"I see a lot of people in conferences, I don't see them in slums" - Padma Venkatraman, daughter of former Indian President Mr. R.Venkataraman, about seeing HOPE worldwide volunteers helping in the leper colonies. The photo above ran in the Saturday, May 14th edition of The Wall St. Journal and it reminded me of Padma's statement. And there I was. In a conference.
- Every human being cherishes love and respect
- What seems like a curse is God's way of blessing
- We spend our time running away from pain. Sometimes the rainbow is right on the other side of the mountain, but was work so hard running away from the mountain.
- On working intimately with the poor in the Village of HOPE. The residents would bicker and make the job of the caregivers difficult.
Caregiver: "We have come to help you, why are you fighting with us?"
Resident: "The reason we fight with you is that we consider you family. If we thought you were our guests we would treat you like a guest."
- India has more cell phones than toilets.
- They've come from dirt and squalor and not having toilets to learning computers and English. The Village of HOPE is now buzzing with cell phones. They have even setup a website for themselves. http://www.leprosychildren.com/index.html
- When things seem really tight and you don't want to talk anymore, that's probably the time to have one more conversation.
- Mother Teresa - "I am but a pencil in the hand of God"
- If God's got you in pain, he's using a can opener on you.
- Compassion: 2 Cor 1:3-5, Lk 15:20-21, Mk 1:41-42
- 23,000,000 in Africa with AIDS
- 150,000 deaths a month in Africa - that's a tsunami every month that we'll never see on the news.
- 1 of every 4 children is an orphan - a new one every 14 seconds. 16,000,000 AIDS orphans currently. Even if AIDS stopped today, the number of orphans grow for the next 20 years.
- "Children just need a little hope and just need someone to help them find their way home"
- The plight of these orphans has fallen off the map. Don't let them fall off your heart.
- This comment is having the most profound effect on me because I'm selfish and self-seeking. Bud Chiles on having a vision much larger than just giving kids shots: "We had much greater and grander worldly vision than helping kids get immunized. But we learned."
- God serves us with inspiration as we serve others.
- Dt 10:18, Js 1:27 - Do I look at this literally?
- Peter stopped and looked him in the eye. Sometimes that's the hardest thing to do with the poor - look them in the eye.
- When Moses passed to Joshua they didn't take a break.
Dr. Gary Jacques - who always seems to have an alternative perspective
- Lk 11:39-40
- Jesus healed because he lived. He had the opportunity, ability, and compassion to heal.
- SROI - social return on investment. The benefit to society based on a certain investment. It's not simple to calculate. Let's give it a try with Jesus.
- Cost of 3 year ministry
- cheap, no place to lay his head. Not that expensive.
- Calculate all the life-years saved
- The return to productivity of a leper who is cured
- Over 20 centuries Jesus' life inspired millions of people to live a live of sacrifice. Over 50% of the world's poor are educated in faith-based schools, healed in faith-based clinics, most advocates for social justice, the MLKs, are people of faith.
- Give the inside of the cup. Your heart your mind your effort your time. Jesus said give it to the poor. It's a social return on investment, the spiritual return on investment is that everything will be clean for you.