Weeping For the Poor

It's been about three weeks since I got back from Guatemala. I anticipated that as time went on I would become more "comfortable" with my life in Birmigham, AL and will think about the people in Guatemala a little less. Out of sight, out of mind. I guess that is why I am so anxious to go back. I really don't want to lose that passion for loving and helping them. Yesterday Katie Davis posted on her blog Just In Case You Were Getting Too Comfortable. Reading the story about this 23 year old who weighed only 37 lbs. that was barely alive reminded me that there is real poverty everywhere, not just in Guatemala City. Therefore I must not get too comfortable in America.

I've heard David say in his messages things like, "When's the last time you wept for the poor and lost?" I'd wonder if I was the only person listening that had never done this and wondered if something might be wrong with me. I really have to have a connection to someone or something to weep over it so it's hard to phathom weeping over people I've never met. Well, that has changed, my friend. I know the lost and I know the poor. I can't get their faces out of my mind.

By the grace of God I was able to keep my emotions in check while in Guatemala but since my return, well, not so much. Last night I cried like I cry when I watch Marley and Me (yes, that is the only thing I can think of to compare it to). I mean SOBBED uncontrollably. I don't know what it was about last night in particular, maybe having Katie Davis reminding me not to get too comfortable did it, who knows. All I know is I grabbed the few pictures of the kids I had printed and I prayed for each of them and just wept for them.

I was laying in my big comfy bed with the fan on with my two dogs while they were sleeping directly on the dirt or on filthy mattresses, some with no roofs over their heads, some with stomach tumors, some without parents, some maybe being sexually abused, and some fighting off rats and other creatures that also reside in the dump. These are my babies. I have an emotional connection to them now. Some of their mothers are my sisters in Christ. The worst part is that this is going on EVERYWHERE. God has given me a heart for this particular people group but it's really going on all over the world.

 

So if you've never wept for the poor and lost maybe you should ask God which people group He wants you to reach out to. Remember the great commission isn't an option. It's a command.