was there anything I could do to help? The answer lay within me. 

          When I was a boy, I heard a story that changed my life, the story of Jesus. His love, compassion, and renewing power had proven itself in my own life and I believed that following the teachings of Jesus is the greatest change for the good any person or society could make. 

          I have received His grace and to that grace I am joyfully obligated. It is powerful and life changing. Guilt is drudgery and will only take a person so far. If you are trying to help the poor because you feel like you own it to them, then eventually you can pay that debt, move back to America, and feel like you earned your opulence. Grace is the opposite.

           Grace has nothing to do with us but everything to do with Jesus. Wherever I go, It’s my good pleasure to be an initiator of grace by pointing others to the one who changed my life for the good—the one we call Jesus.         

           I now live in a country tormented by death. South Sudan is under staggering oppression from hunger and violence. How can I help? What is the best way to make a difference in South Sudan? I believe the truth of Jesus changes people, people change families, and families change societies. Matthew Parris was a brilliant commentator and staunch atheist, however, even he could not deny the unbelievable change that Christianity can make.  

         "I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the secular NGOs…Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good." -Matthew Parris

          The world's wounds are festering with infection. Please move quickly past the guilt. Guilt will keep you moving forward for such a short time! But grace sustains for generations. I’m here not because I feel guilty about my Americanness, but because I was shown the grace to make a difference.