statistics shouldn’t paralyze
Yesterday I got to spend time with some of the most beautiful kids I have ever seen. I had the privilege of spending another amazing weekend (my fourth) in a small town in eastern Kentucky with a group from my church. The big eyes of those little ones were so full of excitement and hope and I literally had to turn away several times to gain composure and do everything I could to not cry. I was so happy for them to get their pictures with Santa, play the festive games and of course, get presents, but after spending a semester engrossed in all sorts of reading on development I couldn’t help but think about the roads ahead for these children.
That little girl with her furry jacket and piercing eyes; the little boy with his curly hair and adorable tie; the little girl in her fabulous snowsuit eating her candy cane; the little boy who REFUSED to sit on Santa’s lap; the girl who was so excited to get her hair done she wanted a picture taken and printed of her new do; and so many more… Each of these kids was crafted by an amazing God. He knows every hair on their head as He knows mine. But, unfortunately, something probably will happen to these kids in the next 5, 10, 15 years that will rob of the hope and excitement that was shining in their eyes this weekend. Statistics are against these beautiful children and that’s what made tears well up in my eyes all day and really breaks my heart. Violence, drugs, and so much more are a part of their lives or will more than likely be soon.
I could have ran and cried and asked why all day but what good would that have done? Nothing. Statistics shouldn’t paralyze you or me from loving on these kids or anyone else in the world. I can’t change an entire city but I can love on a kid, on their family and on the community and hope that love makes the difference. I always look at the story of the disciples and Jesus feeding 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread and know that if I do what I can with my two fish and five loaves, the miracle will happen and the people will be fed. Together with others and with faith, crazy things can happen.
In my life I’ve seen people not do anything because they are overwhelmed by huge numbers and daunting tasks, heck, I’ve fallen victim to this myself at times. We’ve been paralyzed by the idea that we can’t fix everything so we don’t attempt to help fix anything. But, just think… (and by no means do I mean to come off pretentious or like I’m super cool or anything) What if I had let the statistics paralyze me yesterday? How many smiles may have not happened? What if we all (our group of 80 or so people) had been deterred from serving because we couldn’t change anything immediately? An entire community wouldn’t have been able to celebrate Christmas like we did yesterday.
whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me (matthew 25:40)
break the cycle
six and a half years ago i lead a spring break trip through my school to go serve the homeless in washington, d.c.. i had no idea what to expect from the experience, but knew it would be one that would help grow me. little did i know that it would be a large contributing factor in this huge change in my heart. before the trip i thought about the homeless, volunteered to feed them and everything, but the trip gave the homeless population faces and personalities, it made the issue a reality and i am forever grateful for the opportunity to work along some wonderful organizations that snowy week in our nation’s capital.
but this entry isn’t about my trip, it’s about breaking the cycle. i start out with my story in d.c. because it was that week that our host gave each of us a lock washer. a lock washer, you ask? yes, a little circle you can buy at a hardware store, or amazon (you can click on the link to get a better picture). she gave us this simple piece of metal to remind us to break the cycle. if you look at it it’s not a complete circle, it sort of twists where there is a break. i wrote in my journal the night she gave it to us we can get caught up in a daily routine and we need to change that every once in a while. i was a bright 19 year old 
but it’s true, comfort and doing the normal can be just as dangerous as proactively doing something bad. while routines are nice, they lose excitement and don’t challenge.
i hate the thought of living life without challenges and living a life of comfort, but i let it happen all the time. comfort sneaks in, gets settled and just hangs out before i even realize that i am doing nothing to challenge myself or change up the daily monotony that can become a part of life. it is fascinating to me that i can hate the idea of something but live it out so often.
tonight at our community group meeting i talked about how i wonder sometimes if i can even create change in a horribly broken world. i’ve been reading and reading and reading a ton about lots of horrible things that are occurring in the world for school and there are moments where i get paralyzed by the idea of even making a dent in the plethora of problems in the world. but i believe that a group of dudes and Jesus were able to feed more than 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish and i bet you that little kid who had the basket of food initially didn’t think it was possible [john 6], he probably didn’t think he could be used in such a way… i always bring myself back to that story, it’s probably my favorite in the bible. i don’t conduct the miracle, i just need to be there and willing to take the risk to help make it happen. but alas, i will hit a wall tomorrow i’m sure and want to run away from the challenges set before me but i will always have a constant reminder from that little piece of metal.
i wanted to share with you what was given to me six and a half years ago. feb 28th, 2003 – i received that lock washer and put it on the ribbon bookmark in my journal (which i still use today). every time i open my journal i see this little metal thing wrapped in ribbon and take a moment to think am i breaking the cycle?
p.s. this entry reminded me of the song “comfortable” by john mayer. if you haven’t heard it, take 99 cents and download it on itunes now. it’s really a great song and while it’s about relationships, i think comfort applies to all aspects of life.
