Come Follow Me....

I found Daniel J. Clark's blog as a link from C. Thomas Davis (a favorite author of mine). Both men are passionate about helping orphans and I've found in them hearts similar to mine.

The following is part of a post by Daniel Clark.

In early April, Tom Davis and I had the privilege of meeting with a Senator – a peacemaker – and his Director of African Affairs. His Director of African Affairs, who had been a missionary in East and Southern Africa for over a decade before joining the political scene in Washington said something profound to us: 'If you follow Jesus very far… he will lead you to the poor.'

If you follow Jesus very far, he will lead you to care for orphaned children in oppressive institutions and rural scorched-earth regions.


Photo by Emmsy322 @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmsy322/2172593124/sizes/o/

If you follow Jesus very far, he will lead you to poverty. I know that for many of us poverty can be a dirty word! But remember that Jesus himself was poor. He was a homeless, wandering teacher and miracle worker. The King of the Universe with only one change of clothes. But if we look at the Beatitudes and ask the question, 'who are the happy ones? who are the blessed ones?' The answer is obvious: the poor.

Blessed are the widow, orphan, and stranger.

But that is not all… The beauty of the Trinity that we worship, is that Jesus will also lead us to prosperity. I know. Prosperity can also be a dirty word! Remember that it is not us, but God in heaven owns the cattle on a thousand hills and gives good and perfect gifts. God is prosperous.

If you look at the second half of each line in the Beatitudes, you see that God offers the prosperity of the kingdom, comfort, an inheritance, mercy, seeing God, and being called children of God to the poorest of the poor.

So we are invited, in the Holy Trinity, to participate in the life of God, the love between Father and Son, the power between Son and Spirit. We are invited to participate in the poverty and the prosperity of God and our world! Not to spectate, but to participate. This participation in poverty and prosperity adds texture and authenticity to our lives and our Christian experience.

When you turn with hope and help to the poor and orphaned of the world, you bring to them the prosperity of God – through your financial investment, through prayer and encouraging letters, through visits. But don't forget that they will bring to you something very beautiful as well. When you meet the compassion of Christ in their eyes, when you meet childlike faith in their smiles, when you meet total dependence on God in their need, they will fill the canyons of your poverty (and we all have it – we all have some scorched earth and boarded-up buildings in our own lives - in our experiences – in our pain – in our loved ones). They will fill these empty places with good and perfect gifts as well.

This is the beauty of our life here in response to the Triune God. A loving community loving the whole world! – That is a simple definition of the Trinity.

If you follow Jesus very far, he will lead you to the poor.

Jesus says, Come, follow me…