The Poor

Last night I attended one of my favourite annual events. It's not my favourite because it's fun (although it is!) It's my favourite because it puts things into perspective for me every year. Last night Mike and I went to the Hope Banquet. Hope International is a development organization committed to helping the poor in our world. Every year they put together an amazing film that brings you right into the lives of people in developing countries. This year the film's focus was Ethiopia and it's HIV/Aids crisis. It's so heartbreaking to see orphaned children caught in the cylcle of the sex trade and the HIV virus. It's so amazing to see what Hope is doing there to give a future to some of these people. The Ethiopian woman in charge of the project said something that struck me. She said, "Our only limitation is money". I thought about that all night. I thought about how if we in North America chose to, we could likely end a lot of poverty and suffering in the world. I thought about all the money I waste every day. I thought about the reason God placed me in this society where I've never known hunger or homelessness. I thought about the mothers across the world who can't provide for their children. It's all so overhwhelming. But then I thought about what the executive director of Hope said on the film. "Just because I can't help them all, doesn't mean I shouldn't help anyone.....I'm going to help the ones I can."

Sometimes I'm not the joyful giver described in the Bible. I don't know that I've ever really been a sacrificial giver, like the widow who gave her last coin. Every year at the Hope Banquet, I give joyfully because I know it is money well spent. It's money that multiplies....more than any stock or mutual fund portfolio. What a wonderful investment....to know a small portion of what I have might mean a world of difference for a mother or child I may never meet.