Yusuph

Scott and I went to Atlanta for the Catalyst Conference a few weeks ago. Every speaker was amazing and their messages really spoke to my heart in many ways. The person who struck me the most was Francis Chan.

Francis Chan used to pastor in California. You may know him as the author of Crazy Love and Forgotten God. Francis and his wife decided that God had something much bigger for them. They left their church and were getting ready to go to India about a week after the conference. They sold their house, packed their kids and were on their way. They didn't know how long they would be there but they knew they needed to go.

Never in my life have I seen such a giving person. He is so passionate about serving God. He wants his life to seamlessly fit into the Bible. The Bible doesn't say "and the church formed a committee to discuss the remolding project." It says "prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him (Peter)." The people were praying for Peter's release and an angel came and released him. When he showed up, the people couldn't believe God had answered their prayer. Sometime we pray without really expecting God to answer. That is CRAZY!! Crazy things happen when God is working. I mean, who sends a whale to swallow someone to get His point across?

In all honesty, when Francis Chan finished preaching you just thought, "Man, I don't love God like I should." I want CRAZY things to happen. I want God working in my life. I want people to think, "What they are doing just doesn't make sense." It doesn't have to make sense to you, only to God. There is nothing boring about the God I serve.

After that message the Lord really impressed upon my heart to do more in giving to Missions. Compassion International was in attendance and they were looking for people to sponsor children in other parts of the world. They were asking people to raise their hands and pray about sponsoring a child. I sat in total quiet while God impressed on my heart that this was something we needed to do. I prayed that God would impress the same thing on Scott's heart if this was something He wanted.

When we got back to the hotel, Scott and I talked about our desire to do more for missions and the idea of sponsoring a child. We both agreed this was something we needed to do. We thought it would be really neat to sponsor a 4 year old boy that our little man could "grow up with". They will be able to write letters to each other and I hope one day they will be able to meet each other. We plan for each one of our children to have a child to"grow up with" through Compassion International.

The next day we went to find our new little boy. I love how God works, because little Yusuph was right on top of the stack. He is a couple of months older than Trent but I pray that they will become the best of friends. I realized later that Yusuph lives in an AIDS infected area and needed immediate sponsorship. Isn't it just like God to take care of things? Yusuph lives in Tanzania and we are so excited to get to know him.

When we came home we showed our little man Yusuph's picture. He didn't understand why Yusuph couldn't come live with us. He asked, "Is that my new brother?" I said, "Yes." I love my little man's sweet spirit.

I don't know if you have ever thought of sponsoring a child. It is only $38 a month. There are many children who need to be sponsored. I hope that you will consider what CRAZY thing God would have you do. I can't wait to hear the story of your new "little one". Check out www.compassion.com for more information.