Compassion Dave Through the Looking Glass
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 1 Corinthians 13:12
Global Advocate Conference Reflections
I am having a difficult time collecting my thoughts and so far I have written (and erased) about twenty sentences. The truth is that I am distracted by the grandeur of our hotel, the courtesy of the staff, and the warmth of sweet-Christian fellowship. I sense these things have somehow diverted me from another course set not by me, but by God. In many ways these blessings have become burdensome.
Perhaps it is culpability setting in. After all, I am here in the Dominican Republic where perhaps half the population lives in poverty and I am lounging in the lobby of a first class hotel, blogging on my fancy laptop about the travesty that poverty is. I know in my heart it is not, but outwardly it feels much the charade. At the very least I feel out of touch with a people I had hoped to somehow minister to.
Over dinner, Compassion Advocate Donnie Humphries got my thinking back on track somewhat.
“I remember when we were in Ethiopia on a Compassion Advocate Tour and I ordered a Diet Coke,” he recalled. “I felt very stupid when the waiter said to me, ‘There’s not much call for diet soda here in Ethiopia.’”
“Oh yea,” the entire table said in unison.
I suppose I spend a major portion of my life disassociated from the issues allied with the people I find myself trying to minister to and the fact that I am so disoriented as to purpose is merely confirmation that I am precisely where I am supposed to be. I have been brought to a five-star oasis, in the midst of paradise neglected in order that I might see my likeness in a rich man’s mirror.
In light of that revelation, it has been a very good day—praise be to God.
compassiondave