You know how some days start out normal and then something amazing happens and life isn't the same after that? Well, that's what happened to me last Sunday morning. Let me tell you about it.
My friend Kimber had given me the book "It's Not Okay With Me" by Janine Maxwell. She gave it to me with the warning "it will change your life". Needing something to read at work, I took it anyway. So after getting Maddie settled into her bed, I settled into the book that would, in fact, change my life.
Janine Maxwell owned a successful marketing agency in Canada when she traveled on a short-term missions trip to Africa and had her world turned upside down. She described in detail meeting hundreds of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS who were living on the streets. She asked me to fill in the blank of this sentence "If I died, it would be okay with me if ___________ had to prostitute herself for food." (Fill in your daughter or son's name here. Do it too, my friend. Don't leave me alone in this.) How could I (how could anyone?) possibly complete that sentence? And yet, 15 million children (11 million in Africa alone) have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS and many of them are doing just that.
WHAT? How could this be? How did I not know about it? Oh. Well, maybe I might have read the statistics somewhere, but somehow 15 MILLION isn't a number that I could wrap my mind around, so I just didn't.
Here's the ugly truth about me. I cared more about my comfort than I did about these children. That's the reason I allowed them to stay a statistic. That's the reason I didn't allow myself to get involved beyond dutifully sending our $35 each month to support a little boy in Mozambique.
Jump back in time with me to April, 2000. I was raising money for an organization that was building a hospital in Haiti and was asked to travel there so I could adequately speak about the people there and their need for healthcare. Not being a very adventurous person, I wasn't too excited about this "opportunity", but duty called so I went. The sights and smells were overwhelming. Poverty was all around me. My heart bled for these people who were so gracious and humble. I was humbled. For two weeks I saw things that most people can't even imagine. And then, after two weeks, I hopped on my waiting 747, ordered a Diet Coke and thanked God that it was over. Was I changed? Yeah, a little bit. But I promptly declared (after taking my first hot shower in 2 weeks) that I would NEVER, EVER set foot in another third-world country again unless Jesus Himself came down and told me I had to go.
Fast forward almost 9 years. There I sat in Maddie's comfortable room, in the dark, with her ventilator quietly humming and suddenly Jesus Himself was speaking to me. Asking me, no, imploring me to go. And I found myself saying "yes Lord 'here I am, send me.'"
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