Letters from afar

On Sunday, when I went to visit my parents, they showed me a pair of letters they got back from a couple of kids they adopted. On Easter, when the Ugandan Orphans Choir performed, the organization that brought them to the United States offered locals an opportunity to do help others from poverty stricken areas.

This last week the staff at Highlands had a chance to attend the Catalyst Conference. At that conference, one of the areas of focus was on what we can — and more importantly should — do as Christians. I couldn't help but think of that on Sunday when I read those letters.

I have a couple thoughts about that. First, I was incredibly moved reading those letters. There are many, many people in the world that lack basic necessities, including clean water, food, clothes, and education. Living here, sometimes we forget what real poverty looks like. Reading the letters from these kids, who were so overjoyed to have someone they'd never met care enough about them to give some of their money each month to support them is what being a Christian is all about.

But it's not just kids overseas that need our help. We have thousands of poverty stricken kids in the United States as well, only they live in a place where the cost of living vastly exceeds what it costs to survive half a world away. So much of our Christian ministry and mission outreach is centered on reaching those overseas. That's a great goal, and a blessing for all those lives we are able to touch. But what about our own poverty stricken communities.

I was moved recently to read about the burgeoning churches in Asia who are actually training missionaries to reach the lost in the United States. There is a need for that because, honestly, we probably aren't doing enough ourselves.

I guess the point is that it doesn't matter in what way you get involved, just that you do. After all, that is the model Jesus gave us when he reached out to the marginalized members of society in his day. Recently I've been feeling convicted to find a way to do the same.