His name is Daniel and he's one of the best things that have ever happened to me.
I have never met him.
I began looking at child sponsor packages ever since I had heard about Compassion and never really had the funds to really sponsor a child. However last September I found Daniel. He is a 13 year old boy from El Salvador who loves art and basketball - 2 of my favourite things. God has blessed me with him and honestly, I cannot believe that I have this opportunity to touch a child's life whom I have yet to meet.
Why am I sharing this with you? Because I believe in this. I believe that what is happening at Compassion is 100% God's kingdom work.
You see, I chose Daniel. He didn't do anything extraordinarily special, I chose him just because of who he was - a child. What's more, is that I've come to realize that I was chosen in the same way.
God chose me. He hand-picked me to be His child. I have never done anything extraordinarily special, but God saw something worthwhile in me and brought me into His family and called me His own. This is pure grace in a physical and tangible way.
Compassion is a child-sponsorship organization that works directly through churches in 3rd world countries to provide hope and inspire dreams in children like Daniel. Through holistic child development these kids can grow in an environment that seeks out who they are in the comfort of the knowledge that they are cared for and loved by those who are there in the church to pour into their lives.
Though my personal favourite part of Compassion is the letter writing. It is the delight of my heart to write letters to Daniel because it allows me to love on him, it allows me to learn about him and for him to share all his hopes and his dreams with me. Oh they are beautiful dreams! He wants to be a mechanical engineer and be able to fly in an airplane so that he can see everything from up high. Yet, there is one dream that I am still trying to grasp. In his first letter to me, David said that his biggest dream is to meet me. Yes, you read that right - me. Of all things that he could want, he dreams about meeting some stranger up in Canada somewhere who goes to school in some province that he can't even begin to pronounce. I barely know this young boy and yet through Compassion, I have been able to make a connection that transcends language, age, culture and class. And because Compassion seeks God's kingdom the Gospel is becoming these children's favourite thing to learn because it brings hope into their lives.
What does this have to do with you?
Maybe you're not good with kids, or maybe you are. Maybe you want kids and maybe you don't. Though I believe that what Compassion has to offer in their different sponsorship programs brings an immediate and long-term impact. You do not need a lot to be able to give a child a future, for about a dollar and a half a day you can provide something that many children in these kind of situations have never known:
Hope.
Hope to see freedom from poverty, to see that Jesus really does have power and to realize that they have worth and are seen as treasured possessions.
If you feel as if this is something that you feel called to, go to the Compassion website sponsor a child and develop a relationship by writing them letters and learning about their families, what they love to do and to encourage them as they grow.
And just one final thing, I would like you to read the following quote and reflect on the power that we have been given to change lives, to reach out and experience God's abundant grace in real and tangible ways:
"As one person, you may not be able to change the world, but you can change the world for one person."
