The needs really are great, aren’t they? You know that. They seem insurmountable. Every day, 30,000 children under age five die of preventable diseases like diarrhea, measles, and malnutrition. AIDS has orphaned 15 million children. By 2015 there will be 40 million. One can only imagine the increased risks for these orphans. Every year more than one million children are forced into the commercial sex trade to join the more than 10 million who are already trapped in it. 246 million children are engaged in cruel child labor. More than 675 million children live in poverty, which means lacking the resources to meet basic human needs. 90% of all casualties in armed conflicts around the world are civilians and half of those are children. It’s overwhelming, isn’t it? It’s tempting to say, “Why bother?”
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Move beyond that temptation and do bother. You see, God wants you to make a difference – even if it is in but one life. And if each of you will make a difference in one life that means one less life that is affected by the horrors of evil in this world. And that one life will, I believe, see God – God in you and you can tell that one about His Son, wonderfully made, and in the telling about Jesus, hopefully a disciple will be made in the spirit of what Jesus commanded His followers to d
“…go and make disciples of all nations, …” (v. 19a).
Even as you seek to make a difference, be mindful that, hard as you may try, you can’t prepare for everything that will happen to you in your journey. Tuesday morning’s
Atlanta Journal-Constitution had on the front page this headline in bold type: “Nothing can prepare you…” Those are the words of Robbie Sims, who lives in Ellenwood, a community like Carrollton and Carroll County that was hard hit by last Sunday morning’s storms. “Nothing can prepare you for a storm like this,” she said. There are some things in life, some of which are terrible storms, for which you simply can’t prepare.
I watched the Kentucky Derby and, with some of you, watched a tragedy unfold. The second place finisher, Eight Belles, collapsed, going down, shortly after crossing the finish line. The beautiful filly suffered two compound fractures in both front legs and she immediately had to be euthanized. I was shocked. My heart broke. I certainly wasn’t prepared for that. I don’t think anyone was.
Even though you are wonderfully made, you’ll find yourself going down, from time to time. Most of the time, you’ll get back up. But something may happen that results in you not getting back up. I hope it doesn’t. But you need to know that none of you is immune from the horrors of life. None of you is even immune from death. Some things you simply can’t prepare for as you journey. But you can prepare your heart to face whatever may come to you in life as you attempt to help put the world on a right course, even if you yourself die as a result of your efforts.