Impoverished (adj.) - poor enough to need help from others [syn: destitute]
Less than a week until my team and I begin our six month adventure in Kampala, Uganda where we are going to help the orphaned street children and impoverished residents of the city and I am left wondering, who is more impoverished them or us? When I read the definition above I could not help but to sneer at the audacity of the statement… poor enough to need help from others… How many people go on missions trips with that mindset? “The people where I’m going need my help!” Wow. Yea, I know I have been extremely blessed! I mean I’m sitting here on my king-sized bed in my air-conditioned home, writing a blog on my laptop via wireless internet while there are children sleeping in the streets without food, but what they need cannot be given by me. What they need is Christ and honestly they may be closer to Him then we are.
Sunday I had the amazing, random opportunity to meet and talk with a pastor from Kampala who just so happened to be in the same little town I was visiting in WV. Talking to him was such a huge blessing, but as he described the faith he and his church family had I was disgusted with my own. Here is his church meeting under a borrowed tent full of holes, which leaves the group subject to the cold rain and the hot sun. Church members give up seats under the slight protection of the tent so that visitors can enjoy the more privileged seating. Furthermore, their faith is not seen only on Sundays, but every day men and women wake up and walk all the way to the church to sing praises to God at 6 am. Ha! Imagine seeing this in America where we consider sleeping through church at 10am because it’s raining outside or our Sunday is completely ruined if we arrive at church to find that the air condition is broken and someone is in our seat!
After talking with the Ugandan pastor for a little while someone else chimed in telling the pastor, “you (Uganda) have everything America doesn’t.” And it is so true! Sure they may not have the material wealth that America has been blessed with, but they have real wealth. Yes, they may lack some of the luxuries of life and many are even without food, shelter and clothing which is a genuine problem, but what they do have is a daily, thriving relationship with the ultimate Provider! In the meantime we are filling our lives with useless toys and gadgets and are missing out on what we really need, what they have. So as I prepare to go over and physically help the people I meet in Uganda and share God’s love with those who have not yet heard of Him, I pray that God uses those I come in contact with to stretch me and show me the destitute areas in my life, because when it comes down to it every one of us is impoverished in one way or another. I am not trying to belittle the needs of Uganda in any way, I am simply noticing the poverty-stricken areas right here at home. We are all poor enough to need help from God.
"The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t really want Him most of the time." -Crazy Love
