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Meet Harriett Mwakwida.  Since 1996, 2nd grade, Harriett has been sponsored through Compassion International.  Compassion’s work is to release children from poverty, in Jesus Name.

Harriett’s personality is contagious.  Her hunger for Christ, love of life, and great attitude made it very enjoyable to hear her story.  About being sponsored, she says, ‘Someone has sponsored me.  They have never seen me but they care for my life.  It has really impacted me and has given me the desire to accept anybody and not be selfish…’

She is now in Compassion’s Leadership Development Program.  To her LDP sponsors, Harriett says, ‘David and Catherine from California, I thank God for you.  You’ve really impacted my life….I don’t have enough words to give you thanks, but deep in my heart…I’m grateful.  May God bless you.’

A number of things really stood out to me as I had the privilege to meet so many sponsored children, students, and families of those sponsored around Nairobi.  One of the biggest things was how very personal and important the sponsors were to them.  The handwritten letters they receive from their sponsor is also a huge deal.

Imagine 1.3 million children around the world sending and receiving multiple letters every year.  That’s a big undertaking.  I’ve had the opportunity to write letters, see them processed at Compassion’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, observe the system in the Kenyan national office, and then see them pulled out of a coffee can in a mud hut in a rural area outside of Nairobi.  It works and it’s a big part of what makes sponsorship so great.

Be different.  Make a difference.

If Harriett’s story has inspired you to sponsor a child through Compassion International, this link will let us know and lead you where you can take action – http://www.compassion.com/kenya2012

I love a good coffee house.  A good coffee house has great coffee and a great vibe.  There’s nothing worse than a bad coffee house.  Bad coffee and a bad vibe, that’s a sacrilege.  

Prior to a recent trip to Oklahoma City, I tweeted about visiting one of my favorite coffee stops while in the area.  My friend, Brian Witham suggested I also stop at The Credo House.  He said it was the coolest one he’s ever been to.  So I did.

The Credo House is fantastic.  Great vibe.  Great coffee.  And, even better, they have a unique vision as to why they exist.  I had the privilege of spending some time with The Credo House executive director, Tim Kimberley, as he joined us on our recent trip to Nairobi, Kenya, with Compassion International.

Tim chronicled his experience with Compassion.  If you’re someone who loves the details of both human impact and the practical business of making it all happen, you’ll enjoy reading his thoughts about the trip on his posts ‘How To Disciple 1.3 Million People‘.

I asked Tim to share the vision of Credo House on this video.  It’s unique.  It’s different.  Even the vision has a great vibe.

From Canada to Kenya.  A long distance story of love and redemption.  It’s my pleasure to introduce you to Jerusha Oluhano.

At six years of age, her father abandoned her and her family.  With little to eat and needing clothing, Jerusha began to find help and hope through her local Compassion International Child Development Center .

The long distance difference.  At the same time, thousands of miles away in Canada, a family decided to try and make a difference through child sponsorship.  Jerusha became the recipient.  Once sponsored, through the influence of her local Compassion staff and volunteers, she accepted Christ as her Savior.  Jerusha’s mother also received Christ as a result of participating in Compassion’s classes for mom’s on caregiving for their children.

Jerusha says that after her mom gave her life to Jesus, ‘That brought a light and restored hope in our family.’

Jerusha is the first person in her family to attend Jr. and Sr. high, otherwise known as secondary school.  She recently graduated from the University of Nairobi with a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy.  Her ability to go to college was the direct result of her sponsors bringing her through Compassion’s Leadership Development Program.

About her sponsors, she says, ‘They’ve been amazing to me, a family to me. They restored hope to me.  I always knew that I had a father in Canada.  Though far away, close by letter.’

As sponsors, our family has enjoyed our experience through Compassion International.  However, before this trip, I grossly underestimated the impact sponsorship has not only on the life of a child, but their family and community.  The ripple effect of sponsorship is amazing.  It is quite possibly the most efficient and effective means of making a difference in a child’s life spiritually, physically, economically, and socially that I have ever seen.

Dear Canada, Jerusha asked over and over if I would make sure to get this video to her sponsors.  She wanted to make sure you both saw and heard how grateful she is.  I will work to make that happen.

Be different.  Make a difference.

If Jerusha’s story has inspired you to sponsor a child through Compassion International, this link will let us know and lead you where you can take action – http://www.compassion.com/kenya2012

Meet David Kiragu.  David is an energetic and incredibly like-able young man.  He and I met on my recent trip to Nairobi, Kenya.  David was sponsored through Compassion International at the age of ten years old.  He’s now twenty-two.  He has been sponsored by the same family from the United States for twelve years.

David is a success story.  Compassion works to release children from poverty, in Jesus Name.  Through his sponsorship, David was able to attend primary school, secondary school, and, through a program called the Leadership Development Program, David has become a student at Pan Africa Christian University in Nairobi.  He is pursuing a Bachelor of Business Leadership and majoring in accounting and finance.

David says, ‘It was through Compassion that my dream was restored. I’m now able to dream again and again.’

It’s my privilege to share his thoughts and thanks with you through this short video.  To Lil and Joseph, wherever you are, your own compassion and desire to help has released this young man from the negative affects of poverty and has given him the opportunity to pursue his dreams.  God has used you as a force for change.

Be different.  Make a difference.

If David’s story has inspired you to sponsor a child through Compassion International, this link will let us know and lead you where you can take action – http://www.compassion.com/kenya2012.

Saturday, January 14th, was an amazing day.  On my trip with Compassion International, we visited what’s called Compassion Project KE555 in an area populated by people called The Maasai.  This video was part of a re-enactment of a wedding they did for us.

In this community, 273 children are sponsored through Compassion International.  In addition to visiting with the whole community, we also spent time with the local Compassion staff, the pastor of the church in which the work was based, and the children as they were experiencing their Saturday activities provided through Compassion.  As I sat in on one class, I saw two ladies teaching and interacting with the kids at a level I’ve rarely seen before.  It was a great reminder that ‘missions partnerships’ which engage the passion, skills, and assets of the local community are the best way to go about this kind of work.

A few things really stood out to me.  First, everyone, including the kids, absolutely love the presence of Compassion International in their community.  Second, it was very evident that lives were being changed through this work.  We met a lot of the parents of the sponsored kids.  Many of these parents had asked Christ into their life because of the love being modeled by the local Compassion team.

At each location we visit, our Compassion hosts expose us to the big picture of how sponsorship impacts the whole community.  We also see how sponsorship profoundly impacts the family of each child.  That’s why we also visited some homes.  One such visit was with an eleven year old girl named Hillary and her family.  Hillary is sponsored by someone in the US.  While sitting inside their little mud hut, I couldn’t help but think, ‘If those who sponsor these kids could be sitting here right now, they would be tearfully beaming with joy and thanking God for how their small investment was literally and dramatically making a difference.’

If you sponsor a child, or many children through Compassion, keep it up.  This thing actually works.  It even goes beyond what you may imagine.

I’m writing this post from London, England.  Why?  Read on.

Handouts are necessary in times of desperate need such as a natural catastrophe, war, and other situations where relief and intervention become the first response.  A hand up is what’s necessary when someone is subject to a lack of opportunity and the basic needs of day to day life.

Our family sponsors Jefferson.  Jefferson is a boy who lives in Ecuador.  We met Jefferson through Compassion International.  Compassion, through its donors, resources local churches around the world to holistically impact the life of children in their community.  They minister to the kids in the areas of health care, education, nutrition, and life skills – while holistically nurturing the child spiritually, physically, economically, and socially – all in the name of Christ.

Today I’m en route to Nairobi, Kenya, with Compassion International. I’ve been to Nairobi before and I love it. This is the first time going with Compassion.  My goal is two-fold.  First, it is to see the operation of Compassion’s Child Development Centers.  This is where the action happens.  This is where the rubber meets the road and where the local churches invest into these children.  I expect to increase my already high level of trust and confidence in this world-class organization.  Second, I hope to learn some things I will be able to bring back and apply to our efforts in what we’re doing through our children’s orphanage in Uganda.  I can’t wait to soon share how you can get involved with that.

I want to thank Compassion International for what they do and the example they set for the rest of us.  Check ‘em out by clicking on the graphic above.

She said, ‘You need to read this book’.  That’s happened before – someone gives me a book they think I must read.  I took it, with a smile, assuming I’d never read it.  I put it on the shelf.  Two years later, I pick it up.  I open it.  I can’t put it down.  The title of the book is ‘The Hole In Our Gospel’ and the author is Richard Stearns, the CEO of World Vision.

Injustice.  Lack of opportunity.  Infant mortality.  Lack of infrastructure.  Tuberculosis.  Malaria.  Dysentery.  Disease.  Poor sanitation.  Lack of clean drinking water.  War.  Rape.  Orphaned.  Lack of education.  Everyday life for our brothers and sisters who live in some parts of our world.

In the book, Stearns says, ‘Imagine for a moment that you woke up this morning to the following headline: ‘One Hundred Jet Airliners Crash, Killing 26,500.”  He later says, ‘Now imagine that the very next day, one hundred more planes crashed – and one hundred more the next, and the next, and the next.  It is unimaginable that something this terrible could ever happen.’

Stearns wakes us up to the harsh reality that yesterday, 26,500 children died from preventable causes related to their poverty.  It will happen again today.  It will happen again tomorrow.  It will happen again two days from now.  It will happen again the next day….

Joseph Stalin (yes, Stalin) said, ‘One death is a tragedy.  A million deaths is just a statistic.’  PAUSE.  Read that again.  Think about that.  Now, let it hit you and me like a ton of bricks.  26,500 children dying today is, for the most part, just a statistic to many of us.  Would I be politically incorrect to say that’s just freaking wrong?

You can’t do everything.  I can’t do everything.  The problem is simply overwhelming.  However, you can do something.  I can do something.  What can you do?  I’m not sure.  What can I do?  I’m trying to figure that out.  I suggest you get this book and let it rip you up, chew you up, spit you out, and, after you pick the pieces back up, go to our big God and ask Him what He’d like you to do about it.  I’ve been asking Him that for myself and I think I may be getting a glimpse of what that could be.  More about that another time.

Are You In The Zone?

You know when you’re there.  Your passion comes to life.  You’re energized.  Your skills are activated.  Your strengths are engaged.  You stay up late.  You get up early.  There’s not enough time in the day.  You’re possessed with a purpose.  That’s what it’s like when you’re in the zone – that sweet spot where your life becomes a mission.

When you’re in the zone there’s nothing like it.  When you’re not, there’s nothing like it.

When you’re in the zone, fight like crazy to stay there.  When you’re not, fight like crazy to get there.  Are you in the zone?  If so, stay there?  If not, what do you need to do to get there?

What’s your zone?

Sometimes things don’t go our way.  We experience unmet expectations.  We’re hit with bad news.  Our marriage takes a hit.  We lose a job, a business, a friend.  Or, we just let ourselves down.

I’m an optimist.  I’m also a realist.  We all have bad days.

When life seems to spin out of control, we are still in control of how we respond.  In every circumstance we have a choice.  We can choose the way of the winner or the way of the whiner.

Winners own it, learn from it, and move on.  We take responsibility for our response.  We gain wisdom from the situation.  We keep going because we know tomorrow is coming.

Whiners deny it, place blame, and hold on.  Whiners choose to become the victim by blaming their reality on everyone and everything else.  They learn nothing from the situation.  They get stuck in bitterness, unforgiveness, and failure.

The choice is yours.  The choice is mine.  Will we choose the way of the winner or the way of the whiner?

It’s easy to mistake seniority for experience.  Seniority without teachability is just time.  10 years of seniority + teachability = 10 years of experience.  10 years of seniority – teachability = 1 year of experience, 10 times.

Here are some behaviors that come with being teachable:

Ask for feedback.  What can I do better?  Where are my blind spots?  How would you approach my situation?  Those who aren’t teachable don’t look for feedback; they look for a pat on the back.

Live as a learner.  Ask questions.  Pursue knowledge.  Make observations.  Listen more than you speak – that’s easier said than done.  Experiment with new ways of doing things.  Those who aren’t teachable don’t live as a learner; they like to be the expert.

Don’t be defensive.  Stop making excuses when receiving feedback.  Receive it, process it, and adjust.  Even if you disagree, look to learn from it and increase self-awareness.  Those without teachability are too defensive.

Are you leaning back on the past through seniority or leaning into the future by being teachable?  What in your life isn’t working?  Look for some feedback.  Learn something new to bust through.  Don’t be defensive, be on the offensive.