Megan's Blog

8/17/11

This is a couple of days too late, but I’d still like to share some of my thoughts.

The other day we drove from one city to the next, leaving the Rapha girls and a chunk of our hearts behind. As the bus chugged along, I stared out the window. Every house we passed, every face we passed, every Buddhist temple we passed was all just a blur. The last week or so is now sort of… just a blur. A blur of laughter and tears, of faces and stories, of voices and places and things we did. It’s all a blur. I’m glad I’ve been journaling and keeping record of the places we’ve gone and the people we’ve talked to. I’m glad I’ve kept record of the little things, like eating at Jars of Clay. I’m glad I’ve kept record of the big, amazing things, like singing How Great Is Our God in front of the entire congregation.

Driving past all those places, though? They are blurry, but I can’t forget the shacks I saw. I can’t forget the giant Buddhist temples, with glorious gates and beautiful architecture. I can’t forget the dirty faces and bare bodies running around in the garbage just outside those gates.

It’s hard for me to see such wealth and beauty next to such poverty. It’s hard for me to wrap my brain around someone not helping the people around them. It’s hard for me to look at that wealth and not be angry that the wealthy aren’t helping the poor.

The poor that live just outside the little box that they live in.

And while I’m angry at those wealthy Buddhist monks for not reaching out and helping the people around them, I’m reminded of how many times I have walked by a beggar on the street of Orlando. How many times have I pretended to have empty pockets when in reality I had money that I was actually anxious to spend? How many times have I passed up an opportunity to share the Gospel when the door was wide open to me? How many times have I shooed someone away because they smelled bad, or looked bad, or didn’t fit my idea of who Jesus would want me to reach out to?

Too many times.

So as we were driving by those temples and poor communities and dirty faces and dirty feet and dirty hands and bare bodies, I felt a tug on my heart. I want so badly to move to one of those places and live in community with those people and love them and give to them and provide for them.