I was at the Boys and Girls Club fundraising event entitled “Steak and Burgers”. The concept is that kids from the clubs join the adults (donors) at their tables and the kids get steak and the adults get burgers. I thought it was a very novel concept for a fundraiser and looked forward to a fun evening with the kids. I got more than I bargained for. We had two great kids sitting at our table. They were full of life, excited to be at the event and obviously positively affected by the Boys and Girls Clubs. Part way through the dinner one of the girls began telling my wife about her family. She recounted how her mother lives with her friend (a woman) who has 3 kids (boys 17, 15 and 12) in a 2 bedroom apartment and that her and her little brother share the couch. Unless the other woman’s boyfriend is over, then her mom sleeps on the couch and they sleep on the floor. She said this in the most nonchalant way, not thinking that it was strange or trying to elicit any sympathy.
I have not been able to get this little girl and her family out of my mind. Why are they living like this? Is her father in jail, dead or has he just disappeared? Who is the woman that shares the apartment, and is it “healthy” for her teenage boys to be in the same cramped apartment with this little girl? Her eyes were lit up as she looked around the room and darted periodically to another table to cajole one of her friends. We joked about her being the social butterfly and imagined what she would be when she grows up. Perhaps a lawyer in the courtroom using her social skills to woo a jury, or an entrepreneur selling her idea to an investor or maybe she would be the next Katie Couric (the perky one)? Our glib speculation was before I knew about her “family” situation. Now I just hope and pray that she survives childhood unscathed and with her hope and joy still in tact.
Thank God there is a hope for her at the Boys and Girls Clubs where she and her brother go every day. We can bemoan our situation, count the pills that we take to stay alive, wax endlessly about our financial condition or eminent demise. Or we can do something to change a life. The Boys and Girls Clubs is a good place to start. If you haven’t checked them out I urge you to do so and give of your time and treasure, there web site is: www.bgctucson.org
Also, there is much more that can be done to change the lives of the next generation. Mark Harris is the head of 4 Tucson. The vision is to mobilize the churches to change our community. KIDCO is a government sponsored after school program that costs the city of Tucson nearly a million dollars a year to operate. Mark envisions the churches offering that program for free and freeing up the tax dollars for other important things like police and fire protection. If you are involved with a church go to the web site and get involved: www.4tucson.com
Mother Theresa was asked if she wasn’t overwhelmed with the poverty, squalor and ever increasing need in Bombay. She said that she wasn’t and that what she did was minister the love of Jesus to the person in front of her, then move on to the next. We can be overwhelmed and do nothing or simply do what Mother Theresa did and minister the love of Jesus to the person in front of you. You won’t have to look very far.
3 comments:
Good Post! Being that I am still fairly young, there is a sense of feeling like you are going to live forever and death seems ever so far away.
I love the passage in the Bible,
Ephesians 5:15-16 "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
Great verse to live by!
One on One is another mentoring ministry in town!
Check it out.
I think about those saints of old. They did not live for this kingdom, but the Lord's. That's where I want to be.
I also think about my own life as a read. I have more today than I ever have. I grew up with roomates in my house as a teenager. Men who where trying to stay sober. I ate spam and whatever else was made. I never thought about it being a bummer, and the good Lord (Psalm 145) provided. Oh, the chasing of riches, and it's burden. The church will not progress with riches, but with the suffering that comes from living for another Kingdom. One that is far greater to which the world does not know. So let's keep reaching out! As a Christian, there is no retirement!
Here is comment from Gerry Cross:
Good thoughts.Yes,we will all die..looking in the mirror this morning I saw that I was well on my way..On that Day no one will get away with anything..except the sins confessed and forgiven by a Creator with one character flaw...He forgets things.Americans love to create and destroy its idols and gods..Michael Jackson was just that..a tragic figure that became strange and freakish being driven by his audience.The sad aspect of his life is that he died inwardly..broken and without hope.Somthing became unglued within his inner fabric.He was still a human being who was ripped off by the enemy.Anyone with a heart has to mourn that reality.Someone said Andre Crouch prayed with Michael three weeks before his death.If he's in heaven ,the former things are no more and his life on earth means nothing compared to the wonders he is experiencing along with beholding the face and presence of Jesus.Is your name written down and known in heaven?..now that's the ultimate in riches and Fame!
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