Off to "the dump" I will go...

When I mention to others that I'm going to Togo, Africa, I get a spectrum of reactions. From excited "Ohhhh, can I go with you???" comments to a curious "Oh" to quizzical looks that suggest pity. But one stands out more than all others: "Why would you want to go to THAT DUMP?" This person thought my time and money would be better spent seeing some beautiful parts of Africa, or going on a safari. I would love to do that, no doubt about it. But as I get older and ponder things like the brevity of life, why I'm here, and how I can love Jesus and others more and better, I feel compelled to go to places like the "dump" of Togo.

I know what I'll find there. I'll find beautiful faces with broken bodies who long to see because of blinding cataracts, who long to walk again because of contorted legs, who long to be restored to their communities because of huge tumors that make them the laughingstock of their villages. I'll see precious babies who can't eat because of cleft lip and/or palate...a simple fix by American standards. These people are human like you and me...they have souls, hopes, dreams, families. They long to be loved, respected, cared for, valued. They are not to be thrown onto a trash heap and forgotten. What if you or I had been born THERE and not in privileged America? Would we be less of a person?



Lord, send me to the "dump", where I can be Your hands and feet to those You haven't forgotten, those whom You tenderly love, those whose poverty breaks Your heart. If I ever think I'm better than them, break me. Destroy my foolish pride. Show me the treasures You see in places that some consider a dump.

"Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust don't destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

"What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while then vanishes."

"Whatever you do for the least of these brothers of mine, you do for me."