Why Peru?

In January I wrote a post about numbers. And Uganda.

What I didn't know then was that I was writing about 7 interns, a great boss, one of the most generous families, a little church that could in the heart of D.C., and Peru. And a lot more.

To me it was mostly about $3400 and the feeling that I might never know where to best serve God through a mission trip and even if I did that it would literally cost too much. I ran across Katie's blog. She's in her twenties and is the mother of 12 Ugandan girls. She began a ministry back in 2006 called Amazima and as I read, I had the very real desire to be her. Or at least be as selfless and held by the Lord as her.

For a week I couldn't get the idea of at least joining with Amazima for at least two weeks out of my head. But I reminded myself every time that I could not afford $3400. What with school loans to pay off and no certain career lined up and a car that will only be reliable for so long and flights to pay for and what not. There was no way. Nuh-uh, no way, no how. See ya.

That Saturday night I got a facebook message from Matt Paxson offering me a job and a salary that would all but pay for Uganda. I cried and thanked God and immediately felt like the whole situation wasn't about me going to Uganda, but God's absolute ability to provide a way. It was a humbling experience to completely write God off one minute and see Him make a way seemingly out of nowhere in the next. And once He made the offer, I realized that my doubt needed addressing before I was going to even know where in the world He willed me to be.

At my first meeting with Matt, he offered me the chance to go to Peru with the youth as a leader, and even reduce my fare further for doing so, technically, as a staff member. The total cost to me would be $500.

It would also cost me my naivety in believing that I was too poor to follow God wherever He calls and that He had no use for an average privileged rich girl like me.

No, no, He has use for me and it starts with asking me to count it all as loss compared to knowing Christ Jesus as Lord. And this I actively do as I sit down to full meals and sweet laughter and a bonded family rich enough to muster up a week to make a house a home for its newest member and his parents. We are rich. In many ways I am so thankful for that, especially in the ways that have no monetary value attached. And it is an aspect of our lifestyle not at odds with God or Christlike living.

But. For some reason God has put on my heart that it could all be gone in an instant. That it could all literally be lost and Jesus Christ would still be the giver of righteousness, just, and the source of joy.

I've also become more aware that on my own, which I will be soon, I really don't have that much aside from loans and last semester's salary. That takes me back to how rich I am in things not of monetary value, like parents and siblings who would not only support me through rough financial times but already encourage me, no matter the cost, to follow God's leadership in my life. I have a happy childhood, meals on the table every day either at my home or at a restaurant and the luxury of pedicure outings with my sisters (including mom) or movies with friends. I have access to medical care and the physical means to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I have the safety and security of knowing I am loved by many and would be missed if someone, say, grabbed me off the street. There are people seeking relationships with me who care to be my friend. If I had none of this, I still live in a country where running water is so plentiful it's free.

And even if I didn't have that, there would still be this:

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

-Philippians 3:7-14

That hope makes me rich on its own. Living like I have that hope should be my desire each and every day. And it should make a difference. I think it's hard to do so-- live like I've been redeemed and have it make a difference-- in America, where the majority of people aren't often faced with not having things. And then the things get confused with hope. And soon people live like all hope is lost when they get a $40 ticket or the team didn't win or the server is slow or there isn't enough money in the bank for a trip to the mall to buy more hope.

I get so caught up in it all. Like my day is the worst because Mom asked me to unload the dishwasher or because my hip hurts from painting the air conditioned home.

News flash for Sadie. I'll be going from working in this

to this

in one week. And with me I better be taking some hope for the people who would be happy with four simple sturdy walls and a family to work alongside. Who would be thrilled by some medical attention or the leftovers I just threw out. The good news is that I do have Hope and even if in my rushed, hurried life I don't take the time to know Him as often or deeply as I should, He will reveal and does reveal Himself to those not as rich as me in languages I don't know based on their own commitment to following Him.

And in doing so He makes them rich.

In doing so He makes me rich.

So, dear one, put aside nuances of how much you do and don't have, how much control you want of your life and circumstances and look to me for worth and profit.

I can't meet every need I'll encounter in Peru, or here at home. But I know Who can. And He asks me simply to point them in His direction. I look forward to doing so in a place and amongst people who have little. The sights will be hard and shocking, I'm sure. Orphans are hurting, people with destroyed homes are devastated. But they are not shy in admitting their need.

^{As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"}On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

-Matthew 9:9-12

Why Peru? Because God can. Because Jesus said "follow me" and, like Matthew, I want to listen. I'll let Jesus speak for and defend himself among the cynics (including myself) and those who say I'm too good to make a difference amongst those financially poorer than me. I'll return to America hoping that conviction will hit me closer to home so I won't feel I need a Peru to make a difference or address suffering with compassion and mercy.

I'll consider myself amongst the sick, because I, too, need a doctor.